Billy Russoti

Jigsaw (William "Billy" Russo, also known as "The Beaut" before his disfigurement) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Ross Andru, the character made his first full appearance in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #162 (November 1976). He is depicted as an enemy of the Punisher and Spider-Man as well as a recurring foe of Daredevil.

The character was portrayed by Dominic West in the film '' Punisher: War Zone'' and Ben Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe / Netflix series ''The Punisher''.

Publication history

Jigsaw was created by writer Len Wein and artist Ross Andru. He first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #162 (November 1976). He returned in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #188, and ''The Punisher'' #1 and #4–5. Jigsaw then allied with the Rev in ''The Punisher'' Vol. 2, #35–40, and Gregario in #55–56. Following a cameo appearance in ''The Punisher War Journal'' #61, Jigsaw's origin was detailed in Issues #3–4 of the prequel limited series ''The Punisher: Year One'', and he further bedeviled the Punisher in ''Punisher'' Vol. 3, #2–4 and #9–10.

Preceding an encounter with the eponymous character in '' Daredevil'' Vol. 2, #61–64, Jigsaw appeared in '' The New Avengers'' #1–3, #35, #46, #50, #57, and ''The New Avengers Annual'' #2; concurrent to his appearances in that title, Jigsaw also starred in ''Punisher War Journal'' Vol. 2, #11, #18–20, and #22–23. He was then featured in the five-issue miniseries '' Punisher: In the Blood'', and made a subsequent cameo in the '' Thunderbolts'' Vol. 2 Annual.

Jigsaw received profiles in ''The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' #6, ''The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition'' #10, ''Marvel Encyclopedia'' #4 and #5, '' The New Avengers Most Wanted Files'' #1, and ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A–Z'' #6.

Fictional character biography

Billy Russo was born to a poor Italian-American family, kicked out and abandoned as an orphan by his abusive father at the age of ten, and went on to become a hitman for New York's Italian criminal underworld, where his good looks garnered him the nickname "Billy the Beaut". He married a woman named Susan, and would beat both her and their son, Henry, once forcing Henry to drown his pet cat's kittens by threatening to shoot Susan. After the botched gangland execution that inadvertently led to the Castle family being massacred, Russo is hired by Frank Costa to cover up their deaths by killing all of their friends and loved ones. Russo kills all of his targets except for Frank Castle, who survives a bomb planted by Russo. Hours later, Frank, now the vigilante Punisher, tracks Russo down to a Maggia nightclub. He guns down all of Russo's men, but leaves him alive to send a message to organized crime after knocking him through a glass window pane, an act that reduces Russo's face to a jigsaw puzzle-like mess of scars.

Taking advantage of his hideous visage, Russo adopts the identity of "Jigsaw", and attempts to frame the Punisher for murder. However, the plan fails due to the intervention of Spider-Man and Nightcrawler; Spider-Man witnesses one of Jigsaw's murders, and one of his victims is an old friend of Nightcrawler's. Jigsaw later battled Spider-Man again.

It is revealed in the first ''Punisher'' miniseries that Jigsaw was behind a plan to drug the Punisher, causing his enemy to behave erratically and attack anyone he perceived as a criminal, even for something as minor as littering. Jigsaw also attempts to kill the Punisher while he is incarcerated. The Punisher confronts and defeats him, and later stops Jigsaw from escaping under cover of a prison riot. Later in the series, Jigsaw is brainwashed by the Trust into serving as a member of a Punisher-style assassination squad. He manages to remember whom he is after encountering Castle once again, and attacks the Punisher, only to be defeated once more.

Jigsaw is broken out of Ryker's Island by the Rev, who has him supervise the importation of a sterility-inducing Venezuelan drug intended for testing on the people of New York City. When the drug shipment is destroyed by the Punisher, Jigsaw sics a street gang on him, and flees to Venezuela with the Rev. After Jigsaw's face is healed by the Rev's powers, he is shot by the Punisher, but resurrected by the Rev, with the assistance of Belasco. Jigsaw's restored face is destroyed, and he is left for dead in the jungle in a later battle with the Punisher. Jigsaw recovers, and subsequently attempts to illegally reenter the United States, but is arrested and returned to Ryker's Island. When the Punisher is captured by the authorities and sent to same prison, Jigsaw tries to kill him, but the Punisher survives and escapes from Ryker's.

After the Punisher is arrested and sentenced to death for countless murders, Jigsaw dons a stylized copy of his costume and embarks on a homicidal rampage, targeting all those connected to the execution. When the Punisher is revealed to still be alive, an overjoyed Jigsaw attempts to kill him, but the Punisher overpowers him with the assistance of Daredevil. Jigsaw later partners with various syndicates to lay siege to the estate of the Geraci crime family after learning that Punisher has been forced to become their new underboss. Jigsaw and his allies abduct the Geracis, but they are saved by the Punisher, who shoots Jigsaw in the head.

Jigsaw next establishes a gunrunning operation, which is broken up by Daredevil and Black Widow. When his attempt at negotiating with Daredevil (who had declared himself the new Kingpin) fails, Jigsaw seeks revenge by breaking into Daredevil's home, where he is subdued by Black Widow. Jigsaw is remanded to the Raft, an island supervillain prison, which he escapes from (breaking Spider-Man's arm in the process) when the facility is attacked by Electro. Once free, Jigsaw tries to rob a bank, but is beaten by Tigra. This humiliation leads to his forming an alliance with the self-proclaimed "super-villain Kingpin" the Hood; together, Jigsaw and the Hood film themselves threatening and torturing Tigra. Later, Jigsaw takes part in the Hood's attack on the Sanctum Sanctorum, where he attempts to snipe Jessica Jones and Danielle Cage, only to be foiled by Spider-Man.

Jigsaw has resumed his vendetta against the Punisher, in the pages of ''Punisher: War Journal''. Now wearing a color-inverted mockup of the Punisher costume, Jigsaw arranges for the brainwashing of a young auxiliary police officer in the NYPD. Exploiting the naive cop's pathological "hero-worship" complex, Jigsaw and his new psychiatrist girlfriend turn the young man into a new version of the Punisher.

After a battle on the Brooklyn Bridge where the Punisher once again spares Jigsaw's life, Jigsaw is taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. While imprisoned he is seemingly shot dead by the man that he and his girlfriend (who was actually undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Lynn Michaels) had brainwashed. Jigsaw survived the attempt on his life, and was transferred to a "reprogramming asylum" by H.A.M.M.E.R. He returns to the Hood's Gang in ''Secret Invasion'' to assist in fending off the invading Skrulls, and rejoins again in '' Dark Reign'' to help attack the New Avengers.

Jigsaw then partners with the similarly disfigured Stuart Clarke. Together, the "Jigsaw Brothers" hire Lady Gorgon to impersonate Maria Castle while they manipulate Henry, the Punisher's ally and Jigsaw's son, into helping them capture and kill the Punisher. After betraying and murdering Clarke, Jigsaw battles the Punisher on top of his own burning headquarters, only to fall through the roof of the building and into the fire below.

Jigsaw resurfaced when the pictures of he and Spider-Man were shown enjoying ice cream cones together while under the thrall of fairy king Oberoth'M'Gozz.

A recovered Jigsaw afterward appears in the ''Civil War II'' storyline as one of the criminals that the Kingpin has assembled to help him rebuild his New York empire.

During the "Search for Tony Stark" arc, Jigsaw rejoined Hood's gang and assisted in the attack on Castle Doom.

Punisher Vol. 12

In the fallout from the Secret Empire event, Punisher is captured by Nick Fury and handed over to Baron Zemo, who's eager to exact punishment on the vigilante for targeting Hydra. Jigsaw accompanies Zemo in Bagalia, acting as one of the Baron's operatives. Zemo's plans to publicly execute Frank Castle in Bagalia go wrong and Jigsaw is dispatched to re-capture Castle. Commanding Zemo's Hydra agents, Jigsaw ultimately kills Sister Mercy, a nun Frank befriended in Bagalia's prison.

Both Zemo and Castle ultimately escape Bagalia and Jigsaw then appears in NYC, where he is presented as a disguised member of Zemo's new team of Thunderbolts. Jigsaw clashes with Thunderbolts veteran Moonstone while holed up with the rest of the team, but when the Thunderbolts do battle with Punisher's squad of allied heroes, Jigsaw intervenes to save Zemo, allowing the Thunderbolts to escape with a hostage.

Death

Sometime after the Punisher became leader of The Hand, Jigsaw and other criminals grouped together to kill the Punisher by putting a bounty on him. Punisher was tracked to Slovenia where the criminals all attacked him. During an explosion, Jigsaw attacked the Punisher to finally kill him once and for all. However, the Punisher gained the upper hand and stabbed Jigsaw in the throat with a sword, killing him instead.

Powers and abilities

Jigsaw is an athletic man with no superhuman powers. During his time in prison, he was able to hone his physical strength to a level comparable to the Punisher. He has extensive experience with street-fighting techniques, and familiarity with a variety of weapons and criminal techniques. He carries various handguns as needed. He has been known to wear a special exo-skeleton in his outfits. Before Jigsaw was disfigured, he was a highly-charismatic leader and criminal organizer, but after the accident, only the latter trait remained.

Other versions

2099

A cyborg

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