Batman Villain Part 2

Eventually Franco became the chief of medicine at the Arkham Asylum due to a close relationship with Hugo Strange. From his new position, Franco was able to gain access to all of the criminals files allowing him to learn the true identity of the Scarecrow (Jonathan Crane).

Re-reading the files over and over again, his levels of obsession rose once again pushing him further into insanity. During the Arkham Asylum takeover by the inmates, due to Harley Quinn releasing the Joker, Franco fled until he transformed into the Messiah, returning to the island through a secret passage that was constructed for Victor Zsasz allowing him to escape multiple times. The Messiah hunted down the Scarecrow, who by this point had joined forces with the Joker and Mr Zsasz.  Franco tracked down the sewers as he witnessed Batman try to apprehend Crane. Franco watched from the shadows as Crane was pulled under the water by Killer Croc. Enraged that he wasn’t the one to kill Crane, Franco fled the island on a spare titan container, avoiding the police and any inmates that had escaped.

After realising that his aim in life had been stolen from him, Franco checked himself into the metropolis city asylum  ensuring that none of the inmates would recognise him. Abandoning the messiah persona , Franco decided to spend his riches on running his own private medical school. He had an excellent pupils such as Thomas Elliot, later to be known as Hush, Franco’s arch enemy. After discovering that Elliot was Hush , Franco plunged two needles full of hydrogen peroxide causing the red blood cells in Hush’s body to burst causing his internal organs to start shutting down. Although Hush survived, Franco kept his bandages, coat and gloves as a little memento, storing them in a glass cabinet proudly on display. With his psyche broken, Franco created a new identity, the Collector, donning his old leather coat and newly designed metallic gloves (now soaked in concentrate sulphuric acid to cause burns to the victims as well as soaking into their bloodstream). He now wore a newly designed black mask which he wore a top hat in top of it. Wearing  blood red trousers and spiked, knee high boots, the Collector was born.

Once Franco had revived his role as an extreme vigilante, he started hunting down the only remaining member of the group that ruined his life, the crime lord of the underworld, Black Mask. Franco tracked down Roman Sionis and beat him within an inch of his life, refusing to kill Sionis because the Franco side of the Collector was still strong enough to oppose against his bodies actions. Like with Hush, the Collector stripped Black Mask of his suit, his gun and of course his mask to add to his own collection.

With his medical school now failing since the departure of Thomas Elliot, who was still on life support, and his other students simply not making the cut, Franco dived into drink and depression. This boosted the darker sides of Franco’s brilliant, yet fractured mind. The Collector soon fully took over Franco’s mind, shutting down his medical school and turning it into a sort of museum in which the Collector could show off his trophies collected from his fallen adversaries. The Collectors next conquest was by breaking into Oracles house and stealing the original Batgirl suit. This led to Franco conducting a 100 page dissertation on who he believed was the man who was Batman. Heading back to Arkham Asylum and gathering evidence and medical files that were stored in ‘Arkham City’  and knowing that Barbara Gordon would/is close to batman led Franco to become completely obsessed once again.

Talking to the only man still alive that Franco believed he knew the true identity of Batman, Franco teamed up with the Riddler in committing couple of crimes here and there. For each successful crime committed, the Riddler presented Franco with a new riddle. Eventually the riddles spelt out the name Ashley Cohen, the name of one of the young interns that Franco accidently shot. In blind rage the Collector punched the Riddler square in the jaw, completely shattering it.  Whilst still screaming in pain, the Collector stripped Nigma of his suit, mask, hat and custom made cane. Claiming that this trophy wouldn’t be close to the main attraction of his display, the Riddler shot Franco in the leg causing a distinct limp that remained with Franco throughout his life. Removing the bullet himself, Franco vowed that he would kill The Riddler with the exact same bullet that pierced his leg.

The war of the crime underworld raged on between The Riddler and The Penguin, Franco created an artificial aid to help him walk and run properly. Now with The Messiah and The Collector fighting each other within Franco’s head, he adopted a whole new persona known as the Grim Reaper.