Foreigner (character)
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Foreigner | |
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Spectacular Spider-Man #209 | |
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | (Voice only) Web of Spider-Man #15 (June 1986) (Full appearance) The Spectacular Spider-Man #116 (July 1986) |
Created by | Peter David |
In-story information | |
Team affiliations | 1400 Club |
Notable aliases | Kris Keating |
Abilities | Trained assassin and master of disguise Minor hypnotic abilities |
The Foreigner is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was formerly married to Silver Sable. He was created by writer Peter David, 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. He is often depicted as being exceedingly competent.
Christopher Abbott will portray the Foreigner in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) film Kraven the Hunter.
Publication history
Writer Peter David created the Foreigner as a master assassin character to be a nemesis for Spider-Man. According to David, the character was designed to bear a strong resemblance to Patrick McGoohan.[1] The character's voice was first heard on a telephone in a scene in Web of Spider-Man #15 (June 1986), which was written by David Michelinie, but he did not make a full, visual appearance until later that year in The Spectacular Spider-Man #116 (July 1986).
The Foreigner was favored by editor Jim Owsley as the Hobgoblin's true identity.[1]
Fictional character biography
The Foreigner first appeared as a foe of
The Foreigner hired an assassin to assume the identity of Blaze to fire-bomb the Black Cat's apartment. Disguised as Lieutenant Kris Keating, the Foreigner killed Blaze and framed Spider-Man for the job.
In the past, he has started a club of assassins called the 1400 Club. The
He was formerly married to Silver Sable, and was romantically involved for a short time with the Black Cat. He is a friend of Wilson Fisk and it is rumored that the two were 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
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 to 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.
At one point, machinations by Justin Hammer turned the 1400 Club against him and the organization was destroyed; the Foreigner did not seem to intend to rebuild it, as he realized the whole thing was too unwieldy and bloated for his tastes.
It was discovered that Foreigner is the one responsible for murdering
Foreigner visited Chance's airborne casino called the Palace where he got swindled by Chance. Foreigner is tricked and pressured by Chance into covering the night's debts if he can steal Spider-Man's web-shooters.[15] Both of them succeeded with help from the Jack O'Lanterns. Then Chance had to reluctantly agree to become Foreigner's business partner.[16]
After Foreigner and Chance found out that Empire State University student Jamie Tolentino used the Clairvoyant to win all bets and racked up a debt when it ran out of battery power, they were told by Jamie that he can get him the Catalyst as a power source for the Clairvoyant.
During the Sinister War storyline, Foreigner, Taskmaster, Black Ant, Chance, Jack O'Lantern, and Slyde are sent by Kindred to attack Spider-Man after Kindred had disrupted their armored car robbery.[20]
Powers and abilities
The Foreigner has no superhuman abilities. However, he has trained his body to be in peak physical condition. He is stronger, faster, more agile, and has better reaction time than any Olympic athlete. He is adept in all known forms of martial arts, and most forms of conventional hand 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 standstill.[citation needed]
He possesses a near-mystic ability to place an opponent in a 10-second hypnotic trance through eye contact, which makes the opponent believe the Foreigner can move faster than the eye can see. He has hypnotized Spider-Man in this fashion, which left Spider-Man disoriented or in a light trance for a few seconds while the Foreigner ran away at what seemed to be nearly superhuman speed; from Spider-Man's perspective it appeared that the Foreigner had teleported away. The Foreigner uses this ability for evading enemies.[citation needed]
He is a master of disguise and has assumed various identities all over the world. He is a brilliant strategist, tactician, and intelligence gatherer who has somehow escaped much notice from governments and their agencies, leaving it to Spider-Man and other superheroes to handle him.[citation needed]
In other media
The Foreigner will appear in Kraven the Hunter, portrayed by Christopher Abbott.[21]
References
- ^ David, Peter. "Weird, Twisted, Reasonably True Comic Book Stories". peterdavid.net. November 11, 2011. Reprinted from "But I Digress..." Comics Buyer's Guide#1169 (April 12, 1996).
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #15. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #115-116. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #125. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #29. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #129. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #130. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Silver Sable #3. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #97-100. Marvel Comics.
- ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man #289. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #91-92. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Captain America vol. 9 #9. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Captain America vol. 9 #10. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Captain America vol. 9 #11. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #38-39. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #40. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #67. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #68-69. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: The Chameleon Conspiracy #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Sinister War #2. Marvel Comics.
- ^ "Kraven the Hunter Movie Villain: Who is the Main Bad Guy?". 20 June 2023.
External links
- Foreigner at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)