Foreigner (comics)

Foreigner
The Foreigner battling Spider-Man on the cover of Spectacular Spider-Man #209.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	(Voice only) Web of Spider-Man #15 (June1986). (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	Master assassin Peak physical condition Minor hypnotic abilities

The Foreigner is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. 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.

The Foreigner was formerly married to Silver Sable.

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. 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 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 true identity of the Hobgoblin, but David objected and had the Hobgoblin unmasked as Ned Leeds instead.

The Foreigner first appeared as a foe of Spider-Man when he made a wager with another villain, Chance, that the latter could not defeat and kill Spider-Man. The Foreigner won this wager. In an attempt to impress the Foreigner, the assassin Sabretooth volunteered to kill the thief known as the Black Cat, who had stolen a solid gold notebook from the Foreigner's office. However, Spider-Man intervened and defeated Sabretooth. Eventually, he defeated the Black Cat himself and then decided, instead of executing her, to start a romantic relationship with her and use her under the pretense of forming an alliance in order to destroy Spider-Man (all the while the true ulterior motive being to enlist the membership of Spider-Man as an assassin in his 1400 Club). Spider-Man turned him down and Foreigner was forced to abandon that identity.