Saracen (comics)

Publication history

Saracen was introduced in The Punisher Vol. 2, #22-23, and reappeared in The Punisher War Journal #25-27, as well as The Punisher Vol. 2, #47-48, and The Punisher War Journal #33. The character was then killed off in the one-shot comic book The Punisher: Empty Quarter, though a version of him from an alternate universe was later featured in Exiles Vol. 1, #99.

Saracen received profiles in Marvel Encyclopedia #5, and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1.

Fictional character biography

A globe-trotting mercenary and assassin whose actions, such as plundering cruise ships and blowing up airliners, have resulted in him being branded a terrorist, Saracen hails from an undisclosed Arabian country, and is said to be happily married.

Saracen first encountered the Punisher when the two infiltrated the same "ninja training camp" being run by con artists in Kansas. When the camp employees begin murdering the students, having realized that there are saboteurs among them, Saracen and the Punisher work together to survive, with Saracen explaining that he had enrolled in the camp in order to discern who among its former students was responsible for poisoning of one of the leaders of the Free Armenian Army. After the camp's instructors are killed, the Punisher saves Saracen from an explosion that immolates the establishment's owner, Chester Scully.

Saracen goes on to work for a corrupt Florida senator, who sends him to Palermo to assist the Bessucho crime family (which is led by the senator's cousin) with eliminating the Punisher. Saracen confronts the Punisher at a weapons cache owned by the Punisher's estranged relatives, Rocco and Esmerelda Castiglione. The two engage in a battle that ends with the Punisher blowing the area up, though Saracen survives, and murders Rocco and Esmerelda. Afterward, the Punisher frames Saracen for his own slaying of the corrupt senator, who was sponsoring Saracen for American citizenship.

Saracen, operating under the name Colonel Hawk, subsequently allies with a Middle Eastern country called Trafia. When the Punisher is captured by the Trafian military, Saracen orders that he be executed in a way that will send a message to Trafia's enemies, such as the nation of Zukistan. The Punisher escapes and tries to kill Saracen, but he is forced to spare him by Microchip, who reveals that Saracen is actually working for and under the protection of the governments Zukistan and Israel.

Saracen proceeds to travel to Siberia at the behest of a renegade Russian general who has taken over an oil refinery, and is seeking to secede from the Soviet Union. Hired to advise the general and supply him with wares, Saracen flees when the refinery is attacked by the Punisher.

While dismantling a narcotics ring, the Punisher finds Saracen working for drug lords in Peru, and among his possessions discovers an invitation to a "terrorist convention" being held in Rub' al Khali. With the help of the Bolivian authorities, the Punisher is able to capture Saracen, and assume his identity in order to infiltrate Rub' al Khali. Saracen is broken out of imprisonment by his Peruvian associates, and travels to Rub' al Khali, arriving just as the Punisher and his ally, Rose Kugel, blow up the First World International Terrorist Convention. Saracen ambushes the two, and forces the Punisher into a sword fight; the duel concludes with the Punisher dismembering and impaling Saracen.

Exiles

Saracen's counterpart on Earth-1009 is a superhero and a member of the Royal Avengers. He and his teammates, Iron Lord and American Boy, attempt to arrest their world's version of Rogue, but she is saved by the Exiles member Morph.