G.W. BRIDGE: Page 3 of 3

BIOGRAPHY - Page 3

The optics of the Rumekistan affair would have blackballed G.W. Bridge, leaving him unable to work for “respectable” governments or clients. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. had a very particular assignment in mind for the former commander. Jasper Sitwell recruited Bridge back into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hierarchy and assigned him a mission to apprehend Frank Castle, the Punisher. Unfortunately, G.W. felt hamstringed by regulations and red tape. The green recruits filling S.H.I.E.L.D.’s “Cape-Killer” squadron under the Superhuman Registration Act were embarrassing to throw at Castle, too. So G.W. Bridge resigned, officially. He offered to remain on the case, outside the law, so that he could actually achieve results. Sitwell accepted this deal and arranged to pay Bridge as an “independent contractor” in this matter. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #1]

Bridge discovered Punisher was working with Stuart Clarke, the former super-villain Rampage, who was acting as his new weapons and tech supplier. An attempt to squeeze Clarke for information only got Bridge and his new team knocked around. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #2-3] Instead, G.W. moved on to more extreme tactics, like hiring the escaped hitman Bushwacker for a sting operation. Bushwacker took a hostage in Times Square, drawing massive media coverage in an attempt to lure Castle out of hiding. An auxiliary patrolman refused to yield the scene to Bridge, though, complicating the situation. Bushwacker got out of hand and G.W. Bridge was forced to shoot his own patsy to prevent the likelihood of civilian casualties. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #5]

The fallout from Bridge’s stunt in Times Square was severe. Even his unofficial deal with Sitwell didn’t keep S.H.I.E.L.D. from removing him from field duty and placing him in tactical ops on the Helicarrier’s bridge where he could do less damage. While his investigation did uncover Castle and Clarke’s current safehouse, the fugitives managed to escape. As a result, G.W. Bridge didn’t even have ends to justify his means anymore. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #6] It was a foregone conclusion then when Director Tony Stark called Bridge into his office and ended his career with S.H.I.E.L.D., formally terminating any relationship, official or unofficial, between the agency and G.W. Bridge. G.W. barely blinked and continued his hunt for Castle, which had become an obsession with him by this point. He chased him out west to the border, where Hate-Monger and the National Force were killing immigrants. Bridge found Castle tied to a stake but, instead of pulling the trigger, he freed the Punisher and helped bring down the Neo-Nazi forces. G.W. even gave Punisher and Clarke a head start before making his call to S.H.I.E.L.D. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #8-10]

After that incident, Iron Man met with G.W. Bridge again on his houseboat in the Florida Everglades. The National Force takedown was enough for Stark to offer Bridge a new commission with S.H.I.E.L.D., but he initially turned it down. G.W. recognized the extent to which his hatred of Castle had become personal and he hesitated against letting those instincts be explored further. Stark believed Bridge to be a good man and a good soldier. He encouraged G.W. to return to the hunt for Castle, provided he could focus on doing it for the right reasons. Bridge accepted the re-commission, with the caveat that he could pick his own crew. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #11] Over the next few weeks, G.W. Bridge reached out to Domino as well as Silver Sable and Contessa Valentina de Fontaine to form a team of veteran professionals he could trust. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #13-15]

G.W. Bridge and his strike team began tracking Punisher when Castle was set up by his old nemesis, Jigsaw. The mobster framed Punisher for the murder of civilians, then hired the Hand to eliminate him. Bridge’s crew managed to save Castle from Hand assassins and a copycat Punisher before arresting him. In the transport van, G.W. actually sat down and had close to a heart-to-heart with the Punisher. Bridge analyzed Castle as a soldier who didn’t know how to stop being at war. The two men came to something resembling an understanding and mutual respect before Jigsaw and the Wrecking Crew blew open the van and attacked the S.H.I.E.L.D. convoy. Bridge saved Castle’s life and took some heavy blows doing it. In the end, it was G.W. Bridge’s influence that convinced the Punisher to not only spare Jigsaw, but turn himself back into custody. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #19-23]

Bridge and Castle had one last hoorah together as the Skrull invasion took down all StarkTech supporting S.H.I.E.L.D. and their detention facilities. Castle freed himself from custody and began fighting Skrulls with guerrilla tactics. Bridge was sent out to aid and/or detain the Punisher, no matter how the situation looked on the ground. [Punisher War Journal (2nd series) #24-25] Following the invasion, S.H.I.E.L.D. was dismantled and reformed under the control of Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R. Bridge either retired or was forced out rather than serve under this new regime. He had trouble even accessing funds to live off of now that accounts associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. were being seized, frozen or reallocated. Still, G.W. found happiness in retirement, meeting a woman named Sandy, getting married and settling down with her and his new stepson, Terry.

Unfortunately, Bridge’s reputation preceded him. A new super-villain crimeboss called the Hood had reason to hunt down the Punisher, and he used his demonic connections to resurrect more than a dozen super-criminals and sent them after Castle. Basilisk and Death Adder did research and learned about Bridge’s success on the Punisher task force hunting Castle, so they came to his home and tortured his new wife to death just to prove they were serious. After that, Bridge and Terry were kidnapped by the duo to force Bridge into tracking the Punisher for them. G.W. managed to break free from his bonds and attack the criminals as Castle arrived on the scene. He did some damage, but ultimately he and Castle were captured again by the Hood’s people.

The Hood had a sickening method of dealing with the Punisher. He dug up Castle’s wife and two kids, offering to resurrect them as he had done for the super-villains. All he needed was a sacrifice and he tried to prompt Punisher into killing G.W. Bridge to complete the ritual to bring back his family. To get into Frank’s head, the Hood had also resurrected Punisher’s old partner, Microchip, and promised to resurrect Micro’s son as well to keep him in line. The Punisher was myopic in his war on crime and knew he could never go back to the man he once was. He fought against the Hood’s villains, but Microchip was ready to see his son again, by any means. He pulled out a gun and shot the helpless G.W. Bridge in the head. Bridge died and his sacrificial soul triggered the spell bringing back the fallen family members. Refusing to let the Hood win, the Punisher killed his own family and Microchip’s son, making Bridge’s sacrifice accomplish nothing in the end. [Punisher (8th series) #6-10]

Bridge appeared to be truly dead. Microchip was later found by Jigsaw apologizing to G.W.'s corpse. [Punisher: In The Blood #1] Nevertheless, G.W. Bridge resurfaced years later as part of the mysterious organization known as J.A.N.U.S. The power brokers behind the reconstruction of the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, J.A.N.U.S. was a diverse and divisive board, with representatives from Department H (James Hudson), Weapon X (Malcolm Colcord), Leviathan (Valentina de Fontaine), A.I.M. (Monica Rappaccini) and Hydra (Viper). How G.W. Bridge returned to life and why he finds himself in company like this remains to be seen. [Ravencroft #5]