Did the Punisher kill Huntress' family?

Question

The second Huntress of DC comics, Helena Bertinelli, became a vigilante after her entire family was slaughtered at a wedding. Frank Castle, the Punisher of Marvel comics, slaughtered an entire mafia-connected family by the name of Bertinelli at a wedding. Did the Punisher kill Huntress' family, or is it an astonishing coincidence?

Answer 1

Kevin is correct, although it may have been a wink-and-a-nod by one book's creative team to the other's.

There have been such "unofficial crossovers" before. In the 1980s, Teen Titans and the indy book DNAgents did it. In the 70s, the Gold Key Star Trek series faced the same menace one of Marvel or DC's sci-fi books at the time did.

Answer 2

It was an “unofficial crossover”, probably arranged by the artists and the writers when they got together griping about the unreasonable limits the publishers put on the contracts so the creators could not just walk away with their characters.

In a similar unacknowledged crossover, The “Krisis of Krimson Kryptonite” occurred at the same time as Spider Man got the Captain Universe powers.

Superman loses his powers just at the same time that Spider Man gains the power to fly, becomes enormously stronger, can see through walls and great distances, was able to punch the Hulk into orbit (and fly up to rescue him later)…? That’s a little too much weight to dump on poor coincidence.

I have come up with the Theory of Conservation of Super Powers, which states that “Super Powers cannot be created or destroyed, but can only be transferred from one (usually ‘worthy’) individual to another (usually by a ‘radiation accident’) at time of need (crisis). If the individual receiving the powers is not worthy, the transfer is only temporary, even if the previous holder of the powers is deceased. In time of crisis, even if the hero is unable to escape and save the day and rescue the innocent, the hero may transfer the super powers to an innocent person (usually an untrained person too young to permanently hold the role) in order to save the day, defeat the bad guy and rescue the others.

I can just see a darkened-room meeting, with two powerfully muscled figures. One has a sibilant capital letter on his chest, the other wears the silhouette of an arachnid. They shake hands.

“It’s agreed then. You’ll hold my powers for me this month, until I need them again.”

So, what Marvel calls the Captain Universe power is really Superman’s power, leaking into the Marvel Universe, and what they call the Microverse is really the DC universe. Probably all of Robby Reed’s Dial-H-for-Hero identities were minor villains temporarily borrowed from the Marvel Universe. (If you don’t know who Robby Reed was and what Dial-H-for-Hero was, look them up! You’ll be glad you did!)

21 JAN 07, 2015 hrs, GMT.

Answer 3

It's a coinidence..since Marvel and DC back then never did a crossover. I think the Huntress came out before they did there 96/97 crossover. But it would be cool if that did happen cause she could never get her revenge.