Bushwacker (comics)

Carl Burbank is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Ann Nocenti and artist Rick Leonardi, the character first appeared in '' Daredevil'' #248 (November 1987). Burbank is known under the codename Bushwacker. He is a recurring antagonist Daredevil and has also encountered Punisher, Wolverine, and Carnage.

Once a priest, he renounced his vows after a series of deaths in his parish and became an assassin for the CIA. Equipped with cybernetic, weaponized arms, he later took on contracts from major crime figures such as Kingpin and The Hood. Burbank is also a mutant, a subspecies of humans born with superhuman abilities.

Publication history

Carl Burbank debuted in '' Daredevil'' #248 (November 1987), created by Ann Nocenti and Rick Leonardi. He appeared in the 2005 ''Daredevil vs. Punisher'' series, and the 2018 ''The Immortal Hulk'' series.

Fictional character biography

Carl Burbank was a priest who abandoned his vows following the drug-related deaths of young parishioners. He joined the C.I.A., which outfitted him with a cybernetic arm and made him an assassin under the codename "Bushwacker", but ultimately he became a freelancer.

At some point, an event took place that compelled Bushwacker to begin a war against all mutants. Bushwacker began hunting and assassinating mutants, most often those mutants whose abilities Bushwacker perceived as making them especially talented in "the arts". Bushwacker also claimed that he was paid large sums of money to kill mutants, but this has yet to be verified. Wolverine learned of Bushwacker's activities and began to hunt the killer. At the same time, Bushwacker's wife Marilyn believed her husband was insane and needed to be placed in a hospital. She sought aid from lawyer Matt Murdock (secretly the hero Daredevil). Bushwacker was tracked down and defeated by the two heroes, which left the right side of his face horribly scarred, and he was placed in police custody.

Later, Bushwacker joined with Typhoid Mary and other enemies of Daredevil in a plan to kill their common foe. After the completion of the plan, Bushwacker was left to his own activities.

Entering the Kingpin's employ, Burbank attacked the Punisher, but was left for dead. It was during this time that his wife finally left him. He reappeared in the employ of drug lord Nick Lambert, who hired Bushwacker to kill reporter Ben Urich, who was about to run a story of his illegal activities. Instead, when Bushwacker learned the truth, he allowed Urich to live and to complete the exposé. However, the drug lord managed to bribe himself out of jail. Bushwacker then killed him. Bushwacker was later freed by Deathlok from captivity by Mechadoom, a rogue Doombot variant.

Subsequent activities brought him into conflict with Daredevil, Nomad, Punisher, Boomerang, and Elektra. His clash with Nomad was over the life of a baby that Nomad had taken under his care whom Bushwacker believed to be the daughter of Troy Donohue, Burbank's ex-brother-in-law (she was in the fact the daughter of Nomad's foe, the drug lord Umberto Saffilios and a teenaged prostitute). Bushwacker hoped that his wife would approve of his "rescue" and welcome him back into her life.

Imprisoned in the super-villain holding facility the Raft, Burbank escaped during the mass breakout engineered by Electro. Burbank was subsequently employed by the Jackal to kill the Punisher, but was defeated once again by Daredevil. Following this, Bushwacker created a disturbance in downtown Manhattan and took a woman hostage to lure the Punisher out of hiding and kill him. The Punisher showed up as expected. As it turns out, G.W. Bridge arranged the incident in Times Square with Bushwacker to ambush and capture The Punisher. Although complications arose by an on-site NYPD officer the incident fell through, the Punisher escaped, and Bushwacker was defeated by S.H.I.E.L.D. operative G. W. Bridge and put back in jail.

The Hood has hired him as part of his criminal organization to take advantage of the split in the superhero community caused by the Superhuman Registration Act. He helped them fight the New Avengers but was taken down by Doctor Strange.

As part of the Hood's gang during the "Secret Invasion" storyline, he later joins the fight against the Skrull invading force in New York City.

During "The Gauntlet and Grim Hunt" storyline, Bushwacker was with the Hood when he presented the Scorpion costume to whichever crook impressed him until the party was crashed by Scorpion, who stole the costume.

Bushwacker was seen during the Siege of Asgard as part of the Hood crime syndicate.

In ''X-Force: Sex and Violence'' #2, Bushwacker was seriously injured by Wolverine after an assassination attempt on him and Domino at the time when he was working for the Assassins Guild. He was stabbed with a middle claw to the throat.

During the " Civil War II" storyline, Kingpin encounters Bushwacker in San Francisco.

During a 2019 storyline in ''The Immortal Hulk'', Bushwacker appeared to be killed when Hulk exploded after being bathed in too much gamma radiation.

Powers and abilities

Carl Burbank was bionically modified by the CIA, transforming him into a cyborg hand-to-hand combat techniques, and is trained in infiltration and assassination. He also has familiarity with the workings of international intelligence agencies and their methods.

Other versions

House of M

An alternate version of Carl Burbank appears in the House of M reality spin-off ''House of M: Masters of Evil''.

In other media

Video games

* Carl Burbank / Bushwacker appears as a boss in ''The Punisher'' (1993). This version serves as a servant of the Kingpin.
* Carl Burbank / Bushwacker appears in ''The Punisher'' (2005), voiced by Phil Hayes. This version works for the Gnucci family.
* Carl Burbank / Bushwacker appears as a playable character in '' The Punisher: No Mercy''.

Miscellaneous

* In 2022, Wesley Burt, a costume illustrator for '' She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'', revealed concept art for Carl Burbank. Bushwacker was one of several Marvel characters considered but ultimately not included in the final production.
* In 2024, Hasbro released a Carl Burbank / Bushwacker action figure as part of the Marvel Legends action figure line. The set is based on the ''Punisher War Journal'' series, which debuted at Marvel Comics in 1988.

References

External links

Bushwacker
at Marvel.com

Bushwacker
at Marvel Wiki

{{Ann Nocenti

Characters created by Ann Nocenti
Comics characters introduced in 1987
Fictional assassins in comics
Fictional Catholics
Fictional Central Intelligence Agency personnel
Fictional Christian priests
Fictional gunfighters in comics
Fictional murderers
Marvel Comics characters with accelerated healing
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics cyborgs
Marvel Comics male supervillains
Marvel Comics shapeshifters
Punisher characters