Foreigner (comics)
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For other uses of Foreigner, see Foreigner (disambiguation).
The Foreigner is a fictional comic book villain in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by writer David Michelinie and artist Mike Harris, and first appeared in Web of Spider-Man #15 (June 1986)
The Foreigner is a mercenary and assassin. Although he has no superhuman abilities, he has trained his body to be in absolute peak physical condition, is among the greatest martial arts practitioners in the Marvel Universe, and as a professional assassin who has evaded detection by various international law enforcement agencies, is highly intelligent.
[edit] Character history
The Foreigner first appeared as a foe of Spider-Man when he made a wager with another villain, Chance, that the latter could not defeat Spider-man. He won this wager. Later he hired the assassin Sabretooth to kill the thief known as the Black Cat, who had stolen a solid gold notebook from him. However, she escaped from the villain, who was intercepted by Spider-Man, who outsmarted Sabretooth. Eventually, he defeated the Black Cat himself and then decided, instead of executing her, to start a romantic relationship with her and use her under the pretense of forming an alliance in order to destroy Spider-man (all the while the true ulterior motive being to enlist the membership of Spider-Man as an assassin in his 1400 club). Spider-Man turned him down and Foreigner was forced to abandon that identity.
In the past he has started a club of assassins called the 1400 club. The CIA, FBI, and most government agencies throughout the world are not aware of the Foreigner's existence or that of his organization. As a master of disguise, he has literally hundreds of identities all over the world. These identities are used not only by him, but by other members of his organization who are also masters of disguise and assassination.
He has had a romantic relationship with the Silver Sable, and for a short time with the Black Cat. He is a friend of Wilson Fisk and it is rumored that the two became friends when the Foreigner was hired to kill Fisk by one of his enemies but the Foreigner discovered they had the same birthday and capriciously decided to kill his employer instead. Later, he met Fisk and initiated their friendship/business relationship.
The Foreigner was once hired to kill the Hobgoblin by the mercenary Jason Macendale (who later himself become the Hobgoblin). He carried out the execution of the third man to take the Hobgoblin persona, Ned Leeds. It was later revealed that Ned Leeds was actually a puppet of the original Hobgoblin who had abandoned the persona to avoid such an assassination. By the time this was revealed the Foreigner's employer was dead and he had already been paid so the matter was irrelevant.
At some time in the past the Foreigner trained the superhuman mutant known as Sabretooth. He has since distanced himself from his former novice. It seems the Foreigner shuns Sabretooth's murderous nature, at least in so much that Sabretooth even kills people when it is not profitable, which the Foreigner considers bad business practice.
He has been hired by many different characters carry out various assassinations. He has never been incarcerated or positively identified by authorities. The few cases in which he did not carry out his objectives tended to be due to his personal whimsy and not his inability. The Foreigner's real name and origin have yet to be revealed and although he speaks with a British accent, he may not be British.
[edit] Skills and abilities
The Foreigner has no superhuman abilities. However, he has trained his body to be in absolute peak physical condition. He is stronger, faster, more agile, and has better reaction time than any Olympic athlete. He is master of all known forms of martial arts, and most forms of conventional weaponry. He is among the greatest pugilists in the Marvel Universe, similar in ability to Captain America and Wolverine. His skills are such that even without superhuman abilities, he is able to pull off seemingly inhuman feats of strength through intense concentration, and has even battled Spider-Man to a stand still. During this fight he hypnotized Spider-man, this hypnotism left Spider-man disoriented or in a light trance for a few seconds during this period the Foreigner ran away at nearly superhuman speed which he can do for brief periods. From Spiderman's perspective it appeared that the Foreigner had teleported away.
He is a master of disguise and has assumed various identities all over the world, meaning that he probably speaks many different languages fluently. He is a brilliant strategist, tactician, and intelligence gatherer. His ability to escape detection from all government agencies and his remarkable intelligence gathering skills would require a great intellect.
