Phoenix Force

Characters

Originally, Phoenix Force was composed of Yakov Katzenelenbogen, a French-Israeli commando; Gary Manning, Canadian demolitions expert and security engineer; Keio Ohara, Japanese Martial Arts and electronics expert; David McCarter, former SAS operator and pilot; and Rafael Encizo, Cuban survivor of the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Castro's prisons. Ohara was killed in the course of the series and replaced with Calvin James, African-American Vietnam veteran. Katz retired from field work, resulting in McCarter becoming the new team leader, and T.J. Hawkins was recruited by Katz and Mack Bolan to become the fifth member of Phoenix Force.

The Phoenix Force team has used the assistance of John Trent, Japanese-American ninjitsu master; and Karl Hahn, former GSG 9 operator turned BND agent.

Phoenix Force members

McCarter is the current commander of Phoenix Force. A Cockney born in London's East End neighborhood, McCarter is a former SAS operator who participated in the Iranian Embassy Siege and spent a tour of duty in Vietnam as a "special observer". McCarter is a big, strong man who thrives on action. He is unmatched in combat, with significant battlefield experience and great marksmanship with a pistol. McCarter is often the first in a firefight, with a degree of desire for action that borders on recklessness. He is an action junkie with Katz summing up "that man would be lost without a battlefield." He is also highly sarcastic and always gets in the last word.

McCarter's attitude often leads to friction between him and Gary Manning, and the two frequently take jabs at each other. However, their conflict is good-natured and not detrimental to the team.

One of McCarter's quirks is consuming large amounts of Coca-Cola.

McCarter's preferred SMG was the Ingram MAC-10 in 9mm, but it had jammed on one mission, causing him to adopt the Intratec KG-99. His preferred pistol is the Browning Hi-Power.

Originally from Cuba, Encizo assisted in Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba. Upon realizing that he had helped install a Communist regime, Encizo turned against the Communists and was subsequently imprisoned. He escaped and fled to America, and later came back during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Encizo was captured a second time as a result, and tortured for several months before making a second escape.

Rafael Encizo's younger brother, Raul, was taken from the family at a very young age, and joined the Cuban army. Rafael and Raul have fought against each other on two occasions, the second of which resulted in Raul's death after he turned on a group of Communist terrorists he was working with.

Encizo's preferred weapons are the H&K MP5 and a Smith & Wesson or a Walther PPK pistol (later changed to the H&K P9). He is also the team's edged weapons expert, favoring the Cold Steel Tanto.

Stony Man crew

Phoenix Force is supported by the Stony Man crew. This crew provides a wide variety of expertise, ranging from piloting aircraft or hacking into a computer database.

Stony Man crew members:

Hal Brognola

Harold Brognola is the Stony Man project director. He is responsible for assigning missions to both Phoenix Force and Able Team, as well as providing them with intelligence, weapons, transportation, and anything else they may require to conduct their assignments. Brognola enjoys chewing on expensive cigars.

Jack Grimaldi

Stony Man's ace pilot, Grimaldi is often called on to assist in situations which require the use of air assets. Grimaldi is competent with all aircraft, both fixed-wing and helicopters.

Aaron "The Bear" Kurtzman

Kurtzman is the computer expert of the Stony Man farm. His role is to obtain intel from other government agencies and process it. Kurtzman lost the use of his legs in an assault on Stony Man Farm, and has since been forced to use a wheelchair. He has made several attempts to regain the use of his legs.

Barbara Price

Taking over from April Rose, Barbara Price serves as Stony Man's mission controller. At the request of the President, she assisted with the security clearances when Stony Man was initially set up. She and Mack Bolan are friends and sometimes lovers.

Buck Greene

Taking over from the man who replaced the traitorous Captain Wade, Buck Greene serves as Stony Man's chief of security and leads the Blacksuits, a security force maintained by Stony Man to provide security for the Farm.

Charlie Mott

Associates

John Trent

John Inoshiro Trent is the owner and operator of a dojo, or martial arts school, in San Francisco, California, and a master of ninjutsu. His father, Sgt. Victor J. Trent, was an American serviceman stationed in Japan during reconstruction efforts after World War II. His mother, Reko Nakezuri, lost most of her family in the Tokyo firebombing that was carried out by the U.S. Army Air Corps. Her brother, Inoshiro Nakezuri, was an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy and a covert operative who specialized in ninjutsu.

When John was born, his uncle Inoshiro, from whom John gets his middle name, took a personal interest in him, training him in the ways of the ninja. John proved to be an outstanding student, much to his uncle's delight.

Being a ninja, he is most adept with such weapons as the ninja-do and shuriken, but he also uses shotguns and pistols. In addition to being fluent in both English and Japanese, Trent also speaks Mandarin. His skills proved invaluable to Phoenix Force during a mission in San Francisco involving two crime syndicates, MERGE and TRIO. Phoenix Force would later draw on these skills during their Far East assignments, and Trent would later work on a mission with Mack Bolan himself. Calvin James has an association with Trent from his days as a policeman in San Francisco.

Deceased characters

Over the course of the series, some notable characters have died.

Members

Yakov "Katz" Katzenelenbogen

Known as 'Katz' to his friends, Col. Yakov Katzenelenbogen was the original Phoenix Force leader when Bolan first assembled the team. Born in Russia, his father was a noted linguist and translator, and Yakov grew up speaking four languages: English, French, German and Russian. Katz assisted the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation. Later, he moved to Israel.

During the Six-Day War, Katz lost his right arm and his only son. Before joining Phoenix Force, he worked for the Mossad, Israel's intelligence unit. Katz was held in high regard by the other Phoenix Force members. After a mission in the Far East, Katz retired from field work and went on to serve as Stony Man's tactical adviser. Katz was killed on a personal mission to stop a terrorist conspiracy in the Middle East, leading Mack Bolan to take up where he left off with support from Stony Man's top operatives and a top Mossad agent.

Katz's prosthetic arm featured hooks which could be effective in a fistfight, and could often be replaced with a realistic-looking arm or a version that fired a single .22 Magnum bullet. His age, slightly paunchy appearance and prosthetic arm often caused opponents to underestimate him.

Katz's weapons of choice were the IMI Uzi, Heckler & Koch P7, SIG Sauer P226, and a Spetznaz ballistic knife.

Keio Ohara

Keio Ohara was the youngest member of Phoenix Force when Mack Bolan first assembled the team. He served as an officer of the JGSDF, holding the rank of captain. He was trained as a paracommando, but had no real experience in the field. Held black belts in both karate and judo. Loved to drive fast without regard to the rules of the road at times. Also loved cigars and racing motorcycles. Even though he kept an apartment in the Japantown section of San Francisco, he saw Tokyo as his home.

His uncle, Teko Ohara, had been exiled from the Ohara clan after associating with yakuza gangsters after World War II, which was a disgrace to the clan. Teko challenged the decision and demanded a duel of honor with his successor, who happened to be Keio's father, Toshiro Ohara. Toshiro won the duel, but he and his wife were later murdered by Teko. He later joined up with Professor Edward Oshimi, the founder of the terrorist group called the Japanese Red Cell, in his plot against the U.S. government. However, he and some of his JRC associates were on the Hawaiian island of Lānaʻi when Phoenix Force attacked the mad professor's stronghold, so Keio had no idea of his uncle's involvement until he broke into Keio's apartment and left a note challenging him to a duel to the death on Alcatraz Island. Keio eliminated his uncle's associates before facing him in the duel, whereupon Teko gleefully admitted his guilt in the deaths of Keio's parents. Keio won the duel by killing him, avenging his parents in the process.

Associates

Karl Hahn

Karl Hahn first served West Germany as an operator for the GSG 9 counter-terrorist unit. In this capacity, Hahn operated against the Baader-Meinhof Gang, aka Red Army Faction, Second June Movement, and various Palestinian terrorist groups. He was one of the GSG 9 commandos who carried out Operation Feuerzauber (Fire Magic), the famous rescue mission in Mogadishu, Somalia, against the PFLP terrorist team holding 86 hostages aboard Lufthansa Flight 181, hijacked on October 13, 1977.

During his career, members of the RAF captured Hahn's best friend, GSG 9 operator Klaus Hausberg. They tortured and mutilated Hausberg to the point where Hahn had to put him out of his misery with a bullet to his brain. Eager to avenge Hausberg, Hahn hunted down and executed no less than eight RAF members. When his superiors learned of this, they dismissed him from the GSG 9.

He was later recruited by the BND, West Germany's federal intelligence agency, and trained as a covert operative. He handled assignments in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, and was stationed in Turkey when he first met Phoenix Force during a mission against the KGB. He later worked with Phoenix Force on several occasions, most notably filling in for Rafael Encizo, who was injured during a mission in France against ODESSA. Hahn was eventually killed in action during a Phoenix Force mission in Europe to rescue the President of the United States and the Premier of the Soviet Union (Super Phoenix Force #1: Fire Storm).

Hahn studied computer electronics as an exchange student at UCLA, spoke three languages fluently, and had a working knowledge of Czech and Russian. Possessing a dry sense of humor, he was also capable of making weapons out of common objects like a newspaper for close-quarter combat.

Books

There are a total of 51 books in the official series, plus 4 "Super Phoenix Force" novels. Phoenix Force also appeared in the three "Heroes" anthology paperbacks published by gold medal.

The first book, Argentine Deadline, was published in June 1982, and the 51st, Savage World, was published in January 1991.