Frank Castle: ex-soldier, special forces. Probably suffering from war-related PTSD; definitely suffering from whole-family-murdered-before-his-eyes PTSD. Self-prescribed therapy: finding those who orchestrated his tragedy, and wipe them from the face of the earth.

Similarly to the Netflix series, my Frank will be an intensely tortured and intensely violent man who, having exacted his particular brand of vengeance upon those responsible for his family's death, decided to pretend he wanted to leave that life behind and live out the rest of his days as a ghost; but there's only so long a man like Frank can pretend to ignore the shit-filled world around him. New heroes simply frustrate him, more emerging vigilantes who remain unwilling or unable to take the necessary steps to stamp out the very sins they came forward to battle against.

So he's back, no longer a whispered rumour, a horror story petty thugs tell each other on long nights; now a terrifying revenant. The Punisher, returned to exact his punishment.
His methods are brutal -
His methods are controversial -
His methods are extreme -
But they are final.

Frank is a classic Marvel character, the original darker-and-edgier blood-knight, and a staple of many other big-ticket Marvel heroes, Frank's MO being the polar opposite to how we understand 'superheroes' to operate in traditional media. I want to use that contrast to highlight why we love Punisher, and how he's endured for so long (originally appearing as a strange anti-hero antagonist in Spider-Man before his popularity got him repeat appearances and eventually his own series!), but also how Punisher's character can be also used to emphasise the reasons we love our more traditional heroes as well.

Ideally I'm looking to play Frank as a Roaming Character who is pursuing (as always) his own war and his own targets, enveloped in some grand conspiracy once again that has him bouncing from lead to lead, crossing paths with many other heroes, and leaving a significant body-count behind him as he goes.

Now in his mid-forties, Wayne's become reluctant to admit that his once perfectly honed body and mind are starting to show the signs of age and damage from half a lifetime spent waging his war on criminals. Employing a number of gadgets and vehicles to keep him ahead of the curve, it's become apparent that his days as The Dark Knight are now numbered, whether it be by many years or few precious months ahead. His sense of melancholy has only been strengthened by the death of his adoptive father figure and mentor, Alfred Pennyworth, making Bruce more determined than ever to lead a better example in remembrance of the man who believed in him most...

My intention is to portray an older Batman who's lived out a more-or-less full career, with all of the sidekicks and rogues' gallery members you could imagine. The reason for this is because I want to explore the fragility of Bruce Wayne as a man, something that the comics often forget in their attempt to heighten the capability of the character against his superhuman contemporaries. He's one of the world's greatest detectives, one of its shrewdest warriors, and a legendary hero at this point, but he's still susceptible to everything that plagues humanity - age, disease, and even death. So to take a look at Bruce's mid-life crisis against the backdrop of a One Universe setting is an opportunity that I can't ignore.

_{O N G O I N G}
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}

Born in small town Iowa to local butchers Harold and Edith Barton, Harold liked to drink too much and would take his issues with the world out on Edith, and sons Charles (known as Barney) and Clinton. The drink one day took both parents lives, with Harold driving into a tree whilst heavily under the influence, with his wife in the passenger seat, leaving both boys orphaned. Bouncing around various foster homes, the boys were desperate to find a way to remain together, and eventually landed on the brilliant solution of a ten year old boy.

They would run away and join the circus.

Working first as general roustabouts, it wasn't long before the boys were starting to find their ways into shows in bit parts as extras in clown-work, and learning the odd acrobatic move or stunt. The prodigious young boy's potential and amazing hand-eye coordination was noted by global circus headliner Jacques Duquesne - the Sensational Swordsman! - and he began to train him, as well as convincing amazing archer Buck Chisholm - the Tremendous Trick Shot!

Unfortunately, the pair of amazing attractions had less-than-legal alternative forms of income away from the circus, and after extremely rough falling outs with both men (each incident leading to severe injury, near death on the part of Clint) the younger Barton was left with a lot of skills and questionable direction. Having nowhere else to go he remained with the circus, only to watch it change hands as an old lost relative of the current ringmaster returned to pursue his family legacy. Maynard Tiboldt had lost much of his money having previously gone out on his own to make a career as an inventor, seeking to find electronic devices to aid psychological conditions. He felt there were forms of electronic psychotherapy which could bring a great boon to mankind, and that the field had been harmed by the negative reputation brought on by crude techniques such as electroshock therapy. Unfortunately, he underestimated just how much this was the case, and found it difficult to find further investment BECAUSE of this, and had to return to the family circus hat in hand, embittered with shame.

The era had not been kind to circuses however. People now were capable of being wowed, and entertained from various other cheaper, if not free, sources. Current affairs programs hammered some circuses on animal welfare issues, and even the ones who did right by theirs bore the brunt of such a backlash.

Unwilling to twice be ruined by unearned shots to his field's reputation, Tiboldt lashed out and turned to crime. By this point it was an easy sell to most of the workers, many of whom had also followed Swordsman and Trick Shot's example and started down that path to supplement waning income already. Gradually he grew a network within the circus, relying on the facts that carnival workers seldom trusted police, and if he could get enough of the workers onside, the rest would have little choice but to go ahead, or leave.

As a young performer, who had his own reputation for going against previous star performers Duquesne and Buck, he was very much kept in the dark on Maynard's criminal machinations, large thefts were planned after his oarts of performances, and young Clint was completely oblivious to what was taking place. But now earned notoriety was surrounding the circus, to the point that it was staked out by certain costumed heroes, keen on getting to the bottom of the string of mysterious crimes which seemed to follow the circus.

Maynard Tiboldt had been performing mass-hypnosis using a device of his own invention within his own hat. Iron Man and the Avengers broke from their seats as the method of crime became apparent, only to find themselves brought under the Ringmaster's thrall. Fortnately Clint had returned after his show, curious by the nature of some of these coloured costumed Avengers, and turned the tables on the Circus of Crime by knocking the Ringmaster's hat from his head with an arrow.

The Avengers ended the Criminal Circus' run of crimes and arrested most of the offending carnival workers, this left Clint both out of work and with only one reference of any value for future employment. Fortunately it was a good one.

Iron Man was impressed with how Clint had handled himself, and Clint in turn was impressed with the notion of a regular man going out and performing these feats of heroism with only himself and the fruits of his own creativity.

'Hawkeye' joined the Avengers, first on a probationary role, before fully earning his stripes. Unfortunately it eventually proved not to be the perfect fit for Clint, as the anti-authoritarian Avenger bristled with what he saw as marching orders being given by the team's handlers who kept the Avengers accountable. He parted ways with the team on good terms with most of the teams heroes, but unable to approve of being a part of a team where they're micromanaged and directed by political machinations.

Fortunately the Avengers weren't the only show in town, and he'd more than impressed with his capabilities at this point.

Why do you want to play this character, what is the driving motivation behind both this desire and the character themselves?

It's somewhat baffled me that Green Arrow has been the archer of preference in these kinds of games. Clint, to be perfectly honest, has a more instantly recognisable "fun" personality, he's virtuously synonymous with a team environment (having been a part of the Avengers, Defenders, led the West Coast Avengers, filled a mentor role for the Great Lakes Avengers, led the Thunderbolts... and was even the first Marvel character to get Justice League membership in the crossover publications they printed). If there's a team in comics Hawkeye COULD be on, he's pretty much been on it. Which demonstrates how fitting he is for a game like this where collaboration is front and centre.

Hawkeye had long been defined by his brash bull-headedness against authority figures (particularly male authority figures), redemption, and the troubles brought around by his weakness for the fairer sex. I think I've got enough laid out that I can accurately portray these things.

What do you hope to accomplish and where do you want the character's story/stories to go?

This will be a younger Hawkeye, back when he was still very much butting heads and driving to become the kind of leader he believes himself to be... even if he's not quite there yet. That journey is the one we're on now.

This will be a ROAMING character generally, and at least at first. Although I may interject the odd plot line in the mix to round things out, introduce backstory and add depth. For the most part there will be a lot of drifting around with Justice League activities.

_{O N G O I N G}
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}