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John Salt is the main antagonist of season 2 of Pennyworth. He is a high-ranking member in the Raven Union who is also the overseer of Project Stormcloud.
He is portrayed by Edward Hogg.
Biography[]
In The Heavy Crown, Martha Kane and Inspector Victor Aziz task a young Alfred Pennyworth to abduct Salt in exchange for money. As for Salt, he has George Orwell captive and eventually shoves a chisel in his ear and incinerates the man in question. When Salt is kidnapped by Alfred, Dave Boy, and Bazza, Salt recognizes Alfred as Arthur Pennyworth's son. Salt claims to have idolized Arthur before his death. Alfred frees Salt and makes it look like Salt was rescued by his allies from the Raven Union, which fools Martha and Aziz. Alfred had arranged for his old commanding officer Gulliver Troy to return Salt to the Raven Union. It is revealed Aziz and Martha wanted information about Project Stormcloud.
In The Burning Bridge, at Raven Union headquarters, Lord James Harwood and Frances Gaunt welcome Colonel Salt back, who updates them on the latest Project Stormcloud tests. Frances thinks the chemical weapons experiment is crossing a line, but Harwood insists on otherwise. Harwood believes that chemical weapons are better since it will be unable to damage property for when they takeover London.
In The Belt and Welt, against the counsel of his closest advisors, Harwood accepts to help Beth Sykes out, one last time. He asks Salt to send men to find Bet and bring her back. Salt considered Bet to be Lord Harwood's weakness, so he tasked his men with murdering her. When Salt's men arrive at the art teacher's house, they open fire and mortally wound the teacher. Beth and her associate Katie are then left with no choice to flee.
In The Hunted Fox, some members of the Raven Union start to consider Project Stormcloud to be crossing a line. Salt, alongside a scientist named Lucius Fox, presents the lethal capabilities of the biological weapon, which can kill everyone without damaging London. Everyone in the Raven Union reluctantly agrees to it while Lucius is secretly horrified. Lucius contacts Thomas Wayne, the CIA station chief of England, to request an extraction.
In The Rose and Thorn, at the Raven Union headquarters, Salt schemes to take Lord Harwood's position from underneath him by taking advantage of Lord Harwood being increasingly erratic. When Francis Gaunt is trying to make peace with the English League, Salt uses that to manipulate Harwood into believing that Gaunt is plotting against him. When a young soldier demonstrates loyalty to Gaunt, Harwood brutally beats him to death with his cane in front of his officers. The Raven Union soldiers arrest Harwood and Salt is allowed to take control of the organization.
In The Bloody Mary, Salt wants Lord Harwood to be kept alive so that he can pin the blame on him when "Project Stormcloud" is used to attack the English League. Salt is unaware of this, but Lord Harwood's loyal secretary contacts Bet Sykes and Peggy Sykes to inform them of Lord Harwood's problem. Bet and Penny storm Salt's estate where Harwood is being held to free him. Harwood finally realizes the full extent of Salt's plan and schemes to sabotage it. To do this, Harwood draws a weapon on the Raven Union and despite Salt's protests, the soldiers kill him to protect themselves. This buys time for Bet and Peggy to escape, with the two women vowing to get revenge on Salt for Harwood's death. Before Harwood sacrificed himself, he tasked Bet and Penny with rescuing Gaunt, who could take back the Raven Union from Salt.
In The Hangman's Noose, The war for England is close to reaching its end. Following the funeral of Lord Harwood, the leaders of the Raven Union and the English League agree to negotiate for peace. However, Salt gives the League an ultimatum: he wants them to surrender, or else he will unleash his "Stormcloud" weapon onto the citizens of London. The League foolishly believes that the Raven Union will disapprove of such a horrific weapon, but Salt makes every member approve of it.
In Paradise Lost, Thomas Wayne decides to disobey his superiors from Washington by trying to sabotage Project Stormcloud to save everyone in London. To do this, Thomas informs Salt that he has brought back Lucius Fox, who was abducted from the Raven Union by Martha and Alfred. The Union guards allow them in, although they are meant to be to Salt, they dispose of their security escorts once they are inside and leave. Salt eventually realizes that something is wrong, and the four men are captured before they can escape the compound. Dave Boy, Thomas, and Lucius are locked up in cells, but Alfred is taken to Salt’s office. Salt reveals to Alfred that his father Arthur survived the explosion in the Queen's palace and is now attached to portable life support devices. Arthur tries to convince his son to join but to no avail. Despite Thomas, Lucius, Dave Boy, nd Alfred escaping with help from Bet and Peggy, they are captured again. Salt wants them to join the Raven Union, but they all refuse. Arthur asks Salt to give him a moment of privacy with his son, to try one last time to have him join them. Salt accepts and goes to his rooms to wait. Arthur misses Mary Pennyworth, Alfred's mother and his beloved wife. So Arthur betrays the Raven Union by handing Alfred a firearm and getting Alfred to kill all their soldiers. Thomas, Alfred, Lucius, Dave Boy, and Arthur then drive away from the Raven Union headquarters with the “Project Stormcloud” weapon finally secured. Their mission has been a success, while Salt remains in the dark about facing retaliation for what he did to Lord Harwood at the hands of Beth Sykes.
In The Lion and Lamb, Salt knew there was a chance the "Project Stormcloud" weapon would be stolen, so he placed it in London, England, in a coffin containing Lord Harwood's body, in the church where Salt did his television eulogy, before Thomas led a team to the Raven Union to try to steal it. Thomas, Lucius, Alfred, Arthur, and Dave Boy actually stole a decoy. Arthur betrays Salt by telling Alfred where the real "Project Stormcloud" weapon is before disconnecting from the machines keeping him alive, so that he can die. Salt is unfazed by the loss of the weapon, and that is because this doesn't affect his plans in the slightest. In truth, the League only stole a decoy since Salt foresaw the possibility of the weapon being taken, which is why he had it already placed in London in a secret location. As it turns out, "Project Stormcloud" is actually hidden in the coffin containing Lord Harwood's body, which is still located at the church where Salt's televised eulogy took place. Alfred and Dave Boy arrive to to the church, and there, they are pinned down by gunfire. With Salt threatening to detonate the bomb at any moment, time is of the essence, but thankfully, Alfred and Dave Boy get help from Gulliver Troy and Lucius Fox. Troy wanted to kill Alfred for sleeping with his wife, but decides to leave that in the past since the people of London were in danger from "Project Stormcloud". Lucius couldn't deactivate the bomb, so Troy decided to swallow it. At his penthouse in the Raven Union headquarters, Salt activates the weapon when he is attacked by Bet Sykes and her sister Peggy. The blue compound of "Project Stormcloud" didn't necessarily kill Troy as Salt intended. Instead, it gave Troy superhuman abilities and Troy decided to use his newfound powers to protect the people of London. Francis Gaunt resumes control of the Raven Union and arrests Salt for his crimes.
Trivia[]
- John Salt shares several similarities with Hugo Strange in Season 2 of Gotham.
- Both were scientists involved in unethical experimentations.
- Both were opposed by Thomas Wayne and Lucius Fox for the immorality in the fields of science.
- Both attempted to use scapegoats to cover up their heinous experiments but failed.
- Both had experiments that had on the public except that Strange's was negative while Salt's led to Troy becoming a protector to the British people.
- John Salt manipulating Lord Harwood into committing murder to get him arrested is similar to Hugo Strange manipulating Rupert Thorne into committing murder to get him arrested. Strange took advantage of Thorne's paranoia to do so similar to Salt taking advantage of Lord Harwood's paranoia. Both Salt and Strange tricked Thorne and Harwood into believing their closest allies were betraying them which ultimately led to their downfall. The only difference is that it backfired with Salt while Strange succeed in bringing down Rupert Thorne.
- Salt is considered to be a massive opponent to Thomas and Martha Wayne as he almost killed them. If he had succeeded, Bruce Wayne would never be born.