Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 185. Who is Rachel Cole in Marvel Comics?!

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Ep. 185. Who is Rachel Cole in Marvel Comics?! · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

• 0:11
  Hi guys, it's Megan from Vigilante Vibes and I thought I
• 0:14
  would hop on here really quick today and talk about some recent
• 0:17
  news that came out about Sadie Sync being cast in Avengers, not
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  Avengers Doomsday, Avengers Secret War.
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  I'm not used to saying Avengers Secret war.
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  It's always Doomsday now, so with that news, we're all
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  filming at the mouth trying to figure out who she will play.
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  I've said it before and I'll say it again that I think and hope
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  and hope it'll be Firestar. But for a second choice, which I
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  think is a very good chance, it's Rachel Cole.
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  So who is Rachel Cole? I'll explain who she is and I
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  will give you comics to check out to learn more about her.
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  Before I start, remember to like and subscribe so you don't miss
• 0:51
  any more of these character breakdowns.
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  So to put it shortly and quickly, former Marine Sergeant
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  Rachel Cole is the only person who made it out of alive after a
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  massacre carried out by a group called The Exchange, who
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  murdered tons of people, including her husband and most
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  of her family. Fueled by revenge, she sets out
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  to hunt down the people behind it, which eventually puts her on
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  a collision course with the Punisher.
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  The two end up working together, although Rachel has to deal with
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  some tough moral questions of her own along the way.
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  So she's, she's the Punisher in her own right.
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  So that's the short version of it.
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  Let's dive into who she is because I'm going to tell you
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  all about her. Rachel Cole first appeared in
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  Punisher Volume 9 number one in 2011.
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  So she's a more comparatively speaking to the characters I've
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  been covering. She's a more newer character.
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  Rachel's story really does start off with a bang, so bear with
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  me. Just a few hours after Rachel
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  Cole married surgeon Daniel Alves, a gang war broke out that
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  ended with 29 people dead at their wedding reception,
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  including Daniel, her new husband.
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  She was badly hurt and woke up in the hospital only to realize
• 2:09
  her entire family had been wiped out.
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  The only person she had to talk to that was left was Daily Bugle
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  reporter Nora Winters, who was covering the massacre, the
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  exchange's role in it, and the Punisher's attempt to take them
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  down. Over the next three months,
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  Rachel went through rehab and got close with Nora, though
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  Rachel had actually been using the friendship to secretly
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  access Nora's notes on the Exchange so she could plan her
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  revenge. Eventually, Rachel tracked down
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  a meeting of Exchange managers and supervisors and silently
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  took out everyone in the building, using the skills she
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  honed as a Marine Sergeant. That's where she ran into the
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  Punisher, who was there to deliver his own brand of justice
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  to the Exchange. Since they were both after the
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  same group, they decided to team up.
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  I mean, why wouldn't you? During one of their missions, a
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  Black Spectre agent told them that Daredevil had the Omega
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  Drive, a data device packed with sensitive info on tons of
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  criminal organizations. So a treasure trove of truth.
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  Rachel and the Punisher confronted Daredevil and tried
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  to take the device, but he and Spider Man didn't want them
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  using it to kill anyone because they would absolutely use it
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  like a modern day phone book and just start checking names off a
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  list. Instead, the Punisher and Rachel
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  agreed to help Daredevil and Spider Man destroy the drive,
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  since it still meant they'd get to go after the criminals for a
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  night with the rule that they could not kill nobody.
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  The plan almost worked until Rachel betrayed them by stealing
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  the Omega Drive for herself, hoping to use it to wipe out the
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  exchange. In the end, Daredevil talked her
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  down and convinced her to hand it back, and she walked away
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  from the group afterwards. She went back to the Punisher
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  not long after, and he'd figured out her hunt for the exchange
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  was driven by her grief for her husband.
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  Believing that her emotions would get in the way, he forced
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  her to burn her wedding photo. Later, Rachel and the Punisher
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  infiltrated an illegal weapons auction, stole one of Doctor
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  Octopus's tentacles and used it as bait to get close to the
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  exchanges leader Stephanie Gerard, who thought she still
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  had the upper hand. You thought?
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  When Rachel met with Gerard in her office, Frank used a bullet
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  tipped with animantium from the tentacle to blow apart the
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  bulletproof blast proof windows and pumped gas into the room
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  that gave Rachel the chance to strangle Gerard to death.
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  Don't you have a happy ending? But Gerard's partner, both in
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  business and romantically, Christian Paulson, saw her kill
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  Gerard and called the police before going on a murderous
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  rampage of his own, which he blamed on the Punisher.
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  During the call, as Rachel and Frank tried to escape, Paulson
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  killed two officers, who then assumed the Punisher did it.
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  When Rachel and the Punisher faced off with Polson, Detective
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  Walter Bolt LED A-Team inside to stop him, but because the room
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  was filled with gas and visibility was pretty awful,
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  Rachel accidentally killed Bolt. Even though they got out, the
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  blame landed squarely on them, so they had to split up.
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  Rachel was crushed by guilt over killing Bolt and called Nora
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  Winters to confess everything, including the Punisher's
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  innocence, knowing full well the police were listening.
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  She then stepped into the open, basically inviting snipers to
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  shoot her. While the Punisher disabled the
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  snipers, Nora and Bolt's partner, Detective Oscar
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  Clemens, who believed Rachel wasn't a monster, tried to get
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  her to safety. But she wanted to die so badly
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  that she threatened to shoot Clemens just to give the snipers
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  a reason. When she tried to fire, she
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  found out Frank had removed the firing pin.
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  She collapsed into tears, cursing him for refusing to let
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  her die, and was taken into custody.
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  She was sent to Rikers Island and potentially faced a lethal
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  injection. Black Widow, disguised as
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  someone from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death
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  Penalty, tried to get Rachel to reveal where the Punisher might
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  be so he could testify and save her from execution.
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  But Rachel still wanted to die and did wouldn't help, she just
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  wouldn't do it. She was eventually found guilty
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  on all charges. When she was taken to court for
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  sentencing, Frank showed up and broke her out.
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  Soon after that, with Wolverine's help, Frank got her
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  away from The Avengers who were chasing them, though he ended up
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  getting captured himself. Later, she was seen in Los
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  Angeles carrying on Frank's mission.
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  After the Punisher became a target of Mayor Fisk and the
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  newly revamped Thunderbolts of the New York City, Rachel teamed
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  up with the other vigilantes like Moonlight and Night
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  Thrasher to help Frank in his fight against Zemo.
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  So that is Rachel Cole. Her entire character arc is
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  super, super sad and very dark. Very, very dark.
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  But it would be interesting to see Sadie in that role because
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  she has so much range for someone so young.
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  So I'm very curious how she would do it if that's who she is
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  hired to play. So for comics to get to know
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  Rachel Cole even better, you should check out Punisher Volume
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  9 numbers one through 16 and Punisher War Zone one through 6.
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  So that is my character breakdown for today.
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  Thank you for bearing with me. I hope you enjoyed it.
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  Let me know in the comments who you think Sadie is playing and
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  be sure to like and subscribe. With that being said, have a
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  marvelous day.