Character page for the brand new Punisher. Cause otherwise we're dead.
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Heroes and allies
Jake Gallows / Punisher 2099
Jake Gallows
First Appearance: The Punisher 2099 #1 (December, 1992)
Just a while ago, Jake Gallows was an ordinary Public-Eye officer with a happy family, and bright prospects for the future. That was until they run into the psychopath murderer Kron Stone, who got away free due to the shortcomings of the new justice system. Blinded with hatred, and inspired by the adventures of Frank Castle, Jake Gallows took the identity of the Punisher, with the goal to eliminate all crime.
- '90s Anti-Hero: To the point of being a Stealth Parody of the trope... before his Face–Heel Turn deconstructs it.
- All Crimes Are Equal: While at first he averts this by applying harsh but proportionate punishments to the criminals, he slowly but surely switches around to this mindset. By the time he takes over SHIELD, among other things, the age someone can be tried as an adult is in the single digits, he uses brain scanners to detect bad thoughts, and even wants consensual adult sex to be punished.
- Alternate Self: In Spider-Man 2099, a few of his alternate versions appear, including a couple in which he's not the Punisher. He also meets one in his own book, when fighting a villain who could affect probability fields: that Jake was publicly known as The Punisher and married to Kerry, who in their world was an actress instead of a psychiatrist.
- Angst? What Angst?: Invoked. Jake pretends that his family's death hasn't affected him at all so he doesn't get kicked out of the force. He ends up acting the part too well, as the department's psychiatrist becomes suspicious of him precisely because he seems too cheerful.
- Ascended Fanboy: Jake and his brother had found Frank Castle's war journal stored in the department archives a few years prior, and became huge fans of him, even collecting various guns as a hobby. When Jake's family was killed, he took up the mantle himself.
- Badass Boast: Pretty much every time he's in a fight, but this one takes the cake.Jake: I don't need a jetpack... All I need is hate!
- Batter Up!: His signature weapon the Power Bat. Originally it had adjustable hardness from "rubber" to "titanium", but he never uses the lower settings. Future writers apparently forgot this, because in his cameo in the second volume of Spider-Man 2099, it's a simple baseball bat made of titanium.
- The Cameo: He makes a brief appearance in the second volume of Spider-Man 2099, facing off against one of the Inheritors.
- Chest Insignia: A stylized skull.
- Clark Kenting: As the Punisher, he doesn't bother to cover his face; he simply uses a signal jammer to hide it from cameras. The only reason nobody figures him out is because he kills pretty much everyone who sees him in costume. Later on, Matt provides him with a holographic mask generator which does truly disguise him.
- Contrasting Sequel Protagonist: While he has many similarities with Frank Castle, Jake's identity isn't publicly known - so he can maintain his old job - and instead of a 100% kill policy, he uses an incarceration system that's more in-line with our modern idea of justice (but considered barbaric in 2099). In addition, while Frank manages to keep a consistent moral code and never truly crosses the line, Jake jumps off the slippery slope early on and never turns back.
- Cool Bike: His HD Stealth Stinger 5. It has holographic projectors which disguise its appearance as just the space around it, it's so fast people only perceive it as a gust of wind, and turn all lights green via Hollywood Hacking.
- Cool Car: He also a black ambulance to haul in perps. The colour is justified; the colour of credit cards corresponds to one's wealth, which in turn corresponds to the services available to them, and how many laws they can break. Black is the top of the scale, which means that the car and everyone in it are immune to laws.
- Hand Cannon: Jake's main firearm is a circa-2015 Smith and Wesson .54 Magnum full automatic revolver. It's belt-fed and can fire six rounds per second. His justification is that most modern armors are designed to deal with lasers, not big chunks of lead.
- Honor Before Reason: After fighting off a Ninja Nostra attack, one of Jake's longtime inmates, Deke (who had gotten out of his cell due to the damage the battle caused and helped Jake) says plainly that he's leaving. Jake initially orders him to stay, before admitting that he owes Deke for saving him, and letting him go, making Deke the only living criminal who knows what Jake looks like.
- The Jailer: He maintains one in his basement.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: While his crusade against crime starts off almost reasonable, especially given the setting, Jake becomes increasingly unhinged as the series goes on, to the point of turning to a Nominal Hero.
- Legacy Character: He is the new Punisher.
- Meaningful Name: His surname is Gallows.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Instead of making sure Kron Stone was dead, he instead tossed him in the sewer to die. The same sewer were Venom was. Cue a new Venom coming to torment Spider-Man for years to come.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After falling in love with Kerry, Jake fully intended to step away from being The Punisher, and they were both going to leave The Public Eye. Unfortunately, The Fearmaster found out Kerry knew Jake's identity and killed her when she destroyed the evidence, causing Jake to snap and go on the hunt for him.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The Punisher vs Daemos. Winner: the Punisher.
- The Power of Hate: Who needs a jetpack?
- Sarcastic Confession: When his psychiatrist confronts him in his house, suspecting he's the Punisher, Jake flat out admits that he really is that guy, he keeps a prison in his basement, and he was just downstairs beating a prep half to death for kicks. He even offers to show her his costume, which he keeps in his bedroom. She thinks the whole thing is outrageous and brushes it all off.
- Secret Identity: Unlike Frank Castle, Jake maintains a secret identity so he can keep his day job.
- Shout-Out: Jake is practically an Expy of Judge Dredd. They even have the same creator, who noted that some of the gear Jake has — such as the Power Bat and later, the portable lie detector — were things he'd thought of while working on Judge Dredd but never got to use.
- Sigil Spam: His uniform has skulls everywhere.
- Split Personality: Developed one about midway through the series run, with "Jake" and "The Punisher" being seperate entities. It was actually a fairly decent portrayal of D.I.D., as when The Punisher attempted to kill Matt, it turned out Jake had unloaded their weapons.Jake: You're not who I am - you're what I do. I'm taking back control.
- Villain Protagonist: He gradually turns into one.
Matt Axel
Matt Axel
First Appearance: The Punisher 2099 #1 (December, 1992)
A fried of Jake's. A former techie for Public Eye, now he runs a hostel for "degens" (mutants who are technically the property of the Toxic, Inc. that "created" them). He serves as Jake's version of Micro and occasionally as his moral conscience.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Designs and maintains Jake's Punishment Hotel and his bike.
- Morality Pet: Matt's increasing concern with Jake's methods is the surest sign that Jake is going off the deep end.
- Nice Guy: Perhaps the only character in 2099 seen genuinely caring about the welfare of degens.
Gold Heart
Gold Heart
Alter Ego: "The Gold Ghoul", a serial killer who murders low-level street gangs and steals their jewelery.
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance: The Punisher 2099 #18 (July, 1994)
An android who gets partnered with Jake as part of a new sponsorship deal with Stark-Fujikawa. In a remarkable coincidence, he's secretly the vigilante known as the Gold Ghoul. After he's found out and killed in a firefight, Jake downloads his AI into his Cool Bike. After Jake joins Doom's new S.H.I.E.L.D., Matt installs him into a new robotic body as the new Punisher.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: He kills gangbangers to build himself a gold exoskeleton. Though in the grand scheme of things, his victims were all pretty awful. He later plays this up when the authorities nail him, yelling things like "Bzzt!" and "Malfunction!".
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: After being installed in a new robot body, he talks. Like. This. For. Some. Reason.
Villains
Kron Stone
Kron Stone
First Appearance: The Punisher 2099 #1 (December, 1992)
The son of Tyler Stone, the CEO of Alchemax, and a psychotic killer. He and his gang target and kill happy families with the excuse that this happiness is an illusion, but they made one fatal mistake. They picked Jake's, and let him live.
See Spider-Man 2099
The Fearmaster
Darryl King
First Appearance: The Punisher 2099 #2 (January, 1993)
An Alchemax CEO who manages the company's sponsorship of the Public Eye private police force. Secretly also a major player in the Cyber-Nostra crime syndicate.
- Church of Happyology: Leads the Church of the Identified Flying Object, preaching that aliens will someday return and spirit away the faithful. It's entirely a scam to help him extort the flock, or so it seemed, until Issue #16 revealed that he really does serve and worship an alien entity named Kelmizadek.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Possibly the most cheerfully blatant example in all of 2099.
- The Don: Secretly controls the Cyber-Nostra, a gang of cyborg mafiosi.
- Mad Artist: Keeps a secret collection of statues made from his former victims, and describes them as art pieces. He takes special pride in the ones where he's captured their sense of complete terror.
- Playing Both Sides: Controls both law enforcement and organized crime. No matter which one gets the leg up, he makes a profit. His first appearance has him demanding that The Public Eye reduce crime by fifteen percent across the board, then immediately afterward tell the Cyber-Nostra that he wants their profits to go up by fifteen percent.
- Red Right Hand: A literal stunted red hand that can transmute the elemental structure of anything he touches, a gift from his alien buddies.
Multi-Fractor / Jigsaw 2099
Multi-Fractor / Jigsaw
First Appearance: The Punisher 2099 #2 (January, 1993)
A member of Cyber-Nostra and an underling of Fearmaster's.
- The Big Guy: As a cybernetically modified former athlete, he's huge, easily a foot taller than Jake and probably twice his weight.
- Came Back Strong: Was nearly killed by an energy overload which burned out all his cybernetics and badly disfigured him. King had him rebuilt with better parts, making him even more dangerous.
- Famed In-Story: He's a famous ex-Grav Ball player.
- Giant Mook: He's big, strong, and tough, but not that bright. For instance, King's plan to find Jake boils down to counting on Jigsaw to lose a fight, and implanting him with a tracking device beforehand.
Public Enemy
Saber Hagen
First Appearance: The Punisher 2099 #15 (April, 1994)
A de-gen whose parents were taken away by ECO. Embittered at a society that overlooked injustice, he grew up to be a murderous vigilante who seeks out both criminals and people who watched crimes happen but did nothing.
- Catchphrase: Calls bystanders to crime "sheep".
- Super-Soldier: He's a "Red Dog", part of a Human Subspecies altered to fight in hazardous environments.
- Punny Name: He's named after Fred Saberhagen, a sci-fi writer best known for the Berserker novels.
- Vigilante Man: With a dark twist: he doesn't just go after criminals, but also anyone who stands by and does nothing while a crime is in progress.
