PUNISHER

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Real Name: Francis Castiglione (Later Legally Changed To “Frank Castle”)
Aliases: Franken-Castle, Mr. Smith, James Maxwell, Big Nothing, Major Bateman, Ted Bishop, Cliff Callador, Castigo, Chaloner, Fred D’Amato, Eastman, Charles Fort, Frank Loomis, McRook, Melchior, Joe Rainey, Frank Rook, Richard Rook, Tony Knowlen Ross, Francis Stronghold, Johnny Tower, Dmitri Velikoff, Frankie Villa, Yousoufian; numerous others
Identity: Known To Authorities
Occupation: Vigilante
Citizenship: United States Citizen With Criminal Record; listed in Marine records as a deserter
Place of Birth: Queens, New York
Known Relatives: Maria Elizabeth Castle (wife, deceased), Lisa Barbara Castle (daughter, deceased), Frank David Castle (a.k.a. Frank Jr., son, deceased), Mario Lorenzo Castiglione (father, deceased), Louisa Castiglione (mother, deceased), Fredo and Rocco Castiglione (paternal uncles, deceased)
Group Affiliation: None; formerly Code Red, Secret Avengers, Daredevil’s Unnamed Super-Hero Team, Green Berets, U.S. Marine Corps
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1974)
History:
Born in Queens, New York to parents of Sicilian ancestry, the young Francis Castiglione enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and through persistence and determination, he become a U.S. Marine Captain. He married his wife, Maria, who was already pregnant with their first child prior to his enlistment. After some time in boot camp, Frank eventually moved on to the United States Marine Corps School of Infantry, where he met Phan Bighawk, a Native American Indian who would go on and show Frank how to survive in the wilderness. This training would benefit him greatly, as Frank then went on to serve in the Vietnam War with the Special Forces Unit. Frank was the sole survivor (on both sides of the battle) of an ambush in 1971, in an attempt to overrun and kill those within Valley Forge Firebase. For his heroism he was decorated with the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, 3 times the Silver Star and Bronze Stars, 4 times the Purple Heart, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Although Frank would return to the United States and be reunited with his wife, and have a second child, he turned around and signed up for a third tour of duty within the Vietnam War, changing his name to Frank Castle, in order to return to the War. When the Vietnam War had come to an end, Frank still could not slow down. For several years, he ran a Special Black Ops training mission for Marine Recon Commandos in the upper New York State area.

Tragedy would strike when Frank took his family and children to Central Park in New York, and had been witnesses to a mob killing an opposing member. Fearing witnesses, the Mafia murdered Frank’s wife and children in cold blood, and assumed that Frank had perished as well. Frank turned up alive and was going to testify against the shooters, but the Mafia’s hand was deep in the pockets of the Police Force, and so Frank never saw the day in court. Instead, Frank turned to becoming a vigilante. Gathering an assortment of weapons, and crafting himself a battle suit, that had the huge emblem of a skull on it, Frank Castle “died” and became The Punisher, devoting his life to putting an end to organized crime – with street justice, that ended in the life of those Frank found to be guilty. There would be no court for those in organized crime if Punisher found them – justice was delivered by the barrel of the gun.

Using his extensive combat experience, which included weapon specialization, guerrilla warfare, assassinations, ambush, bombing, urban warfare, psychological warfare, tracking, survival, and extensive resource management, Punisher’s war on organized crime rapidly shook organized crime syndicates to their foundations. There was no one who knew how to combat Punisher, other than shoot everything at him. But again, his survival skills, his years in Vietnam; it would take much more to kill Punisher. The Punisher’s war on crime expanded beyond the Mafia. It trickled down to involve corrupt police officers. From there, it went to various mobs, gangs – including street gangs, muggers, killers, rapists, pedophiles. His war then expanded to take down criminal enterprises, drug runners, weapon smuggling, money laundering, and human trafficking. Despite various hit men, assassins and bounty hunters sent after Punisher, they were all sent back in a coffin.

During one of the instances, Punisher had tracked down the Concrete Dragons gang, which had been involved in illegal armament activity. He traced the files down to Midnight’s Fire, and managed to track down Silhouette Chord. However, he had not anticipated Night Thrasher’s appearance, who engaged Punisher in close hand to hand combat, and had managed to damage the Punisher enough, that Punisher was forced to flee after firing a machine gun at close range into Night Thrasher’s chest. Night Thrasher survived because his armor was bullet proof, but was extremely winded, due to the high velocity bullets that impacted against the armor.

Punisher managed to analyze Night Thrasher’s armor and returned to attack again, gaining the upper hand by wounding Silhouette, and putting a gun to her head. However, Night Thrasher recovered and picked up an Uzi which he aimed at Punisher, threatening to end his life if he pulls the trigger on Silhouette. Silhouette however, using her shadow melting power to teleport away. Although Punisher knows he could easily disarm Night Thrasher, he surrenders and listens to Silhouette explain how she is not a part of her brother’s gang. Punisher departs, but returns when Bengal appears, trying to kill a Priest (who had previously been a soldier in the Vietnam War and responsible for the death of his family). Punisher forces both Night Thrasher and Bengal to stand down, and speaks to both the Priest and Bengal. The Priest apologizes for his involvement and explains how he’s suffered for what he’s done, mentally. Bengal sees truth in his words and allows the Priest to leave, departing silently.

When the New Warriors accidentally triggered the events that would spawn the Superhuman Registration Act, Frank sided with Captain America. Punisher found and killed Jack O’ Lantern and Jester, who had found and cornered Spider-Man and beaten him. Not much later, when The Plunderer and Goldburg tried to join the Anti-Registration side, they were gunned down by Punisher. Captain America scolded Punisher for his lack of control, and disapproved of his methods. When the Civil War was over, Punisher found himself being pursued by S.H.I.E.L.D. once again.

Norman Osborn eventually became the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. and had less ethical methods of who he hired. He turned to The Hood to try and kill Punisher, but the Hood knew he would need help. He brought Microchip back from the dead; but Microchip failed. Hood even tried bringing back Punisher’s family from the dead, to disorient him; but Punisher burned them alive, knowing that they were not truly his family. Osborn eventually hired Daken, Wolverine’s son, and dozens of H.A.M.M.E.R. agents to take down Punisher. Daken emerged victorious, slicing Frank to pieces. Frank’s body parts were recovered by Moloids and Man-Thing, where he was resurrected by Morbius and the Legion of Monsters, as Castle-Franken, appearing like a Frankenstein-like creature. After assisting Morbius, Frank in his disfigured form sought vengeance against Daken, but was stopped by Wolverine. Frank was reverted to human form using thanks to the Ulysses Bloodstone.

After recovering, Frank eventually found and confronted Jigsaw, in a battle that led to Jigsaw falling into a vat of fire.

Height: 6’1″
Weight: 200 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Powers: None.

Skill: Punisher is the recipient of multidisciplinary military training from the U.S. Marine Corps. While a Marine, he also received training from the U.S. Army and Navy. From this training, Punisher is proficient in not only basic infantry skills, but in special operations, which includes the use and maintenance of specialized firearms and explosive ordnance. He is highly trained in infiltration into heavily-guarded enemy territories and structures for the purpose of assassination, captures, and military intelligence. Also, he is trained in various forms of camouflage and stealth. From his airborne training, Punisher is able to pack and maintain his own parachute rigs, as well as professionally control his landings, in daylight and at night. From his Navy UDT training, Punisher is well-skilled in extended underwater operations, including demolitions. He is skilled with a great many types of explosives, ranging from simple dynamite to plastique to improvised explosives. His hand-to-hand combat skills are more then sufficient to allow him to incapacitate and kill men much stronger than he is, as well as to deal with groups of armed and unarmed enemies, killing them all without weapons if he deems it necessary. He is also extremely deadly in knife training, preferring the knife he learned to fight with in the USMC: the ka-bar. Additionally, he is a preternaturally-precise marksman. He is thoroughly trained and experienced in unconventional (“guerilla”) warfare. He is an armorer, a gunsmith, and an expert in field medicine.

Weapons: The Punisher’s ever-changing arsenal of weaponry includes various automatic and semi-automatic rifles, and an array of handguns, fragmentation and tear gas grenades, other explosives, and combat knives. A personal favorite is his ballistic knife, which can launch its blade with lethal force. He commonly uses M16 .223 caliber automatic rifles, Sterling Mark 6 9mm, semi-automatic rifles, 9mm Browning Llama automatic pistols, .45 caliber automatic frame rechambered for 9mm. ammunition, .223 caliber Derringers, and Gerber Mark II combat knives.