Painkiller (split personality)

*For other uses of Painkiller, see Painkiller (disambiguation).*

## Painkiller

**Painkiller** is Khalil Payne's programmed alternate personality created by the A.S.A..

## Biography

### Original multiverse

#### A.S.A. member

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After Khalil being implanted with an obedience chip by A.S.A., a split personality based on his previous codename, Painkiller was created. He has been used to eliminate targets in Freeland under the orders from the A.S.A. One of these targets was Nichelle, Khalil's mother.

#### Anti-Monitor Crisis

During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Painkiller as well as everyone in the multiverse except for the seven Paragons, was killed in an antimatter wave by the Anti-Monitor on December 10, 2019, only to be restored a month later, after the Paragons and the Spectre created a new universe.

### New multiverse

On Earth-Prime, Painkiller says that he always existed; when Khalil used anger or rage to solve a problem or to become the best in a field, such as school, athletics, or the surgeries that revived his body, he was invoking Painkiller to action.

#### Locked in Khalil's mind

At the A.S.A., Major Sara Grey initiates Painkiller to go murder the Pierces. After the fight with the Black Lightning's team, Painkiller is taken to Gambi's shelter where T.C. finds the chip that controls Khalil's brain.

 File:Jennifer and TC bringing Khalil back.png
T.C., with the assistance of Jennifer, managed to seal the Painkiller protocol behind a firewall, allowing Khalil to regain control of his body.

#### War for Freeland

Painkiller banged on his prison door inside the mind of Khalil. When he escapes, Khalil is there and the two battle. In the real world, Painkiller knocks Baron and Brandon Marshall unconscious and begins choking and poisoning Jennifer Pierce as he tells Khalil that the latter will watch as he kills the Pierce family. Ultimately, Khalil wins and reinstates the prison, leaving Painkiller screaming in frustration.

Sometime later, the prison opens and Painkiller takes over Khalil's body; Khalil was getting beat up by Markovian combatants. Painkiller smiled as he fought and killed the soldiers. The two then have a civil conversation about the past with Painkiller outside his cell; suddenly, the being pushes Khalil inside and has control.

Painkiller casually kills Markovian troopers he sees before taking a better weapon to complete his primary mission. He sees Black Lightning and Lightning flying and gets into position to fire upon Lightning. Khalil returns, demanding control over his body, so the two battle for control. Khalil wins.

Inside a car, Khalil waits for Odell who thinks that he is Painkiller, so Odell uses his code phrase; Khalil is in control so the phrase is useless.

#### One year later

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## Personality

Due to the chip in his brain enhancing his intelligence, Painkiller comes off as cheerful and detached with an amoral and philosophical outlook. Essentially a living tool, Painkiller things of nothing beyond completely his current assignments and is committed to completing them. This makes him utterly ruthless in dispatching his targets. Commonly in the process of killing a single target, he will philosophize the nature of their demise to see how the person felt when they died.

After being captured by Black lightning and his team, Jennifer and TC managed to create a firewall to seal away Painkiller, allowing Khalil to resurface, while retaining the memories, experiences and training Painkiller attained, making him feel remorseful for all of the lives he has taken and was forced to distance himself from Jennifer and the Pierce family as he fought for control of his mind with Painkiller. Ultimately, he defeated Painkiller because of the program's rigid computer-like responses and lack of creativity.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Cybernetic enhancement:** Painkiller was given a spinal implant by A.S.A; which is entirely under his skin. According to Khalil, it works perfectly, and as a result he is now considered a biological weapons system.
	+ **Superhuman strength:** Painkiller's physical strength has been increased by the spinal implant. He was able to kill a grown man with a single, well-placed punch to the chest.
		- **Superhuman jumping/leaping:** Like Khalil, Painkiller was capable to perform several backflips in mid air without using his hands.
	+ **Superhuman durability:** He could withstand several concussive bows from Blackbird remaining completely unfazed, However he can still be hurt with certain pressure points, as shown when he restrained Anissa, she managed to strike him in his throat, causing him immense pain.
	+ **Superhuman stamina:** Like Khalil, he has superhuman stamina.
	+ **Superhuman dexterity:** His dexterity reached even higher levels than Khalil, with Painkiller's movements being so controlled and precise that he always hits his mark and has yet to be defeated in combat.
	+ **Paralytic venom touch:** Painkiller can now poison others with his hands, as shown when he killed Nichelle; when he wrapped his hand around her throat to strangle her, dark blue-black veins began to develop on her skin where his palms made contact. It was later revealed after he killed Tavon Singley and nearly killed Anissa Pierce that this poison in his touch is actually the paralytic venom that was inadvertently created as a byproduct of Khalil's previous spinal implant, which he used to have to extract and put into darts prior to his resurrection. However, since being reborn as an A.S.A operative, the venom is now approximately ten times more powerful, according to Peter Gambi's research, and he can inflict it upon someone through direct contact with his hands; according to Khalil himself, he can control the amount of venom that he releases and how quickly it affects his victims.
	+ **Accelerated healing factor:** He demonstrated to be able to be fully operative in few hours after having been in a pre-death state.
		- **Toxic immunity:** Like Khalil, he has Toxic immunity.
		- **Inception immunity:** Like Khalil, the cybernetic enhancements make him immune to telepathic attacks.

### Abilities

* **Peak of human physical condition:** Painkiller is in top physical condition from his time with the A.S.A.
* **Master hand-to-hand combatant/martial artist:** Painkiller is a proficient unarmed combatant due to his training from the A.S.A.
* **Skilled marksman**: Painkiller is proficient in handling firearms, and can shoot down multiple armed men.
* **Acrobatics/Free-running:** Painkiller has developed free-running skills and could drop from a height of several feet without injuring himself. His skills allow him to fluidly dodge and attack from different directions without losing balance.
* **Expert swordsman:** After having a Bio Implant put in him, Painkiller is a highly skilled swordsman as shown when he versed Khalil in his head.
* **Enhanced intelligence:** Due to a chip implanted in Khalil's brain by the A.S.A., Painkiller has been given an expert-level understanding of human anatomy, small firearms marksmanship, and military history, as well as the equivalent to a master's degree in classical literature, philosophy, and mathematics.

## Appearances

### *Black Lightning*

Season 3
* "The Book of Occupation: Chapter Two"
* "The Book of Occupation: Chapter Three"
* "The Book of Occupation: Chapter Four"
* "The Book of Occupation: Chapter Five"
* "The Book of Resistance: Chapter One" (pictured)
* "The Book of Resistance: Chapter Two"
* "The Book of Resistance: Chapter Three: The Battle of Franklin Terrace"
* "The Book of Resistance: Chapter Four: Earth Crisis" (mentioned)
* "The Book of Markovia: Chapter Two"
* "The Book of Markovia: Chapter Three"
* "The Book of Markovia: Chapter Four" (mentioned)
* "The Book of War: Chapter One: Homecoming"
* "The Book of War: Chapter Three: Liberation"

Season 4
* "Painkiller"
* "The Book of Ruin: Chapter Three"
* "The Book of Ruin: Chapter Four: Lyding"
* "The Book of Reunification: Chapter One"
* "The Book of Reunification: Chapter Two"
* "The Book of Resurrection: Chapter One"
* "The Book of Resurrection: Chapter Two: Closure"

## Gallery

### Promotional images

#### *Black Lightning*

##### Season 4

Painkiller promotional image (Season 4).png
## Trivia

* Painkiller's shut-down code is "Caveat emptor," although this phrase does not work on Khalil.

## References

1. ↑ "The Book of Occupation: Chapter Two"
2. ↑ "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three"
3. ↑ "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Book of War: Chapter Two"
5. ↑ "The Book of Markovia: Chapter Two"
6. ↑ "The Book of Markovia: Chapter Three"
7. ↑ "The Book of War: Chapter One: Homecoming"
8. ↑ "The Book of War: Chapter Three: Liberation"
9. ↑ "The Book of War: Chapter Three: Liberation"