TANYA ADRIAN
Real Name: Tanya Adrian
Identity/Class: Human conventional weapon-user
Occupation: Assassin
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Stuart Clarke, Jigsaw (Billy Russo)
Enemies: Mirage (Desmond Charne), Punisher (Frank Castle), Henry Russo, Shaolin Scientist Squad
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Maria Castle (impersonated by her)
Base of Operations: Jigsaw's base in New York City
First Appearance: Franken-Castle#17 (August, 2010); (true identity) Punisher: In the Blood#4 (April, 2011)
Powers/Abilities: Tanya Adrian was a skilled assassin, versed in the use of sniper rifles. She was well trained in hand-to-hand combat and liked to set things on fire with gasoline or a flame thrower.
She has third degree burns all over her body.
Height: Unrevealed (5'8"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (150 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Gray (surgically altered, original color unknown)
Hair: Bald (formerly black)
History:
(Punisher: In the Blood#4 (fb) - BTS) - Years ago the assassin Tanya Adrian was set on fire by the Punisher. She survived with third degree burns all over her body.
Years later Adrian was approached by Jigsaw and Stuart Clarke, who sought revenge against the Punisher. She joined them and underwent plastic surgery to resemble the Punisher's late wife a bit more. (see comments)
(Franken-Castle#17) - Adrian apparently watched from around 100 feet away how Frank(encastle) took out the Shaolin Scientist Squad, who attacked him while he was visiting his family's grave. When he tried to interrogate the last living, but heavily mangled, member of the squad, Adrian shot the man in the head with her sniper rifle before he could tell Frank anything. Adrian took off on her motorbike and disappeared into the night. Neither Frank nor his ally Henry Russo could track her down. Henry tracked the shot, but not even his satellite could pick up anything at the location the shot originated from. (see comments)
(Punisher: In the Blood#1) - The Punisher ran into Adrian next when she was sent to clean up Microchip's old base. She drenched the whole place in gasoline when the Punisher entered. She showed him a picture of Microchip, tied to a chair with duct tape over his mouth, when he asked her where Microchip was. He knew whoever was behind her was using Microchip as bait and that he couldn't use his gun on her because of the gasoline. Adrian lit a match and dropped it, igniting the whole place. She hit the Punisher's arm, who dropped his machine gun, but her kick was caught by him and he quickly tossed her to the ground. He rolled her over, pinned her down and held a pistol to her head. When he asked her who she was, she only asked him if he didn't know already and he recognized her voice. She kicked him between the legs, called him "angel" and told him to check the next time he killed someone if the person was actually dead.
(Punisher: In the Blood#2) - The Punisher found Mirage at a cabin at a sex shop and wanted to know who he sold the location of Microchip to while pushing his head into a toilet. Before Mirage could reveal who bought the information he was shot through the head from the outside by Adrian. The Punisher saw Adrian in the mirror and hid around the corner. He followed her to the outside where she jumped on her motorcycle and told him that he had to work for the information he wanted. He threatened to shoot her, but she assured him that he would get nothing if he did that. She dared him to pull the trigger because being set on fire hurt more. He let her drive off and he was now sure that the woman was his wife Maria.
(Punisher: In the Blood#3) - Jigsaw, Stuart Clarke and Adrian sat on a couch watching security camera footage of the Punisher attacking another criminal hideout. Adrian had a drink and the then was injected with a drug by Jigsaw while he told Stuart how the Punisher now believed that he had botched killing his resurrected wife, who was now working against him. After a verbal confrontation with Stuart about killing Jigsaw's son in front of the Punisher as the final act of their plot, Jigsaw started making out with the drugged up Tanya.
(Punisher: In the Blood#4) - The Punisher got captured by Jigsaw and Stuart Clarke with the help of Henry Russo. Chained to a wall in a cell the Punisher was forced to watch on a large screen how Stuart and Jigsaw put on a sensuous show with his "wife" after boozing her up to break down her inhibitions to perform. The Punisher got angry and appalled.
Days later, the Punisher escaped his cell after killing fellow inmate Microchip and made his way through the building. He encountered his supposed wife, who claimed that Stuart and Jigsaw had told her that the Punisher was killing in the name of her and their children. She didn't care for his concern for other families because he had burned his own and was going to burn him as well with a flame thrower. The Punisher jumped to safety while she kept going on about how she felt when he burned her and how she heard their children scream. The Punisher stopped running and was ready to die, but Henry then revealed to him over the speakers in the building that the woman he was fighting was not his wife. The Punisher jumped through the fire to tackle her down the stairs and beating her face to a pulp. Tanya mocked the Punisher because he was so easily fooled and wondered how much he even remembered his real wife. He then stabbed her in the gut, apparently killing her.
Comments: Created by Rick Remender & Roland Boschi.
The Punisher's wife and her children had been resurrected by the Hood in Punisher VII#10 (December, 2009), but the Punisher wanted nothing to do with these abominations and forced Firebrand (Gary Gilbert) to destroy them again with fire. I am not even sure what kind of operations Adrian had to undergo to resemble Maria Castle more. Augmentation (presumably breasts) was mentioned and the Punisher did recognize her eyes and voice, but it is unknown if anything else was done. After the way Maria died again the burn victim part was probably a big plus and made things easier.
It is likely that Adrian was already working for Jigsaw during Franken-Castle#17, but the reason why Jigsaw wanted Frank not to know who was behind the Shaolin Scientist Squad is unknown. Maybe this woman was originally meant to be just another agent of Lady Gorgon. I don't think she was ever intended to be Lady Gorgon. The outfit (including the ball gag) just didn't fit the leader of a group of Hand assassins IMHO. Lady Gorgon was also a swordswoman and not a sniper.
Other websites treat Adrian and Lady Gorgon as the same character, but this assumption falls apart if you think about what was later revealed about Adrian. Adrian started out as the mysterious sniper at Maria Castle's grave in Franken-Castle#17 and apparently had long hair (though it seemed to be part of her mask) like Lady Gorgon, but Gorgon was revealed in the same issue to be in Tokyo. Later in Punisher: In the Blood#1 the sniper lacked long hair and resembled a burn victim. Punisher still recognized her as the sniper from the grave though. Throughout the mini-series the Punisher believed this woman to be his resurrected wife Maria, but in the end Henry Russo revealed her to be nothing more than an assassin hired by his father. Jigsaw's ally Stuart Clarke then added that this assassin was set on fire years ago by Frank Castle, which just doesn't work with what we already knew about Lady Gorgon. We even see a head shot of Tanya Adrian before she became a bit crispier. Additionally Lady Gorgon seems to be of Asian heritage (possibly Japanese) and Tanya Adrian looks Caucasian (in her original head shot).
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Tanya Adrian should not be confused with:
images (without ads)
Punisher: In the Blood#4, p14, pan3 (main)
Punisher: In the Blood#4, p17, pan1 (head shot, before getting burned)
Franken-Castle#17, p19, pan4 (first appearance)
Punisher: In the Blood#4, p16, pan4 (without mask)
Punisher: In the Blood#4, p17, pan2 (backside)
Appearances:
Franken-Castle#17 (August, 2010) - Rick Remender (writer), Roland Boschi (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Punisher: In the Blood#1-2 (January-February, 2011) - Rick Remender (writer), Roland Boschi (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Punisher: In the Blood#3 (March, 2011) - Rick Remender (writer), Mick Bertilorenzi (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Punisher: In the Blood#4 (April, 2011) - Rick Remender (writer), Roland Boschi (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
First Posted: 10/27/2021
Last updated: 10/27/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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