Martin Soap

Martin Soap
Martin Soap in The Punisher Vol. 5, #4 (July 2000) Art by Steve Dillon
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Punisher Vol. 5, #2 (May 2000)
Created by	Garth Ennis Steve Dillon
In-story information
Species	Human
Place of origin	Earth
Team affiliations	New York City Police Department
Partnerships	Punisher Lieutenant Molly von Richthofen
Supporting character of	Punisher

Lieutenant Martin Soap is a fictional police officer, and ally of the Marvel Comics antihero the Punisher. He was created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, and first appeared in The Punisher Vol. 5, #2 (May 2000).

Martin Soap debuted in The Punisher Vol. 3, #2 and appeared in every subsequent installment of the series up to Issue #12. The character was then featured in seventeen issues of the following volume, with his final appearance being in The Punisher Vol. 6, #37.

Soap received a profile in Marvel Encyclopedia #5.

Moments after his birth, Soap was dropped on his head by a nurse. He was then abandoned at an orphanage in Dunmore, New Jersey, where he remained from 1971 to 1987. Soap was bullied by the staff and the other children, and during one unsuccessful attempt at running away he was inspired to become a police officer by the alcoholic detective who brought him back to the orphanage. Soap rose through the ranks of the NYPD to become a detective himself, despite all of his cases being botched by an improbable turn of events, such as a judge being declared insane, or an entire jury taking ecstasy.

When the Punisher resurfaces and declares war on the Gnucci crime family, Soap is assigned to the Punisher Task Force, a sinecure with only one other member, a neurotic behavioral psychologist named Buddy Plugg. After Soap criticizes his profile of the Punisher, the distraught Plugg hangs himself in his and Soap's shared office.

Soap is later approached by Molly von Richthofen, a lieutenant, and the sole member of another pointless task force, one supposedly dedicated to dismantling the Gnucci family. The two join forces, and stake out Ma Gnucci's mansion, intending to step in and arrest whoever remains after the Punisher inevitably lays siege to the building. Over the course of their investigation, Soap and Molly become friends, and remain so even after Molly shoots down Soap's attempt to pursue a romantic relationship with her by revealing that she is a lesbian. After killing Ma Gnucci and destroying her mansion, the Punisher confronts Soap and Molly, and offers them Ma's compromising photographs of the mayor and the police commissioner in exchange for all of the information that the NYPD has pertaining to the Vigilante Squad. With the photographs, Soap is able to blackmail his way into becoming the new commissioner; while Soap is basking in his good fortune, a bird defecates on his head.