Punisher: Legacy of a Madman (Marvel NEW)/Issue Three

The third issue of Punisher: Legacy of a Madman is the penultimate issue of the series and continues to show Billy Russo's descent into madness.

Synopsis
Punisher takes down a few criminals.

Plot
William Rawlins is laying in a hospital bed with bandages wrapping around his head, covering his eye. A doctor in a surgeon's mask sits in the chair beside his bed and asks him about his condition. Rawlins begins to describe it only to realize that his next checkup isn't for another three days. The doctor then takes off his mask, revealing himself to be Billy Russo. Due to Russo's new deformities, Rawlins doesn't recognize him and is terrified when Russo reveals himself. Rawlins asks what happened to him and Russo recounts the events of the previous issue, where Frank beat him to a pulp.

Russo then asks what happened to him, with Rawlins revealing he was shot in the back of his head and according to the doctors he might have brain damage. Russo looks up shocked at this before saying he's sorry. Rawlins tells him that everything is fine before he hears Russo say that maybe this will be a favor for him then. Rawlins asks what "this" is and is instantly answered when Russo picks up a pillow and begins to suffocate Rawlins with it, yelling that he did this to him.

Russo is seen back in his doctor costume walking out of Rawlins' room as a nurse enters it. She lets out a loud scream as Russo escapes into a crowd. Later that night, a group of people is drinking in a room, where a man reveals that he isn't happy. He asks his men to guess why and kills everyone who guesses wrong. One man, named Ivan, says that they give up and asks why he's so angry. The man turns on the light and reveals his face is being held together with a prosthetic. The man is revealed to be Finn Cooley, who yells that he's angry because of the prosthetic and that he wants the man who did it to him dead. Ivan asks who he's talking about and Cooley reveals the Punisher did it. Just after this, a dead man is thrown through the door, breaking it. A silhouetted Punisher is seen, saying that his ears were burning.

Frank pulls out a detonator and activates it, blowing up the building they are all in. Cooley manages to survive this and attempts to flee only for Frank to pin him to the ground. Frank prepares to shoot Cooley only for Ivan to burst out of the ruble and bear hug Frank. Ivan yells that Frank could never defeat him and that he has the strength of ten bears. Frank claims that Ivan is all brawn and no brain before stabbing Ivan in the side. This causes Ivan to let him go but he simply pulls the knife out and drops it to the ground, shrugging off the pain and punching Frank with both fists, sending him flying.

Frank manages to get up and activates an earpiece, asking if Chip has any advice for him. Micro begins researching Ivan, telling Frank to hold him off while he does so. Frank disappointedly tells Chip that's great before Ivan is revealed to be standing over him. Frank unloads bullets into Ivan but they all just bounce off of him. Frank asks Ivan if he's even human, only for Ivan to proclaim that he doesn't know and he doesn't care. Ivan then walks up to Frank and backhands him so hard he lands on the floor and tumbles. Frank then pulls out a grenade and throws it at Ivan. It blows up but Ivan walks out of the explosion with his clothing taking the most damage.

Out of options, Frank begins boxing Ivan. He actually seems to be doing well and manages to grab Ivan's head and shove it into a fire, causing Ivan to scream in pain. However, his scream turns to laughter as he pulls his head out of the flames, his hair now burned off. He then picks up Frank and chucks him all the way back to Finn Cooley, who has been watching in pleasure as Frank gets beat. Cooley begins mocking Frank until Frank gets a call from Chip, who reveals that the only thing that hurts Ivan is extremely heavy blows. He also reveals that Ivan has the mind of a six-year-old.

After hearing this, Frank has an idea. An idea that, according to himself, he hopes works because it would be terrible last words. When Ivan shows up, he attempts to give a speech, only for Frank to turn and point at Ivan, yelling for him to go to his room. Frank does his best to appear genuinely angry and repeats for him to go to his room. This causes Ivan to have some kind of flashback, where he begins crying, begging his "daddy" to stop yelling at him and that he didn't do anything. Frank is extremely disturbed by this but takes the opportunity and crushes Ivan's head with a massive piece of rock. Frank then turns and sees Finn Cooley, who is clapping at his defeat of Ivan. Finn congratulates him but then states that Frank has exhausted both his resources and himself from the fight. Frank and Cooley charge at each other and Cooley is shot in the head.

Frank turns and sees a man holding a smoking gun. The man states that he's sorry before revealing himself to be Billy and jokingly claiming that he didn't mean to. Frank stares at Billy, asking why he's here. Billy corrects Frank, stating he should be asking why they're here. A group of armed gangsters then surround Frank, with Billy saying that he's been doing quite a lot of work since he lost his last job. He once again blames Frank for him being fired and Frank attempts to defend himself but is interrupted by Billy, who fires his gun right beside Frank's ear, yelling that he doesn't want to hear it and that all he wants to hear is Frank's final words before he dies. Billy then goes on yet another tirade about the Punishers, once again claiming that in all of this he's the hero. He then has his men bring "her" out.

One gangster brings out a woman with a bag over her head. Billy takes it off, revealing it to be Lynn. Frank is terrified by this and speaks with Lynn. Frank attempts to comfort Lynn, only for Lynn to tell Frank that this is all his fault. This confuses Frank, with Lynn reminding Frank that if it wasn't for him Billy wouldn't be the way he is. She then states that Frank was the one who created the Punishers and the Punishers are what caused Billy to do all this in the first place. A disheartened Frank attempts to speak with Lynn, only for Russo to shoot her in the back of the head. Frank grieves over her corpse and Russo then shoots Frank in the back. He shoots him a few more times before claiming that he's probably dead, and even if he isn't what he's going to do will kill him. It then cuts to Russo with Frank and Lynn at the edge of a cliff. He kicks both of them off and they fall into the darkness. Russo then meets with his many men and proclaims that Billy Russo died with the Punisher, telling them all his name is Jigsaw now. They all cheer and Jigsaw smiles.