Hitman is the name of three
fictional
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, ...
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
s appearing in
American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...
s published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
.
Publication history
Burt Kenyon first appeared in ''
The Spectacular Spider-Man'' #4 (March 1977), and was created by
Archie Goodwin and
Sal Buscema. The character subsequently appears in ''
The Amazing Spider-Man
''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...
'' #174-175 (Nov.–Dec. 1977), in which he is killed. The character appears posthumously in the ''Punisher: Return to Big Nothing'' graphic novel (1989).
Jimmy Pierce first appeared in ''The
Punisher'' vol. 2 #86 to serve as the Cullen Crime Family's Punisher. He was created by
Steven Grant
Steven Grant (born October 22, 1953) is an American comic book writer best known for his 1985–1986 Marvel Comics mini-series ''The Punisher'' with artist Mike Zeck and for his creator-owned character Whisper.
Biography
Comic books
Grant has ...
and Hugh Haynes.
Fictional character biography
Burt Kenyon
Burt Kenyon was a Vietnam veteran serving in the same company as Frank Castle, who would later become the
Punisher. Kenyon saved Castle's life by killing several enemy soldiers and dragging Castle to safety after he was wounded in an ambush. Castle wanted to know how he could repay Kenyon, to which Kenyon replied that Castle should remember that he owed him a life.
As the Hitman, Kenyon was a costumed mercenary assassin. He was hired by the
Maggia as their version of the Punisher. The
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
had rejected the Maggia's offer before they hired the Hitman, so the Hitman was sent to humiliate the Vulture by killing
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
before the Vulture could. The two villains fought over Spider-Man, allowing Spider-Man the chance to escape. The Hitman had placed tracers on both the Vulture and Spider-Man, and he continued to harass and attack them both. While Spider-Man feigned weakness, the Hitman coerced the Vulture into attacking Spider-Man, but Spider-Man turned so that the Hitman shot the Vulture's power pack instead of Spider-Man. The Hitman fled and Spider-Man gave the tracer to the Punisher to give him the opportunity to track the Hitman down.
The Hitman was hired by a terrorist group called the People's Liberation Front (PLF) to kidnap and kill
J. Jonah Jameson
John Jonah Jameson Jr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Spider-Man. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and he ...
for editorials written about the group. While looking for the Hitman, the Punisher found himself battling the PLF. As the Hitman confronted Jameson in his office, he attracted the attention of the Punisher and Spider-Man. The Hitman escaped to the roof with Jameson as he fought Spider-Man, but Spider-Man followed him. Hitman managed to escape in his mini-copter despite the Punisher's efforts to shoot Hitman. One of Spider-Man's spider-tracers allowed them to track the Hitman to the Statue of Liberty, where the PLF planned to blow up the statue with Jameson inside. The Punisher and Spider-Man arrived to stop the PLF, and confronted the Hitman. Spider-Man managed to pull Jameson away from the Hitman, and the Punisher shot Hitman, who fell from the statue but managed to grab part of the Statue of Liberty's crown and hang on. Spider-Man was also hanging from another part of the statue, but was wounded, weakening, and also holding on to Jameson with his other arm. Castle was momentarily torn between helping Spider-Man or Kenyon, especially when Kenyon reminded Castle that he owed him a life. Castle chose to help Spider-Man, telling Kenyon to hang on until he could get there. Kenyon declined, saying that he would never last and that Castle had already made his choice. He then said that while Castle had owed him a life, he never said that it had to be his (Kenyon's) life, and that by saving Spider-Man, they were now even. Kenyon then let go and plummeted to his death.
During the ''
Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy'' storyline, Hitman was cloned by
Miles Warren
The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...
and his company New U Technologies. Hitman survives the degenerative disorder that afflicts many of the other clones and becomes an enforcer for Countess Karkov of
Symkaria
The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several noteworthy concepts besides its fictional characters, such as unique places and artifacts. There follows a list of those features.
Places
Certain places fe ...
, who deploys Hitman to assassinate
Doctor Doom
Doctor Victor Von Doom is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in ''The Fantastic Four'' #5 in July 1962. The monarch of the fi ...
.
Jimmy Pierce
Jimmy Pierce is the son of Jack Pierce and Midge Cullen. His father resisted "Old Man" Peach Cullen's efforts to pull him into the Cullen Crime Family. Jack left to serve in the army.
[''The Punisher War Journal'' #70]
After the war, Jack Pierce found a new woman where Peach Cullen and Midge killed him. Following his father's death, Jimmy kept himself distant from the Cullens. He served in the Special Forces and was also a former Golden Gloves boxing champion.
[''The Punisher War Journal'' #71]
After Punisher was believed to be killed, Peach Cullen tried to force Jimmy into becoming the new Punisher that obeys his commands. Jimmy was resistant at first until Peach Cullen stated that he has his mother hostage. Jimmy ended up donning the costume that was complete with a mask.
Peach Cullen sent Jimmy to take down some rival operations where he believed that if word got out that Punisher was working for the Cullen Crime Family, they would own New York. Jimmy then busted up a crack house operation which Dean Swaybrick (AKA Yuppunisher) had targeted the same operation. This foiled Dean's publicity stunt.
Jimmy was sent to Laastekist,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
to investigate the sightings of
Punisher. While in Laastekist, Jimmy was disgusted when the other Cullen Family members shot and seemingly killed Payback and Lynn Michaels. Dean Swaybrick then arrived and killed the Cullen Family members present. Then Dean put the gun to Jimmy's head until Dean's fellow agents fled. This distraction gave Jimmy the opportunity to steal Dean's gun and shoot him. Jimmy was mortified after this and approached Dean's body. As Jimmy kneeled over Dean's corpse, he is shot in the back by Vigil's Blackwell and left for dead.
Jimmy later ambushed Dave Cullen and Duke Cullen where he forced them to tell him where Peach Cullen was hiding out. He then went to the apartment of his sister Lori Pierce. Lori's friend from medical school stitched up Jimmy's wound at Blackwell's hand. Dave Cullen and Duke Cullen tracked Jimmy to Lori's apartment and attacked him. Jimmy defeated Dave Cullen and Duke Cullen. As Jimmy took Dave with him, Duke was left tied up in Lori's apartment and was killed by Lori after Jimmy left. Jimmy sneaked into the meeting place of the Cullen Crime Family in order to rescue his mother. However, Midge smashed a coffee pot onto Jimmy's head and was at the mercy of the Cullen Crime Family. As Jimmy learned of his father's past, Lori snuck in to the Cullen Crime Family's meeting place and broke him out where the two of them escaped.
Lori brought Jimmy to their mother's old chest and told them how the Cullen Crime Family killed his father. He was unable to bring himself to seek vengeance of Peach Cullen and left. While hitching a ride, Jimmy was picked up by Punisher. The Cullen Crime Family managed to locate Lori and capture her.
Punisher and Jimmy were ambushed by some members of the Cullen Crime Family and were able to temporarily get away from them. The rest of the Cullen Crime Family tracked Punisher and Jimmy to an abandoned truck stop where Punisher picked them off. Jimmy was able to confront Peach Cullen and Midge where he held them at gunpoint and coerced Peach into ending their war. Lori was unable to let them get away with what they done and killed Peach and Midge. After she had cried out that Jimmy killed them which was heard by Punisher, Jimmy fled into the night. After Punisher and Jimmy had gone their separate ways, the female half of the Cullen Crime Family arrived where the dying Peach Cullen told them that Lori was a true Cullen which led to Lori taking up the Cullen name and becoming the leader of the Cullen girls.
Unnamed criminal
Roderick Kingsley
Roderick Kingsley is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Originally created by Roger Stern and Mike Zeck for ''Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man'' #43 (June 1980), the character was later b ...
later sold the Hitman gear to an unknown criminal. Hitman is seen working for Roderick Kingsley when it comes to the
Hobgoblin (who was actually Roderick Kingsley's butler Claude) fighting the
Goblin King's Goblin Nation. After Hobgoblin was killed by Goblin King, Hitman was among the villains that defected to the Goblin Nation.
Following Spider-Man's victory over the Goblin King, Hitman was seen with the other former Hobgoblin minions at the Bar with No Name where they encounter
Electro.
Roderick Kingsley later regained Hitman's services.
Powers and abilities
Burt Kenyon was an extraordinary marksman with conventional military weapons and was a good hand-to-hand combatant.
Jimmy Pierce uses a variety of firearms and wears Kevlar body armor. He also has peak-level strength, speed and agility.
In other media
Television
Jim Pierce appears on the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
show ''
Iron Fist'' played by
Jay Hieron. In the episode "Eight Diagram Dragon Palm", Pierce attends a cage match where
Colleen Wing
Colleen Wing is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Descended from a family of samurai, Wing is a Japanese martial artist who avenged her grandfather's death with the help of the s ...
, who is fighting under the name Daughter of the Dragon, faces off against several other fighters. Pierce is called up to join fellow fighter Duke to take on Wing. Despite their best efforts, they were both defeated by the smaller and quicker Wing.
Video games
Hitman appears as an enemy boss in the 1990 ''
The Punisher
The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made ...
'' video game, piloting a helicopter.
References
External links
*
*
{{Punisher
Characters created by Archie Goodwin (comics)
Characters created by Sal Buscema
Comics characters introduced in 1977
Fictional assassins in comics
Fictional characters from New York City
Fictional contract killers
Fictional murderers
Fictional soldiers
Fictional Vietnam War veterans
Marvel Comics military personnel
Punisher characters