CHARACTER NAME: Punisher
REAL NAME: Frank Castle
AGE: 38
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual
HEIGHT: 6' 1"
WEIGHT: 200 lbs
AFFILIATION: If any, none that last very long
HISTORY: [Note that I have cut out and edited parts, mostly Vietnam war bits, so that the history is consistent with the age]
"They laugh at the law. The rich ones who buy it and twist it to their whims. The other ones, who have nothing to lose, who don't care about themselves, or other people. All the ones who think they're above the law, or outside it, or beyond it. They know all the law is good for is to keep good people in line. And they all laugh. They laugh at the law. But they don't laugh at me."
-- Punisher
When mobsters slew his family, Frank Castle vowed to spend the rest of his life avenging them. Trained as a Marine and equipped with state-of-the-art weapons, he now wages a one-man war against crime as the Punisher.Born in Queens, New York, to parents of Sicilian ancestry, the young Francis Castiglione enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, eventually becoming a U.S. Marine Captain. He married his wife, Maria, who was already pregnant with their first child prior to his enlistment.
During his time in the USMC, Castiglione graduated from boot camp and then went on to United States Marine Corps School of Infantry. While still in training, Castiglione met Phan Bighawk, an American Indian scout. He was assigned to be Castiglione's guide, and through Phan, he learned how to survive in the wilderness.
Following his training, Castiglione served abroad in the Special Forces Unit as a point man. He fought in numerous engagements and was the only survivor (from both sides) of an assault on their base. For heroism in the line of duty, 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.
After finishing his second tour of duty abroad, he came back to the United States and had a second child with his wife. He then signed up for a third tour to which he illegally re-entered the U.S. Marine Corps under the name of Frank Castle in order to return to battle. Castle served a total of 4 years. Six years later, after the American involvement ended, Castle ran Special Black op training missions for Marine Recon Commandos in the upper New York State area.
While on leave, he took his wife and two small children to Central Park in New York City. Coincidentally, the family happened upon the scene of a mob killing on the Sheep's Meadow green in the park. Fearing witnesses, the mobsters murdered Castle's family in cold blood and escaped. Castle managed to survive the attack but was deeply traumatized by the incident.
He was going to testify in court to identify the shooters, but Castle was denied this since the New York police department were deeply connected with the Mafia. He decided not to return to Marine duty, but instead, outfitted himself with assorted weapons and a battle suit that displayed a large skull on the chest, and embarked on a one-man anti-crime campaign throughout New York City. Castle devoted the rest of his life to eradicating organized crime, using the
nom de guerre of the Punisher.
The Punisher uses his combat experience (four years as a US Marine in a special operations unit), guerrilla warfare (combat assault attacks, assassinations, ambushes, hit and runs, bombings, using the enemies' own money, weapons, and supplies against them), urban warfare (using the crowded city of New York to blend in and disappear), psychological warfare (putting fear into the hearts of criminals), using detective-like skills (talking to people, reading obtained files on the people he goes after, tracking and surveying the enemy), always adapting to the enemy such as using the Mafia's own methods and tactics against them (interrogating and torturing suspects to death in order to get information from them) and whatever resources and means may be necessary to do so, ranging from light anti-tank weaponry to enraged polar bears, piranhas, and even a hydrogen bomb.
The Punisher fought virtually about every known criminal organization, including the Italian Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, the Chinese Triads, Jamaican Yardies, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Irish Mob, biker gangs, street gangs, gunrunning militias, muggers, killers, rapists, psychopaths, sadists, pedophiles, and corrupt cops.
The Punisher also assaulted such criminal business enterprises as drugs, weapons smuggling, money laundering and human trafficking. The Punisher fought organized crime long enough to know their modus operandi and predict their actions. Many of these organizations tried to kill the Punisher, using both their own men and hired contract killers. But the Punisher managed to kill almost every type of assassin, hitman, bounty hunter, and mercenary sent after him.
The Punisher is highly mobile. He has many bases of operations and did not limit himself to working only in New York city. He has been to many places in the U.S. and around the globe fighting crime such as the British Isles, Latin America (Central and South America), Europe and Russia. The Punisher has an extensive criminal record due to his activities. Law enforcement such as the police, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and even S.H.I.E.L.D. were aware of his existence and made many attempts to capture him; however, many rank-and-file officers were reluctant to take action against the Punisher because they largely agreed with him. The Punisher himself disregarded what police and the public thought of him. The Punisher killed corrupt cops, but in doing so stirred police into heightened action against him. Castle was also caught and imprisoned (generally in Ryker's Island) many times, but always escaped.
POWERS/ABILITIES: ◾
Master Martial Artist: Castle is a very thoroughly seasoned combat veteran of exceptional skills. He is very well-versed in the arts of warfare and hand-to-hand combat. His styles of choice being Nash Ryu Jujutsu, (the four-style martial art founded by his Sensei Adam Nash and the Marine Corps LINE/MAPS combative systems) Ninjutsu, Shorin-Ryu Karate, Hwarang Do, and Chin Na. He is an exceptional knife fighter who carries up to 3 or 4 different types of edged weapons, preferring the knife he learned to fight with in the USMC: the Ka-bar.
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Expert Marksman: He is an exceptional marksman of every type of firearm who is sometimes depicted as being ambidextrous in this respect. He is skilled in sharpshooting and knife throwing as well.
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Expert Pilot: Castle received helicopter training with the U.S. Army and U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command.
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Interrogation Expert: Castle uses his interrogating skills to get information from people who has links to criminals through very creative use of torture as well such as water boarding, electrocution, suffocation, sleep deprivation, starvation etc.
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Demolitions Expert: He also received a U.S. Navy SEAL/UDT (Underwater Demolition Team), EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), US Army Ranger training, Army Special Forces Q-Course, and LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol) training.
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Expert Tactician: Armed solely with conventional weapons and motivated by a fanatical hatred for criminals like those who murdered his family, the Punisher has single-handedly incapacitated up to a dozen well-armed and experienced opponents in a single encounter and escaped uninjured. It is his military training and his attention to detail that allows him to achieve this.
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Strength level: The Punisher possesses the normal human strength of a 6'1" 200-pound man, who engages in intensive and extensive physical exercise. Frank is capable of press lifting up to twice his body-weight and can press lift 400 lbs. Frank engages in a brutal regimen of calisthenics, katas and firing range practice daily, maintaining his combat skills and he does not drink alcohol or do drugs.
WEAKNESSES:Castle is as susceptible to physical injury and disease as any other normal human, often having to rely more on strategy than strength when up against a superhuman opponent. However, different characters like Nick Fury have commented on how extraordinarily high his pain tolerance is. Frank does not take even over-the-counter painkillers, believing that their benefit of dulling pain isn't worth the side effects of drowsiness or slowed reflexes.
PERSONALITY:The Punisher differs from the majority of vigilantes. The Punisher works outside the traditional system of law and order. He is a remorseless and cold-blooded killer.
The Punisher possesses no superhuman abilities and succeeds solely through ingenuity and the rigorous training of his military upbringing, a finely honed killer instinct and an extensive arsenal of weapons culled from fallen foes and military allies.
Unlike most heroes, Castle has no dual identity, no "real world" job, no known hobbies, and few friends. He spends nearly all of his time planning his next hit, stopping only to recover from injuries or fatigue. Money taken from criminals is used to purchase food, weapons, ammunition, and pay the rent of his many safehouses.
The Punisher also disregards what the police and the public think of him, and is known to kill corrupt cops. He is viewed as a dangerous criminal by the public and by most members of the superhero community.
Castle's years of vigilantism have made him increasingly cynical about the capabilities of the American justice system, especially in regard to it's failure to successfully prosecute his family's homicide, due to the witnessed killer's false alibi and the mob's influence in the New York City Police Department. The reason Castle kills those he regards as criminals is his desire to make them pay for the pain that they've caused.
An Army colonel who once questioned Castle asked him why in which Castle responded, "So they can't get away. So they can't profit from the misery they've caused". While it is true that Frank derives a dark pleasure from what he does his motivation is that the thought of letting a criminal he could kill go would "drive him crazy". Some members of law enforcement are reluctant to arrest the Punisher because they believe he often deals with criminals that the law can't convict.
Castle stated he did not want others to follow his path, on the grounds that his personal war against criminals was his alone, and he harbored resentment toward other (usually short-lived) vigilantes, taking exception at what he saw as their lack of "professionalism".
The Punisher knows that no matter how many hundreds or thousands of criminals he kills, it doesn't make a difference in the world. Frank knows that his actions don’t make the world a safer place, as seen when a slaving operation continued despite the Punisher's extermination of one cell.
EQUIPMENT:◾ Military equipment as appropriate.
◾ Kevlar body armor with the iconic white skull painted on the chest. According to Frank Castle, this draws the attention and the aim of the criminals to his heavily armored body, instead of his more vulnerable head.
◾ Transportation: Many vehicles. Whatever Frank can get his hands on, be it stolen from a mobster he killed moments beforehand or bought with cash taken from the aforementioned mobster and without papers from a shady dealer.
◾ The Punisher employs a vast array of conventional firearms including machine guns, rifles, shotguns, handguns, knives, explosives and other weapons culled from common and organized criminals and military sources during his operations. A vast majority of his weapons have roots in military forces around the world, and typically employs weapons and accessories limited to military operations.
◾ The Punisher often customizes his weapons for greater effectiveness with both standard and custom items including magnified optics, reflex sights, night vision scopes, flashlights, grenade launchers, sound and flash suppressors, bipods, high-capacity magazines and drums and various ammunition including hollow point or armor piercing bullets.
KNOWN ENEMIES: Virtually about every known criminal organization, including the Italian Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, the Chinese Triads, Jamaican Yardies, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Irish Mob, biker gangs, street gangs, gunrunning militias, muggers, killers, rapists, psychopaths, sadists, pedophiles, and corrupt cops. Probably many more, but let's not make the list too long.
