Suda51 Wiki
Register
Advertisement
This article is about the character. For the in-universe film, see Destroyman (film).

John Harnet, better known by his pseudonym Destroyman (デストロイマン), is a character in the No More Heroes series. He is a 27-year-old assassin with the secret identity of a mild-mannered postman. He is presumed to be American. He is ranked seventh in the United Assassins Association. He is voiced by Josh Keaton in all his appearances.

After his first defeat in No More Heroes, Destroyman returns in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle as a pair of cyborgs called the New Destroyman, who share rank 8 and are fought by Shinobu.

Destroyman reappears once more in No More Heroes III, this time as an army of cyborg clones called Mass-Produced Destroyman seeking to someday take over the world. His true form is Destroyman True Face, the template upon which all the others are based. Travis Touchdown kills all of them with the help of Notorious.

Appearance and Personality[]

John first meets Travis dressed in his postman uniform. He looks like a normal guy, with short blond hair and a strong build. Before their fight, John gets into his "Destroyman" assassin gear, which is resembles a superhero costume. It cosplays the likeness of a character from an in-game self-financed movie with a cult following also titled Destroyman. It is a turquoise-blue bodysuit with red highlights. On top he wears a white and red cape, along with white boots, gauntlets, and armor around his pelvis. Several stars run along his gauntlets, reminiscent of the flag of the United States of America.

Destroyman is a devious and deceitful fighter. He puts on a guise of being a mild-mannered postman, which he uses to take his targets off-guard. He is known for his enjoyment in killing his opponents, fighting dishonorably and often resorting to taking cheap shots at his opponents (he zaps Travis Touchdown during a handshake of "good sportsmanship" prior to the ranking match). After this, Destroyman laughs maniacally at Travis' failure, so much that it hurts and he thinks he might actually die of laughter. He also explains to Travis that he hates when he gets complaints about his mail delivery, believing it's much harder than people think, and will often go after and kill those who file complaints to him. When Travis gives Destroyman a hint of a chance for survival after stabbing him through the chest, he attempts to kill Travis using turrets hidden by his nipples, but is bisected in half by Travis. He's also probably a fan of superheroes because of his costume.

Story[]

Travis arrives in Destroyman's arena to face him for his spot in the assassin rankings. He appears as a normal postman, and tricks Travis into turning around so he can change into his Destroyman suit before attacking with his Destroy Beam, though he misses. Even after this failed sucker punch, Destroyman manages to trick Travis again by offering him a handshake and electrocuting him using Destroy Spark. He proceeds to brutalize Travis with his arsenal, but Travis still stands and the two begin their battle.

The battle ends when Travis stabs Destroyman through the chest. Destroyman whimpers and pleads for help, trying to manipulate him one last time. Travis removes his beam katana, and Destroyman turns around to attack with his nipple turrets. However, Travis has already bisected him down the middle, and Destroyman's two halves fall to the side, their turrets missing their target completely.

In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, it's revealed that Destroyman's halves were salvaged and turned into a pair of cyborgs known as the New Destroyman. Shinobu fights and kills both of them for Travis.

In No More Heroes III, Destroyman returns again as a never-ending army of cyborg duplicates called Mass-Produced Destroyman. With the help of Notorious, Travis locates his underground hideout and defeats their leader, Destroyman True Face.

Special Abilities[]

Destroyman's suit is technologically superpowered, and is laced with dangerous gadgets and weapons. All of his attacks' names begin with the word "Destroy." His Destroy Spark projects an electric shock from his gauntlets, which can stun at close range, and Destroy Pound is a superpowered punch into the ground that makes a shockwave. His Destroy Beam shoots two yellow lasers from the sides of his head, Destroy Cannon is a thrown fireball based on the "Hadouken" from Street Fighter, and Destroy Buster is a giant cyan laser fired from his pelvis armor. He also has miniature machine gun turrets under his nipples for last-ditch attacks.

Using machines in his boss arena, Destroyman can also fly by being suspended on a wire. Only one machine in the room keeps him up, and Travis must sift through the decoys and destroy it to make him fall to the floor.

In the Trading Card Game[]

There are several trading cards featuring Destroyman in the Design Materials set. These include "John Harnet" Design, "John Harnet" Expressions, "Destroyman" Design, "Destroyman" Expressions and Destroyman.

Trivia[]

  • Trading cards which feature concept art of Destroyman's weapons reveal that early in the development of No More Heroes, he was originally named Justice.
    • His name being Justice may have been a reference to the anime Afro Samurai, where Afro's father was killed by a man named Justice.
  • Destroyman is one of the few assassins with pseudonyms to have a known real name.
  • Destroyman's flight is achieved by suspending himself from machines in the boss room, and although it's difficult to see on the original version of No More Heroes, one can spot the wire he hangs from during the battle. In HD, the wire becomes more clearer to see, but you have to either emulate it on Dolphin or play the Nintendo Switch version.
  • His Destroy Buster crotch cannon may be inspired by the comic book La Caste des Méta-Barons by Jodorowsky, in which Othon has a multi-protonic pelvis as well. (Suda51 has said that No More Heroes is inspired by the movie El Topo, which is also by Jodorowsky.)
  • He is voiced by Josh Keaton, who interestingly enough, voiced several real superheroes in the past: The Flash and Aquaman (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths), Spider-Man (The Spectacular Spider-Man), Green Lantern (Green Lantern: The Animated Series), Cyclops (X-Men Legends 2: Rise of the Apocalypse) and Robin (Batman: Arkham Origins).
  • His return from dead in every games is a reference to Marvel and DC characters, mostly Captain America. Although he died countless of times, he always managed to return in some way.
  • Destroyman's costume resembles Spawn's costume, with his belt resembling those of Kamen Riders Ichigo and Nigo.
  • During a japan IGN livestream there was three new concept art pieces for Destroyman the last piece however was said to be a form of Destroyman which would show up in No More Heroes 4 confirming that he would show up in the fourth game.
No More Heroes characters
Main Characters Travis Touchdown · Jeane (cat) · Sylvia Christel · Henry Cooldown · Jeane
United Assassins Association Rankings Helter-Skelter · Death Metal · Dr. Peace · Shinobu · Destroyman · Holly Summers · Letz Shake · Harvey Moiseiwitsch Volodarrskii · Speed Buster · Bad Girl · Dark Star · Travis Touchdown's attacker
Civilians Georgy Bishop · Thunder Ryu · Randall Lovikov · Dr. Naomi · Mask de Uh · Manager of Job Center · Manager of K-Entertainment · Diane
Other Talbot · Weller · M. S. · Mrs. Christel · Jeane (child) · Dr. Letz Shake · Master Jacobs · Wolf Vann
Advertisement