Rapido

Origin

Roussel Dupont was a former member of the French Foreign Legion turned mercenary for hire. Dupont would have his right arm replaced by a chain gun and dub himself Rapido. The Kingpin would hire Rapido, Snakebite, Batroc and a computer hacker named Chauffard on a venture where he planned a hostile takeover of the European crime organizations and use a tunnel that serviced the main Chunnel link to smuggle arms and illegal goods into Britain. The Kingpin and his crew would come into conflict with the Punisher, Morgan Sinclair, Microchip and Nigel Higgins throughout Europe. Rapido, Chauffard, Snakebite and Batroc were also the Kingpin’s hit squad and they were responsible for the elimination of any European cartel members that opposed the Kingpin. The Kingpin would assemble a meeting of all the major players from each European crime syndicate at the Omni Tower in London where he planned to kill them and replace the leaders with men he has infiltrated during the past year into each syndicate. Rapido and the rest of the hit squad would infiltrate the building dressed as security personnel and they were ordered to kill the syndicate leaders. Punisher, Outlaw and Tarantula entered the building through various locations and Higgens would run into Rapido. Outlaw evaded Rapido’s chain gun assault and Dupont would fall victim to his own carnage. Rapido stood in front of Outlaw when the floor beneath him collapsed due to the chain gun damage and Dupont was taken out of commission.

Creation

Rapido was created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Dougie Braithwaite in 1992 and first appeared in The Punisher # 65.

Major Story Arcs

Eurohit 94

One of the biggest mob gatherings takes place in the Manhattan Tower two weeks before Thanksgiving and the Punisher decides to intervene. The Punisher plants two thousand pounds of semtex in the building and Castle is holding the dead-man’s switch during the confrontation. Numerous gang members try to pry the detonator switch from Castle but they get plugged with hot lead. Punisher is trapped inside the woman’s restroom when Rapido comes barging in with his chain gun blazing. Punisher subdues Rapido and places a gun in his mouth. Castle forces Rapido to gun down his former associates. Castle throws Rapido through the bathroom door where he is shot by other mobsters. The distraction allows the Punisher to gun down the other gangsters and blow up the Manhattan Tower. The Punisher escapes and Rapido is presumed dead after the building collapses.

Suicide Run

Rapido survived and would free himself from the Manhattan Tower debris. Rapido is confronted by two officers but Dupont kills them both and then he gets picked up by an old friend, Chauffard and a man known as the Architect inside their limousine. The Architect wanted to resurrect the Chunnel Tunnels for illegal smuggling in Britain and properly unite Europe’s crime cartels. The Architect believed Rapido’s local expertise would be invaluable so Dupont agreed to join him. The Architect has a private facility beyond the city where his personal medical staff attend to Rapido. Rapido’s chain gun is replaced and modified during his healing process. Rapido recovers as a new man, rebuilt and ready to bring the pain. Rapido plays bodyguard to the Architect during a meeting with the other European cartels and ends up killing a mobster named Mr. Cooly because he decides to stay loyal to the Kingpin. Rapido’s next assignment takes place in the Chunnel site and he apparently kills Morgan Sinclair when the tunnels fill with water and she drowns. Rapido later comes to conflict with Jack Oonuk at the Amaldo Observatory in Spain. Jack Oonuk appears to meet his demise during an escape on his snow-bike after Rapido causes an avalanche with a frag grenade. Rapido later informs the Architect that some video footage of a raid taking place in the Beauvais Rail Terminal shows his old associate, Snakebite killing some of their men. The Architect tells Rapido to eliminate Outlaw because he is sniffing around one of their operations. The Outlaw is apparently killed during a car chase when his van is forced off a cliff and explodes. A meeting was to take place with Snakebite and the Architect where Rapido was hiding nearby for an ambush. It turns out that Snakebite was actually the Punisher in disguise and his friends, Sinclair, Outlaw and Jack Oonuk survived. The group faked their deaths so it would be easier to track the Architect’s moves. Rapido was enraged and attacked the Punisher. Castle manages to jam Rapido’s firing system with his blade so the two combatants engage each other on the train tracks. Rapido suffers numerous injuries and appears to be paralyzed after he is struck by a moving train. The Architect is defeated, the Punisher eludes capture and Rapido is healing from his injuries while in police custody.

Civil War

Numerous unregistered American superhumans try to flee to France during the height of the Civil War. Several freelance mercenaries like Rapido and Peregrine are supported by the French military when they engage any American superhumans trying to infiltrate France’s borders.

One Night In Madripoor

Rapido appears with Batroc, Zaran and a female version of Machete in Madripoor as the new Batroc’s Brigade. The Brigade crash a weapons expo and come into conflict with Iron Man and Captain America over the Harvester Protocol which is a virus that can render technology useless. Rapido aims his chain gun at Captain America while he is preoccupied with Zaran and Machete but Iron Man breaks through a wall and hits Rapido with a laser blast. Batroc protects his employer Kashmir Vennema as she activates the Harvester device and it corrupts Iron Man’s armor, disables Captain America’s light shield and takes control of the Pym-Stark Myriad Engine and its production of hornet drones.

Abilities & Paraphernalia

Rapido has a chain gun replacing his right arm and it has been modified to launch grenades as well. Rapido is a dangerous marksman and formidable in hand-to-hand combat.