SLATER
Real Name: Jink Slater
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Mercenary/Assassin
Affiliations: Secret Conspiracy/Humebase (employers), Unnamed Muslim terrorists
Enemies: Doc Samson, The FBI, Hulk, McIntire, Sandra Verdugo, unnamed martial artist
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: Incredible Hulk III#36 (March 2002)
Powers/Abilities: Slater is a highly experienced assassin, very good marksman with a gun, a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, and morally bankrupt. He is also a good marksman with knives, and is ambidextrous. He is a very resourceful and dangerous man. He'll only work solo.
History: Little is known of how Slater came to be who he is today. What is known is that he is the best that money can buy at what he does. He said he didn't become an assassin for money, and that nobody would understand why he did.
(Incredible Hulk III#36) (fb) - An unknown amount of time ago, in Bogota, Columbia, 18 government agents had Slater surrounded. Slater killed them all. Sometime later he was involved in making a pipe bomb with some terrorists. And even later still, he was running from the FBI, and escaped successfully.
(Incredible Hulk III#36) - Slater was contacted and hired by some men to obtain the Hulk for them. They didn't really trust him, so they insisted on assigning him a partner, which he refused. However, they gave him one anyway, in the form of Sandra Verdugo. The two engaged in a physical contest that ended in a quick draw, but Slater eventually reluctantly agreed to work with Verdugo. Later on, the two of them were trying to figure out where Bruce Banner (the Hulk) would be headed so they could intercept him. Slater wanted to go East, but Verdugo insisted that Banner would go west. Slater inquired what was inside a vial that Verdugo had, and she explained that it was a special toxin that could take down even the Hulk.
(Incredible Hulk III#37) - Slater used a picture of Bruce Banner for target practice and put several knives and bullets through the head. Later, Slater and Verdugo started to home in on the Hulk in a van together. During some confusion after the Hulk through a mini-van, Verdugo, who was driving, swerved to avoid hitting a police officer, and Slater was thrown from the car. Verdugo approached Slater, but he pulled a gun on her before she could make a move. He insulted her methods, and then, they spotted Banner in the distance.
(Incredible Hulk III#38) - In need of a new car after the loss of their van, Slater and Verdugo stopped a passing car, killed its passengers, took their clothes and car, and drove on. They predicted that Banner would stop at a diner nearby, and they would intercept him and slip the toxin in his drink when they he got there. After a little while, they met Banner at the diner, while he was completely ignorant of who they were. Verdugo slipped the toxin into Banner's drink, but before he could drink it, Samson arrived. Samson informed Banner of who Slater and Verdugo were. Slater and Verdugo realized that things were not going according to their plan. Slater suspected that Verdugo might have had other motives than she claimed, and they never did trust each other to begin with. He held a gun at her from under a table. After Samson tried to get Banner to transform into the Hulk in order to save himself, Slater shot Verdugo in the head and threatened to shoot Samson. Banner hulked out and threw a juke box at Slater.
(Incredible Hulk III#39) - Slater reassumed tracking the Hulk on his own. Another operative of the same employers approached Slater and told him that he was assigned to be his new partner. Slater killed the man. He then took some papers and something silver from the dead man's pocket. Another man, also hired by the same employers tried to take the silver thing back, but Slater killed him as well. He then found more papers and another silver device in that man's pocket. Slater fit the silver pieces together and they formed a special gun that could harm the Hulk. He found the cabin where Banner and Verdugo (who had some super human abilities that allowed her to survive the bullet through her head) were in. He barged in and shot Verdugo in the shoulder. Before he could kill anyone, his gun jammed, and Verdugo detonated a lot of explosives she had underneath the cabin. Slater was killed in the explosion and Verdugo was thought dead, but once again, her abilities let her survive. Banner buried Slater.
Comments: Created by Bruce Jones and John Romita Jr.
I might do a profile on Sandra Verdugo or Pratt when I fill the various holes in my Hulk collection.
I really do not think that Bruce Jones knew what a Slater was when creating this character. A slater is a small terrestrial isopod crustacean of the genus Armadillidium closely related to the sow bug and having a convex, segmented, flexible body enabling it to curl into a ball when disturbed. In short, a slater is a roly-poly.
I think that this guy was an interesting character and I would have loved to have learned more about him, but we'll probably never see him again. If he were paired up against someone else besides the Hulk, such as Daredevil, I think he had potential. He'd make a good assassin for the Kingpin.
Thanks to Leader's Lair for the image (as usual, although I did do some tweaking with it). His hair did not point up like it does in the picture. This picture was originally of him hanging upside down.
PROFILE BY STUNNER
CLARIFICATIONS: Slater should not be confused with:
Last updated: 10/18/03
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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