Yes, this actually happened. And it’s not as crazy as you think… but almost.
PUNISHER vol.2 #28 (1989)
by Mike Baron & Bill Reinhold
I love the Punisher’s expression on the cover, like he’s thinking “Even I am not THAT crazy!”.
We begin with Doom meeting Kingpin in the extradimensional room used by the Prime Movers as their headquarters. Much has been said about Magneto loathing the idea of being in the same team of Red Skull, but Doom also hates being associated with Kingpin.
Kingpin loves to push Doom’s buttons, but he might have gone a little overboard.
Eager to put Kingpin in his place, Doom decides to bet he’s going to get rid of the Punisher within one week. That’s kind of a win-win situation for Kingpin… if Doom fails he can taunt him, if Doom wins he gets rid of the Punisher.
In pretty funny moment, Doom actually warns the Punisher before taking any steps and the Punisher is like “What did I did to you!?”
Not that he cares enough to this in person, because come on.
Sending a Doombot is pretty on brand. It’s weird Doom use a regular tank (????), but now that I think about it he probably doesn’t consider the Punisher worthy of even his most basic technology.
Mike Baron did his research: the Wiesel really was a German tank. The reference to West Germany is interesting (this was published before 1990’s reunification of East and West Germany): Latveria was supposed to be neutral during the Cold War, but if he’s buying tanks from West Germany maybe he did take some part of it. Food for thought.
The Punisher survives the encounter thanks to his trusty jetpack. Kind of corny, but honestly I much prefer the Punisher when he has some gadgets straight out of a brainless action movie.
It’s not over yet, because Doom also sent henchmen with their own jetpacks after him!
Are those mercenaries? They don’t look like robots, and at this point they’re unlikely to be Latverian soldiers considering Doom is in exile.
The Punisher kills the mercenaries, because of course he does, and then he has to call his sidekick Microchip to get him back to the base (since Doom blew up his van).
Micro’s reaction alone is worth the price of the book.
I appreciate that the Punisher immediately understand he has absolutely zero chances to take on Doom. And this is near the peak of the Punisher’s popularity, so it’s great to see some restrain.
Instead the Punisher has the brilliant idea to BLACKMAIL DOCTOR DOOM.
Yeah steal something connected to his mother, what’s the worst that could happen?
Actually, the chance to see the Punisher dressed like THIS is worthy of the price.
We’re back to having no clue where Latveria is supposed to be.
Because now it has a border with Austria, while previously we were told it’s also next to Romania , Hungary and the Bavarian Alps, which are between Austria and Germany.
See if you can spot the tiny problem of having the same country sharing a border with those four.
It does facilitate seeing the Punisher dressed like this, so all is forgiven.
Unfortunately for him, Doom is beginning to enjoy this.
Leave it to Doom to have detailed info on everybody.
I have to say that the interaction between Doom and Kingpin is just comedy gold.
You have to love Doctor Doom ordering an airstrike on a sovereign nation to win a bet. If he was still a head of state this could be considered an act of war!
Meanwhile the Punisher has reached Latveria and is trying to infiltrate Castle Doom. I wonder how he’s doing?
SOMEHOW he manages to get past the robot (thanks to one of Microchip’s gizmos) and sneak past a guard. That’s not a cigarette he’s smoking by the way.
I do like that English is the language of the palace (explains past FF interactions) and the fact that the Punisher is able to get past security by sheer intimidation alone. These guys know a thing or two about charismatic psychos after all!
And it’s said explicitly that security is very bad now that Doom has been replaced by Kristoff.
The Punisher does manage to locate the jewel he’s looking for… but not before being intercepted by the Doombots working for Kristoff.
PUNISHER vol.2 #28 (1990)
by Mike Baron & Bill Reinhold
You might think the cover has nothing to do with the rest of the story, and you’d be half correct.
Never thought I’d see a Punisher comic opening with him dining with Kristoff, but here you go.
Kristoff is being a good guest, even showing the Punisher a portrait of his parents.
Despite the fact that we’ve been shown Kristoff is very bad at security, this is possibly the appearance where he consistently acts like the real Doom.
Speaking of the real Doom, here’s an interesting exchange with Kingpin where he talks about an assistant who is “a master at factoring probabilities”. It’s not identified in the comic so I don’t know if this refers to anything a Punisher reader would recognize, but to me it looks like he’s talking about the Mad Thinker. Considering the Intelligentsia retcon, it’s more likely than not.
The Doom-Kingpin interaction gets serious now, with Doom being accused of being a hypocrite.
Which, yeah he IS, but this time he’s actually innocent!
Kingpin doesn’t share his source. Mind you, it’s also completely possible he’s lying to get under Doom’s skin.
Meanwhile the Punisher escapes from Castle Doom by stealing a helicopter (!!!), only to be intercepted by West Germany.
Luckily for the Punisher, Nick Fury owes him a favor after a previous issue. So he uses a S.H.I.E.L.D. security code to have Nick save him from ending up in prison.
Turns out the Punisher stole the painting from Castle Doom, and he has a forger make an exact replica so that it can be a giant target on his van!!!
The reason for the cover is that the Punisher is driving nearby the fight between the Avengers and the Freedom Force. He doesn’t participate in the fight, AT ALL, so that makes it one of the flimsiest excuses for a cover I’ve ever seen.
Doom soon finds the van, just like the Punisher wanted…
However Doom has had enough of this entire thing, and he’s willing to call it off if he’s given back the original painting.
Love Microchip not being sure if he can trust Doom… it’s not like Doom’s code of honor is universally known to the public.
In a classic Doom move he gives his word because he knows Kristoff will take out the Punisher for him… except this is never picked up again.
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #12 (1989)
by Carl Potts & Jim Lee
The Punisher was so popular that he had two regular series at the time. I won’t cover the other one in its entirety since it has the Punisher fight Daredevil foe Bushwacker.
Yeah, a guy who can turn his arm into a gun is a better match than freaking Doctor Doom.
It does feature a Doom cameo, though, dealing with the repercussions of his bet against Kingpin.
It’s also an opportunity to see an early Jim Lee drawing Doctor Doom. Very nice, despite the weird decision to give him blue eyes.
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #13 (1989)
by Carl Potts & Jim Lee
Naturally Bushwacker fails to kill the Punisher, leading to a brutal takedown by Doctor Doom and his awesome chair.
Seriously, when are we going to get another chance to have both Doctor Doom and Kingpin trade insults? These two are just a riot!
Doom significance: 0/10
Like I said the Kristoff threat is never picked up again, and sadly we don’t see further interactions with Kingpin.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
As tempted as I am to increase the score, and as ridiculous as the Punisher can get… there’s no way I can honestly see him in the Silver Age.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
This has no business being as good as it is, but it’s one of the best Acts of Vengeance tie-ins. And I don’t even like the Punisher all that much!
While the comic does manage to make the Punisher and Doom feel like they belong in the same story, something that’s very hard to do, some parts are still very forced.
Kristoff’s inefficiency is taken to the extreme in order to have the Punisher both infiltrate and escape the castle; I initially thought Kristoff was letting him escape on purpose, but now.
Also, while I can see Doom growing bored of the challenge, I don’t buy it that he really had to surrender in order to save the painting.
Still, the Doom-Kingpin interaction are top notch and you have to appreciate any Punisher comic that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
It was a Doombot all along 
Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 66
Should the Punisher be considered a superhero? Probably not. But the fact he met Doctor Doom is too crazy to leave him out of the count!
The doomy lands of Doom
Latveria has a border with Austria? How!?
Crazy tech
Out of necessity and explained in the story itself, but Doom is surprisingly low tech here.