William Rawlins (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

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Pure Evil

Full Name

William J. Rawlins III

Alias

Agent Orange

Bill Rawlins

Origin

Marvel's The Punisher (2017)

Allies

Billy Russo † (formerly)

Ray Schoonover †

Powers / Skills

Influence and power over the C.I.A.

Gunmanship
Bilingualism

Goals

Kill Frank Castle.

Dispose of the other whistleblowers.
Ascend through the ranks of the C.I.A.
Safeguard his nefarious activities (all failed).

Moral Event Horizon

Torturing and framing an innocent Afghan cop as a terrorist.

Orchestrating the Massacre at Central Park.
Brutally torturing Frank Castle to near-death.

Kill Count

Dozens (indirectly)

Worst Crimes

Mass murder by proxy

War crimes
Corruption
Terrorism
Torture
Drug trafficking
Incrimination
Corpse desecration
Conspiracy
Kidnapping
Treason
Espionage

Type of Villain

Sadistic Official

“	You are nothing but a grunt! You do not get to take me down. You are gonna to beg to me. Blood loss is gonna make you weak, you're gonna slip in and out of shock, you will know pain and fear! Fear, Frank. Your ribs must be cracked! Ohh, I'm gonna take all the breath out of your lungs, out of your LUNGS, until you can barely whisper, and the last word out of your mouth is gonna be "Please...Please...Please..."	„
	~ Rawlins torturing the Punisher.

“	I pulled you out of the mud, gutter rat! Billy, don't get confused. Men like me make the plans, men like you shed the blood. You think you're clean? Who killed Homeland agents, huh? Not me. No, I-I have everything. I have your doctored discharge papers, the money transfers. You're only as clean as I let you be, because when it's all said and done, you're just a stupid grunt, too.	„
	~ Rawlins expressing his disloyalty towards Billy Russo.

William J. "Bill" Rawlins III, also known under his code name Agent Orange, is the overarching antagonist of Netflix's original series Marvel's The Punisher.

He is a very arrogant as well as extremely sadistic CIA operative and the former leader of Project Cerberus, an operation during the war in Kandahar that specialized in eliminating targets, who hunts down Frank Castle for believing him to be the last living witness about that project.

He was portrayed by Paul Schulze.

What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]

He was in charge of a private death squad funded by drug trafficking, smuggling heroin within their corpses for personal profit, much to his callousness.
His arrogance and stubbornness indirectly caused soldiers to be killed in action or otherwise severely injured during the war in Kandahar on a failed mission.
- To make matters worse, he didn't care a single bit about his beaten and demoralized unit, with his only concern being whether the mission's target was killed or not, which prompted Frank to brutally punch him in the face, leaving him blind in his left eye.
He tortured and framed an innocent Afghan cop as a terrorist when he learned the truth about his war crimes, before leaving him to be executed by Frank.
He gets off on beating prisoners with his bare hands, which Russo believes is to the point where it sexually arouses him.
After he discovered that his torture of the Afghan cop was recorded, he orchestrated the Massacre at Central Park, where he had Schoonover organize a drug deal with the Kitchen Irish, Mexican Cartel and Dogs of Hell and make them think it was a sting operation, which caused them to engage in a shootout that resulted in multiple casulties and ended up killing Frank's family in the crossfire. All of this was just to kill Frank mainly because he thought that he was the one who taped him and out of petty revenge for humiliating him and punching his eye, and this was what drove Frank over the edge and led to him becoming the Punisher.
He sends soldiers to Kentucky for a dangerous mission, who end up killing Gunner Henderson.
He leaves Russo to kill Morty Bennett and his dominatrix when his usefulness expires.
He tries to sell out Russo to the CIA to save his own career.
He kidnaps and tries to kill Micro's wife and son.
After knocking Frank out with the help of Russo, Rawlins brutally tortures him in multiple gruesome ways, such as punching him in the gut and nearly crushing his skull, all while taking sadistic enjoyment in doing so, and telling him that he will make him beg for mercy.
When Russo pulled him off when he unnecessary prolonged Frank's pain by crunching his head, he insulted him at how he dirtied himself by killing a Homeland agent and how he served to live to serve people of him, calling him a "stupid grunt." This was the last straw for Russo, as he proceeded to secretly cut Frank loose when he seemingly threatened to kill him himself while Rawlins pulled out a gun on him.
He nearly takes Frank's eye off after injecting him with adrenaline, who thankfully, breaks free and brutally slaughters him.
Overall, he is a smug coward with no loyalty to anyone but himself. He constantly derides the soldiers under his command as "grunts" and wasn't even pragmatic enough to let Russo keep his promise to quickly kill Frank after he did what was asked.
- He also blames Frank for how he lost his eye and pension, rather than himself for his own callousness for the former and his corrupt actions for the latter.
- Even Russo, who is by no means a saint himself, hates Rawlins' guts to the point where he openly regrets not letting Frank kill him back in Kandahar, in addition to freeing him from his grasp to get him killed.
While his death at hands of Frank was indeed brutal, such as getting stabbed several times in the throat, punched a few times in the face and then getting his eyes gouged out, it was well-deserved considering all of his actions.
While he claims (and even seems to believe) that his actions are meant to serve the greater good of his country, that's clearly just propaganda to hide his true nature since he betrays and kills several fellow Americans at the drop of a hat. It's best shown in his final scene with Marion James, who orders him to resign from his post after burning Russo for the greater good, to which Rawlins responds, "but that hardly motivates me to make this go away," like he's genuinely confused, proving that, for him, it was never a matter of nationalism but instead of his own selfish ambitions.
Unlike most villains in the MCU, he has no comedic moments, redeeming or sympathetic qualities whatsoever and everything about him is taken dead seriously.
While the MCU has gigantic heinous standards, Rawlins stands out due to his low resources, being merely a CIA agent with hardly any weapons or fighting skills, in addition to having no supernatural powers and a small amount of men working for him, as well as his torture methods being somewhat unique. He also has personal villainy towards Castle for causing his family's deaths and being responsible for turning him into the murderous vigilante he is now, known as the Punisher.