It claims he was the son of a blacksmith, was adopted by one Pescennia Marcellina (otherwise unknown), and who started his career as a Centurio primus pilus before becoming a tribunus militum, and then a praetor.

Pupienus's career was allegedly impressive, serving a number of important posts during the reign of the Severan dynasty throughout the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries.

Remy pointedly quotes the opinion of André Chastagnol, who recommended "to admit an information provided by the Augustan History only if it is confirmed by another document" and considers that, faced with such an unreliable source, one must permit "methodical doubt and hypercritical attitude to prevail.

[14] On the news of the Gordians' defeat and deaths, however, the Senate met in closed session in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and voted for two members of the committee to be installed as co-emperors: Pupienus and Balbinus.

[15] According to Edward Gibbon (drawing on the narratives of Herodian and the Historia Augusta), the choice was sensible, as: the mind of Maximus [Pupienus] was formed in a rougher mould [than that of Balbinus].

His victories over the Sarmatians and the Germans, the austerity of his life, and the rigid impartiality of his justice whilst he was prefect of the city, commanded the esteem of a people whose affections were engaged in favour of the more amiable Balbinus.

[17] Leaving his senior colleague Balbinus in charge of the civil administration at Rome, sometime during late April, Pupienus marched to Ravenna, where he oversaw the campaign against Maximinus, recruiting German auxiliary troops who had served under him whilst he was in Germania.

Titus Clodius Pupienus Pulcher Maximus, consul suffectus c. 235, and patron of the town of Tibur outside Rome, has been identified as his oldest son.