Characters / The Punisher MAX - Allies

The Punisher MAX Main Character Index
The Punisher | Allies | The Italian Mafia | Irish Criminals & Associates | The Kingpin's Syndicate | Other Criminals & Psychopaths | Military & Government | Other Characters

The Friends and other associates of Frank Castle.

Warning: Unmarked spoilers abound!

Allies

Kathryn O'Brien

Kathryn O'Brien

First Appearance: The Punisher (Vol. 7) #1 (March, 2004)

"You probably still think you're hot shit, just cause you've got all the other idiots in here scared to death of you. F.Y.I ladies: I know scary. I've seen scary. Scary gets me wet. You three don't even come close."

A tough as nails CIA agent who is part of a covert task force, dedicated to taking the Punisher into custody. She shows a very evident attraction towards Frank, which she admits to with no shame.

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• Action Girl: You don't spend time in the company of Frank without being some sort of professional badass. And O'Brien, is certainly no exception.
  • Action Mom: She gives birth to a daughter fathered by the Punisher himself.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: She became attracted to Frank while trying to catch him.
  O'Brien: There've been some nice boys too. They never last, usually because I decide they don't deserve the shit this life inflicts. It's mostly guys like Rawlins. Or idiots. Or drunks. Or the truly, irrevocably doomed. That stupid bastard Tommy...
• Ascended Extra: At first she was a fairly non-important CIA mook working under Bethell. That is until she reappears three arcs later and is given a greater role.
• Broken Bird: With three failed marriages, getting raped, thrown in jail and trying to survive there, and being in the middle of the violence the Punisher is associated with, what else could she be?
• The Bus Came Back: Last we saw of her she was being hauled off to jail for taking part in an illegal operation. We don't see her again until three arcs later in Up is Down, Black is White.
• Character Overlap: She refers to a former lover called "Tommy" who was completely doomed, implying that she is the same character as Kathryn McAllister from Hitman, also by Garth Ennis but from a different superhero universe. McAllister is also included in a list of aliases that she's used.
• Do You Want to Copulate?: Repeatedly. It's the way she and Frank "hook up".
  O'Brien: I've been in jail for eighteen months. When we get through here, you want to go jump in the sack?
  Frank: Sure.
  • And again in Man of Stone
    O'Brien: You cold?
    Frank: No.
    O'Brien: You lonely?
    Frank: No.
    O'Brien: You wanna jump my bones anyway?
    Frank: Sure.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Dies completely by chance in Afghanistan by stepping on a mine, after she and Frank have beaten the Russians.
• Genius Bruiser: She's a highly skilled combatant courtesy of her CIA training. And she did graduate from Princeton.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Why she's attracted to Castle, and no one else.
• Last Request: Two, actually. The first is Stay with Me Until I Die, the second is to kill Rawlins.
• Mistaken for Murderer: In Up is Down and Black is White, while in prison a pair of inmates set her up for killing a guard.
• Now What?: When she realizes that once she fulfills her vengeance in killing the people she's after, there is nothing to live for after that.
• Promiscuity After Rape: Though she's not shown as throwing herself to any man, it's implied her rape experience in Afghanistan made her much more sexually crass and explicit than she used to be, notably with Frank much to the chagrin of those within earshot of lustful rantings.
• Prison Rape: Averted. While serving her sentence in jail, a bunch of inmates frequently tried to gang up on her, including the time she was taking a shower. Fortunately Katheryn can hold her own, even while being naked.
• Rape as Backstory: Years ago, she was raped numerous times by Mujaheddin commanders after she was abandoned in Afghanistan by Rawlins, her ex-husband. She returns to Afghanistan years later and kills all but two of the men who raped her, before being caught up in the main plot. Frank kills the two she missed before leaving.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The fiery red to Frank's saturnine blue.
• Retirony: After she and Frank beat the Russians in Afghanistan, she muses on what she's going to do with her life after clearing up all the unfinished business from her years as a spy, which she has no intention to go back to. Then seconds later she steps on a mine.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After being release from prison and helping out the Punisher with Cavella. She promptly returns to Afghanistan to take care of the sick fucks who gang-raped her years ago.
• Stay with Me Until I Die: Near the end of Man Of Stone, just as soon as she and Frank have finished defeating Zakharov's men, she steps on an old mine completely by chance. She has two requests for him, one of which was to hold her until she died. The other was a thing that Frank is good at.
• Straw Nihilist: Makes Frank look cheery in comparison.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Even Castle can't help but notice the strong resemblance between her and her sister Barbara.
• Transplant: She is apparently the same Kathryn from a Garth Ennis DC series, Hitman (1993).
• Unwanted Harem: To Frank. Much to her chagrin.

Yorkie Mitchell

Yorkie Mitchell

First Appearance: The Punisher (Vol. 7) #8 (August, 2004)

"I'm a lot older than Concorde, lad. And no cunt's putting me in a museum."

A stern, no-nonsense British MI6 agent who first met Frank in 1971, back when he was serving in the Australian Special Air Service Regiment during the Vietnam War. Since then he has remained in touch with Frank, using his connections in the MI6 to aid Frank with his war on crime.

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• Author Avatar: In a similar fashion to Frank, every now and then, writer Garth Ennis will use him as a mouthpiece for whatever opinion he may have on a variety of subjects. This is most evident in the scene where he lectures a young IRA member (who is being held prisoner by him and several others) on how pointless and idiotic his entire quest for "Ireland's freedom" really is.
• Blood Knight: Its revealed in a conversation with Frank that he was once this before growing tired of death and warfare.
• Breaking Speech: In Kitchen Irish, he delivers a long drawn out one to a naive IRA member. Lecturing him about the idiocy and futility about his supposed "noble endeavor". Which also doubles as a reason you suck speech to the IRA itself.
• The Bus Came Back: After a lengthy absence, he finally makes his return in Man Of Stone.
• Cool Old Guy: He's around the same age as Frank, but that hasn't stopped him from being any less of a capable field agent.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: His fight with the Westies was less of a Curb-Stomp Battle, and more like a Curb Stomp Slaughter.
  • To better elaborate: When he and Frank need to deal with the Westies, they carefully arrange a false meeting between them and several other outlaw groups aboard a decommissioned warship. When the Westies arrive in force, he and Frank, armed to the teeth and waiting for them in hidden vantage spots, proceed to massacre them. In what has to be the largest gunfight in the entire series. Well... it wasn't really much of a gunfight to begin with. More like he and Frank re-enacting the climax of First Blood: Part 2.
• Defiant to the End: Even when facing imminent death. He still manages to let off one final F Bomb to his killer.
• Depending on the Artist: He's usually drawn as a chubby middle aged man, but in the Long Cold Dark, he looks like he's suddenly dropped thirty pounds.
• The Cynic: Much like the other characters in the cast. As a result of his years of service in the military and various other government organizations, the man has developed a very cynical disposition.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: He's an MI6 agent, by way of the SAS, by way of the Parachute Regiment.
• Hannibal Lecture: The man is the master of these; in fact he'd probably have the Trope Namer weeping for forgiveness after a few minutes alone with him.
• Mister Exposition: This is more or less his role in Kitchen Irish. Whenever something regarding the IRA comes up, odds are he will be the one giving out the info.
• More Dakka: When he and Frank are preparing an ambush for a gang of Irish hoods, he brings along an M60 to help "weed" them out.
• Old Friend: Subverted. He makes it clear early on that although he and Frank may be former associates, they aren't exactly "friends".
• Retirony: Quite possibly one of the cruelest examples in fiction. In Man Of Stone he tells Frank that he plans on retiring from the military and settling down with his wife, who has just inherited a commercial airline. Then, at the very beginning of Long Cold Dark, we see him bleeding to death in his living room, with his aforementioned dearly beloved wife laying dead not too far from him. And Barracuda standing over them both, with a sneering Slasher Smile and a loaded M1911...
• The Vietnam Vet: Much like Frank, he too took part in the Vietnam War. Which is where he first met him, back when they were part of a cross-training exercise with the Australian SAS. And at one point he even saved Frank from being burned alive by the Viet Cong.
• Would Hit a Girl: He has absolutely no hesitation in executing O'Brien when he's ordered to (although he changes his mind when Frank asks him to spare her). When one of his men expresses misgivings about killing a woman in cold blood, he responds that the fact that O'Brien is a woman doesn't change the fact that she's a hardened killer like the rest of them who doesn't deserve any special mercy.

Andy Lorimer

Andrew "Andy" Lorimer

First Appearance: The Punisher (Vol. 7) #8 (August, 2004)

A Lance Corporal in the Parachute Regiment in the British Army who tags along with Yorkie to New York City to track down a group of former IRA members responsible for detonating a bomb in a diner in Hell's Kitchen.

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• Elites Are More Glamorous: Downplayed. While he is a member of the British Army's elite Parachute Regiment and has at least one combat tour of Iraq under his belt, at the end of the day he is just an infantryman and finds himself out of his depth next to Yorkie and Castle, who have decades of black ops experience between them. The amount of carnage and blood involved in the operation is like nothing he's ever seen.
  Andy: "New York with you two makes Iraq look like a training exercise."
• Everyone Has Standards: When Yorkie gives Frank the order to torture an Irish terrorist for information, he's very visibly disturbed by this.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Averted. He's a rare depiction of a black British character in American media.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: In the end, he finally kills his father's murderer, but states that he doesn't feel any better for it.
  Andy: I don't feel any different. Me dad's still dead and I don't feel the slightest bit different.

Nick Fury

Nick Fury

The "Prince of Darkness," in the flesh.

First Appearance: Fury (Vol. 2) #1 (November, 2001)

"Castle will finish the job, he'll figure a way out of the silo and he'll bring the girl out with him, even if he has to slaughter half of the Russian Army to do it. You'll get your virus: and the Russians will be none the wiser."

An old-school super spy from the Cold War era. He has a long history with Frank, dating back to their tours of duty in Vietnam. He has recently returned to Frank's life to offer him a job that he feels only he can accomplish.

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• Adaptational Jerkass: More like Adaptational Anti-Heroism. Although his mainstream counterpart was certainly no dainty maiden, his MAX counterpart is far shadier, willing to go to greater extremes and do whatever it takes to accomplish his mission. So much so that at times he almost veers into Villain Protagonist territory.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: This is how he convinces Castle to take part in Operation Barbarossa. He knows that a guy like Frank has zero interest in working for his government again, so how does Fury change his mind? By offering him the coordinates to every known crime syndicate in the country, that's how.
• Artistic License – Military: You'd figure that a man who has been in the military for as long as he has ^note Going all the way back to World War II... should hold a rank higher than Colonel. At one point he mentions having been the director of SHIELD at some point, when in reality he would have to hold the rank of General to command an organization that large.
  • His later MAX series shows him as a Colonel in the fifties and never working in a purely military capacity. He likely left active-duty after Korea and worked for the CIA since, before transferring to SHIELD.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears a buttoned up one at all times.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: When the Barbarossa operation goes beyond tits up and the generals want Castle arrested, Fury stands next to him and basically dares the entire platoon of soldiers there to take the first swing. The soldiers wisely decide to incur the wrath of the generals instead of picking a fight with the two men.
• Batman Gambit: His way of getting in contact with the Punisher involves him releasing a convicted felon way ahead of parole, and simply standing back and waiting for the Punisher to deal with said felon.
• Big Good: His overall role. Although he is by no means a saintly or even nice individual, he can be counted on to do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing.
• Cigar Chomper: He is always seen smoking one. Much to the chagrin of his peers, who would prefer that he respect the "no smoking" rules.
• Colonel Badass: Back in Vietnam he was a Colonel in the US Army who led numerous counter offenses against the Viet Cong that have since become the stuff of legend.
• Covered with Scars: It may not be noticeable at first. But in one panel, we see him laying naked (save for his boxers) in bed with a group of hookers at his side. And see that he is covered head to toe in scars.
• The Cynic: His decades in the spy business has left him with a rather bleak and cynical view of the world. A disposition that has gotten even worse when Frank meets with him again.
• Deadpan Snarker: He usually isn't the kind of guy to joke around. But when he does, it's obvious he has a very cynical sense of humor.
  General: You always were a goddamn ray of sweetness and light, weren't you Fury?
  Fury: Check the small print General, nothing in there about us sucking each other's balls.
• Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: He does this to a corrupt American general in Mother Russia. To better elaborate, the general in question had put together a cell of Middle Eastern terrorists and sent them on a plane, which they were to hijack. The plane was then blown up by the Russians, killing the US-funded terrorists and the innocent people aboard.
• The Dreaded: He very evidently holds this reputation among the cabal of Generals. Who speak of him in a hush worried tone, as if he where some sort of urban myth. It's apparently so great that the military has given him the nickname, "The Prince of Darkness."
• Drowning My Sorrows: When Frank meets with him again in a bar, he's hitting the bottle pretty hard. Not a surprise, given what he'd just learned at the time you can hardly blame him.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: He was a U.S. Army Ranger and according to Frank had "set fire to half of Asia long before I had boarded a plane to Da Nang." Peacemaker and My War Gone By take this back even further, revealing his origins as a squad leader-turned-OSS commando during WWII. However, it's deconstructed in his own series in that "elites" simply can't do the work of an entire army.
• Everyone Has Standards: The man may be a hardened Cold War spy with a heart as cold as ice, but even he knows that the cabal of Generals crossed the line with their False Flag Operation.
  • It is hinted he really did want Castle to handle Operation Barbarossa the way he did, saving the little girl and all.
  • In Vietnam, both he and Castle are completely unwilling to waste a young Vietnamese boy, despite knowing for certain he will alert the NVA to their presence. Simply tying him up and leaving him wasn't an option either, as the jungle was full of wild animals that could have found him. They opted to just leave him untied and hope for the best. This ended up biting them in the ass.
• Eyepatch of Power: Much like his mainstream Marvel counterpart.
• Good Is Not Nice: One of the few characters who is unambiguously good, but don't let that fool you into thinking he's some sort of All-Loving Hero either. The man is a world-class cynic with a barbed wire heart who isn't afraid to cuss out a four-star general.
• Grumpy Old Man: Oh yes. Grouchy, vulgar, volatile and otherwise completely hostile towards anyone who isn't named Frank Castle.
• Hand Wave: The Super Serum that allowed mainstream Fury to stay the same age doesn't exist here, the best we get is Fury stating "I don't seem to age" and nobody commenting on it.
• Handicapped Badass: You see that eyepatch he's got? He's had it for nearly sixty years Hasn't slowed him down at all though.
• Hero of Another Story: It's pretty obvious that while Frank is going around dispensing vigilante justice, Fury has at least half-a-dozen different operations going on behind the scenes. This becomes more obvious if you've read his solo spin-off series.
• Jerk with the Heart of a Jerk: Make no mistake, although he might be on the side of justice (by the standards of this series at least), he is not a nice man. Profane, grouchy, volatile, and all around hostile to just about everyone who isn't named Frank Castle. He makes his mainstream counterpart look like a dainty maiden by comparison.
• Living Legend: Naturally. The man has seen action in just about every armed American conflict since World War II. It would be weird if he didn't play this trope straight.
• Mildly Military: Despite his rank and years of service, he shows a blatant disregard for standard military practices. Such as cussing out superior officers, not bothering with a uniform, and smoking in "no smoking" areas.
• Military Maverick: He is shown constantly telling off the Generals and intimidates those who try and challenge his authority. In his crowing moment, when he discovers the general behind the horrific False Flag Operation, he removes his belt and beats the holy fuck out of the general responsible, and threatens anyone who tries to intervene. Leaving the general a bloody, snivelling mess.
• Mister Exposition: This is more or less his role in the beginning of the Mother Russia arc. He's there to explain to Frank, and by extension the audience, what the flesh-eating super virus that is currently in the hands of the Russians is and why the US military wants their hands on it.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Upon discovering the general behind the False Flag Operation, Fury proceeds to pull off his belt and beat the ever loving shit out of said general. A beatdown so horrific that the other Generals of the cabal can only look on in horror.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Very much averted. The man swears like a sailor, goes through hookers like a man goes through potato chips, and shows no respect to the various "no smoking" rules that try to keep him from enjoying one of his sweet Cuban cigars.
• Old Soldier: The man looks like he's pushing eighty, but that hasn't stopped him from living up to his reputation as the most badass super-spy that has ever lived.
• Overt Operative: For being a master spy who has been in the game for as long as he has, he doesn't do a terribly good job at keeping a low profile. The eyepatch alone is practically a dead giveaway.
• Overranked Soldier: Inverted and justified. By the time Punisher MAX starts Fury has spent over sixty years in the military and is a living legend yet he is only a colonel, but it's shown that he shares a mutual hatred with a highly influential cabal of corrupt generals and is an uncontrollable maverick who freely violates protocol and has no tolerance for the politicking that goes on among the top brass. Him beating the shit out of a general makes his low ranking crystal clear.
• Perma-Stubble: Is never seen without a 5 o'clock shadow.
• Perpetual Frowner: Much like Frank, Fury's facial expression never changes from his default pissed off scowl.
• Pet the Dog: In his final appearance Nick finds Frank had written "I'm sorry" on the walls of his old house for failing to save his family. Fury then uses Frank's old flamethrower to burn down the house and drives away the police, preventing them from raking over old wounds.
  • In the Mother Russia arc, Fury claims that he's helping the Eight Generals because they promised to help him take back control of S.H.I.E.L.D. At the end, its revealed he really did it to rescue Galina.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Oh yes. A Colonel in the U.S. Army, and by far the most badass character in the series, with a personal kill count probably higher than even Frank's considering he has been operating since WWII.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Frank's stoic blue.
• Running Gag: Every time he sparks up a cigar he will almost always be chastised by a nearby officer for not acknowledging the "no smoking" rules.
  • Being shown in bed with multiple prostitutes.
• Seen It All: The man has seen action in the Second World War, the Korean War, the First Indochina War, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Vietnam War and the Nicaraguan Revolution. Worked for the CIA before moving on to S.H.I.E.L.D. and has been through paratrooper, demolition, Army Ranger and Special Forces training. So yeah, I guess you can say he's seen some things.
• Sergeant Rock: He started off as one of these during the Second World War, before moving on to being a Colonel Badass.
• Sex God: Even in his old age, he has the sex drive and stamina of a much younger man.
  • During "Mother Russia", he is roused during a mission to be updated on Castle with three women in his bed. In his first miniseries after the handicapped boy he's looking after injures himself he goes into a... well, fury and phones for half a dozen Asian hookers.
• Shellshocked Veteran: This incarnation portrays him as this, disillusioned with Iraq, looking after a young boy who he wants to mercy kill, drinking heavily, sleeping with multiple hookers, and beating the crap out of US generals when they resort to terrorism.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Even in old age, the man still possesses a colorful vocabulary that makes the rest of the characters look like choir boys by comparison.
• The Spymaster: Much like his mainstream incarnation. However, here it's presented in a less fantastical and more realistic fashion in order to better suit the more grounded tone of the series.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He flatly tells the Generals that the only reason he agreed to help them in their covert operation to steal the biochemical agent from the Russians is that he believes that handing it over to the US military is the "lesser of several evils." Naturally the Generals don't take this remark very well.
  General: Are you suggesting that Senior Officers of the US Army and Air Force would consider using such a—
  Fury: Well reassure me, General. Don't say "sample". Say six-year-old girl.
• To Absent Friends: His finale appearance shows him attending the funeral of Frank Castle. And just to rub it in, he's the only person who bothered attending.
• Unwitting Pawn: In Mother Russia, although he tried keeping a watchful eye on the cabal of Generals, at the end of the day it wasn't enough, as the Generals still managed to use him as a pawn in their false flag operation.
• The Vietnam Vet: Much like Yorkie, he too served alongside Frank in the Vietnam War.

Jennifer Cesare

Jennifer Cesare

First Appearance: The Punisher (Vol. 7) #43 (March, 2007)

"That's what that kind of horror does, isn't it? It leaves you less than human. And some people don't ever come back from it."

The granddaughter of the late Massimo Cesare, Jenny was an anomaly in that she believed her family was evil; a belief that was exacerbated when she was arranged to marry an abusive mafioso. When her husband is killed by the Punisher, Jenny is inspired to undertake her own Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the family members who wronged her.

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• Action Girl: She does the job even better than Frank Castle. She methodically trails the mobster widows until they set a trap for Castle, slices open the one who lured him there, picks up his assault rifle and makes the others flee for their lives. Deconstructed in that, like Frank Castle himself, she is a deeply screwed-up person who when left with nothing to live for after accomplishing her revenge, cannot cope with the overwhelming despair and emptiness she feels and commits suicide. Ultimately, Frank finds himself lamenting the fact that she even had to go down this path at all.
• Anti-Hero: The Nominal Hero type. She even scares Frank.
• Ascended Fangirl: She introduces herself to Frank as his biggest fan, after saving him from the widows trying to kill him and getting him to her home. She lays out all the terrible things done to her and expresses sympathy to what happened to him, before asking to borrow his clothes to finish what she started.
• Ax-Crazy: And the Punisher knows it, coming across as intimidated by her. For her part Jenny knows this and discusses the damage the abuse they go through does.
• Broken Bird: She gets cancer, is brutally beaten and raped all the time during her arranged marriage and is finally disposed of, left for dead. Then she took a level.
• Byronic Hero: She bluntly picks up men; however, she cannot feel anything, gets upset and beats them to a pulp, then regrets her actions later. She's also vicious enough to creep the Punisher out, but given what was done to her nothing is too reprehensible to be unjustified.
• Cosmic Plaything: Given everything done to her it's little surprise Jenny kills herself after she gains revenge and finds nothing changes.
• Despair Event Horizon: After finally getting revenge on the mobsters' widows who set her up, she's overcome with the emptiness she feels inside. Unable to "feel" anything, she takes her own life.
• Distaff Counterpart: A perfect carbon copy of the Punisher himself.
• Driven to Suicide: After killing all of the mob wives who ruined her life and having sex with the Punisher, Jenny sadly concludes that she feels nothing and cannot be fixed. She shoots herself in the head.
• Domestic Abuse: She had a mobster husband named Tim who regularly abused and raped her. One day he was killed by the Punisher, and she is grateful to him for that.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Another feature she happens to share with Frank. Made especially apparent in close up panels.
• It's Personal: Let's just say she took the widows' betrayal very personally. The end of the arc sees her taking The Punisher's clothes and seeking out revenge on the five mob widows who betrayed her.
• Legacy Character: She takes on Frank's role and costume when he is bedridden from gunshot wounds for the latter part of the arc. Deconstructed - her entire story is about how anybody who tries to be the Punisher is a deeply screwed-up individual, and she shoots herself when her revenge doesn't make her happy.
• Loony Fan: Of Frank Castle. She doesn't particularly bother him, or try to harm him, and he goes along with her desire to be him, but he does seem to be aware that she's one of the last people he should piss off. Though it's also quite likely he pities her to an extent.
• Pet the Dog: An old schoolfriend tries to talk to her. Knowing how damaged she is, Jenny politely tells him he has her confused with someone else, and that he shouldn't associate with her.
• Shower of Angst: In a flashback, where she describes what a terrifying ordeal it was to live with her monster of a husband. She is seen huddled naked in a shower, blood running down her mouth and nose, and mascara mixed with tears. It's not a pretty sight.
• Sociopathic Hero: After everything that was done to her the only thing she lives for is revenge. The only thing that strays away from this is picking up men, but because she can no longer feel anything she gets mad and beats them to a pulp instead.
• Spanner in the Works: Her arrival was the only thing that stopped the Widows from finishing off Frank.
• Took a Level in Badass: From mobster wife and abuse victim to the She-Punisher.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Her victims are the wives of the heavy hitters on the East Coast, who not only set her up to be married to a psychopath, then tried to kill her when she wanted out, they tried to kill the Punisher, even tried to kill the cop investigating their involvement.

Colonel George Howe

Colonel George Howe

First Appearance: The Punisher (Vol. 7) #55 (May, 2008)

"Were you expecting a cave with blood-curdling screams issuing forth?"

As a young man, George Howe served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. In the summer of 1969, his helicopter crashed near the border near Laos; the Viet Cong soon arrived, capturing the survivors and taking them back to their base. One by one Howe's comrades were killed, their hands and feet chopped off and tossed into his bamboo cage. When it seemed that his time had come, a Marine Force Recon unit led by Captain Frank Castle attacked the VC and rescued Howe. Admiring the special operations personnel for their proficiency, Howe joined the Green Berets for the remainder of the war and was among the first to be recruited into Delta Force.

Almost forty years later, Howe, now a colonel in the US Army's elite Delta Force unit, is tasked by a cabal of generals to arrest Castle, who possesses incriminating evidence on the generals' involvement in Operation Barbarossa.

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• Artistic License – Military: It is unusual that despite having served in the Army for over three decades that Howe is still only a colonel. Thirty years is typically long enough for a real world officer to reach the rank of general. It's possible, however, that Howe was an enlisted man who gained an officer's commission later in his career; this could explain why he does not hold a higher rank.
  • One of the crooked Generals reviewing his file says he's noted as having "an independent streak a mile wide" and concludes that's why he isn't a general.
• Colonel Badass: Served in the Vietnam War in Special Forces before being among the first soldiers recruited into Delta Force.
• Combat Pragmatist: Orders his men to keep tasering Frank even when he's down, knowing he'll just get up again otherwise.
• Consummate Professional: When he's first introduced, Lieutenant Geller remarks him to be a very polite and cheerful man, completely unlike what he had expected from a leader of the Delta Forces. Howe later continues to conduct himself very calmly and professionally, even when his superior officers are ranting at him with racist remarks.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Is very obviously Morgan Freeman.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Spent most of his military career serving in the Green Berets and later in Delta Force.
• I Owe You My Life: Castle saved Howe from imprisonment, torture, and quite possibly death in Vietnam, and Howe in return volunteered to (non-fatally) take down Castle for the corrupt Generals when he deduced there was something fishy going on.
• Guile Hero: It's strongly implied near the end of the Valley Forge arc that he was the one playing the cabal of crooked Generals all along, not the other way around.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In stark contrast to the cabal of crooked generals who hired him. Col. Howe is depicted as polite, reasonable and surprisingly friendly for a guy who leads a team of elite killers. So much so that even the informant that the Generals sent to go meet with him is surprised at how friendly he is. Because Howe is actually manipulating the informant.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When he finally sees the generals he gets his orders from are worse criminals than Frank, he lets Frank go.
• The Stoic: When General Perino (his superior officer) uses a racist remark against him, Howe mere says "I beg your pardon, General. Would you care to repeat that?"
• Undying Loyalty: His men are very much loyal to him, and not to the generals who command him. Howe is himself loyal to Castle for saving his life in Vietnam, if disgusted by what he has become.

Valery Stepanovich

Valery Stepanovich

First Appearance: Punisher: Soviet #1 (November, 2019)

"We can't go anywhere. We have to stand here glaring like this to see which one's the toughest."

A former Soviet paratrooper from the Fifth Company of the Spetsnaz’s 103rd Airborne Division, Sgt. Stepanovich was the only survivor of a Mujahideen ambush in Afghanistan. When he learned that the ambush was the result of his former commander, Colonel Pronchenko, selling out his unit, Val begins a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.

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• The Alcoholic: Val coped with his survivor’s guilt by drinking heavily, ultimately leading to a drunk driving accident that resulted in the death of his wife.
• Bash Brothers: With Frank.
  Castle: It had been a while since I had trusted anyone in combat. But he'd gone in first. Never even tried to get behind me.
• Best Served Cold: Val does not intend for his vendetta against Pronchenko to end with his nemesis dead: He wants Pronchenko to live with a lifetime's worth of nightmares.
• Deuteragonist: Of Soviet. Ultimately, the story is really about him, but it is seen through Frank’s eyes.
• Due to the Dead: Frank gives Val a soldier’s burial, honors his request by letting the villain live, and has a drink in his memory, his first since 1976.
• Expy: He’s essentially a Russian version of John Creasy, meaning he and Frank get along swimmingly.
• A Father to His Men: Had a close camaraderie with his squadmates, and took their deaths hard.
• Fire-Forged Friendship: The Punisher has few friends, but Val ultimately turns out to be the kind of guy that Frank would have a beer with (if he did drink).
• Kill Steal: What sets the plot of Soviet in motion is Val killing twelve Russian mobsters before Castle could get to them.
• Russian Guy Suffers Most: God yes. The guy is essentially crucified and forced to witness his squadmates getting skinned alive. This leads to him hitting the bottle very hard, which culminates in him killing his wife in a drunk driving accident. His sons, blaming him for the death of their mother, refuse to have anything to do with him. And ultimately he doesn’t even live long enough to finish his vendetta. Even Jenny Cesare would probably be compelled to give the guy a hug.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He was showing signs of this even before his last mission, but the mutilated corpses of his squadmates was the final straw.
  Val: They screamed all night and into the morning. God knows how they lasted that long, but they did. I heard them when I woke up in the hospital. I heard them when my mother kissed me at the airport. I heard them when I held my firstborn son. I hear them now. And then we went home and no one gave a shit.
• Younger Than They Look: With his grizzled appearance, it's easy to forget that Val is younger than Frank, seeing as he fought in Afghanistan as a young man in the late 80s while the latter fought in Vietnam. The trauma that he suffered in Afghanistan, combined with his subsequent alcoholism, aged him prematurely.

Vette

Vette

First Appearance: Punisher Max Special: Little Black Book #1 (August, 2008)

A High-Class Call Girl who the Punisher recruited to get at a target.

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• High-Class Call Girl: Works as a prostitute for the powerful and wealthy, which is why Castle seeks her out.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: By her own admission she's affected when she learns that the Punisher's target killed a cop's nine-year-old daughter and wife alongside him.
• Odd Friendship: With the Punisher. She's a High-Class Call Girl who looks down on others. He's the Punisher. And yet they manage to hit it off.
• Only One Name: It isn't clear if Vette is her actual name or just an alias, but that's how she's known.

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