Schist, a real estate developer whose projects threatened the ecology of the Florida Everglades, and Richard Rory, a disc jockey who had denounced the Foolkiller's activities.
Gerber, Mary Skrenes and Jim Mooney created Greg Salinger, the second version of the character, which first appeared in Omega the Unknown #9 (plus a one-panel cameo in #8, which was written by Roger Stern and drawn by Lee Elias).
Upset by anti-Vietnam War protests and counterculture movements, he decided that sinners, dissidents, and criminals alike were "fools" who must be eliminated, and that he had been chosen by God to do so.
After catching Reverend Mike in a drunken orgy, he killed his former hero, preserved the corpse in formaldehyde, and used the preacher's money to fund his vigilante activities.
He donned a flamboyant Zorro-like costume and acquired (by unknown means) his "purification gun", a raygun which disintegrated people instantly.
The Foolkiller had sought to kill Ted Sallis (whom he knew to be the Man-Thing based on connecting news reports), disc jockey Richard Rory, and businessman F.A.
[7] Gregory P. "Greg" Salinger, imprisoned for disorderly conduct, heard the story of the first Foolkiller from his cellmate, Richard Rory, incarcerated on a trumped-up kidnapping charge.
[8] After being released, Salinger stole the Foolkiller's equipment and assumed his identity, using the "purification gun" to kill a number of people in New York including the supervillain Blockbuster.
Unlike his religiously inspired predecessor, Salinger defined "fools" as those guilty of materialism and mediocrity, or anyone who lacked "a poetic nature".
[10] Salinger reappeared, studying at Empire State University, where teaching assistant Peter Parker (Spider-Man) befriended him, then stopped him in the midst of another killing spree.
[13] Salinger (now wearing an armored costume, and wielding conventional weaponry) would go on to join Deadpool's Heroes for Hire (later rechristened the Mercs for Money).
He eventually abandoned the gaudy costume, substituting a bondage-style leather mask and outfit (or appearing in a variety of disguises), and created a simpler calling card: "Foolkiller / e pluribus unum / Actions have consequences".
His ever-broader definition of "fools" who deserved death broadened to include those guilty of what Gerhardt believed to be rank hypocrisy or stupidity.
Gerhardt even goes after 'foolish' celebrities, killing an industrialist who was stripping Amazon rainforest land to raise cattle for beef after learning of his criminal associations, and his having placed a bounty on his head in an attempt to turn the public hostile towards the Foolkiller.
At the end of the miniseries, after escaping the police (his online communications with Salinger having been discovered) and having killed his drug lord nemesis, Gerhardt has his face altered with the assistance of his predecessor's friend.
Ultimate Gerhardt, of an identical history to the original Gerdhart bar with a more sociopathic outlook on life, appeared in New Avengers as a Raft inmate, although the circumstances surrounding his capture have not been revealed.
[28] The Hood hired him as part of his criminal organization to take advantage of the split in the superhero community caused by the Superhuman Registration Act.
[30] After repeatedly attempting to gain therapy from and then teach back what it means to be the Foolkiller, all while acting on the orders of the Hood, Gerdhart is shot in the face and killed by Salinger.
Nate, fearing for the safety of his hospitalized daughter, decides to enlist the help of the Foolkiller, whom he had heard about from the news and from whispered rumors on the street.
Although the Foolkiller initially berates Nate as a fool due to the life he leads, he takes an interest in their possible connection to a mob boss known as the Cheese.
The Foolkiller, concluding that Sickle Moon will abort his mission if his employer is killed, decides to go after the Cheese directly, with Nate acting as a diversion.
[volume & issue needed] In keeping with the realism of the Marvel MAX line, Mike Trace does not dress in a costume or use a purification ray gun.
In the first issue of the MAX series, while discussing rumors about the mostly unseen Foolkiller, there was a reference in character dialogue to the purification ray gun and Zorro-like costume of the original Marvel version, as well as the fact that one of them briefly worked at a Burger Clown restaurant.
[34] This version is a polymath who is well trained in contact wrestling and holds degrees in law, psychology, chemistry, engineering, particle physics, and biology.
[35] In the present, Gregory seeks to kill Erik Gelden when he finds out about his murders before shifting his attention to Jessica Jones, whom he accuses of being a fraud due to her reliance on her superpowers.