Reddit is having a debate over whether The Punisher could kill John Wick, but it’s not even a close debate as fans point out The Punisher’s jaw-dropping killing streak.
Pitting pop culture characters against each other is no new thing. The desire to see how two favorites would fare when fighting each other is how we wound up with things like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Marvel’s Civil War event.
Social media has only fueled this fire. It’s easier than ever for fans to come up with the wildest dream matches and argue who would win and how.
Now a debate picking up steam on Reddit is highlighting one such fight, as fans debate who would win in the ultimate shootout showdown: Marvel’s The Punisher or Keanu Reeves’ iconic assassin, John Wick.
Redditors declare The Punisher would absolutely destroy John Wick
The debate may be biased, given it takes place in a post on The Punisher subreddit, where fans discuss the character across comics, games, the Netflix series, & more.
But even among those Redditors, there’s some fairly sound logic to explain why a master assassin like John Wick stands absolutely no chance against The Punisher.
“Frank fought billy russo amd John pilgrim + a lot of trained cia operators,” one Redditor says. “To say John wick wins is crazy. And as the other guy said the punisher also got the drop on the guy with super hearing who shoulda sensed him drawing his backup pistol”
“Tv show punisher probably looses but comic frank would eat John alive” another added, highlighting the contrast between the live-action and comic book versions of the character.
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For most, that seems to be the deciding factor: which version of Punisher is doing the fighting. Many are in agreement the Netflix Punisher (who appears to now be canon to the MCU as of Echo) would be evenly matched with Wick, but the version appearing in Marvel Comics would steamroll him.
“I like John Wick… but Frank’s kicked the shit out of the avengers… sorry John,” another Redditor added, referencing the various stories where Punisher had run-ins with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and walked away.
“Wick would kill Netflix Punisher as his feats, skills, are better portrayed honestly. Wick would also kill 89′ Punisher & 04 Punisher,” one Redditor said, summing up the various versions of Punisher for the brawl. “08 Punisher would absolutely murder Wick. Wick may have killed a guy with a Pencil… but Frank Caved in a guy’s skull! Comic Punisher 616 would kill Wick and pretty much the entire continental without prep. MAX Punisher wins after a long battle and probably several gunshots later… old age catches up with Frank.”
Still, not everyone is so quick to give the easy win to The Punisher. Many drew attention to Wick’s more surgical combat skills in comparison to The Punisher’s, as well as Wick’s apparent plot armor based on his last few film appearances.
“john wick fought multiple highly trained assassins, Ninjas, samurai, the high table AND fully impenetrably armored soldiers both in new york and japan Mostly with a weak ass pistol. He’s also killed a whole russian mob. I like punisher but wick WOULD win if they dont kill each other at the same time.” one Redditor pointed out.
“Long range fight – Frank wins. Close up fight – John wins,” one Redditor finally concedes. “Frank is better with guns, but John is better at fighting”
