Foolkiller (Salinger)

Origin

"I'll be the judge of that, young fool! Your sins will be enumerated to you shortly!" -- Foolkiller.

Greg Salinger was the second man to assume the identity of the Foolkiller. He is a soldier and veteran of the Vietnam War, after which he lost his hopes for humanity and slowely hit rock bottom. While in jail for disorderly conduct, Salinger made the acquaintance of Richard Rory. Rory related the whole sordid story of the original Foolkiller (Ross Everbest)) to his cellmate. Although he didn't share Everbest's religious convictions, Salinger nonetheless took the story and its morals - that there was a rapidly spreading decay in society - to heart. Upon his release, he managed to steal the Foolkiller costume and weaponry from the authorities, and took the title for himself.

Creation

Foolkiller (Gregory Sallinger) was created by Roger Stern and Lee Elias and first appeared (in a cameo) in Omega the Unknown Vol.1 issue 8 (1977) before appearing fully one issue later in issue 9 (also from 1977). He was inspired by the original Foolkiller Ross Everbest.

Major Story Arcs

The New Foolkiller

"I'm following the dictates of symmetry... aesthetics! These people must die according to a higher law than logic or pragmatism!" -- Foolkiller.

Salinger traveled to New York, to thank Richard Rory for the inspiration.

He considered use the force in the service of good. His sacred mission was purge the world of human trash. Eliminating those corrupters of values.

While there, he executed his first fool, the super-villain Blockbuster. He later attempted to kill the extradimensional Lunatik, a conflict which introduced him to the Defenders. He was brought by Dollar Bill under the pretense that the Defenders would help him attain his mad goal: killing those he considered fools.

A misunderstanding led him to believe view the Defenders as fools, and he tried to kill them, only to be beaten and apprehended by Hellcat and the Valkyrie.

After his confrontation with the Defenders, Salinger was never incarcerated, as the vehicle transporting him hydroplaned off the road while in transit. He escaped, and resumed his killing and enrolling at Empire State University. He went on to kill several more fools around campus, even attempting to kill a registrar there, before coming into conflict with Spider-Man. Overhearing a suggestion that anyone who would fight Spider-Man had to be a fool, the by-now extremely mentally unstable Salinger found himself in agreement with the assessment and tried to take his own life. Spider-Man stopped him, and he was arrested once more.

A New York court found Salinger unfit to stand trial, and shipped him back to his home state of Indiana. There, he was incarcerated in the maximum security ward of a mental hospital. He remains there to this day. While investigating the Scourge of the Underworld, a costume killing vigilante with a similar M.O. to the Foolkiller's, Captain America and Diamondback visited Salinger at the hospital. Satisfied he was safely locked away and could not be the killer, they resumed their investigation.

Not long after, Salinger developed a pen-pal relationship with a like-minded citizen and encouraged and assisted Kurt Gerhardt in following in his footsteps and becoming the third Foolkiller.

Foolkiller Renewed: Mercs for Money

While in custody, Gregory started studying to become a psyciatrist. When released, he resumed this study, but could not hang up his identity as the Foolkiller. When he was contacted by the mercenarie known as Deadpool, he was invited to join a team of other anti-heroes in hope of restoring order and stopping 'fools''. Foolkiller donned a new costume and became a prominent member of the Mercs for Money.

Psycho Therapy

Foolkiller later tried to quit being a mercenary. He got a job as a psychiatrist, and a supposed S.H.I.E.L.D agent set him up with super villain clientele. He even got a girlfriend, Melanie Hawkins. Old habits die hard, though, and when one of his clients went off the deep end, Greg took it upon himself to kill him before he could hurt anyone else. His S.H.I.E.L.D contact told him it was for the best, and Salinger fell into an unhealthy pattern of trying to rehabilitate criminals, and then donning the mantle of Foolkiller and hunting them down when he failed.

Greg's former protege, the third Foolkiller, Kurt Gerhardt, disgusted with Greg's hypocrisy and cowardice, payed The Hood to help him track down Salinger. Gerhardt revealed that Salinger's S.H.I.E.L.D contact was a rogue agent using Salinger as a bounty hunter, collecting money whenever Greg killed on of his clients. Greg promptly killed his contact. Greg's girlfriend, however, left him.

Later, Greg tracked Gerhardt to the Hood's lair, and when Gerhardt started to monologue, shot him in the head, killing him. The Hood tried to blackmail Foolkiller into working for him, threatening to leak his exploits and details to Punisher if he didn't. Salinger decided that if Punisher killed him then he deserved it, and refused Hood's deal.

Realizing that he had a problem, Greg decided to admit himself to an asylum. Hood leaked his information to the Punisher, but Punisher decided to go after Hood himself instead, and Melanie visited Greg in the ward, showing that she still cared for him

King In Black

Salinger was being treated in Ravencroft Sanitarium when Knull invaded earth. When Taskmaster and his Thunderbolts went to Ravencroft to meet up with Norman Osborn, the asylum was attacked by Symbiotes. In order to stop the prisoners from being eaten or taken over, Star freed Salinger, along with several other prisoners. Taskmaster later deputized Salinger, though he was reluctant to take up arms. Shortly after joining the Thunderbolts, Salinger was dragged off by a symbiote and presumably killed.

Powers and Equipment

His Purifier gun was a laser pistol which could incinerate a man within seconds or open wholes in brick walls within minutes. It could fire accurately within a distance of thirty yards. He also used other other offensive weapons at times. Along with surveillance equipment the weapons were loaded on his specially equipped armored track. He used the track to locate and truck down his victims of choice.