Remo Williams

The main character in a seemingly endless series of action books entitled the Destroyer. He is a Master of Sinanju which is the sun source of all martial arts. Apparently he is also the living incarnation of Shiva. An assasin in the employ of the United States government (the most realistic aspect of the story lines). A movie based on this character was made in the late 1980's starring Fred Ward.

About a quarter of the way into the gazillion or so volumes of the men's adventure series The Destroyer by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, the authors introduced the concept that Remo Williams, the invincible hero, was an avatar of Shiva. Stories would begin with the death of an innocent who would be reassured by an otherworldly voice that he or she would be avenged. At the end, when Remo faced off against the villain, he would go into a sort of trance and recite the "death, the shatterer of worlds" speech before turning his opponent into chopped liver. When I left off reading the series (back in high school, a little over a decade ago) Remo was still unaware of this supernatural aspect of himself.

Remo was raised by Catholic nuns in a Newark, New Jersey orphanage. After serving in the Vietnam War, he became a police officer. In his rookie year, he was framed for a murder and eventually executed in the electric chair: a series of charades scripted by a secret United States government organization called CURE. Presented with a choice between becoming CURE's "enforcement arm" and a quick trip to a real grave, Remo joined CURE under duress.

Remo was made a student of Sinanju under Master Chiun. Chiun, the world's greatest living assassin, was hired by CURE to teach Remo some Ninja-like martial arts tricks. When Remo showed surprising aptitude, the childless Master decided to give him full knowledge of the sun source and train him to be the next Master of Sinanju. Remo has been a reluctant student, prone to frequent rebellion and lapses into bad habits, such as eating hamburger and consorting with American women. Over the years, however, Remo has come to regard Chiun as an adoptive parent, even referring to the aged Korean as "Little Father". Remo is now the heir to Sinanju and will assume the responsibilities of the Master when Chiun dies.

Working for CURE with the codename "Destroyer", Remo's job is to eliminate people who are dangerous to the citizens of the United States. Some of his targets have been mafia members, drug dealers, mad scientists, foreign spies or cult leaders. In addition, Remo has occasionally been the avatar of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.