Origin
Elite was a rich upper class Yuppie who owned an art gallery. Elite is strong believer in classism viewing those below him in the economic and social ladder as vermin that need to know their place. Wanting to protect his rich elite neighborhood from those he viewed as beneath him and others living their he donned a mask and patrolled the neighborhood killing drug dealers and damaging street vendors property if they tried to set up shop around his home. Elite gathered much attention in the news about his vigilante activities.
Creation
Elite was created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Garth Ennis used the Elite character to show the differences between different styles of vigilantism and the Punisher’s own style and Frank Castle’s view of other vigilantes.
Character Evolution
The first Elite’s sole purpose was the keep the scum out of his neighborhood. He did so and drew the attention of another vigilante Mister Payback. Together they found the Holy and three of them decided to band together to get rid of the scum in New York City. They wanted the Punisher to join their group to lead them but Frank Castle was disgusted by them and killed them all.
The second Elite were the first Elite’s son. Originally thinking his father a mad man after reading his journal he came to agree with why his father did what he did and vowed to get vengeance on the Punisher for murdering his day. This new Elite was quite different from the original. The new Elite used the mafia and gang members to try and kill the Punisher something the first Elite didn’t do and wouldn’t have done. Even going so far as to have people get surgery to appear as Ma Gnucci to rebuild the Gnucci Family under his control to try and torment the Punisher.
Major Story Arcs
Welcome Back Frank
The original Elite first appeared in an upscale neighborhood and confronted a bunch of gang members who were parked in a car. Asking them to leave the neighborhood to which they laughed and one offered to sell him drugs thinking Elite was just some nut. Elite then gunned down the group with a silenced pistol. After, killing them he noticed a dog peeing on the sidewalk and proceeded to kill the dog in front of the owner stating that it’s a nice neighborhood let’s keep it that way. These events lead the media to start covering Elite and his vigilante actions. The friends of the gangsters he killed sought to get revenge on Elite knowing who he was from the news and drove around his neighborhood to find him only to be sniped by Elite in his bathroom after he got done taking a shower.
Elite continued his vigilante activities going so far as to blowing up a hot dog stand with a grenade, because it wasn’t appropriate for a hot dog stand to be in his neighborhood, and shooting a pot dealer. Eventually Mister Payback finds Elite and convinces him to seek out the vigilante operating in Spanish Harlem. The two find the Holy and they agree to team up to take down the scum of New York City and wanted the Punisher to lead them. The group didn’t do anything besides meet since Elite and Mister Payback had completely different world views Elite viewing him as low life commie and Mister Payback viewing him as a Nazi. Eventually the Punisher finds the group and confronts them. Frank lets them know he is disgusted by them right before killing the Elite and the other two vigilantes.
The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci
Tim the son of the original Elite had his life ruined when the Punisher killed his father. Upon finding out his father was Elite Tim tried to drown out the pain of his father being a killer by cruising around in his Porsche snorting cocaine. He ran over a homeless man and went to jail where he was sexually abused. His mother remarried and his sister went to an asylum unable to cope with what had happened. When Tim got out of prison he found his father’s war journal and came to agree with his father’s views of the world. Tim dropped out of Princeton took up his father’s mantle becoming the new Elite and goes after the Punisher for killing his father and ruining his life.
The new Elite using his vast wealth decided to resurrect Ma Gnucci by having plastic surgery committed on willing accident victims, war veterans, and people born without limbs, etc. to resemble Ma Gnucci to lure out the Punisher and use his Ma Gnucci impersonators to rebuild the Gnucci Family criminal empire to kill the Punisher once and for all. The Punisher was lured out by the Gnucci impersonators and even went to her grave and dug up her corpse to make sure she was truly dead. Elite planning on the Punisher doing this put a bomb in Ma Gnucci’s grave and a sensor that alerted a mercenary group he hired to kill the Punisher. Frank Castle survived the blast of the bomb and killed the mercenaries just like Elite thought he would. Elite tried to get the Punisher by using a sniper rifle but hit the Punisher’s informant Charlie Schitti instead. The Punisher opened fire on Elite’s location and managed to shoot off two off his fingers but couldn’t go after him do to the NYPD arriving.
Elite patched himself up and went after the Punisher again this time with Gnucci Family soldiers and almost killed the Punisher but had to flee the scene when the police arrived. Elite tracked the Punisher down to house where he was at and sent all of the Gnucci Family soldiers after him. The Punisher aided by Lt. Molly Von Richthofen and the NYPD killed the rest of the Gnucci Family. Elite knowing that his planned had all of his Ma Gnucci impersonators killed and plan on leaving New York City and returning later to get his revenge on the Punisher. Just as Elite is finishing an entry in his War Journal on his computer the Punisher comes behind him having tracked down his location and kills him.
Skills and Abilities
Both characters who were Elite possessed no superpowers and were regular humans. It is unknown what if any training the original Elite had undertaken before becoming a vigilante. The original Elite was skilled a marksman able to dispatch several men with a silenced pistol in few seconds time. He was a skilled sniper as well killing several gang members while they driving in car each shot being a kill shot hitting each gangster right in the head from the bathroom of his house. The original Elite was also familiar with grenades and being able to place them and know how much time he had before they would explode allowing him to use grenades while casually walking away being out of range and receiving no injury.
The second Elite hired a trainer to teach him how to shoot. The new Elite is proficient with a sniper rifle just like his father and is proficient in using a SAW machine gun. The son of the original Elite also knew how to plant explosives rigging a bomb to Ma Gnucci’s grave to explode when the Punisher dug up her body. Elite also hired a medic and knows how to stitch up wounds as he demonstrated stitching up his fingers when they were shot off by the Punisher. Both Father and Son where never shown to be using any hand to hand fighting so it’s unknown if they know any type of martial arts since they relied on conventional weaponry military weaponry to fight their opponents.