Classification:
Weapon
DALEK
Classification:
Weapon
Creator: Microchip (Linus Lieberman)
User/Possessors: Microchip, Punisher (Frank Castle)
First Appearance: Punisher II#33 (May, 1990)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Dalek possesses powerful tank treads allowing it to ascend and descend stairs, a telescopic turret capable of extending 15 feet and punching "through anything short of a steel plate." The turret possesses four barrels capable of firing 650 rounds per minute per barrel, in a 320 degree configuration, and an automatic aiming system. However, it has a major weakness in being unable to deal with aiming at multiple targets at once.
Microchip's second Dalek , mentioned in Punisher Armory#2, "sees" in Infrared, tracking targets by body heat and locking onto them, it can travel up to 40 miles an hour on a straight surface, and can pursue targets up stairs. It possesses a General Electric 30 mm electric Gatling minigun, 7.26 mm, firing 6,000 rounds a minute (For comparison, the infamous Thompson semi-automatic "Tommy guns" only got 800 a minute...), and can hold up to 20,000 rounds of ammo. It was controlled via a voice-recognition radio keychain, which, when worn, lets it know not to shoot the wearer. It was programmed to respond to Frank and Linus's' voice commands.
History: (Punisher II#33) - When Microchip unknowingly hacked into the computer systems of Donald Pierce, leader of the cybernetic mercenaries known as the Reavers, Pierce sent three of his men, Bonebreaker, Pretty Boy and Murray Reese to kill the offending hackers, assuming it was the X-Men. Realizing that trouble was heading their way, Punisher and Microchip began to prepare (fortifying their position, making escape plans, and lacing the warehouse with high explosives). In the basement, Micro found his old Dalek. Proudly explaining it's abilities, Microchip gave a brief demonstration, knocking a hole in the roof of their warehouse hideout and sending bullets everywhere. It then followed them upstairs to prepare for the coming battle. However, once the Reavers arrived, the Dalek was quickly distracted by Pretty Boy, who used his telescopic arms to reach around both sides of a large brick partition, shooting from each side and drawing the Dalek's fire in two separate directions, pulling off it's aim, an advantage Punisher quickly addressed by shooting off one of Pretty Boy's hands, only to have him reach into a compartment in his chest and pull out a replacement. Soon Bonebreaker burst into the warehouse, giving Pretty Boy much needed backup and blasted the floor beneath the Dalek with a rocket launcher, sending it crashing into the basement. Undeterred, the Dalek merely extended it's turret and kept shooting, until Bonebreaker super-heated it's ammunition with a laser, causing the turret to explode. The Dalek was completely destroyed when Punisher blew up the warehouse in a failed attempt to kill the Reavers.
(Punisher Armory#2) - Punisher described how Microchip had created another, more advanced Dalek as a watch dog to keep out burglers, in it's initial testing phase it turned an old office building in the upper, unused portion of Punisher's Bronx warehouse into, as Frank put it, "Swiss Cheese". It was eventually destroyed when an unnammed criminal dropped a garbage truck on it, destroying it.
Comments: Created by Mike Baron, Bill Reinhold, and Mark Farmer, based on characters created by the late Terry Nation for the television series Doctor Who.
Pierce was able to find Microchip and Punisher via a tracer virus implanted in the Reaver's computer systems to ward off and locate hackers. He was extremely paranoid that the X-Men would try to hack into his systems.
The Reavers were eventually defeated by the Punisher using Punisher's Exo-Armor, but managed to escape with their lives, although they suffered heavy damage.
In Uncanny X-Men#269, Pretty Boy is seen wearing the Punisher's bullet-ridden shirt, with the skull logo crossed out with spray paint.
Microchip also called the Dalek his "Hydrant of Doom". I like Dalek much better.
The Punisher asks a question that has plagued Whovians (fans of the
television series Doctor Who) for years, "But can it go upstairs?". For years
since their initial appearance in 1964, Daleks, having no feet, were
unable to climb stairs, making escape fairly easy. However, by the serial
"Remembrance of the Daleks" in 1988, the ingenious monsters finally devised
an anti-gravity device allowing them to float up stairs.
They must have had this before, since they travelled up and down the decks
of an old fashioned sailing ship back in "The Chase", a story from 1965.
We just didn't get to see it until 1988, when TV special effects allowed.
- Loki
The two part Punisher vs Reavers storyline has some great moments, most of them going to Pretty Boy. Pretty Boy called Pierce "Evil and crazy" (I agree), he started singing when he entered the the New York communication grid via his fiber-optic cable eyes, prompting Reese to ask Bonebreaker to kill him if he ever got that bad, and remarked after apparently killing Punisher, "Pretty Boy wants to see Times Square!" His telescopic arms also go much further than the limits of his cybernetic body would seem to allow, chasing Frank and Linus through the sewers all the way to the Hudson river (with his disembodied eyes attached, no less.)
Other than a totally unrealistic romantic interlude between Pierce and Lady Deathstrike ( Yuriko Sama viewed Pierce as a spineless coward in the X-Men comics, and violently rejected his advances), Punisher II#33 and 34 are excellent reads.
Thanks to Per Degaton for pointing out the Punisher Armory material!
Clarifications:
No known connection to
images:
Punisher Vol. II#33, p8, pan1
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