Bio

THE PUNISHER

REAL NAME: Frank Castle (born Castiglione)

ALIASES: The Punisher, Frank Rook, Charles Fort, Johnny Tower, Fred D'Amato

HEIGHT: 6’0”

WEIGHT: 200 lbs

EYES: Blue

HAIR: Black

FIRST APPEARANCE: Amazing Spiderman #129 (February, 1974)

BACKGROUND: Ex-US marine whose family was killed in Central Park, New York, when they inadvertently witnessed a gangland execution. The mobsters murdered Frank's wife, Maria, and their two children, Frank Jr. and Barbara. Frank was left to die of his injuries.

On that day, Frank Castle vowed to use his skills and experience to wage a one-man war on crime. He set out to punish all criminals, and more often than not, that punishment takes a very lethal form indeed. Castle has been sent to prison on numerous occasions in the past, including the notorious Ryker's Island, but has always managed to escape.

He had an expert computer hacker helper named Linus "Microchip" Lieberman who, after many years of friendship, started having disagreements with Castle's methods, resulting in the break-up of their working relationship. Frank went mad over this and, in a fit of rage, was involved in a gunfight with rogue SHIELD agent Sudden Death, which resulted in the death of Microchip, as well as Frank's incarceration by SHIELD agent Col. Nicholas Joseph Fury.

While incarcerated, Frank was brainwashed through hypnosis into believing that Col. Fury was the man who killed his family, which started him on a suicide run, resulting in the apparent death of Fury and the re-incarceration of Castle. Due to a frame-up by the mercenary Bullseye, Frank was sentenced to death by the electric chair, which he survived with the intervention of the Geraci crime family. Not long after, Castle joined the family in order to infiltrate their ranks and destroy them from within. His arch-nemesis, Jigsaw, with help from Tombstone, Firefox, and the Hatchetman, destroyed the Geracis when their dying Don betrayed them. In revenge, Frank killed Jigsaw and Tombstone while letting Hatchetman escape after renewing his honour by killing Firefox.

In what has been termed "Onslaught", Frank helped SHIELD agent George Washington Bridge in the evacuation of the crashed Helicarrier, after which he was given a field assignment to make up for killing Fury. At the end of this mission, Frank was given amnesia by the concussive force of the destruction of the Mutant Liberation Front's base. He started regaining his

identity when he protected the Montoya family from weapons dealers. As his memories returned, he continued his war on crime until, one fateful day, he killed himself.

Though his time on earth was not yet up, to atone for his sins he returned as an "avenging angel" who killed devils and could materialise any weapon he desired from his overcoat. While in this angel guise he teamed up with Wolverine in an adventure to save mankind from Revelation.

Having redeemed himself, the Punisher returned once more, this time to wipe out the powerful Gnucci gangster family.

WEAPONRY: The Punisher uses a variety of handguns and close combat weapons, including M16 .223 caliber automatic rifles, Sterling Mark 6 9mm semiautomatic rifles, 9mm Browning Llama

automatic pistols, .45 caliber automatics rechambered for 9mm ammo, .223 caliber Derringers, M26 fragmentation grenades, concussion grenades, tear-gas grenades, Gerber Mark II Combat knives and other occasional stuff, transporting his equipment in an armoured van. Although he has a mobile base of operations, he's primarily based in New York City.

KNOWN ALLIES: Microchip, Microchip Jr., Spider-Man, Daredevil, Captain America, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, The Incredible Hulk

KNOWN ENEMIES: The Kingpin, Jigsaw, Bushwacker, Doctor Doom, Ma Gnucci, The Russian


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