Detective Soap

Real Name
Martin Soap

Occupation

Detective, police officer, and (former) Police Commissioner

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Unknown

Known Relatives
Unknown

Group Affiliation
New York Police Department (NYPD)

Education
Unknown

Height

Unknown

Weight
Unknown

Eyes

Brown

Hair
Blond

Powers
None

Abilities

None

Other Info

Martin Soap suffers misfortune right from the beginning. Moments after his birth, the nurse drops him on his head. After his unwed teenage mother gave birth to him, she gave Martin up for adoption and left him to be raised at an orphanage. Here, Martin was treated cruelly by the other children and the adults alike. When couples would come looking for children to adopt they would laugh at Soap along with the other children viewing him as pathetic.

When Soap was ten years old he ran away from the orphanage. While he was out, Martin was picked up by a drunken police officer who only pulled over to vomit and saw Soap by coincidence. The detective then gave Soap a ride back to the orphanage. After meeting this police officer whom was kind to him, he decided he would like to be a police officer himself.

During his education, Martin met a high school bully who also wanted to be a police officer; a boy whom Martin stated had a talent for exploiting weakness. This finally convinced Martin to to be a police officer when he grew up, because he dreaded the thought that all police officers would be like this boy.

When Martin became an adult, he joined the NYPD. And despite being promoted to detective, Soap becomes known as a screw-up, describing himself as "the department's biggest loser." When the police department became pressured by Ma Gnucci to crack down on the Punisher, Soap was placed on the "Punisher Task Force," so the department could look like it was after the Punisher without really putting him in danger, as the Punisher is quite popular among most police officers. (To learn about the Punisher, just click on the highlighted name above.)

Soon afterward, Soap is partnered with Lieutenant Molly von Richthofen because she wasn't liked in the force either. The two worked well together. In fact, Soap eventually develops romantic feelings for Richthofen; however, she gently rebuffed him when she told him that she was not interested in men. After the Punisher's assault on Ma Gnucci compound, Soap and Richthofen are surprised when they run into the Punisher, but they let him get away in exchange for compromising pictures of the Mayor and the NYPD Commissioner. Using the pictures for blackmail, Soap becomes the new Police Commissioner and Molly retires to another country.

Later on, Soap is demoted back to a detective after he himself was blackmailed with pictures too. Distraught over the dead end his life had become, Soap decided to end his life; however, before he could do this, he is approached by the Punisher. The Punisher convinced Soap to not end his life and the detective agreed to become a mole for the Punisher. As a mole, Soap would supply the Punisher with information on criminals from the police database.

After some time, Soap is taken hostage by hired goons working for ruthless Daily Bugle reporter Chuck Self. But, the Punisher rescued Soap while also taking out Self and his thugs. (To learn about Self and/or the Bugle, just click on their highlighted names above.)

Soap frequently went to bars. However, one bartender named Kevin constantly ridiculed Soap when he came to his bar. Eventually, Soap hit his boiling point and snapped at Kevin one night. Pulling his gun out, Soap told Kevin what he thought of his constant ridicule while Kevin just cried. Kevin begged for his life pointing out also that Soap was a cop. Soap replied to Kevin by saying, "Yes. So I am," then started to walk out of the bar. On his way out, Kevin managed to choke out, "Where're yeh goin' Soap?" And Martin replied, "I'm going to do my job." Detective Soap, now full of intent and purpose, swore off drinking and vowed to return to the Punisher Task Force.

More recently, after grabbing Inskipp the snitch and breaking his nose--thus showing how he had come out of his shell and decided to be more forceful--Soap finally tracked down the Punisher. After shooting the Punisher (but not killing him due to his body armor), Soap lost his confidence once again believing that he may be a loser all his life. However, all this changed, when the Punisher echoed his earlier sentiment that "When things aren't getting any better, just go." Through tears, Soap's eyes glimmered with hope and he took the Punisher's advice and left. He quit the NYPD and moved to Los Angeles in search of a new and better life.

There is nothing there, but here is the link to the Marvel.com bio of Detective Soap, http://marvel.com/universe/Martin_Soap.