The Punisher (2005) with Alex Squires (The StarWell Foundation, Opinions May Vary)

Read transcript

---

Welcome comic book crusaders and button-mashing vigilantes to another skull-crushing edition of Play Comics! This week we’re strapping on our tactical vest, loading up our favorite dual-wielded firearms, and diving headfirst into the wonderfully violent world of The Punisher from 2005 – a game that dared to ask the important question: “What if we took Thomas Jane’s already pretty intense Frank Castle and gave him access to every torture device known to humanity?”

This PlayStation 2 and Xbox gem emerged from the blood-soaked minds at Volition (yes, the same folks who would later give us Saints Row) and decided that your typical comic book game needed more creative interrogation techniques and fewer moral boundaries. We’re talking about a game so gloriously brutal that it nearly earned an Adults Only rating before getting the black-and-white censorship treatment that somehow made watching a guy get fed to piranhas even more artistic.

Joining us for this revenge-fueled rampage is the incomparable Alex Squires from The StarWell Foundation and Opinions May Vary, a person who knows a thing or two about giving comic book villains interesting character development – though probably with fewer wood chippers involved than Frank Castle prefers. Together, we’ll explore whether this 2005 digital bloodbath successfully captured the essence of Marvel’s most morally questionable “hero,” or if it left us feeling like we’d been interrogated by the wrong end of a drill press.

So grab your favorite non-lethal beverage, practice your best intimidating one-liners, and prepare to discover if this early PlayStation 2 era adaptation proved that sometimes the best way to honor a comic book character is to let them be exactly as unhinged as they were meant to be. Will we declare this game worthy of the Punisher skull, or will it get tossed off a building faster than a Gnucci crime family lieutenant? Time to find out!

Learn such things as:

• What happens when power tools are used for evil?
• Are black and white things just inherently less violent?
• When are Gun and Knife a super power?
• And so much more!

You can find Alex’s current project, The StarWell Foundation, and his past project, Opinions May Vary, both on OMVPodcast.com and whatever method you use to listen to podcasts.

If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.

If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.

Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.

You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky, @playcomicscaston Twitter and in the Play Comics Podcast Fan Groupon Facebook.

A big thanks to Invasion of the Remake and Last Sons of Krypton for the promos today.

Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who probably wouldn’t go nearly as far as Frank here. And by probably I mean almost definitely wouldn’t.

Support Play Comics by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/playcomics

Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-89f00a for 40% off for 4 months, and support Play Comics.