Raft

History

The Raft

The Raft was a super maximum security prison for super-powered criminals located near Ryker's Island, NY. It was run and operated by S.H.I.E.L.D.^[1]

Zebediah Killgrave (AKA the Purple Man) was locked away in the Raft in a specialized cell.^[2] Some time later, Jessica Jones traveled to The Raft and met with Clay Quartermain, who escorted her through the prison to Killgrave's holding cell.^[3] She questioned him about the many murders he was never charged with, but he refused to provide information and she gave up. Later that night Killgrave escaped from his cell, he went after Jessica who beat him and watched as he was arrested and returned to the raft.^[4]

At some point, Electro, hired by a Skrull disguised as Elektra, instituted a mass prison break. Fortunately, Matt Murdock, Luke Cage and Jessica Drew were there to control the situation, along with Spider-Man (who arrived there hanging from a helicopter), Iron Man and Captain America. Although the efforts of the heroes were extraordinary, at least forty-six super-villains escaped.^[5]

Months later the Raft was renovated, being upgraded with a bio-energy dampening field surrounding the prison to suppress superpowers. Especially powerful inmates have inhibitors implanted on their spines. The waters around the island in a half-mile radius are infested with jellyfish that possess a powerful nerve-toxin. The courtyard is protected by a force field and thirty ray-guns coordinated by a targeting computer. All guards wear light armor with obscured faces developed by Mach-V and carry electroshock weapons that only work when operated by a specific guard. The United States' Thunderbolts program is also run from this location, allowing super-criminals to reduce their sentences by joining the state-sponsored crime-fighting team.^[6]

Spider-Island Two

After a prison riot lead by the Spider-Slayer was put to rest, Spider-Man managed to blackmail J. Jonah Jameson into giving him ownership of the Raft for the purpose of making the former prison his own personal headquarters and renaming it "Spider-Island Two".^[7] Ultimately, the Raft was destroyed when the Goblin Nation attacked it, forcing Spider-Man to escape.^[8]

Reopened

The complex was rebuilt and rebranded The Raft. It held criminals such as Tombstone.^[9]

Alternate Reality Versions

Marvel's Spider-Man (Earth-1048)

The Raft is a maximum security prison located on the East River, where Roosevelt Island would be. Just as its Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart, it was specially designed to hold enhanced and superhuman detainees. The facility was severely damaged when Doctor Octopus released five of the most feared villains who were detained at the location, and sent them to destroy Manhattan.^[10]

Marvel Animated Universe (Earth-8096)

The Raft is one of four specialized, high security prisons maintained by S.H.I.E.L.D. along with The Big House, The Cube, and The Vault. The Raft was the place where only prisoners too dangerous for the other S.H.I.E.L.D. prisons. The Raft complex is actually deep underwater at the bottom of the ocean, with a garbage scow at the surface as cover.^[11]

Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)

The Raft is a ultra-maximum-security prison specially designed to hold enhanced and superhuman detainees. The facility is fully submersible, located in an undisclosed under the supervision of Secretary Ross. After their arrest in Germany for assisting Captain America and the Winter Soldier; Hawkeye, Falcon, Ant-Man, and the Scarlet Witch were imprisoned there. They were later broken out by Steve Rogers after his altercation with Iron Man, and were given sanctuary in Wakanda by King T'Challa.^[12]

Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers (Earth-14042)

In this reality, the Raft is used to detain the worlds most dangerous supervillains. It was also here that Tony Stark demonstrated his latest invention: the DISKs. Unfortunately, Loki and his henchmen, the Celebrity Five, attacked the Raft and released the prisoners, starting a massive riot.^[13]

After the riot was over and all villains had either been captured in DISKs or escaped, the Raft was abandoned until Red Skull send Abomination and a group of Hydra agents to the ruins of the prison to set up one of the 5 Gaia Anchors with which he intended to destroy the world.^[14] Ed and Hulk were send to the Raft to destroy this Anchor, which they succeeded in doing with help from Power Man and the Celebrity Five (who had forcefully been drafted into Hydra and wanted to see Red Skull fail).^[14]

Marvel Avengers Academy (Earth-TRN562)

The Raft was under construction just outside of Avengers Academy. Nick Fury claimed it was designed to punish academy students who refused to train and study.^[15]

Points of Interest

• Thunderbolts Tower
• Courtyard
• Women's Mess Hall
• Men's Mess Hall
  
  

Residents

Earth-616

Current Prisoners

• Melter^[16]
• Nexus (Ken)^[17]
• Pulverizer^[18]
• Purple Man (Zebediah Killgrave)^[19]
• Vox Supreme^[20]

Former Staff

• U.S. Agent (John Walker), warden
• Luke Cage, head of the Thunderbolts program
• Songbird
• Fixer
• Mach V
• Dr. Coleman
• Dr. Nichols
• Melvey - Assigned on level B, Agent Melvey was hit when Electro materialized out of a piece of ball lightning.^[1]

• Spider-Man (Otto Octavius)
• Spiderlings

Former Prisoners

• Absorbing Man (Carl Creel)^[21]
• Aftershock (Danielle Blunt)^[22]
• Answer (Aaron Nicholson)^[23]
• Armadillo (Antonio Rodriguez)^[1]
• Axe^[24]
• Badd Axe^[25]
• Barbarus^[26]
• Baron Blood (John Falsworth)^[3]
• Basilisk (Basil Elks)^[27]
• Beetle (Janice Lincoln)^[28]
• Big Roy^[24]
• Black Mamba (Tanya Sealy)
• Blackout^[1]
• Blizzard (Donny Gill)
• Blood Brother^[1]
• Boomerang (Fred Myers)
• Boom-Boom (Tabitha Smith) (Only for a few seconds)^[29]
• Brothers Grimm^[1]
• Bushwacker (Carl Burbank)^[3]
• Carnage (Cletus Kasady)^[3]
• Centurius (Noah Black)^[1]
• Chemistro (Calvin Carr)^[23]
• Cobalt Man (Ralph Roberts)^[30]
• Codename: Bravo (Richard)^[31]
• Coldheart (Kateri Deseronto)^[30]
• Colossus (Piotr Rasputin)^[29]
• Constrictor (Frank Payne)^[26]
• Controller (Basil Sandhurst)^[1]
• Corruptor (Jackson Day)^[32]
• Count Nefaria (Luchino Nefaria)^[33]
• Cranio (Doug)^[34]
• Crate^[24]
• Crimson Cowl (Justine Hammer)^[35]
• Crossbones (Brock Rumlow)^[3]
• Crossfire (William Cross)^[32]
• Crusader (Arthur Blackwood)^[33]
• Cutthroat (Daniel Leighton)^[33]
• Dark Beast (Henry McCoy)^[36]
• Deathwatch^[26]
• Diamondhead (Arch Dyker)^[35]
• Doctor Bong (Lester Verde)^[37]
• Doctor Demonicus (Douglas Birely)^[23]
• Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom)^[38]
• Doctor Octopus ("Otto Octavius"/Peter Parker)
• Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius)^[39]
• Dragonfly (Veronica Dultry)^[40]
• Ember (Jason Pierce)^[41]
• Equinox (Terrance Sorenson)^[42]
• Exterminatrix (Oubliette Midas)^[43]
• Firefight (William Boddicker)^[44]
• Flying Tiger^[40]
• Foolkiller (Kurt Gerhardt)^[33]
• Ghost^[6]
• Gorilla-Man (Arthur Nagan)^[40]
• Graviton^[26]
• Grim Reaper (Eric Williams)^[35]
• Grizzly (Maxwell Markham)^[45]
• Grey Gargoyle (Paul Duval)^[1]
• Griffin (John Horton)^[1]
• Hecate^[27]
• Human-Fly (Richard Deacon)^[46]
• Hydro-Man (Morris Bench)^[33]
• Hyperion^[47]
• Icemaster (Bradley Kroon)^[41]
• Indali^[24]
• Jack O'Lantern^[46]
• Jester (Jonathan Powers)^[48]
• Jigsaw (Billy Russo)^[3]
• Juggernaut (Cain Marko)
• King Cobra (Klaus Voorhees)^[49]
• Lady Mastermind (Regan Wyngarde)^[50]
• Leader (Samuel Sterns)^[51]
• Lightmaster (Edward Lansky)^[42]
• Living Laser (Arthur Parks)^[41]
• Lizard (Curt Connors)^[52]
• Loki^[53]
• Mac Gargan
• Man-Bull (William Taurens)^[21]
• Mandrill (Jerome Beechman)^[1]
• Man-Killer (Katerina van Horn)
• Man Mountain Mario (Mario Marko)^[24]
• Man-Thing (Theodore Sallis)
• Mash-Up (Zel Credo)^[44]
• Mentallo (Marvin Flumm)^[23]
• Mister Fear (Alan Fagan)^[1]
• Mister Fear (Lawrence Cranston)^{[citation needed]}
• Mister Hyde (Calvin Zabo)^[3]
• Mo Money^[24]
• Molecule Man (Owen Reece)^[1]
• Moonstone (Karla Sofen)^[6]
• Morbius (Michael Morbius)^[52]
• Mortar (Liana Feeser)^[22]
• Nekra^[21]
• Nitro (Robert Hunter)^[23]
• Norman Osborn^[45]
• Ox (Raymond Bloch)
• Poundcakes (Marian Pouncy)^[24]
• Powderkeg (Frank Skorina)^[54]
• Puppet Master (Phillip Masters)^[44]
• Quicksand^[40]
• Radioactive Man (Chen Lu)^[3]
• Rampage (Stuart Clarke)^[26]
• Razor-Fist (Douglas Scott)^[23]
• Razorhead^[29]
• Romulus^[55]
• Ruby Thursday (Thursday Rubinstein)^[56]
• Sauron (Karl Lykos)^[1]
• Scarecrow (Ebenezer Laughton)^[3]
• Schizoid Man (Chip Martin)^[42]
• Screwball^[48]
• Shocker (Herman Schultz)^[57]
• Shockwave (Lancaster Sneed)^[1]
• Skeleton Ki (Alisher Sham)^[25]
• Silk Fever (Min Li Ng)^[42]
• Silver Samurai^[26]
• Slug (Ulysses Lugman)^[1]
• Spider-Slayer (Alistaire Smythe)^[52]
• Speedball (Robbie Baldwin) (Only briefly)^[35]
• Speedfreek (Joss Shappe)^[30]
• Squid (Donald Callahan)^{[citation needed]}
• Stain^[24]
• Star (Ripley Ryan)^[58]
• John Steele^[59]
• Supercharger (Ronald Hilliard)^[42]
• Superia (Deidre Wentworth)^[60]
• Superior^[22]
• Super-Skrull (Kl'rt)^{[citation needed]}
• The Bride^[61]
• Tiger Shark (Todd Arliss)^[3]
• Titania (Mary MacPherran)
• Tombstone (Lonnie Lincoln)^[9]
• Troll (Gunna Sijurvald)
• Typhoid Mary (Mary Walker)^[1]
• U-Foes^[1]
  • Ironclad (Michael Steel)
  • Vapor (Ann Darnell)
  • Vector (Simon Utrecht)
  • X-Ray (James Darnell)
• Vermin (Edward Whelan)^[3]
• Vulture (Adrian Toomes)^[62]
• Wonder Man (Simon Williams)^[63]
• Wrecking Crew^[1]
  • Bulldozer (Henry Camp)
  • Piledriver (Brian Calusky)
  • Thunderball (Eliot Franklin)
  • Wrecker (Dirk Garthwaite)
• Zzzax^[1]

Marvel's Spider-Man (video game) (Earth-1048)

Current Prisoners

• Blood Spider (Michael Bingham
• Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius)
• The Vulture (Adrian Toomes)
• Rhino (Aleksei Sytsevich)
• Electro (Max Dillon)
• Scorpion (MacGargan)
• Shocker (Herman Schultz)

Former Prisoners

• Martin Li (Mister Negative)

Marvel Animated Universe (Earth-8096)

Former Prisoners

• Baron Zemo (Heinrich Zemo)^{[citation needed]}
• Graviton (Franklin Hall)^{[citation needed]}
• Purple Man (Zebediah Killgrave)^{[citation needed]}
• Wendigo (Paul Cartier)^{[citation needed]}

Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)

Current Prisoners

• Diamondback (Willis Stryker)^[64]
• Trish Walker^[64]

Former Prisoners

• Ant-Man^[12]
• Falcon^[12]
• Hawkeye^[12]
• Scarlet Witch^[12]
  

Notes

• In Captain America: Civil War, The Raft prison facility serves an analogous purpose to Prison 42 during the Civil War comic event.

See Also

• 156 Appearances of Raft
• 5 Minor Appearances of Raft
• 65 Media Raft was Mentioned in
• 17 Images featuring Raft
• Location Gallery: Raft

Links and References

• Raft at Marvel.com
• Raft at Wikipedia

Footnotes