In keeping with the realism of the Marvel MAX line, Mike Trace does not dress in a costume or use a purification ray gun. He will employ whatever weapons are available, but his favorite weapon is a sword cane. He leaves a tarot card of The Fool at all of his killings. The tarot card has handwritten on it "Are you?". Trace also appears to be the only Foolkiller in the MAX continuity. However, there are oblique references to the Foolkillers of the mainstream Marvel Universe, such as the naming of a prison as the Gerhardt Detention Facility. In the first issue of the MAX series, while discussing rumors about the mostly unseen Foolkiller, there was a reference in character dialogue to the purification ray gun and Zorro-like costume of the original Marvel version, as well as the fact that one of them briefly worked at a Burger Clown restaurant. Since the Foolkiller's activities of the mainstream Marvel universe were publicly known, it is likely that these were meant to be tongue in cheek.