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.
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