Barracuda Cristu Bulat Cristu Bulat was a character in
Marvel Comics. He first appeared in
The Punisher vol. 6 #25. He was a
Romanian criminal specializing in brothels where East European abductees are forced into prostitution. Son of notorious
Yugoslav Wars freedom fighter and crime boss Tiberiu Bulat. He was eviscerated alive by the Punisher for information.
Cristu Bulat in other media Cristu Bulat appears in
Punisher: War Zone, portrayed by
David Vadim. This version is a rival of the Cesare crime family. While attempting to smuggle biological weapons into the U.S., he is sold out by Jigsaw and arrested by the authorities.
Damage Elite The original Elite first appeared in
The Punisher vol. 4 #5. His son
Tim, the second Elite, first appeared in
The Punisher: War Zone vol. 2 #1 (2009). The first Elite was a fascist and racist vigilante who killed gang members, drug dealers and other criminals who "lower the tone" in his upper-class
neighborhood. He even shot a lady's dog that urinated on the sidewalk and ran off a hot dog vendor who had set up shop in Elite's neighborhood by tossing a live grenade in the vendor's cart. Nevertheless, Elite was well-spoken: he was actually polite to his victims. Elite was the manager of an art gallery and had a wife, a son named Tim and a daughter. Elite later joined up with Mr. Payback and the Holy to form the Vigilante Squad, planning to exterminate all of New York City's criminals. When the Punisher confronted the Vigilante Squad, he called Elite "a Nazi". Elite was gunned down by the Punisher seconds later: he was shot at least eight times at point-blank range by the Punisher's Uzi. Elite's widow later remarried & his daughter suffered a mental breakdown and was sent to an insane asylum, but Tim inherited his father's wealth & possessions and eventually went to
Princeton. Like his father, Tim was an arrogant, racist snob who hated minorities & the less fortunate; while high on
cocaine, Tim used his
Porsche to run over a homeless man who got in his way, but the homeless man survived and Tim was arrested, convicted of attempted murder, sent to prison and expelled from Princeton. Six years after his father's death, Tim took up his father's alter ego and vowed to avenge his father's murder at the hands of the Punisher. Elite set up an elaborate scheme that at first, made Castle believe his old nemesis,
Ma Gnucci, was still alive: Elite used several cosmetically-altered body-doubles of Ma to convince several mob families to assist him in eliminating the Punisher, but in the end Castle discovered Elite's scheme. Aided by NYPD Lieutenant Molly von Richtofen, Castle & Molly killed all of Elite's mob allies. Castle then killed Elite's henchmen & confronted Elite himself, telling him "What makes you think they haunt me?" Elite, too shocked to resist, could only say "Whuh...what?" Castle replied "Go", then executed Elite.
Finn Cooley Finn Cooley is a fictional character in the
Marvel Comics Universe. He first appeared in
The Punisher vol. 6 #7. A hideously disfigured Irish terrorist, an Irish mob boss and a demolitions expert, Cooley was formerly an
Active Service Unit leader with the
Provisional IRA in
Derry,
Northern Ireland, from 1986 to 1993, when he was arrested, interrogated by the
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) at
Castlereagh, convicted of murder & terrorism and sent to prison, but was released as part of the
Good Friday Agreement in 1998. After Cooley was freed, he tried to join the
Continuity IRA, but that unit disavowed him, so Finn came to America. Cooley had to wear a facial mask as half of his face was blown off in an explosives accident, when the bomb he planted at a
Belfast RUC police station prematurely detonated. He was also an expert in hand-to-hand combat. In 2003, Cooley planted fifty pounds of
Semtex at an Irish bar in
Hell's Kitchen in order to kill several rival Irish mob bosses, but the bomb went off prematurely, killing 11 and injuring 30 innocent people, one of whom was Frank Castle; Castle's friend
MI6 agent Yorkie Mitchell informed Castle who was responsible and provided MI6's intel files on Cooley and his associates; MI6 also ordered Mitchell to assassinate Cooley. Cooley was ironically killed by a bomb left behind by recently deceased Irish mob boss
Pops Nesbitt, who thought Cooley and his rivals were unworthy of inheriting his fortune. Cooley had a nephew, Peter Cooley, who was a
Provisional IRA soldier from 1994 to 1998, who served as his uncle's right-hand man, and was a prime suspect in the murders of three
British security forces soldiers, but was never arrested or convicted; one of the victims was
Sergeant Major Stephen Lorimer, a close friend of Mitchell. Peter was captured by Castle & Mitchell, interrogated for information about Finn and the New York Irish mob leaders, then executed by
Parachute Regiment trooper
Lance Corporal Andy Lorimer, in revenge for his father's murder.
Finn Cooley in other media • Finn Cooley appears as a playable character in
The Punisher: No Mercy. • Finn Cooley appears in the
Daredevil episode "Penny and Dime", portrayed by
Tony Curran. This version is a hotheaded and impulsive high-ranking member of the Irish Mob. After his son Kelly Cooley is killed by
Frank Castle, who also stole the Irish Mob's money, Finn places a bounty on him before he and his men capture him. Following a failed interrogation regarding the stolen money, Castle breaks free and interrogates Finn for information on his family's deaths before killing him.
General Kreigkopf First appeared in
The Punisher vol. 5 #2. A former
United States Marine Corps General who was infamous for committing
war atrocities, later becoming a terrorist leader. During the
Vietnam War,
Lieutenant Kreigkopf allowed his Marines to pillage the town of Ap Duc and rape its women, as a reward for defending the town. In the 1980s, during the Contra War,
Major Kreigkopf was directly responsible for the deaths of 426
Sandinistas, two-thirds of which were killed with
nerve agents. During
Operation Desert Storm,
Colonel Kreigkopf ordered his Marines to use half of a
company of Iraqi prisoners for
bayonet practice. However, none of the war crimes were ever proven, a testament to Kreigkopf's influence with military leaders. As a general, Kreigkopf did the unthinkable: he struck a
lance corporal in the neck with a rifle butt, rendering the young marine permanently paralyzed from the neck down, for
insubordination. Worse, the entire incident was filmed by a
CNN camera team. Before Kreigkopf could face a
court-martial, he was smuggled out of the United States by the
CIA, as he was considered a valuable asset by them, for conducting
black ops on their behalf. Nevertheless, the court-martial proceeded with Kreigkopf
in absentia: he was dismissed from the Marine Corps and stripped of rank. Kreigkopf fled to
Grand Nixon Island in the
South Pacific, where he established a
mercenary base and hired disgraced
special forces & black ops operators, hitmen and sociopaths, as mercenaries and terrorists; a "black ops for hire" outfit, as Frank Castle put it. The most notable of these mercenaries was
The Russian, who was recently murdered by the Punisher, and resurrected with
cyborg technology stolen from
S.H.I.E.L.D. As "payment" for his services, Kreigkopf allowed the Russian one more chance to kill the Punisher in revenge; the Russian failed in his mission and returned to Grand Nixon Island in time for Kreigkopf's plot to eliminate the
European Union (EU) leaders in
Brussels, as revenge for their plotting to wipe out Kreigkopf and his terrorist group. When the Punisher foiled Kreigkopf's plot by shooting down a
Boeing 747 full of terrorists, Kreigkopf ordered the hijacking of a French military aircraft that was carrying a
hydrogen bomb and have it destroy the EU leaders. As the French aircraft began to taxi down the runway, the Punisher confronted Kreigkopf on the runway and shot him in the shoulder, then Castle managed to board the aircraft and throw the Russian out with the nuclear weapon chained to him. Kreigkopf watches and he yells in anger and horror that the Punisher destroyed his plans and the Punisher kills him with the nuclear weapon. The resulting nuclear explosion destroyed Grand Nixon Island, the terrorists, the Russian and Kreigkopf. Two weeks later, the Punisher broke into the
White House and directly confronted the
President of the United States, who had been
blackmailed by Kreigkopf; Kreigkopf had threatened to inform the media of black ops authorized by the President, the least of which was authorizing the Russian to eliminate the Punisher, and ordering the
NYPD not to interfere. The Punisher gave the President a stern warning, and threw a
9mm Parabellum round on the President's desk, saying "Nine millimeters. I'm never further away than that." "Kreigkopf" is German for "Warhead", a
double entendre, referring to Kreigkopf's propensity for brutality, and the fact he confiscated a nuclear weapon.
General Kreigkopf in other media Kreigkopf appears in
The Punisher (2005), voiced by
Bob Joles.
Hitman Holy First appeared in
The Punisher vol. 4 #2.
Father Hector Redondo, who called himself "The Holy", was an insane
Catholic priest in
Spanish Harlem who used a
fireman's axe to kill criminals who confessed their sins to him. He believed killing "evil" people is
God's will, and was later inspired by the Punisher to form the Vigilante Squad, consisting of the Holy, Elite and Mr. Payback (the trio hoped that the Punisher would join and lead them). The media called him the mystery "Axe-Murderer of Spanish Harlem". Father Redondo realized that he was a killer and showed remorse after each of his murders, praying for absolution and forgiveness for his sins, only to subsequently commit more murders and pray after each one. The Punisher used Detective Soap's notes to find Father Redondo, whose church was the place where all of the victims came to confess their sins. Not only did Castle find The Holy, but also Elite and Mr. Payback. By listening to their conversation, the Punisher found out Redondo was indeed the Axe-Murderer. The Punisher barged into The Holy's office to confront the Vigilante Squad, who attempted to recruit the Punisher as their leader, but Castle was unmoved by their pleas, accusing Redondo of being "a lunatic". Just after Redondo made the trio's final plea with the Punisher to reconsider, Castle gunned down all three members of the Vigilante Squad.
Ink Ink was one of Nicky Cavella's bodyguards/enforcers, and was always paired with Pittsy. He first appeared in
The Punisher vol. 6 #2. Ink received his nickname when he killed his first man by stabbing a pen through the man's eye and into his brain. Ink was slightly cross-eyed and always wore glasses. Like his partner Pittsy, Ink was just as callous and ruthless; however, Ink rarely spoke, but when he did, Cavella referred to Ink as a real "ballbuster". Ink was a skilled cook: he murdered, then butchered and cooked up the son of mob boss David Kai, who enjoyed his "sweet & sour pork" until Cavella told him what it really was. Ink's favorite word was "Huh", which he used whenever he agreed with something; it was also his last word when he was killed during a battle between Cavella's mobsters & CIA agents who were negotiating with Frank Castle; Cavella & Pittsy barely escaped with their lives, but were forced to leave Ink's body behind.
Ink in other media Ink appears in
Punisher: War Zone, portrayed by
Keram Malicki-Sánchez. This version is a young man, enforcer for Jigsaw, and son of Carmine "Pittsy" Gazzera.
Jigsaw Kingpin Maginty Maginty first appeared in
The Punisher vol. 6 #8. An
Afro–
Irish crime lord in
Hell's Kitchen, he was one of the four gang lords who would receive a share of Pops Nesbitt's fortune, which turned out to be a bomb, killing Maginty and the other gang leaders.
Maginty in other media Maginty appears in
Punisher: War Zone portrayed by
T. J. Storm. This version is an enforcer for
Jigsaw who engages in
parkour.
Ma Gnucci Olivier Mr. Payback First appeared in
The Punisher vol. 4 #5. A vigilante who despised
corporations and
the corrupt, especially those who disregard the safety and well-being of the
working class. He gunned down the entire Board of Directors of the World-Wide Investment Corporation (WIC); Payback later used a
FIM-92 Stinger missile to destroy a WIC helicopter that killed the company's CEO, attorney and helicopter pilot. He also executed a wealthy banker who criticized Payback during a live TV news interview. Payback was highly intelligent: he made several highly articulate speeches about the exploitation of corporate laborers; shortly thereafter, Payback deduced the location of Elite's neighborhood and found Elite gunning down a marijuana dealer. Payback convinced Elite to join him, and the duo stumbled across The Holy, forming the Vigilante Squad. Just as the Vigilante Squad decided that they needed the Punisher to lead them, the topic of discussion himself stormed into the room. An awed Mr. Payback told the Punisher that he was their inspiration. After insulting The Holy and Elite, the Punisher informed Payback that he had killed four innocent people during his quest for justice, to which Payback responded that there have to be sacrifices in war. After Payback gave the wrong answer, the Punisher pulled out his trademark
Uzi and prepared to gun down the trio, who pleaded with the Punisher to reconsider their offer. Mr. Payback, along with the rest of the Vigilante Squad, died seconds later.
Nicky Cavella Nicolas "Nicky" Cavella first appeared in
The Punisher vol. 6 #2. He was a psychotic captain in the Cesare
crime family. At the age of eight, he killed his father, mother and sister, then framed his uncle for the murders at the suggestion of his aunt in order for her to become captain of the Cavella family; when Nicky turned 18, she took him as a lover and protege until he one day smothered her to death, thus becoming
capo of his family. He was one of the few criminals to have survived an encounter with the Punisher. However, when he desecrated the Castle family's graves to lure out the Punisher so he can kill him once and for all, he was kidnapped by the Punisher, marched into the woods by Castle and shot in the belly, leaving him there to languish for days, dying slowly of blood poisoning. Cavella portrayed himself as a
charismatic, suave killer but is really an emotionally unstable coward.
Nicky Calvella in other media "Nicky Calvella" appears in
Punisher: War Zone as the alias of undercover FBI agent
Nicky Donatelli, portrayed by
Romano Orzari.
Carmine "Pittsy" Gazzera Carmine "Pittsy" Gazzera was one of Nicky Cavella's
bodyguards/
enforcers, always paired with Ink. He first appeared in
The Punisher vol. 6 #2. Pittsy once worked as an enforcer for "Ray the Rat", then began serving Cavella when the latter became a soldier and scion of his family. Pittsy was extremely
rude,
profane and merciless, but was completely loyal to Cavella. He had an
extremely high pain threshold & endurance, on a level comparable to the Punisher himself, and was a very capable hand-to-hand combatant. During a three-way firefight between the Punisher, the CIA and Cavella's men, the Punisher threw Pittsy through a
warehouse window and impaled him upon a spiked fence. To Castle's disbelief, Pittsy staggered towards Castle with a section of the fence still imbedded in him; Castle finished off Pittsy with a point-blank shotgun blast to the face. Shortly after Pittsy's death, his younger sister Teresa "Tessie" replaced her brother as Cavella's bodyguard. Tessie had the same rude & cold-blooded personality as her brother, but became enamored of Cavella and tried to seduce him; Cavella rebuffed Tessie's advances. Shortly thereafter, Tessie tracked down Frank Castle, who was in bed with Kathryn O'Brien, and attacked them both, managing to stab Castle in the shoulder while screaming that Castle had killed her brother. O'Brien managed to pick up a pistol and repeatedly shot Tessie in the face, killing her.
Pittsy in other media Pittsy appears in
Punisher: War Zone, portrayed by
Mark Camacho. This version is Jigsaw's right hand and the father of Ink.
Robert Hellsgaard First appeared in
Punisher vol. 7 #11. Robert Hellsgaard was a brilliant engineer in 1898 who came home to discover that his family was killed by werewolves. Ever since that day, he formed the Hunter of Monster Special Forces to exterminate monsters and has since resided in the armor he made. After exterminating Monster Isle, he and forces arrived in Monster Metropolis where he ran afoul of Punisher's Frankencastle form and the
Legion of Monsters.
Rosalie Carbone The Russian Tiberiu Bulat First appeared in
The Punisher vol. 6 #26. Cristu Bulat's father, with whom he fought in the
Yugoslav Wars with the
Serbs. They eventually went to the West, where they set up a series of brothels where East European abductees are forced into prostitution. He was burned alive by Castle, who had the murder recorded and sent to Bulat's associates in
Moldova as a warning not to mess with the Punisher.
Tiberiu Bulat in other media Tiberiu Bulat appears in
Punisher: War Zone portrayed by
Aubert Pallascio. Upon learning his son Cristu was betrayed by Jigsaw and subsequently incarcerated, Tiberiu assists the Punisher in his crusade against Jigsaw.
Tony Pizzo First appeared in
The Punisher vol. 6 #19. A young and inexperienced
gangster who becomes a
Mafia captain due to the Punisher killing most of New York City's veteran
mafiosi. Pizzo first appears at a sit-down with Nicky Cavella and a few other captains; he and the other captains agree to make Cavella their boss so he can help them kill the Punisher and rebuild the Mafia. After an attempt to kill the Punisher fails miserably due to interference by CIA agent Kathryn O'Brien, Pizzo and the rest of the surviving Mafiosi turn on Cavella and leave him on his own for the Punisher to kill him. Pizzo appears several issues later in the "Widowmaker" story arc when one of the widows seduces him in order to find out about a Mafia convoy escorting a replacement boss into New York City; the Punisher finds out about this as well and attacks the convoy, killing everyone including Pizzo and the replacement boss.
Ray Schoonover Colonel Ray Schoonover is a fictional character in
Marvel Comics. The character, created by
Carl Potts, John Wellington and
Jim Lee, first appeared in
The Punisher War Journal #4 (March 1988) Schoonover was Frank Castle's former commanding officer during the
Vietnam War. On the side, he was secretly running a drug smuggling ring. While running for U.S. Senate, he hired the
Sniper to take out anyone who knew his secret. The
Punisher found out and forced him to confess; Schoonover promptly committed suicide afterwards.
Ray Schoonover in other media Ray Schoonover appears in
Marvel's Netflix television series, portrayed by
Clancy Brown: • First appearing in the
second season of
Daredevil, this version is
Frank Castle's former commanding officer in the
U.S. Marines who secretly operates as a drug runner codenamed the "
Blacksmith" and orchestrated a shootout between the Irish Mob and a gang called the Dogs of Hell that led to Frank's family's deaths. In the present, Schoonover serves as a character witness in Frank's trial before attempting to frame him for murdering individuals connected to the Castle family's deaths upon his release from prison. Additionally, his men attempt to kill
Karen Page, who had been investigating and legally representing Frank in court, but he kills them and saves Page. Amidst an interview with Schoonover, Page deduces his criminal activities before Frank kidnaps and later kills him over Page's protests. • Schoonover appears in flashbacks depicted in
The Punisher episode "Kandahar". While working with the Marines, he and Frank served in an illegal black ops unit called Operation: Cerberus that was funded by heroin they were smuggling inside the corpses of soldiers who were killed-in-action. Additionally, Schoonover lost his right arm to a mortar blast after ignoring Frank's concerns about a mission leading into an ambush.
Curtis Hoyle Curtis Hoyle is a fictional character in the
Marvel Comics Universe. He first appeared in
The Punisher #1 (July 1987), and was created by writer
Mike Baron and artist
Klaus Janson. A lieutenant in the Vietnam War, Hoyle fought alongside Frank Castle before returning home to the U.S. where they parted ways. Hoyle turned to a life of crime with the Rockhouse Corporation where he quickly rose in the ranks to be second in command. He reunited with Castle, who disguised himself, hoping to get close to Hoyle's boss. However, Hoyle saw through Castle's disguise and tried to kill the man. Hoyle was no match for Castle who threw him out of a helicopter to his death.
Curtis Hoyle in other media Curtis Hoyle appears in
The Punisher, portrayed by
Jason R. Moore. Introduced in the
first season, this version is a former
US Navy Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman who lost his left leg to an IED, leading to him acquiring a prosthetic leg, and went on to become an insurance salesman as well as run a therapy group. Additionally, he stays in contact with
Frank Castle after their service and is aware of the latter's activities as the Punisher, personally admitting that he would have helped him find the people who killed his family. He will return in
The Punisher: One Last Kill television special.
William Rawlins William Rawlins is a fictional character in the
Marvel Comics Universe. He first appeared in
The Punisher vol. 7 #13 (Nov. 2004), and was created by writer
Garth Ennis and artist
Douglas Braithwaite. A CIA agent who set up a terrorist cell in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the orders of a rogue group of
US Army and
US Air Force generals, later used as a distraction while Frank Castle and a
Delta Force operator infiltrated a Russian missile silo to retrieve a virus sample. He is also one of Kathryn O'Brien's ex-husbands, and on their honeymoon pushed Kathryn out of a
helicopter into the hands of the terrorists to protect a shipment of heroin. Rawlins is later assigned by the generals to organize the death of Castle with Nicky Cavella, with whom he had an intimate relationship. He is later kidnapped by O'Brien and Castle, where he's tortured by Castle to find out information about the rogue generals, which is taped. During the torture session, Rawlins lost an eye. He later escapes and sells his information of the terrorist attack on Russia to the
Russian military, since he has become
persona non grata to the CIA and needed protection. He later betrays the Russians for his own ulterior gains. Before he is finally able to escape and disappear, Rawlins is murdered by Castle in the men's
restroom of
Kabul International Airport.
William Rawlins in other media William J. "Bill" Rawlins III appears in the
first season of
The Punisher, portrayed by
Paul Schulze. This version, also known as "
Agent Orange", previously oversaw an illegally funded black ops unit called Operation Cerberus, of which
Frank Castle took part in. After Rawlins ignored Frank's concerns about an ambush and getting caught in it, Frank punched Rawlins hard enough to cause an
orbital blowout fracture, permanently blinding the latter in his left eye. In the present, Rawlins became the director of the CIA's covert operations unit and built a security network via illegal dealings and assassinations. However, he comes into conflict with Frank, who eventually kills Rawlins.
Mennonite The
Mennonite is a fictional character in the
Marvel Comics Universe. He first appeared in
Punisher MAX #3 (March 2010), and was created by writer
Jason Aaron and artist
Steve Dillon. An unnamed farmer simply known as the Mennonite lived in a community of Amish farmers. His wife Mary was sick, and it did not look like Mary was getting better. Their two sons found a box full of dangerous weapons, and when the Mennonite caught them, he took the box and buried it by a tree in a field. Giving in to his faith, he prayed to God for some way to help his wife, only to get word from his sons that someone named Rigoletto was looking to hire him. Resigned, the Mennonite takes the box of weapons and heads on his way. He enters the city to meet with Rigoletto, whom he refuses to divulge his "Christian name" to, and accepts the job of killing the
Punisher though only with the tools that his religion allows. The Mennonite and the Punisher face off with the former using a hammer, horses, and his bare hands to take the latter on in a fight. Tiring out, the Mennonite reaches for one of the Punisher's guns, only to get electrified. The Punisher drops a safe on his head, killing him. Meanwhile, his sons wait with Mary unaware that their father failed them.
Mennonite in other media A character loosely inspired by Mennonite named
John Pilgrim appears in the
second season of
The Punisher, portrayed by
Josh Stewart. This version, previously known as
Robert, is a former white supremacist who was jailed for his reckless behavior. After being "saved" by company CEOs Anderson and Eliza Schultz, he converted to Christianity, became a pastor, removed his tattoos, and married a woman named Rebecca, with whom he had two sons named Michael and Lemuel. However, the Schultzes hire him to hunt down Amy Bendix, a young girl who stole perceived compromising photos of their senator son kissing a man. Pilgrim agrees and joins a group of mercenaries in locating her, only to encounter the
Punisher. After meeting former Neo-Nazi colleagues and learning Rebecca had died from illness, a broken Pilgrim fights the Punisher, who defeats him and later kills the Schultzes. Upon being reunited with his sons, Pilgrim parts ways with the Punisher.
Tombstone == References ==