Publication history

A mafia figure called "Frank Costa" first appeared in Marvel Super-Action #1 (January 1976), a black-and-white magazine containing several adventures of Frank Castle, Marvel's Punisher

Punisher

The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...

 character. Twenty-three years later, in Punisher

Punisher

The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...

(vol. 4) #1 (November 1998), it was revealed that "Frank Costa" was actually a demonic lord of hell in disguise, who may or may not have been responsible for tempting Frank Castle into his murderous crusade against the criminal underworld.

Fictional character history

At some unspecified point in the past, there was a war in Heaven against God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

, in which the demon Olivier sided with Lucifer

Lucifer (Marvel Comics)

Lucifer is the name of two unrelated comic book characters from Marvel Comics. One is an alien supervillain of the X-Men and the other is a villain of Ghost Rider and is referred to as the Prince of Darkness.-Lucifer :...

 and was cast out of paradise. Olivier eventually came to rule a portion of Hell but the other lords of hell grew resentful of his ambition and they forced him into the body of a stillborn human infant. Olivier's spirit returned life to the infant, although he lost all memory of his life as a lord of hell.

Olivier grew up as a human named Frank Costa, in the Costa crime family, an arm of the Maggia

Maggia (comics)

The Maggia is a fictional international crime syndicate that has appeared in various comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The organization exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe...

. He became a petty criminal, and one night, while working as a lookout he shot and killed a mobster from a rival family. This act of taking a human life completely restored Frank Costa's memory of his life as Olivier, and he started plotting his revenge on the lords of hell that had placed him in that body.

For decades, Olivier, still in his identity as Frank Costa, worked to become the head of the Costa crime family. He used occultism and magic rituals to discover the existence of Frank Castle, an American soldier in the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. Olivier decided to use Castle as his instrument for revenge. When Castle returned to the United States, Olivier ordered his assassins to murder a mob banker in Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

, knowing that Castle's wife and children would be caught in the crossfire and killed. Their murders were the motivations for Castle to become the Punisher. The ritual aspects of the killings, and Castle's unconscious adoption of Oliver's face as his skull insignia, insured that the souls of all the criminals killed by Castle would wind up in Olivier's realm of hell.

The Punisher then set about killing the assassins who had murdered his family, one of whom was Bruno Costa, the brother of Olivier's host body and alter ego, Frank Costa. Castle later discovered Frank Costa dead of an icepick wound to the head, ostensibly administered by a Bruno prostitute named Audrey whom the Punisher later killed. Unbeknownst to the Punisher, Audrey killing Frank Bruno released the soul of Olivier, which returned to his realm of hell in its true form. Olivier claimed he had allowed Audrey to kill him, as he hadn't wanted to wait to die of natural causes to return to hell, and could not have committed suicide, as that would have alerted the other lords of hell to his return.

Olivier felt that through the Punisher he had gathered enough souls to launch an attack on the rest of hell, and he caused Frank Castle to despair over the lives he had taken as the Punisher. Castle was driven to suicide by Olivier's demonic servants, and he shot himself. Castle was then immediately resurrected by Gadriel, the guardian angel who had failed in Castle's defense. From his base in New York's Flatiron Building

Flatiron Building

The Flatiron Building, or Fuller Building, as it was originally called, is located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, New York City and is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper. Upon completion in 1902 it was one of the tallest buildings in the city and the only skyscraper...

, Olivier sent his minions against heaven's angels and the dominions of the other lords of hell, including Daimon Hellstrom

Daimon Hellstrom

Daimon Hellstrom, also known as the Son of Satan and Hellstorm, is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe.-Publication history:He first appeared in Ghost Rider Daimon Hellstrom, also known as the Son of Satan and Hellstorm, is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics...

, but was thwarted in his assassination attempt on Hellstrom by the Punisher and Gadriel. Olivier revealed to the Punisher that he was responsible for the deaths of the Punisher's family. The Punisher fought a reanimated Bruno Costa and the contact of the weapons of Heaven (the Punisher) and Hell (Bruno Costa) caused a dimensional portal to open through which the tentacles of hell began to reach. The Punisher shot Olivier into the tentacles' embrace, and they immediately tore Olivier to pieces. The portal was sealed by Gadriel sacrificing his life.

Olivier was presumably not killed however, as Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange

Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ....

 tells Hellstrom that "Olivier won't be threatening you and yours for a while." Olivier later resurfaced allied to the demon Pazuzu and several other entities serving on the court of Lucifer

Lucifer (Marvel Comics)

Lucifer is the name of two unrelated comic book characters from Marvel Comics. One is an alien supervillain of the X-Men and the other is a villain of Ghost Rider and is referred to as the Prince of Darkness.-Lucifer :...

 that were trying to open a portal to Earth with the help of a coven of witches.

Powers

As a demon and true fallen angel, Olivier is impervious to age, disease, and injuries that would kill an ordinary mortal. He also has the ability to create and manipulate illusions, shoot blasts of hellfire, create portals to other dimensions. He also has the authority to command demons of lesser degree. Olivier claims to be one of the most powerful of the lords of hell, approximately on the same level as Mephisto

Mephisto (comics)

Mephisto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Silver Surfer #3 and was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema, loosely modeled on Mephistopheles - a character from the Faust legend.Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books,...

.