Martin Soap
Context
Martin Soap primarily appeared in the 2000/2001 volume of The Punisher, and the 2001/2002 issues of the volume that followed it.
IIRC 2001 is when I gave up on Garth Ennis for good, but our contributor Adrian pitched in to fill in the remainder of the biography.
Background
- Real Name: Martin Soap.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: None.
- Group Affiliation: NYPD.
- Base Of Operations: New York City.
- Height: 5’7” Weight: 175 lbs.
- Eyes: Blue Hair: Blond
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Powers and Abilities
Soap is a police detective, of indifferent-at-best competence.
He’s also phenomenally unlucky, and most everyone routinely ignores or taunts him.
History
Detective Soap was the department’s biggest loser. Not that he was really incompetent, but his fantastic unluck meant he kept failing at everything. For instance, his first attempted arrest ended with him handcuffed to a dead sheep by the perps.
in 2000, the NYPD was pressured into bringing down the Punisher (Frank Castle), which very few cops wanted to do. The commissioner solved the problem by putting Soap on the case as a one-man task force, making fairly certain the Punisher wouldn’t be stopped by the police.
A behavioral psychologist was also assigned to the case, but he was borderline insane and hanged himself in Soap’s office, with Soap of course taking the blame.
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Enemy Ace
Soap wasn’t making much progress until he was paired with Lieutenant von Richthofen, the black sheep of the NYPD. She had been assigned to an impossible mission after refusing to have sex with the commissioner.
With no back-up or support, they didn’t make much progress either. But at least they had a plan. They were to arrest the head of a mob family and the Punisher when the Punisher would come gunning for the mobster.
While it didn’t work (the mobster died and the Punisher walked away), the vigilante gave them the blackmail material which was in the mobster’s safe. That included particularly juicy bits about the Mayor and the police commissioner.
Von Richthofen and Soap used the material to great effect. Soap became commissioner. He was happily thinking about the great things he could do to give New York a better, improved NYPD when some guano landed on his brow.
Punished
With his belief-defying unluck, Soap didn’t stay commissioner for more than a few months. He was even shoved back to the Punisher task force as intimidation after his blackmailing adventures.
He was stopped from attempting suicide by the Punisher, who made him an offer. Soap would become the Punisher’s mole within the NYPD, and gather intel on criminals. He could do so thanks to the access to several agency’s databases he’d been given as head of the Anti-Punisher Task Force.
Due to a combination of intimidation and being convinced that this might be the only way he could help innocent people, Soap agreed.
However, feeling guilty about being an accessory to mass murder racking up past the triple-figure mark, Soap descended into what could be best described as semi-alcoholism.
He once woke up in bed with a large, black man (who turned out to be a serial killer), picked up a transvestite, and was beaten up by a trio of girl scouts. The relationship with an older woman who turned a baby in for adoption at the same exact date and place Soap himself was put in for adoption is an entirely different set of problems.
You’ll need a bigger gun
Finally sick of the situation, Soap set out to arrest the Punisher, and shot him. The only result was a recommendation to carry a .45 as his underpowered ammunition utterly failed to penetrate the Punisher’s body armour.
Soap begged the Punisher to kill him, but the vigilante advised the hapless detective to just leave the whole situation.
The last report had Soap resigning from the NYPD. But with an asset that hadn’t occurred to him previously, he became a major star in the adult film industry. The former detective starred in such tasteful titles as ’They All Bend Over for the Soap‘.
Personality
A nice and well-meaning guy. But everybody keeps ignoring him and the strain of his incredible Unluck make him an occasional whiner. He does his best to do his job and ignore the contempt of everyone else, while wadding through the consequences of his unluck.
Soap is basically a nerd, and was treated as such by his colleagues.
He’s apparently a movie buff.
Description
See illustrations.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Martin Soap
| Dex: 02 | Str: 02 | Bod: 03 | Motivation: Uphold Good |
| Int: 03 | Wil: 03 | Min: 02 | Occupation: Police |
| Inf: 01 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 02 | Resources {or Wealth}: 006 |
| Init: 006 | HP: Minus ten |
Skills:
Detective: 03, Vehicles (land): 03, Weaponry (firearms): 03
Advantages:
Familiarity (American movies). Formerly had a Police Rank (detective).
Connections:
NYPD (Low).
Drawbacks:
Unluck (x2). For a time, a MIA toward Alcohol.
Equipment:
Puny semi-auto [BODY 02, Projectile weapons: 03, Ammo: 08, R#03].
Source of Character: Marvel Universe.
Helper(s): Adrian Tullberg (second half of History).