The Destroyer

The Destroyer is a series of action/adventure novels with elements of black comedy. It's about a bizarre pair of supermen who stride the earth righting wrongs and making a living by killing people who really need to be dead. The main characters are Dr. Harold "Emperor" Smith, Old Master Assassin Chiun, and his protege Mighty Whitey Remo Williams. Cool and funny, but definitely a Guilty Pleasure.

The first novel was written in 1963, but was not published until 1971. The series was originally written by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy, but the new series is written by Warren Murphy and Jim Mullaney. The first series is officially 145 books long, then the authors retitled the series the 'New Destroyer' and switched publishers. The second series is 4 books long so far. The older books in this Action-Adventure/Martial Arts series tend to be hard to find and expensive.

---

Tropes used in The Destroyer include:

• Adaptation Distillation: The comic put out by Marvel is even better than the first book.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: FRIEND and Mr. Gordons.
• Angry Black Man: Butler of 12-"Slave Safari" is seeking revenge on the descendents of the families who enslaved his ancestors.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Happens almost any time Remo encounters a girl who believes that the government is doing this figuratively to a minority group and ardently pleads him to do it physically to them.
• Author Avatar: Chiun and Remo.
• Batman Cold Open: the second chapter of nearly every novel introduces Remo dealing with low-level criminals. In addition, the second chapter always starts out with "His name was Remo, and..."
• BFS: The Sword of Sinanju was this at one time
• Butt Monkey: Usually Remo.
• Canon Discontinuity. Much of the books published at the end of Gold Eagle's contract are Canon Discontinuity.
• Carnival of Killers: The Last Alchemist had an interesting variation of this. The Dragon as part of his backstory, participated in an open contract on a crimelord. After he killed the target, he was given a job as the personal assassin of the Big Bad who had placed the contract simply to find a suitable person for the position. The trope appeared in a few other books in the series as well.
• Catch Phrase: "That's the biz, sweetheart." Also, if you're good enough to kill Remo, "I am created Shiva the Destroyer; Death, the shatterer of worlds! The dead night tiger made whole by the master of Sinanju. WHO IS THIS DOGMEAT THAT CHALLENGES ME?!" may be the last thing you ever hear.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Knowing Sinanju allows you to perform a wide variety of feats.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: FRIEND and a few people.
• Crapsack World: Mostly tilts toward this, due to the people Remo deals with.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Well, Remo certainly kicked his Expy in the face and got away with it.
• Does Not Like Guns: Chiun, and by extension Remo. They consider them toys for children, not proper weapons for assassins. Considering the abilities Sinjanu mastery has given them, they're right.
• Easy Amnesia: Remo has a bullet graze his temple in 008 - Summit Chase, leading to multiple Amnesia Tropes:
  • Criminal Amnesia / Amnesiac Liar: Remo kills professional killer PJ Kenny at the beginning of the book and takes his identity. Maggie helpfully provides him with the cover story he gave her after he lost his memory and he decides he really is a professional killer. Which, of course, he is, albeit for the good guys.
• Expy: Many Expys from Vox News to the aforementioned Dream Thing. Many of these expys are Strawmen, especially under the authorship of Will Murray and Jim Mullaney.
• Fantastic Fighting Style: Sinanju, based in and named after the village of the same name.
• Fun with Acronyms: Averted because CURE isn't an acronym. However, also played straight with some of the various organizations that Remo goes after.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Largely averted. When Remo and Chiun stalk, they usually just wear dark loose-fitting clothing and apply blacking to their faces. When actual ninja show up in the books, they're usually in civilian garb, although once or twice, they're seen on night missions in "black linen".
• I Know Kung Faux: Sinanju
• Infant Immortality: Largely averted in the series. Babies have their necks snapped. Third world children are run over. When Sinanju is poor, the villagers return the babies to the sea. However, Remo finds that he Wouldn't Hurt a Child due to his training in Sinanju, even when said child is pointing a gun at him.
• Instant Seduction: One of the skills learned by Remo through Sinanju
• Jewish Mother: Chiun.
• Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Most people who meet Remo die, either because they're the villains, they get in the way of the villains, or Dr. Smith orders Remo to kill them to hide the existence of CURE.
  • And, should CURE ever disband, Smith via suicide pill and Remo via Chiun. Presumably, death wouldn't improve Chiun's ability to keep a secret.
    • Smith puts up with Chiun's loose mouth for two reasons - one, there is literally nothing available to Smith that can possibly kill Chiun (even Remo can't do it, and wouldn't be willing to even if he could), and two, Chiun's understanding of the situation is a tad skewed from what's really going on and so he doesn't actually know enough to spill CURE's beans.
    • Given that Chiun is officially on record as a psychiatric patient at Folcroft Asylum and that he genuinely believes that Harold W. Smith is the Mad Emperor Smith, secret ruler of the United States from his throne of shadows and lies ('it's brilliant! no one can ever revolt against you if they do not know that they have an emperor!') and that this whole 'democracy' thing is a sham, its pretty obvious why Smith feels no worry at the thought of Chiun telling anybody anything. Not only will no one believe him, even if they do believe him they're still chasing down a blind alley.
• Long Running Book Series: Hundreds of books...
• Lurker: Dr. Smith and later Mark Howard.
• Master Computer: The Folcroft Four and FRIEND.
• Master of Your Domain: Part of Sinanju is supreme self-awareness, allowing one to do such things as regulate body temperature so as to be comfortable in short sleeves in subzero weather.
• Misanthrope Supreme: Chiun is bigoted against (in descending order of vitriol) the Chinese, anyone who isn't Asian; any Asians who aren't Korean; any Koreans who aren't from the village of Sinanju; any Sinanju villagers who aren't Chiun.
• Morning Sickness: In 032 - Killer Chromosones, villain Sheila Feinberg knows she's successfully been impregnated after she starts throwing up her food. Seven days after beginning attempts at conception. She's later shown to be completely wrong with the nausea being the result of her body rejecting her modifications.
• Mr. Alt Disney: Briefly recurring villain Uncle Sam Beasley.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Sinanju can be used for pretty much anything, if it needs to.
• The Obi-Wan: Chiun again.
• Old Master: Chiun.
• Only One Name: Chiun, FRIEND
• Our Dragons Are Different: Dragon Bones, although this book is part of the Canon Discontinuity.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Two books cover the history of the vampire myth and its corruption.
  • 029 - The Final Death covers one iteration which are similar to Chinese jiangshi.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Book #131.
• Parody Names: Series does this often. Also frequently No Celebrities Were Harmed.
• Playing with Fire: The villain in Firing Line has this power. So does the recurring villain The Dutchman. The fact he has this ability along with being trained in Sinanju and being very Ax Crazy makes him very scary.
• Please Shoot the Messenger: If CURE disbands, Remo will be the one delivering his own kill-order to Chiun.
• Professional Killer: Remo and Chiun. The House of Sinanju is a line of assassins dating back to ancient times. There are a number of other "houses" of assassins that Remo and Chiun encounter, generally influenced in the distance past by training by a master of Sinanju. Said houses are almost always destroyed by the end of the book.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Nuich.
• Ring Ring CRUNCH: This happens to phones wherever Remo and Chiun stay.
• Rogues Gallery: While most villains ended up dead at the end of the novel, Remo does have a few recurring villains: Nuihc, The Dutchman, Mr. Gordons, FRIEND.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Nuihc. Well, really Chiun.
• Secret Art: Sinanju. Only two people in the world know it.
  • Although there are a large number of "houses" of assassins that Remo and Chiun encounter who possess some aspect of Sinanju, either from observation or from being trained by a past Sinanju master. These assassins are always superhumanly capable, but utterly inferior to Remo and Chiun.
• Sex God: In one of the books it's noted that Remo can use his knowledge of Sinanju to bring any woman to orgasm by touching her pressure points in a specific order.
  • Somewhat subverted, in that while it's great for his partner, Remo's sex life has become mechanical and boring.
    • Especially since Remo has yet to find a woman frigid enough to not become a sex-crazed monster at step twenty.^[1] Out of thirty-seven. One should probably presume that executing all thirty-seven steps in sequence will resuscitate a coma victim.
    • Chiun once tells a hopeful young suitor that "The last woman I had, I was over a dozen years getting rid of. I need no more slaves."
• Shout-Out: In 008 - Summit Chase, Remo walks through a room of hired killers and asks one how Mack Bolan is doing.
• The Spymaster: Dr. Smith, and later Mark Howard.
• Strawman Political: in every flavor. No one is safe!
  • Some aren't Political, but other Quasi-Acceptable Targets.
• Supernatural Martial Arts: Sinanju
• Too Fast to Stop: Remo takes himself out this way in one of the early books, delivering a strike which requires precise timing. His target faints in shock and the lack of resistance causes Remo to dislocate his shoulder. Occasionally, he'll note the extreme control and precise timing needed to practice the art without injuring the wielder, it seldom comes up after the first incident.
• Torture Always Works: When Remo or Chiun put people into extreme pain, whether through nerve bundles or broken bones, the information is almost always correct. When Remo asks nicely for information, he always gets lies.
• Twin Switch: Kojing and Kojong, twin sons of a previous Master of Sinanju; their mother feared their father would kill one of them to prevent this trope, so she hid one before he found out they were twins. They subsequently switched places every day of their lives, both learning Sinanju; when their father died, Kojong left the village and swore never to use his art for profit. Kojong wound up settling in Arizona, and became Remo's ancestor.
• Withholding the Cure: In 016 - Oil Slick, it's implied that the oil companies routinely suppress research into fuel alternatives by killing off scientists.
• Yellowface:
  • Both in the theatrical film and the TV pilot. Really, considering both were produced in the the 1980s and after The Karate Kid became a smash hit with Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi, the producers simply should have known better.
  • In-universe, when Chiun writes a movie about his life, he claims he wants Paul Newman to play the part of Chiun with some makeup to "fix his funny-looking eyes".

1. ↑ Except for the one who turned out to be a complete lesbian, as in six out of six on the Kinsey scale.