Vladimir Ranskahov

"I will honor you my brother... with the blood of war."

- Vladimir Ranskahov avenging Anatoly

Vladimir Ranskahov was one of two Russian brothers looking to forge names for themselves in the United States of America. When his brother Anatoly was murdered by Wilson Fisk, Vladimir went on a one man war against him. After briefly teaming up with Daredevil, Ranskahov accepted his fate and was gunned down.

Prisoners
"We were in that hellhole for three years, from princes in Moscow to shitting in a bucket."

- Anatoly Ranskahov

Ranskahov and his brother Anatoly were captured and tortured in Russia for many months. While his brother was being tortured, Ranskahov was left in their cell with the corpse of their cellmate, who had been left to rot by their captors. Ranskahov took the opportunity to rip out his ribs to be used as weapons. When Anatoly returned they killed their captors and escaped.

Working with Wilson Fisk
Eventually the pair arrived in Hell's Kitchen in New York City where they were recruited by Wilson Fisk to transport heroin produced by Madame Gao. Ranskahov joined his brother Anatoly for a meeting with Wilson Fisk on top of a building along with Fisk's other associates, Madame Gao, Leland Owlsley and Nobu. The Ranskahov brothers were insulted when James Wesley came in Fisk's place, claiming Fisk was too busy to attend; Ranskahov angrily called Wesley a lapdog. When Wesley asked why the Ranskahov's payment was short, they explained that a masked man had attack their men and freed the girls they were transporting. Madame Gao asked them if the man had taken the girls for himself but they explained that he had not. Ranskahov and his brother were later involved in the kidnapping of a young boy intending to sell him. Ranskahov and his men beat up the boy's father before putting the child in their van and driving away, leaving the father too badly injured to move. The Ranskahov's set up a false location of the boy for the Man in the Mask to follow, allowing them to attack him and beat him nearly to death. The man escaped and had his injuries treated, so the Ranskahovs sent Semyon to try and find him. Seymond was captured and questioned by the man who threw him off the roof after getting the information he needed before tracking down and rescuing the boy.

Hunting the Masked Man
"Tell Mr. Fisk, that if he wants a pound of flesh, he can come here and carve it himself." "This is an offer, not an order. The choice of how we proceed is yours."

- Vladimir Ranskahov and James Wesley

When Anatoly was attacked by the masked man in one of the brothers' factories, they reunited at their base and were confronted by James Wesley, who came to give them the assets of the recently killed Prohaszka. Wesley mocked the pair for not being able to defeat the man in the mask. The brothers were offered a deal in which Wilson Fisk would take over control of their business. While Anatoly did consider the offer, Vladimir considered the deal to be an insult to them; he chose to break Wesley's number one rule not to mention Fisk's name when refusing his offer. The pair decided to focus their efforts on tracking down the masked man, starting by visiting their former henchman, Semyon, who was in the hospital after being dropped off a roof by the masked man. They gave him a shot of epinephrine; when he awoke, they asked him if he could give them any information to help them find their enemy. They learnt the address of a woman who had been with the masked man. When they arrived they found her apartment empty, but they were able to beat up her neighbour until he revealed her location. Ranskahov's men kidnapped the woman and tortured her to learn the masked man's location; however they were attacked and the woman was rescued. When the Ranskahovs discovered that their men had been attacked and their position in Wilson Fisk's organisation was compromised due to the embarrassment of being defeated by the masked man yet again, Anatoly again suggested that they should take Fisk's offer, which Vladimir aggressively protested. Anatoly told him that whether he agreed or not he would go to Fisk alone and bow for the pair of them. Although he was still unhappy about the idea, Vladimir chose to side with his brother and allowed him to go to Fisk alone.

War with Wilson Fisk
"All this time, Fisk has been playing us. Planning this. Tell the men to pull back and get ready. Guns, rifles, grenades. All of it." "All?" "ALL!"

- Vladimir Ranskahov and Sergei

The next day, Ranskahov could not contact Anatoly on the phone. While waiting in his office for his brother to contact him, Ranskahov was visited by James Wesley. Wesley also showed confusion as to Anatoly's location, claiming that he had accepted Wilson Fisk's offer and left them in good spirits the night before. Before they could continue their conversation, one of Ranskahov's men informed him that they had located Anatoly. His men brought Anatoly's butchered corpse into the room; Ranskahov saw that his brother's head had been crushed. Inside his brother's jacket, they found the man in black's mask, leading them to believe that the masked man was responsible for Anatoly's murder. As Ranskahov was cleaning his brother's body, he was visited by Turk Barrett, who offered his condolences. Ranskahov asked Barrett what he knew about the man who killed his brother; Barrett revealed that a man who knew at Ryker's, now working as a mechanic, had had a black SUV come to his shop for cleaning covering in blood and brains. Barrett revealed that the car belonged to a large bald man who was most likely Wilson Fisk; he also claimed that Fisk was close to the man in the mask. With this information Ranskahov was convinced that Fisk had been playing them the entire time, working with the man in the mask and had organised the murder of Anatoly.

Tricked
Ranskahov ordered his men to get all their weapons ready to go to war against his former employer. As Ranskahov's soldiers prepared for war by gathering together in warehousing and stockpiling their weapons, Ranskahov put on his Bulletproof Vest and prepared to join them in attacking Wilson Fisk. Before he could call the rest of his men and they could leave however, they spotted one of Madame Gao's blind delivery men arriving in the warehouse. They questioned if they were expecting any more deliveries but witnessed the man lifting up a detonator. With just enough time to react, Ranskahov and his body-guard dived for cover as the blind man detonated a bomb, destroying the factory and killing all of Ranskahov's soldiers.

Ranskahov and his bodyguard barely survived the explosion and managed to make their way from the burning building. Before they could escape however they were ambushed by the man in the mask; Ranskahov attempted to shoot his enemy but missed. He tried to fight back but was too badly injured. The man proceeded to beat him mercilessly until Ranskahov was simply to weak to move. The man in the mask prepared to hit him again, claiming this punch was for Claire Temple, but before he could strike the police arrived and attempted to arrest him. The man in the mask was able to defeat the incoming police, but during the fight Ranskahov was shot in the side.

Uneasy Alliance
"What do I get out of it?" "Pay back." "I have counter proposal... Suck my dick."

- Vladimir Ranskahov and the Masked Man

The Masked Man then took Ranskahov's unconscious body to the safety of a nearby abandoned building. When he regained consciousness, Ranskahov told the man in black that he would kill him for the murder of Anatoly Ranskahov. The man in black however assured him that he did not kill his brother and Ranskahov had been played by Fisk; he told him that all he wanted was to go after Fisk and make him pay for all he had done. Ranskahov instead crudely refused the offer before losing consciousness. He awoke when the man used a flare to seal his bullet would, causing him incredible pain which made him scream with agony until he lost consciousness again. When he awoke, Ranskahov found that the man in the mask had taken a young police officer hostage; he then pulled apart the officer's gun and threw it away, much to Ranskahov's annoyance. The vigilante then began questioning Ranskahov again but Ranskahov chose to ask him about his morality; why he was unwilling to kill, but was willing to let him die. When the man asked about Wilson Fisk, Ranskahov told him that they were not so different and would likely suffer the same fate. The man reminded Ranskahov that Fisk had taken down his operation and had enough police in his pocket to ensure that Ranskahov was killed before he could leak information. Ranskahov agreed and told the man about his first encounter with Fisk and how their operation first came about. He told him that he would tell him the name of Fisk's money man. When the man leant in to hear it, Ranskahov attacked him, causing them to fall through the floorboards.

Death
"This is not how I die, this is not how it happens."

- Vladimir Ranskahov

The pair survived the fall; Ranskahov claimed that although it was not smart, it was fun. Ranskahov then lost consciousness again, this time stopping his heart. He was saved by the man in black who performed CPR. They were then interrupted by Wilson Fisk, speaking on the radio, asking for the man in the mask. Fisk and the man engaged in a long and angry discussion about each other until Fisk offered the man a choice, to either kill Ranskahov and escape, or be portrayed as a terrorist to the world's media. Ranskahov grabbed a nearby pole to defend himself but the man disarmed him. In the end, the man turned down Fisk's offer and Ranskahov helped him escape into a sewer. Once in the sewer, they were attacked by a team of S.W.A.T. officers; while the man tried to break down a nearby door, Ranskahov picked up one of the officer's guns and aimed it at him. The man tried to convince him to join him but Ranskahov told him he planned to stay and fight to his death, knowing that he would never be able to give testimony against Fisk without being assassinated. He told the man that the only way to stop Fisk would be to kill him. Ranskahov then told the man Leland Owlsley was who he needed to track down. The man then escaped and Ranskahov engaged with the S.W.A.T. team, singing an old Russian song until he was shot and killed in the firefight.

Weapons

 * : An assault rifle used by the of the New York City Police Department. Fatally injured, Ranskahov tried to escape from the Abandoned Building with the man in the mask through a series of tunnels, but knowing that he was going to die soon, he chose to stay behind and confront the men that Wilson Fisk sent him, armed with a M4A1 Carbine taken from one of them. He engaged in a brief shootout while humming a Russian war song, "We will be raised from the ashes", and was ultimately killed.

Other Equipment

 * Bulletproof Vest: Ranskahov wore a Bulletproof Vest in preparation for a war against Wilson Fisk to avenge the death of his brother. The vest allowed him to survive an explosion that destroyed the Russian Hideout where his men were preparing for killing Fisk, and also allowed him to survive a shot by Officer Corbin longer that he would have without the vest.

Family

 * Anatoly Ranskahov † - Brother

Allies

 * Daredevil - Enemy turned Situational Ally
 * James Wesley †
 * Leland Owlsley †
 * Nobu †
 * Madame Gao
 * Turk Barrett
 * Oleg † - Cellmate
 * Alexei † - Cellmate
 * Semyon - Subordinate
 * Sergei † - Subordinate
 * Mikhail - Subordinate
 * Dmitry - Subordinate
 * Piotr † - Subordinate
 * Aslan - Subordinate
 * Ivan † - Subordinate

Enemies

 * Wilson Fisk - Former Associate
 * Prohaszka † - Business Rival
 * Corbin