Barracuda is a fictional American comic book character owned by Marvel Comics who appears in that company's Marvel Universe as a villain who opposes The Punisher. He is a mercenary gangster of great physical strength, endurance and fighting ability. He shows an incredible sense of optimism and "glass half full" thinking (even maintaining a cheerful attitude as the Punisher cut off all the fingers on his right hand), profane humor, and a tendency to betray anyone if he can benefit from it. He also has a liking for pancakes. This article is about the comic book company. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to first comic book to feature a character. ... This article is about the Marvel Comics character. ... Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970 in Holywood, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the DC/Vertigo series Preacher, co-created with artist Steve Dillon. ... A fictional character is any person, persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a work of fiction. ... An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States containing a narrative in the comics form. ... This article is about the comic book company. ... This article is about the shared universe setting used by many Marvel Comics titles. ... This article is about the Marvel Comics character. ...

He first appeared in Punisher vol.3 #31

Publication history

Although his first appearance was in the Marvel MAX series, Punisher, his first full appearance was the following issue #32. After a six-issue story arc in The Punisher, Barracuda was launched in 2007 as an eponymous 5-issue mini-series in the MAX title Punisher Presents: Barracuda. An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, who has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery, or other item. ...

Fictional character biography

Barracuda grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, the eldest of two brothers and a sister. His father was an alcoholic who, in the night before he abandoned his family, burned Barracuda's hand on a stove while telling him to be "hard as the motherfucking world itself." He got into a fight in elementary school where he shoved his thumbs into a classmate's eyes.

After castrating a would-be attacker while in a youth detention center, Barracuda is recruited by the US Army. As a Green Beret, Barracuda's A-team helped the CIA install Leopoldo Luna, a South American dictator in the 1980s. In another mission in Africa, he is depicted as engaging in cannibalism to prove his masculinity. A youth detention center, also known as Juvenile Hall is a prison for people under the age of 18. ... For other uses of the phrase, see Green Berets. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Cannibal redirects here. ... Manliness redirects here. ...

After leaving the service, he became a feared gangster. After a shootout at a club where the police found him waiting for them with the decapitated head of a gangster on his lap, he spent time in jail. Here he began a profitable partnership with Harry Ebbing, a corrupt and violent corporate CEO.

Fighting the Punisher

Years later Ebbing hires him to assassinate the Punisher, who is investigating Ebbing's corporation, Dynaco, which plans to sabotage Florida's power grid for profit.

During his fight with the Punisher, Barracuda loses an eye and the fingers on his right hand. The Punisher is taken out to sea. When he informs Barracuda that he has lost the chance to have his fingers reattached, the man laughs at his own foolishness. He tosses the Punisher overboard, along with a local gangster that had wronged him. The Punisher uses the gangster to trick Barracuda into thinking both of them are slain by a great white shark. The Punisher sneaks back to land by hanging onto Barracuda's boat.

Barracuda becomes deeply involved with Dynaco and the affairs of the CEO's mistress and his right hand man Dermot. The plan is to set Dermot up as the new CEO during a shareholder fishing trip. Dynaco's plans, leaked to the media, result in the CEO committing suicide and Dermot, with the backing of the shareholders, expresses the opinion that Dynaco can do what they want, that the Punisher cannot touch them.

The Punisher realizes that, with Barracuda's help, the ship is now vulnerable. He sinks it, sending all the shareholders (the crew was in on it also) into the ocean, where they are slain by sharks. Barracuda tries to come aboard Frank's boat, only to be shot at point blank range. Like Frank, he survives by hanging on to the boat.

Miniseries

An undetermined amount of time later, Barracuda is approached by Chris Angelone, an Italian Mafia boss. Angelone has been feuding with Leopoldo Luna about the price of cocaine, so he has decided that his 20-year old hemophiliac son Oswald will kill Luna with Barracuda's assistance, not knowing Barracuda is an old ally of Luna's. Barracuda immediately betrays Angelone and has Luna take custody of Oswald to blackmail the gangster. He also betrays Luna by sleeping with his wife Wanda and then calls an old cross-dressing Green Beret buddy Fifty for backup (who Luna begins sleeping with, not knowing Fifty isn't a woman). This article is about the organized crime groups. ... Haemophilia or hemophilia is the name of any of several hereditary genetic illnesses that impair the bodys ability to control bleeding. ...

This is all part of a plan to gain the money he needs to get revenge on the Punisher. He announces to Luna's inner-circle that he intends to kill the dictator & put Wanda in his place, kill Angelone and put Oswald in his place, restart the cocaine trade between the two factions and get an American reconstruction firm (represented by an accountant he knew in prison) to start up work in Santa Morricone. One of the circle reveals this plan to Luna and he invites Barricuda & Fifty on a helicopter trip to the local volcano, planning to kill them; Barricuda salvages the situation by getting Fifty to show off his penis, causing the dictator to leap out of the helicopter to his doom.

Meanwhile Angelone, angry at being betrayed and humiliated, has been trying to launch a coup in Santa Morricone and successfully swings part of the army to his side. Barricuda and Fifty have to fight their way into the presidential palace to grab Oswald & Wanda and then flee back to the helicopter, but Fifty is gunned down in the second half of the plan and he remains behind to cover their retreat. (To his face, Barricuda seems stoically upset about his but grins & calls his old comrade "dumbass" when out of earshot) They escape in the helicopter and when Angelone (who'd grabbed the landing gear) rises up to get his revenge, Oswald shoots his father dead. He and Barricuda celebrate his becoming a "hardcore motherfucking gangster!".

Barricuda then gives Oswald a friendly pat on the back, which due to his hemophilia kills him - right as it turns out the helicopter has too little fuel and no compass. Barracuda and Wanda are left floating in the Pacific Ocean in a boat with no food or equipment, and it is strongly hinted he's going to cannibalize her.

Long, Cold Dark

This volume is filled with blood, gore and bullits, and is said to be one of the best work that Garth Ennis did on his take on the Punisher yet. While formulating a plan to get his revenge on the Punisher, Barracuda receives information from an unknown source that leads him to the home of Yorkie Mitchell, Castle's British friend and former SAS and MI6 agent (retired after the Punisher's Man of Stone story arc.) After interrogating and killing Yorkie and his wife, Barracuda stumbles across some startling and very useful information; unbeknownst to the Punisher, he has a very young daughter, the result of a tryst between him and now deceased CIA agent Kathryn O'Brien. The baby is in the care of O'Brien's sister and brother-in-law in La Jolla, San Diego, California.Barracuda travels to La Jolla and kidnaps the child from a day care center, killing a worker in the process. See also Australian Special Air Service Regiment and New Zealand Special Air Service: The Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) is the principal special forces unit of the British Army. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6)[1] is the United Kingdoms external intelligence agency. ... One of the beaches at La Jolla Cove. ... Flag Seal Nickname: Americas Finest City Location Location of San Diego within San Diego County Coordinates , Government County San Diego Mayor City Attorney         City Council District One District Two District Three District Four District Five District Six District Seven District Eight Jerry Sanders (R) Michael Aguirre Scott Peters Kevin...

Barracuda returns to New York in order to draw the Punisher into a trap. He secretly sets up a meeting between several criminal organizations in a high rise hotel, knowing full well that such a meeting would attract the Punisher. Barracuda is not at this meeting himself; in fact the criminals are totally unaware of who set up the meeting in the first place. Frank, who is hiding in the ceiling, plans to strike amongst the confusion when he realizes that the entire place, including his own location, has been wired with explosives. Barracuda then steps off an elevator into the meeting and massacres the entire group (with intentions of taking over their businesses once he has finished with the Punisher.) Frank joins the fray in order to escape the explosives and is easily captured by Barracuda, who escapes with an unconscious Punisher to a nearby building via zip line.

When the Punisher awakes, he finds himself bound to a chair. Barracuda gloats to him about his plan and reveals his daughter to him. An enraged Punisher breaks his bonds and attacks Barracuda, biting off his left cheek. Barracuda stabs the Punisher in the side and tosses him through the window. The Punisher lands on the hood of a police car and is arrested and hospitalized. Seeking treatment for his own injuries, Barracuda disappears with Frank's daughter.

Soon Frank escapes from police custody and travels to California to try to head off Barracuda. When he arrives he confronts Barracuda at the home of O'Brien's sister to rescue Sarah. Barracuda kills the child but Frank realizes that it was a fake baby and attacks him resulting in Barracuda getting shot twice, his glass eye getting smashed and then getting tortured by having his testicles hooked up to a car battery.

After telling Frank where Sarah is, Frank sees that the baby's seat is attached to a Claymore Mine. Barracuda goes insane from his wounds and attacks Frank with an M60 that was in Frank's car. Luckily, Frank finds the M60 in Barracuda's car and the fight is on. After the fight, Barracuda, who is covered with burns and gunshot wounds, tries to beat Castle to death. Castle escapes by tearing Barracuda's nose off with a pair of pliers. The fight ends in an elementary school where Barracuda tracks Frank down but is caught off guard and gets his arms chopped off with a fire ax and then gets shot to death with an AK-47. The term M60 can refer to several things: The M60 motorway The M60 Patton tank The M60 machine gun An astronomical object, see Messier 60 BMW M60, a BMW piston engine This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947 g. ...

In the next arc "Valley Forge, Valley Force," it is revealed that Barracuda was sent by the US Military Generals who organized the military operation in the arc "Mother Russia" to silence the Punisher.^[1]

Abilities and training

Trained as a Green Beret and despite Barracuda's street thug appearance and general street-slang vocabulary, he is quite a capable opponent and very intelligent. He is able to mastermind a coup against Luna, lead his team to victory during the 80's, and generally find his way out of many binds. He has incredible endurance as he took a shotgun blast to the gut at point blank range. He is just as resourceful as seen by his survival at hands of the Punisher by grabbing the side of the boat which brought him to safety. For other uses of the phrase, see Green Berets. ...

References

This article is about the Marvel Comics character. ...

Collections

Barracuda's appearances have been collected in a number of trade paperbacks: In comics, a trade paperback (TPB or simply trade) specifically refers to a collection of stories originally published in comic books reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or...

• Barracuda (tpb collects Punisher MAX #31-36, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2023-8)
• Punisher Presents: Barracuda Max (tpb collects 5-issue mini-series, September 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2465-9)