Appearing in "The Making of a Madman!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- ⏴ Foolkiller (Main story and flashback) (Death)
Other Characters:
- Unnamed Pilot (Death)
- Three unnamed flood victims
- Reverend Michael Pike (First appearance; dies) (Alive in flashback, corpse in main story)
- United States Army (Only in flashback)
- Foolkiller's Father (First appearance; dies) (Only in flashback)
- Foolkiller's Mother (First appearance; dies) (Only in flashback)
- Foolkiller's Grandmother (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Lord (Mentioned)
- Numerous unnamed Christians (Only in flashback)
- Reverend Pike's Unnamed Female Acquaintance (Only in flashback)
- ⏴ F. A. Schist ⏵
- ⏴ Professor Slaughter (Wilbur Wickham) ⏵
- F.A. Schist Construction Company
- Hank Paulsen
- George Harrison (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Ben (Ben's Eats)
- ⏴ Steve Gerber ⏵ (Unnamed)
- Unidentified Radio Station Owner (Mentioned)
- Richard Rory Ex-Girlfriend (Mentioned)
- Skull-Crushers Motorcycle Gang (Mentioned)
- "French" (Mentioned)
- "Darby" (Mentioned)
- "Snake" (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Man-Things
- Reptiles (Referenced)
- Alligators (Mentioned)
- Dinosaurs (Referenced)
- Angels (Mentioned)
- Ghosts (Referenced)
Locations:
- Earth-616
- Earthspace
- Earth
- United States of America
- Florida
- Everglades
- Man-Thing's Swamp
- Ben's Eats (Diner) (Destroyed)
- Everglades
- Louisiana (Only in flashback)
- Ohio (Mentioned)
- Unidentified Radio Station (Mentioned)
- Florida
- United States of America
- Earth
- Heaven (Mentioned)
- Earthspace
Items:
- Purification Gun
- "Art of Dying" (Song) (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
Vehicles:
- Foolkiller's Car
- Richard Rory's Micro Bus
- Foolkiller's Truck
- F. A. Schist's Jeep (Destroyed)
- Steve Gerber's Car
Events:
- World War II (Only in flashback) (Topical Reference)
- Korean War (Only in flashback) (Topical Reference)
Synopsis for "The Making of a Madman!"
Continued from Man-Thing #3.... With the Man-Thing seemingly killed by the Foolkiller, the father of the family the Man-Thing saved from alligators (Who's helicopter was shot down by the Foolkiller), tries to attack the Foolkiller. The Foolkiller then eliminates him with his laser-pistol, before fleeing the scene. However, the Man-Thing rises out of the swamp, fully healed from the Foolkiller's previous attack.
As the FoolKiller rushes to his truck which operates as his mobile based of operations, he almost drives Richard Rory and Ruth Hart off the road. Rory, one of the FoolKiller's targets gets by unnoticed by the FoolKiller, but Richard recognizes him and speeds away. Inside his truck, the Foolkiller confronts the preserved corpse of Reverend Mike, his inspiration to become the Foolkiller, this causes the Foolkiller to recount back to the events which led him to his destined mission:
As a young boy, the Foolkiller was born father-less, when his father dies in combat overseas. Born crippled, he was taken to Reverend Mike's tent revival, where he was healed of his disability by Mike, and became an iconic figure of the revivals. After witnessing countless acts of what he deemed to be sinful behavior, the young man decided to become the Foolkiller to eliminate those he saw as "foolish", the first of his victims would be Reverend Mike, the day he planned on showing Mike his plan. He would walk in on Mike, see him drunk and with a woman, and beat him to death. Finishing his tale, he used the money from the revival to buy all his equipment and has been traveling the country eliminating fools.
Elsewhere in the swamps, the Man-Thing has led the family to the edge of the swamp where they are spotted by Schist and his men. Schist orders the Man-Thing run down, however when this doesn't work, Schist agrees to drive the family into town for help so that they can get away from the Man-Thing before he can harm them. However on the road, they are struck by the FoolKiller, who rams into the jeep with his truck.
While at a diner, Richard tells Ruth how he incurred the wrath of the Foolkiller, explaining that while he was a DJ at a radio station in Ohio, he received a threatening letter from the Foolkiller demanding him to stop playing "blasphemous" music. Rory became a target of the Foolkiller ever since, after he openly mocked the Foolkiller on the air. When the man who gave them gas enters the diner, Richard mistakes him for the Foolkiller because they have similar cars. However the real Foolkiller rams into the diner in his truck and takes Richard prisoner. The Foolkiller than drives back to the crashed jeep and takes Schist as his hostage as well, deciding to execute them together. Taking them back to the swamp, the Foolkiller is about to eliminate them when the Man-Thing appears on the scene. Feeling fear, the Foolkiller is burned by the Man-Thing. However, when he tries to blast them with his laser, Richard jumps him, causing the ray to blast the preservation tank the body of Mike has been suspended in, a shard of broken glass from this tank piercing his heart and killing him instantly. With the threat over, the Man-Thing simply shambles off into the swamp once more.
Trivia
- The Foolkiller's real name is not revealed until a flashback scene from Amazing Spider-Man #225.