Russian (comics)
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The Russian is Marvel Comics' fictional villain created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon to become an assassin during the Punisher's relaunch in November 2000.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
The man known as the Russian was hired by the crime boss Ma Gnucci to eliminate the Punisher. He located him while the Punisher was moving out of his latest safe house, still recovering from severe wounds suffered in a previous battle with the Gnucci army. Almost unarmed and weak, Frank Castle was beaten severely by the Russian, who took the chance to enlighten the reader about his views on capitalism and American comic heroes and enjoyed the exercise immensely. During the course of the fight, though, the Punisher learned that the hired killer had a serious aversion towards hot things and later, when he was thrown through a door into his obese neighbor's (A man aptly named Mr. Bumpo) apartment, he used a very hot pizza to blind the Russian and then crushed him beneath Mr. Bumpo, until he died of asphyxiation. He is later seen with his head cut off.
Several months after his death at the hands of the vigilante, a secret paramilitary organization retrieved his body parts. Using technology stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D., they reattached his head onto his body and augmented him with super-hard alloy coating to his skeleton with countless internal organ modifications, rendering him superhumanly strong and resistant to any type of injury. The process also involved hormone injections that enlarged his breasts, which he took in stride, and he even began to wear women's clothing. (Spider-Man, in a team-up with the Punisher, famously referred to this version of the Russian as "Giant-Sized Ma'am Thing", a pun on Giant-Sized Man-Thing, an infamous comic.) He enthusiastically agreed to serve the organization's head, General Kreigkopf, only to be allowed to take his revenge on the Punisher. His efforts failed when he was thrown off the Empire State Building by the Punisher but the damage he sustained was eventually repaired, waiting to clash once again with his adversary.
Later he was given his opportunity when the Punisher, having learned who was behind the Russian's resurrection, traveled to the island known as Grand Nixon to take out Kreigkopf. The deranged general was about to crash a Boeing 747 brimming with commandos into a European Union council to prove, once and for all, that he was not a man to be trifled with. The Russian was on board too, and when the Punisher blasted the plane before it could even take off, he emerged from amidst the flames. Kreigkopf gave him the order to terminate the Punisher, and a terrible fight aboard a second plane (this time carrying a French hydrogen bomb) ensued, where he finally died when Frank Castle tied him to the bomb and threw him off the plane. The bomb exploded, smothering Grand Nixon island and the Russian out of existence.
[edit] Powers/Abilities
The Russian is a gigantic man (officially, he is 8 feet tall and weighs 500 pounds) with tremendous strength and endurance. It is possible that the Russian himself does not know the exact limits of his abilities. He was seen crushing a man to death when attempting to give him a "friendly" hug. During his first appearance, the Russian was able to rip a toilet out off the wall and beat the Punisher with it. He was also seen punching through walls with apparently no loss of stamina, and due to his incredibly strong body, he is nearly impervious to bullets.
The Russian has been shown to have extreme sensitivity to heat, being burned by a stove and a hot pizza in the comics and a pot of boiling water in the 2004 film.
In his initial comic appearances, the Russian was shown to have a minor obsession with American pop culture. His first thoughts upon being offered $10 million to kill the Punisher was a realization of how many pairs of Levi's and compact discs he could buy with that amount. The Russian is also a self-confessed superhero fan. He is the president of The Daredevil, Man Without Fear, Fan Club of Smolensk. He also wished to gain autographs from the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man before his death at Frank Castle's hands.
[edit] Other media
[edit] Film
The Russian appeared in the 2004 Punisher film portrayed by professional wrestler Kevin Nash. He had no speaking lines in the film, but was just as ruthless and deadly. He appears dressed in the camp sailor-type costume he wears during his first comics appearance. He is hired by Howard Saint to kill the Punisher. The two engage in a brutal fight which mirrors their first fight in the comics. Despite sustaining a superficial knife wound to his shoulder, the Russian manages to give the Punisher a severe beating, driving him through drywall and hitting him with a toilet he ripped out of the foundation. He dies when, after being tackled by the Punisher, he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his neck.
[edit] Video game
The Russian also appeared in the 2005 Punisher video game, which was a game based on the comic book and film. In this game version, he has speaking lines (referring to the Punisher as "Big boy") and even makes references to other Marvel heroes, such as "It's clobbering time!" Favorite saying of The Thing of the Fantastic Four, "Big superhero in Russia!"
