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Series of novels by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

The Destroyer is a series of paperback novels about a U. S. government operative named Remo Williams, originally by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. The first novel was published in 1971, although the manuscript was completed on June 25, 1963. Over 150 novels have been published. The main characters were adapted to film in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985).

The series was initially co authored by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, with each writing a portion of each book separately. In the late 1970s, the relationship between the two became tense, and Sapir withdrew. In the early 1980s, Murphy began using ghostwriters to help with the series, among them his wife Molly Cochran. In the mid 1980s, Sapir returned to participating in the series. In the late 1980s, Will Murray took over the sole responsibility of writing the series with #74, having written several previous books with Murphy (and one with Cochran). After Sapir's death, Murray continued the series until the late 1990s. When Murray left after novel #107, three novels were written by interim ghostwriters (#108 & #110 by Mike Newton; #109 by Alan Philipson). Jim Mullaney took over for novels #111 #131, followed by two more by Newton. Tim Somheil was ghostwriter from #134 through #145. Marvel Comics writer Doug Murray wrote two related novels in the series, both involving the Destroyer's battle with a werewolf. The last Gold Eagle Publishing book, Dragon Bones, was released in October 2006. On July 11, 2006, it was announced that The Destroyer would be moving to Tor Books. Somheil was replaced by Mullaney, who co wrote the new novels with Warren Murphy. The first Tor novel, The New Destroyer: Guardian Angel, was published in May 2007, accompanied by a re release of three older novels collected as The Best of the Destroyer. There were a total of four (4) novels in 2007 2008 (#s 146 149), listing Murphy & Mullaney as authors. 'The End of the World' (#150) did not come out until 2013 and lists Murphy as sole author; this book and many reprints marked the start of Destroyer Books as the franchise's own publication company. The last three books (so far), cover the period of 2016 2019 and listed Murphy and R. J. Carter as authors. In 2002 Murphy started his own publishing house, Ballybunion, as a vehicle for Destroyer spin off books. Ballybunion, now known as Destroyer Books, has reprinted The Assassin's Handbook, as well as the original works Destroyer World: The Assassin's Handbook II , Destroyer World: The Movie That Never Was (a screenplay he and Richard Sapir wrote for a Destroyer movie that was never optioned), The Way of the Assassin (the wisdom of Chiun), and New Blood, a collection of short stories written by fans of the series. In 2011 the rights to most of The Destroyer novels reverted to Warren Murphy. They are being released as e books. Murphy is also reissuing many of the older titles in print format. In 2017 Gene Donovan Press began publishing new books in the series (starting with Bully Pulpit) written by author R. J. Carter. #151 and #152 show a writing credit of "Warren Murphy with R. J. Carter" while #153 shows "R. J. Carter with Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir". In December 2023. Bold Venture Press announced a forthcoming anthology, produced under license from Warren Murphy Media, LLC, to be released in 2024.

The series' hero is Remo Williams, a Newark cop framed for a crime and sentenced to death. His death is faked by the government so he can be trained as an assassin for CURE, a secret organization set up by President Kennedy to defend the country by working outside the law. The head of CURE is Harold W. Smith, a man selected by the President not only for his brilliant mind but also because of his integrity. Smith is a former law instructor at Yale and served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Remo's trainer and father figure is Chiun, a deadly assassin and the last Master of Sinanju. It has also emerged that Remo is the Avatar of Shiva, as prophesied in the legends of Sinanju. In 1985, a revision of The Assassin's Handbook was published as Inside Sinanju, a companion book to the series. This is narrated primarily in the first person, from Chiun's perspective. It covers anecdotes as well as information on the various villains and history of the series. The series' basic formula had taken shape by about the third book, but many elements have been introduced into later stories about the early days of Remo's training. In the first book, the word Sinanju is not used at all to describe the martial arts that Chiun teaches Remo. Zen, karate, aikido and judo are used instead. Remo has many trainers for other aspects of being an undercover operative; he is taught to use different types of firearms, and trained in close quarters assassination. He smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol, and eats red meat, all activities that would later prove harmful or impossible as his body was changed by the harsh Sinanju training regimen. Remo uses a gun to shoot somebody, although it is only to wound, and all his actual kills are hand to hand. He does make a conscious choice not to use weapons, after a fight in which he kills a man who had been pointing a gun at him. He realizes that Chiun never carried a gun and is over 70, whereas MacCleary, who had told him to always carry a gun, is dead. The retelling of Remo's origin in the story "The Day Remo Died" in The Assassin's Handbook and in The Destroyer #120 121 and #128 resolve later developments more fully with his origins.

In 1985, The Destroyer concept was adapted for the theatrical movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, starring Fred Ward as Williams, Joel Grey as Chiun and Wilford Brimley as Harold W. Smith. The film shows the first meeting of Remo and Chiun, and centers on a corrupt weapons manufacturer who is selling guns to the US Army. In 2014 Sony Pictures hired director Shane Black, a fan of the book series, to begin work on a script by Jim Uhls and The Destroyer series co author James Mullaney. In a 2018 interview Black said the project was "still very much in play", and he planned to work on the script with Fred Dekker and Jim Mullaney. He praised Mullaney's books in the series as equal to those of Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir's.

In 1988, an American television pilot, Remo Williams, aired but did not lead to a series. It was a follow up to the first movie incorporating footage from the movie in the opening credits. It starred Jeffrey Meek as Williams, Roddy McDowall as Chiun, and Stephen Elliott as Harold W. Smith and is loosely based on the novella "The Day Remo Died". Set one year after the events of the feature film, the pilot episode (titled "The Prophecy") was directed by Christian I. Nyby II and the teleplay written by Steven Hensley and J. Miyoko Hensley. The episode featured guest stars Carmen Argenziano, Judy Landers, and Andy Romano. Craig Safan, who scored the movie, returned to provide the music for the pilot; his score was later released by Intrada Records (paired with Safan's score for the TV movie Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U. S. S. Indianapolis). The television pilot had not been seen since 1988 until the Encore cable television channel began airing it in the summer of 2009. On December 8, 2022, it was announced that Gordon Smith will be adapting a TV series version of The Destroyer for Sony Pictures Television with Adrian Askarieh executive producing.

There have been several Destroyer comic book and magazine series published by various companies including Marvel.

Books 95–122 in the series were released in audiobook format by GraphicAudio. Books 3, 12 and 19 in the series were also released in audiobook format. These were produced by Speaking Volumes, LLC. Assassin's Playoff was published by Speaking Volumes , number 20 in the list of audiobook format. Not sure if the three book numbers are incorrect or if there was a fourth release.