The Punisher: One Last Kill Villain Has A Surprising Connection To The Boys

Contains spoilers for "The Punisher: One Last Kill"

"The Punisher: One Last Kill" trailer showed Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) on a rampage, but with Marvel's special presentation now out, we know who's behind all the mayhem. After visiting his family's gravesite, Frank is introduced to Ma (Judith Light), the matriarch of the Gnucci crime family. She puts a hit on Frank without caring how many innocent people will die in the process, and she could very well be a thorn in Frank's side going forward, seeing as she doesn't get any comeuppance by the end. 

More Punisher stories could mean more Ma, and there's more to her than meets the eye. She shares a connection with another popular superhero franchise: "The Boys." Ma was first seen in "Punisher (Vol. 5)" #4 for the "Welcome Back, Frank" arc. Much like "One Last Kill," Ma's out for revenge against Frank. But that first issue that brought Ma to life was written by Garth Ennis, who created "The Boys." While he created "The Boys" with artist and collaborator Darick Robertson, it's another familiar Ennis artist for this "Punisher," the late Steve Dillion.

It was no surprise to see Ennis tread into the Punisher's territory during his Marvel era. The character shared sensibilities with the "The Boys," particularly his violent to the point of comedy nature. That's what Ennis said he likes most about Frank Castle in an interview with Forbidden Planet TV, "So, the Punisher, unlike all the other Marvel characters, isn't just the same superhero again in a different colored costume. He's actually something unique. Trouble is, as I say, Marvel is never quite sure what to do with him, and they won't let him be unique." Suffice it to say, Marvel definitely let Frank do his punishing in "One Last Kill."

In Ma Gnucci's first comic appearance, Punisher leads her and her men into a zoo where he uses the animals as killing machines. He dunks one guy in a piranha tank and punches a polar bear to make it angry enough to attack Ma. It's all in line with one of the Punisher's many rules — don't pull any punches. She survives as a quadriplegic, putting a $10 million bounty on the Punisher's head. Of course, Frank lives and kills Ma later in Issue #12 when he lights her home ablaze and punts her inside. 

When we see Ma in "The Punisher: One Last Kill," she's already in a bad spot when she formally meets Frank Castle. She's in a wheelchair but manages to approach him using crutches to get in his face. She informs him of how every criminal in the area works for her and will soon descend upon his home to kill him and anyone else who gets in the way. Frank has a chance to kill Ma later when all hell breaks loose, but he lets her go to save a shopkeeper. While not the same tone as the comic, it's still Ennis' style, as he later wrote a line of "Punisher" stories that feel more like Bernthal's Frank today.

This means the door is open for Ma to return in a future project if Disney ever feels like giving Frank his own series again. Or another movie, since "Deadpool & Wolverine" proved R-rated MCU movies work. There are plenty of Punisher comic book moments that were too intense for Netflix, but we'll see what Disney does. We might yet see Ma get ripped apart by polar bears.