The Harlequin Hit Men are often a pair of assassins whose orders originate from beyond the grave. They are merely weapons of their mysterious leader who wipes their personalities and tasks them with one goal: kill their targets.
Masked Origin
The first Harlequin Hit Men are the husband and wife duo Herb and Shelia Hollister. The couple uses the same identity, the Harlequin Hit-Man. Together, they eliminate a blackmail chain, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Springdale District Attorney, Justin Baldwin, attempts to solve the case. Since he’s friends with the Hollister’s and doesn’t know their alter egos, he accidentally tips them off to an informant he was about to meet with. Doing so makes him a target of the Hit Men but luckily his son is Springdale’s hero Robbie Baldwin, AKA Speedball (later Penance), wasn’t about to let the Hit Men take his father out.
When the Hit Men follow the D.A. to the informant’s location, Speedball intervenes but the informant dies in the combat that ensues. Speedball defeats the Hit Men and their identities are revealed. Once captured, they know who they are but do not reveal the man that hired them.
Cryptic Dynamic
It seems that the Harlequin Hit Men are always a mysterious pair of mercenaries who are guided by the Voice, or rather who they refer to as the ghost in the telephone. The Harlequin Hit Men follow orders from this ghost without question thanks to a particular kind of brainwashing that erodes an individual’s personality and will.
The Voice later guides the Harlequin Hit Men to take out all of Marc Spector, AKA Moon Knight’s associates in one night before Spector and his allies can react, but it’s unclear whether the Hollisters are involved in this hit.
Obstacles
The Harlequin Hit Men go up against Marc Spector, AKA Moon Knight, who tracks them down after they kill a handful of his associates.
Mysterious Allies
The only clear ally is a mystery, merely a voice guiding them over the phone and telling them what to do, and who to assassinate.
Hit Men Highlights
The Harlequin Hitmen go on a killing spree, taking out Moon Knight’s Shadow Cabinet, his agents and informants, even those who haven’t worked for him in years. They take out Dr. Hannah Trumbull, AKA Mercy, Warren Tork, AKA Junior Birdman, Thomas Haney, AKA Fingers, and NYPD Sheriff Jamie Vasquez. Meanwhile, Moon Knight and his pals the vampire Reese, Dr. Badr, AKA Hunter’s Moon, and Greer Nelson, AKA Tigra, attempt to warn and protect the remaining Cabinet members. Though, the Hit Men are one step ahead and bomb the next target: Dr. Robert Plesko, AKA Sigmund, as Moon Knight watched helplessly overhead.
When the Hit Men arrived at the next target’s house, Kim Hong, AKA Scout, Moon Knight had gotten there first. Attacking them, the Hit Men fought back and during the scuffle, they revealed to him that these kills weren’t about him, and that they were just weapons taking orders from a ghost. Moon Knight disabled them both, tied them up, and had his reluctant associate Dr. Andrea Sterman examine them. Sterman found that their minds had been cored out, meaning that their personalities had a singular purpose: to carry out said “ghost’s” wishes. Sterman insisted that continued therapy would help her unearth what had been done to them. Moon Knight left her to her work with the Hit Men.
