With his well-earned reputation for openly employing lethal force to combat crime, the Punisher does not have a particularly extensive cast of recurring villains. One of the most memorable wasn't initially introduced in the main Marvel Universe at all, but rather the out-of-continuity, Max Universe helmed by Garth Ennis as part of Marvel's mature reader-oriented publishing imprint Marvel Max: Barracuda. With the character slated to make his main Marvel debut in Punisher vs. Barracuda this summer from Ed Brisson and Declan Shalvey, here's a quick overview of the vicious antagonist.
Created by Ennis, Goran Parlov and Howard Chaykin in 2006's The Punisher #31 (vol. 5), Barracuda was an elite mercenary hired by corrupt businessmen to put down the Punisher after he began hunting them for causing rolling blackouts that killed scores of innocents on life support to increase their profit margins. The son of an alcoholic, abusive career military man, Barracuda quickly grew up harder than his father as his siblings died after his father left them. After leading a life of horrific violence as a boy, Barracuda was recruited into the U.S. Army where he eventually became a Green Beret, receiving special ops training and advanced weapon proficiency.
Carrying out secret, illegal operations for the CIA all over the world, Barracuda eventually crossed paths with Colonel Nick Fury in Latin America where Barracuda assisted with a CIA coup to install a new dictator. While Barracuda initially bested and humiliated Fury when he attempted to stop him, a vengeful Fury would track down and savagely beat Barracuda years later. This did little to deter the former special ops soldier from villainy, however, and he became a notorious figure in the criminal underworld after leaving military service, working as an assassin to the highest bidder while indulging himself in a steady supply of drugs and prostitutes to keep himself entertained.
In his first skirmish with the Punisher, Barracuda's superior endurance and strength lead to him overpowering Frank Castle, his happy-go-lucky demeanor laughing off the loss of his fingers during the fight. The Punisher's resilience would surprise Barracuda and Frank would shoot the villain point-blank, leaving him for the sharks; unknown to Frank at the time, Barracuda survived and made it back to the Florida shore. Barracuda would launch his own vendetta on the Punisher, torturing his friend Yorkie to death to locate and kidnap Frank's secret infant daughter, conceived with CIA operative Kathryn O'Brien. Frank manages to rescue his daughter and kill Barracuda definitively, learning he was hired by rogue American generals in retaliation for Frank intentionally botching a covert mission in Russia.
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Outside of the Max Universe, Barracuda has shown up in other alternate universes to confront the Punisher. In the Punisher/Eminem comic book crossover, Barracuda is hired by the Parents Music Resource Center to kill Eminem for his lyrical content, only for the rapper to massacre him with a chainsaw. The Marvel Noir and Space Punisher universes would each similarly have their own iterations of Barracuda, with the former reimagining him as a 1930s mob enforcer while the latter had him as an interstellar drug dealer hunted by the Punisher across the cosmos.
Brutal, foul-mouthed and unfailingly cheerful even after suffering the most grievous injuries, Barracuda is one of the most memorable and deadly antagonists that the Punisher has ever faced on multiple occasions, each time barely escaping with his life. While the Marvel Universe debut of Barracuda will be significantly less profane, he is sure to be no less dangerous as he and Frank Castle start a new rivalry in mainstream continuity. After all, every time Barracuda comes calling, the Punisher finds himself quickly losing control of an increasingly lethal situation.
Written by Ed Brisson and illustrated by Declan Shalvey, Punisher vs. Barracuda is currently scheduled to go on sale July 15 from Marvel Comics.