THE CAGE / THE STORM AND THE SACRIFICE (1994-1995)

THE CAGE (1994-1995)
Microchip has always been the right-hand man to Frank Castle: The Punisher. Now Frank seems to be crossing the line and innocents are getting hurt in his war on crime and Micro's wandering if it's time for a new Punisher...

Gang boss Rosalie Carbone has sent her enforcer, Mondo Pain, to track down the new Lady Punisher, Lynn Michaels. But Lynn already has her own problems. When she runs into a cop she used to work with before she quit the force, she manages to avoid arrest but her identity becomes public knowledge. Mondo Pain tracks Lynn down but she escapes again, leaving her copy of the Punisher's War Journal behind.

Mondo Pain find the War Journal and discovers the entry detailing Carbone's affair with the Punisher and blackmails her to keep the information from falling into the wrong hands. The commotion caused by Lynn's confrontation with Mondo attracts the attention of the police and VIGIL (the anti-vigilante strike force) and she quickly finds herself on the run. She overhears them discussing the lost War Journal and decides to go after it. 

By the time she finds it, it's in the hands of one of Carbone's men. She manages to retrieve it and reads it, only to find she's not mentioned in it at all. Losing faith in her mission, she returns to Payback, her accomplice., for help.

The Punisher endangers innocents when taking on terrorists in New York City in an effort to remind them why they should fear him. Microchip is rescued from muggers by a young man named Carlos Cruz. Micro believes he's found his new Punisher.

The Punisher is busy tracking down a new drug lord called Cringe. Carlos turns down Micro's offer until his young nephew gets killed in a drive-by shooting. Carlos goes back to Micro and accepts his offer, hoping to start by killing the Shining Condors gang.

Frank Castle coerces a local drug dealer into helping him find out Cringe's identity, while Microchip provides Carlos Cruz with an outfit and weapons, christening him as the new Punisher.

Frank discovers Cringe is really Microchip when he walks into an elaborate trap set by his former ally. Micro's extreme intervention forces Frank to watch videos of his family before they were murdered while sat in a reconstruction of his old family home. Elsewhere, Carlos Cruz is tracking down Rosalie Carbone. When he confronts her, she believes the masked man to be Frank Castle. 

The pair realise a rival family is about to destroy the boat in an attempt on Rosalie's life. Out of his depth, Cruz reports back to Microchip who panics, believing he sent Cruz to die. He attempts to call Frank out from his conditioning, but he hears a shotgun go off. Frank appears to have committed suicide...

Carlos Cruz fights off the hitmen on Rosalie Carbone's cruise ship, but falls into the water. When he eventually makes it to shore, he meets Microchip, heads to his nephew's memorial service, then dons his Punisher gear again and kills the Shining Condors gang. Afterwards, he enters the warehouse where Frank Castle was being kept and finds him alive and spoiling for  fight. Rosalie Carbone, having escaped the chaos on the cruise ship, hires Bullseye to kill the rival family who tried to assassinate her and the Punisher.

Lynn and Payback manage to track down her father, asking to be taken to a safe haven. Bu they're being hunted by one of Carbone's hitmen...

Micro helps Cruz escape the Punisher using knock-out gas. Carlos teams up with Phalanx (Cord Mather) to take on the Carbone's rival family and find Bullseye in the middle of killing them all.  

The Carbone's hitmen attack Lynn Michaels and Payback, but they manage to drive them off only to be chased down by the Punishment Squad (criminals hired by the Trust to dress as the Punisher, distorting his ethos). Lynn and Payback whittle the Squad down to just the leaders - Angela and Alex Alaric. 

Heathen, Carbone's enforcer, kills the two Trust leaders and allows Lynn, her father and Payback to escape, knowing they'll never return.

Meanwhile, the real Punisher breaks free...

Follow the story in:
Punisher War Journal #74-75 (tie-in)
Punisher #97-99
Punisher #100 [1/2]
Punisher #101
Punisher War Journal #76
Punisher #102
Punisher War Journal #77-78

Fallout:

• Punisher #103 (1995) The Punisher, Microchip, Carlos Cruz, Phalanx, Rosalie Carbone, Bullseye, Ponygirl and Mouse next appear during Countdown.
• Punisher War Journal #79 (1995) Stone Cold next appears; the Punisher finally confronts Microchip during Countdown.
• Punisher War Zone #41 (1995) Payback and Mickey Fondozzi next appear during Countdown.
• Punisher War Journal #80 (1995) The Punisher imagines Lynn Michaels retiring from her vigilante career on the family farm during Countdown.
• Civil War: Battle Damage Report #1 (2007) Iron Man considers Payback as a potential Initiative recruit during Civil War. 
• Punisher War Zone #11 (2007) Lynn Michaels next appears working as a SHIELD agent during The Initiative.
• Punisher War Journal #23 (2008) Lynn is awarded for her work as a SHIELD agent, but arranges for Jigsaw to be shot while in custody and is arrested.

THE STORM AND THE SACRIFICE (1995)

Over in the Avengers' corner of the Marvel Universe, one of Earth's Mightiest is about to make the ultimate sacrifice...

Thunderstrike's recurring foe, Bloodaxe, jumps in to save Jerry Sapristi when he's attacked by the dregs of the super-villain community: Mongoose and Quicksand. Thunderstrike arrives in time to stop Bloodaxe from killing the pair of lame-asses, despite it being worth it. Bloodaxe loses his axe and transforms into the human form of Jackie Lucas (love-interest and confidant of Eric Masterson, Thundertike's civilian identity). Wracked with weirdness at the thought of having almost shagged Bloodaxe, Thunderstrike picks up the actual Bloodaxe that gives Bloodaxe his/her powers (couldn't they have called the axe and the character two different things?) and becomes an amalgam of Thunderstrike and Bloodaxe, holding the axe and his own mace, Thunderstrike (again with the name issue. Couldn't they have called the mace, I dunno... Jeff, or something?).

Having been transformed into Thunderaxe or Bloodstrike or Thudstrix or Blunderake or whatever you wanna call him, Eric Masterson goes on a full-on rampage and kills Seth, the Egyptian God of the Dead. The Avengers try to take the now-insane, murderous Eric down, but are no match for him with the combined powers of the mace and the axe. Looks like it's up to Thor...

Telling everyone that your character is an everyman Avenger at the top of each issue of his series doesn't make it true. And nothing quite goes against the 'everyman' motif like turning your character into a psychotic killer. Thor knows the only way to save Eric Masterson is to kill him. But Eric is having a pretty good go at destroying himself, pitting his T-Stike side against his B-Axe side until he kills himself. Later, Eric's son Kevin Masterson visits his father's grave and Thor defaces it without anyone's permission so the headstone reads "The World Still Needs Heroes". Ponce.

Breaking his exile of Asgard, Thor storms the gates and demands to know why Odin didn't try to intervene. Instead of answering, Odin casts Thor back down to Earth. He finds the Absorbing Man at Eric's grave and the two fight until 'Sorbie admits he misses Thunderstrike, too. Odin relents and tells Thor that Eric chose his own path, which makes him happier. Awww, man-hugs all 'round.
Thanks to Thomas Trombley for pointing this one out to me.

Follow the story in:

Thunderstrike #22-24

Thor #490

Fallout:

• Ghost Rider #64 (1995) Black Widow, Crystal, Hercules and Quicksilver next appear.
• Silver Surfer #111 (1995) Odin, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg next appear.
• Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special #1 (1995) Captain America next appears during Planet of the Symbiotes.
• Avengers #390 (1995) Giant-Man next appears during The Crossing.
• Star Masters #1 (1995) Grand Vizier next appears.
• DC Versus Marvel #1 (1996) Thor and the Absorbing Man next appear during Marvel Versus DC.
• Thor #499 (1996) Thor returns to Asgard.
• Journey into Mystery #503 (1996) Balder next appears.
• Journey into Mystery #504 (1996) Lt Marcus Stone next appears.
• Journey into Mystery #505 (1997) Seth, 'Fireworks' Fielstein, 'Mad Dog' Rassitano and 'Rigger' Ruiz next appear.
• Avengers #10-11 (1998) Thunderstrike next appears; the deceased Thunderstrike is a member of the Grim Reaper's Legion of the Unliving.
• Thunderbolts #24 (1999) Quicksand next appears.
• Thor #43 (2002) The Bloodaxe next appears.
• Thor #53 (2002) Thor uses the Bloodaxe to cut off Perikkus' arm.
• Thunderbolts #104 (2006) Mongoose next appears during Civil War.
• Thor God-Size Special #1 (2009) Executioner next appears.
• Thunderstrike #1 (2011) Kevin Masterson, Marcy Steele and Bobby Steele next appear; Kevin Masterson takes on the enchanted Thunderstrike mace to become the new Thunderstrike.