Chaotic Evil: Foolkiller

Following in the footsteps of a costumed assassin called Foolkiller (Man-Thing #3-4), a self-appointed successor adopted the Foolkiller persona and granted himself poetic license to murder anyone he deemed a fool. For his first target, the new Foolkiller assassinated the supervillain Blockbuster (Omega the Unknown #9).

Foolkiller next arrived at Nighthawk's ranch intent on murdering the serial killer Lunatik (Defenders #73), only to attack the Defenders for looking foolish in a recent televised documentary. Foolkiller escaped from the heroes but not without setting fire to their headquarters (#74-75). Foolkiller's idiosyncratic criteria for dispensing violence would fit with an interpretation of Chaotic Evil using the alignment system from Dungeons & Dragons.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

Nighthawk-eye

When the villain Foolkiller burned down Nighthawk's ranch in Defenders #75, the hero was understandably on edge. When TV news reporter Fia Lundstrom arrived on the scene to cover the story, she made matters worse by mistaking Nighthawk for Hawkeye (who had resigned from the Defenders shortly before Nighthawk joined).

Nighthawk reacted to the tense situation by announcing that the Defenders had dissolved. As a non-team, however, the Defenders continued without Nighthawk as their leader or his ranch as their headquarters.

The Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 75. September 1979. "Poetic Justice." Ed Hannigan (writer), Herb Trimpe (penciler), Mike Esposito (inker), I. Watanabe (letterer), Carl Gafford (colorist), Allen Milgrom (editor), Jim Shooter (editor-in-chief).

Strange Heroes

Timed to coincide with the relaunch of the Defenders series, The Defenders: Strange Heroes works as a partial companion guide to the non-team.

Following the encyclopedia-style format of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, this 64-page volume provides an historical overview of the various incarnations of the Defenders, with updated individual entries on Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Namor, Red She-Hulk, and Silver Surfer.

Rather than showcasing other prominent heroes, The Defenders: Strange Heroes tends to focus on lesser-known villains and supporting characters. Case in point: The entry on Nighthawk describes the Earth-S counterpart who briefly assisted the Defenders, not the longtime member of the team.

While the end result might feel more like a grab bag than an exhaustive resource, I was particularly happy to find entries on the Chorus, the land of Here (and There), and Gargantua (called Leviathan when he battled the New Defenders).

Full entries also appear on the following:
Aleta, Andromeda Attumasen, Ardina, Belathauzer, Cyrus Black, Cloud, Doctor Spectrum (Squadron Sinister), Dollar Bill, Dolly Donahue, Eel (Stryke), Foolkiller (Salinger), Jake Fury, Gamma Spores, Geatar, Lorelei (Asgardian), Mad-Dog, Manslaughter, Jerry Morgan ("Shrunken Bones"), Nebulon, Jack Norriss, Richard Rory, Rose of Purity/Wasteland, Sea Urchin, Seraph (Tolsky), Slorioth, Solarr, Star of Capistan, Trish Starr, Torpedo (Jones), and Zusommin (viral swarm).

These characters receive half-page entries:
Blowtorth Brand, Dafydd ap Iowerth, Ludberdites, Papa Hagg, Sunshine Gross, and Tapping Tommy.