Kurt Gerhardt takes up the Foolkiller mantle with ease and carries the responsibility of removing fools that would dare inflict corruption and pain on others. A violent killer, he always follows through with his promise of death to fools, and wholeheartedly believes that the sane shall inherit the Earth.
Losing It All
When Kurt Gerhardt’s father, Wilhelm R. Gerhardt, is killed by muggers irate that he only had six dollars on him, and he loses his job as a loan officer at New York’s Silver Eagle Bank three months later, Kurt grows increasingly depressed after months of job-seeking. After his wife Eleanor divorces him, taking everything but his clothes and computer, Gerhardt takes a job at Burger Clown.
Beaten up while trying to stop some thieves, Gerhardt has an epiphany upon seeing the former vigilante, Gregory Salinger, AKA Foolkiller, on the Runyan Moody television show. Inspired by Salinger’s Foolkiller and his discussion of how fools were destroying society and the Earth, Gerhardt writes to him and even discretely communicates via an Internet bulletin board, with Gerhardt as “Miles Fish” and Salinger as “Ian Byrd.” Salinger instructs Gerhardt to use another alias, J.D. Pierre, and find his associate, Merle Singer, who gives him copies of the Foolkiller costume and Purification Gun.
Gerhardt becomes the next Foolkiller, using the gun against drug dealers, muggers and rapists.
Self-Taught Vigilante
Self-trained in combat, Gerhardt has above average strength, fighting skills and marksmanship, plus a high tolerance for pain.
The Foolkiller’s Purification Gun is a potent laser able to disintegrate a person (assuming a central body part is hit) or burn a man-sized hole in a reinforced brick wall in minutes. It can incinerate several hundred cubic feet of matter without recharging and is accurate up to 30 yards.
Who the Fools Are
Gerhardt as Foolkiller goes up against the criminal enforcer Backhand though barely escapes from his bodyguard Warren. He later goes after corrupt millionaire Darren Waite who leads Emilio Mendosa, Backhand, and other criminals, and eventually kills Waite and Backhand while framing Mendosa for the murders.
Friends, Not Fools
Gerhardt becomes pen pal to Gregory Salinger, the mania-prone Foolkiler, while he’s in a mental institution. Their discussions lead Salinger to connect Gerhardt with Merle Singer. Singer then gives Gerhardt copies of the Foolkiller costume and Purification Gun, which he uses to fight and kill criminal elements.
Linda Klein, Gerhardt’s former Burger Clown co-worker, and Gerhardt become entangled in a romantic relationship though he abruptly breaks it off.
Maxwell Dillon, AKA Electro, is an unintentional ally while Gerhardt is imprisoned at the Raft. Electro coordinates a mass breakout, leading to Gerhardt’s escape.
A Killer’s Rap Sheet
Targeting larger prey, the criminal enforcer Backhand, Gerhardt was overpowered and almost killed by his bodyguard, Warren. Narrowly escaping, Gerhardt began a rigorous exercise program, crafting a new, bulletproof costume and calling cards to leave behind on his victims.
As his skills improved, so did his personal life: He obtained a data services job at TRX Corporation and began dating, his Linda Klein former Burger Clown co-worker. Still communicating with Salinger, Gerhardt refined his definition of fools in a message to the local newspaper: “The sane must inherit the Earth: From this moment forward, the penalty for senseless violence, for unthinking greed, for wanton ambition, for reckless destruction in the pursuit of momentary gratification or profit will be death.”
After amassing a large death count, Gerhardt targeted Darren Waite, a millionaire involved with rainforest stripping, drug dealing and evicting paying renters so he could build high society apartments. Waite used Emilio Mendosa to direct Backhand and other street criminals. After killing Waite, the Foolkiller went from tacitly approved vigilante to public enemy number one. Gerhardt slew Backhand and Warren, as well as Runyan Moody, then framed Mendosa as the Foolkiller, whom the police slew. Scarring his face with acid, Gerhardt established a false identity as Gregory Ross Curtis, relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and sought a reconstructive specialist.
Apparently, Gerhardt was eventually located and sent to the Raft super-prison but escaped during Electro’s mass breakout. Written on Gerhardt’s cell wall, hundreds of times each, were two phrases: “When the world begets too many fools, nature always provides a Foolkiller” and “Actions Have Consequences.”
