Klaw (character)

Klaw (Ulysses Klaue)[1] is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a human physicist who has been transformed into solid sound, and who wears a sonic emitter on his right wrist as a prosthetic device. He has often been shown in conflict with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, and he is an enemy of the Black Panther and Ka-Zar.[2]

Klaw
Klaw battles the Fantastic Four on the cover of Fantastic Four #56 (Nov. 1966).
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceas Ulysses Klaw:
Fantastic Four #53 (Aug 1966)
as Klaw:
Fantastic Four #56 (Nov 1966)
Created byStan Lee (writer)
Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoUlysses Klaue
SpeciesHuman Mutate
Team affiliationsFrightful Four
Masters of Evil
A.I.M.
Fearsome Foursome
Lethal Legion
Notable aliasesUlysses Klaw
Master of Sound
AbilitiesExpert physicist
Genius-level intellect
Superhuman strength, speed and durability
Sonic device grants:
Sound manipulation
Ability to create "solid sound" constructs
Energy blasts

The character is featured in other Marvel-endorsed products such as arcade and video games, animated television series, and merchandise such as trading cards. Andy Serkis portrayed the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Black Panther (2018).

Publication history

The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #53 (1966) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.[3]

Additionally, he also made a major appearance in Volume 2 of the comic book series Ka-Zar in issues 14 through 20.

Fictional character biography

Ulysses Klaue is the son of Nazi war criminal Colonel Fritz Klaue of the Blitzkrieg Squad led by Baron Strucker. He was sent by Adolf Hitler to Wakanda to learn their secrets. After World War II, he moved back to Belgium, later anglicized his name to "Klaw," and raised his son with tales of Wakanda.[1]

Klaw later becomes a physicist, working in the field of applied sonics. In order to continue his design of a sound transducer which converts sound waves into physical mass, Klaw steals the metal vibranium to power his device. This is a metal substance known to exist only in certain meteoric deposits in the small African nation of Wakanda. By stealing this rare mineral, Klaw comes into conflict with the Wakandan ruler/superhero T'Chaka whom Klaw murders in cold blood. T'Chaka's adolescent son T'Challa, who watched his father fall to the invaders, then attacks Klaw to avenge his father. Klaw manages to escape at the cost of his right hand.[4][5]

Years later, Ulysses resurfaces with a sonic emitter/gun on his right wrist as a replacement prosthetic device for his missing hand that can create any kind of object or creature he can conceive by only using sound. He has also created a device that turns him into a being composed solely of sound, making him immortal in the process.[6] Klaw as a professional criminal battles T'Challa (who has now officially become the newest Black Panther) and superhero team the Fantastic Four in New York state, but he is defeated.[7]

Klaw is imprisoned but freed by the Crimson Cowl, which turns out to be an alias of Ultron. Joining the second incarnation of the Masters of Evil, Klaw and the other villains battle superhero team the Avengers. The Avengers, however, defeat them, with the Black Panther subduing Klaw.[8] Klaw would attempt to reform the second Masters of Evil to fight the Avengers, but his scheme would be foiled by the all-female team the Lady Liberators.[9]

Managing to escape custody again, Klaw journeys back to Wakanda where he helps steal a device capable of augmenting the metal-disintegrating property of a vibranium alloy. Encountering the Thing, the Human Torch, and the Black Panther, Klaw is defeated.[10]

Klaw later joins forces with the murderous Solarr and traps the Avengers within a solid sound barrier. Klaw threatens to execute them if the Black Panther does not abdicate the throne of Wakanda to him. Realizing that Klaw himself is disguised as one of the hostages while using a sound creation of himself to appear outside the barrier, the Panther manages to expose and subdue Klaw and Solarr before he could make good his threat.[11]

Klaw is later freed from prison by a member of the extra dimensional race of Sheenareans, who wish him to use his sonic powers to help open a dimensional portal big enough for their invading armada to enter Earth. Klaw agrees and after a skirmish with Ka-Zar in London, travels with the Sheenarean to the Savage Land where there is a vibranium deposit large enough to create the portal. After Ka-Zar repulses the invaders, Klaw flees into the Sheenarean dimension, and unable to salvage anything substantial from his allies, uses their technology to return to Earth.[12]

Materializing in the Nexus of All Realities located in the Florida Everglades, Klaw happens upon the wand of the Molecule Man. Helping the Molecule Man find a body to possess, Klaw and his new ally travel to New York to wreak revenge on their common enemy, the Fantastic Four. Klaw is subdued by the visiting Impossible Man.[13]

Klaw finds his powers waning, resulting in him having to manipulate a group of street youths into helping him gain the material needed to restore his power. With Black Panther's help, Klaw's scheme backfires.[14] He finds himself imprisoned within his own gun-hand, stored at research facility Project Pegasus. In Marvel Two-in-One #57 - 58 (Nov. - Dec 1979), Klaw is freed by fellow villain Solarr, although both are defeated by a group of heroes, including the Thing, Quasar, Giant-Man, and Aquarian.[15]

After that, Klaw fights the Thing, Ka-Zar, and American Eagle.[16]

Klaw's career soon takes a downward spiral, after an encounter with the mutant Dazzler results in his humanoid form being dissolved and his sound energy being blasted out into space, where it ends up being collected by Galactus.[17] His energy is found by Doctor Doom during the limited series Secret Wars. Doom restores Klaw to normal. Sadly, the loss of his physical form has had repercussions; Klaw now has the mind of a child and is quite insane, a symptom of which is speaking in rhyme. Doom exploits Klaw's madness, convincing the villain to re-dissect him as part of a mad gambit to steal the powers of both Galactus and the Beyonder. However, the Beyonder possesses Klaw after losing his powers, leading to Klaw tricking Doom into giving up his stolen Godhood and teleporting the two back to Earth, where Klaw's mental state slowly heals.[18]

Klaw fights Daredevil and Vision, before being recruited by the Wizard to join his latest incarnation of the Frightful Four. Attacking the Fantastic Four while the group are performing a delicate scientific procedure on the Human Torch (whose powers had gone out of control), Klaw throws The Thing into the medical pod that was attempting to drain the excess radiation from Torch, resulting in Ben Grimm being returned to normal. Klaw and his teammates, along with the Fantastic Four, are quickly captured by the rogue Watcher Aron, who ultimately returns Klaw and his fellow villains to prison after the Fantastic Four break free.[19]

Klaw's imprisonment would not last. Escaping during the Acts of Vengeance story line, Klaw is taken in by A.I.M., who plant a pain-control device into his gun-hand to control him. He is then sent to attack the reformed supervillainess Volcana, in hopes of luring out her lover Molecule Man but abandons the battle when his gun-hand is destroyed. Klaw is later recruited by the "Pacific Overlords" group, led by Doctor Demonicus, but turns against the group and instead aids the West Coast Avengers in defeating them when it becomes apparent that Demonicus had become a thrall of a dangerous demon. He later joins Justine Hammer's version of the Masters of Evil, fighting the Thunderbolts on several occasions. When Earth's vibranium deposits begin to explode due to a 'vibranium cancer' introduced into the world when Captain America's shield was broken and improperly repaired, Klaw travels to Wakanda with the goal of absorbing the sound energy of the imminent explosion to become even stronger. Captain America is able to defeat him when he uses the damaged shield to absorb Klaw's attack. The blast realigns the shield molecules so that the shield is repaired and the vibranium cancer destroyed.[20]

Klaw features in the opening arc of the fourth Black Panther series, a flashback story that features the origin of the title character. The character ultimately resurfaces again, having (through unknown means) successfully uploaded his sound based essence onto the Internet and later been downloaded, via BitTorrent, by the Wizard to fight the Fantastic Four again as part of a new incarnation of the Frightful Four.[21]

Klaw is later seen with Wizard's Frightful Four when it comes to helping Intelligencia capture Mister Fantastic.[22]

Chameleon later poses as Klaw in order to infiltrate Intelligencia and be ready for the Sinister Six to attack them.[23]

Klaw is enlisted by the Wizard to capture Carnage, so that he can be added to the latest version of the Frightful Four, alongside Karl Malus. The Wizard's attempts to control the symbiote (which is in control of Kasady's lobotomised body) fail, so he decides to bond it to Malus, and subdue his mind. Klaw subdues Malus, and the operation is a success, creating "Superior Carnage". The "Frightful Foundation" then attack New York city hall, as part of Wizard's plan to get his clone son's attention. During a battle with Superior Spider-Man, Wizard loses control of Superior Carnage, who stabs Klaw with a vibranium spear, causing him to detonate. The sonic explosion tears the symbiote away from Malus, and onto Wizard, but it then abandons him for Kasady (Whom Superior Spider-Man had brought to the scene). As Carnage attempts to kill Wizard, Klaw, whose consciousness had been projected onto the "sound wall" of the universe by the explosion, focuses the last of his strength into creating a bolt of lightning that brings down Carnage, separating the symbiote from its host. Klaw reflects that that could be his final act, as his essence spreads further into the sound wall, and will soon be too thin for him to retain his consciousness.[24]

During the Avengers: Standoff! storyline, Klaw is an inmate of Pleasant Hill, a gated community established by S.H.I.E.L.D.[25]

Powers and abilities

Courtesy of a vibranium-powered sonic converter, Ulysses Klaw was converted into a being composed of psionically "solidified" sound, giving him a somewhat inhuman appearance. The character is described as having superhuman durability and strength sufficient to lift tons of matter. The molybdenum steel sound generator that serves as a prosthetic appliance on Klaw's right wrist is able to transform ambient sound to perform a series of functions, including the projection of intense high-volume sonic waves and blasts of concussive force and the creation of mobile sound/mass constructs. The sound converter was invented by Klaw and later improved by AIM scientists and technicians. Klaw can also sense his surroundings using sonar. When he fought Volcana while trying to abduct Molecule Man he demonstrated the ability to create "cohesive sound". This was essentially an entangling/crushing construct that absorbed ambient noise to increase its size and strength. The noise from the target's struggles to remove the construct would make it larger and stronger. Volcana was only able to escape it by changing into her ash form. After Klaw became temporarily commingled with the ship of the cosmic entity Galactus and reconstructed by Doctor Doom, he became able to create semi-autonomous creatures that he could direct to attack his foes and his creatures are similarly made of solidified sound and display a similar superhuman strength level as Klaw himself.[26]

Klaw is unable to regain his original organic form. He has a susceptibility to vibranium, which can cause his mass/energy form to temporarily collapse. He is also subject to temporary mild insanity when forced to exist as sonic energy without humanoid form for long periods of time. As a result of his transformation, Klaw was at first unable to exist outside a medium that allows the propagation of sound waves (i.e. in a vacuum) without the technological improvements made to his sonic converter by AIM. But after being reconstituted by A.I.M. his "solid sound" body has different properties than normal sound waves and is not affected by a vacuum. It was demonstrated that in this form that Klaw could also generate and direct sonic attacks through physical objects without needing his emitter by merely touching the material.

Ulysses Klaw holds a Ph.D. in physics and is an expert physicist specializing in applied sonics.

Other versions

Heroes Reborn

In the Heroes Reborn universe, created by Franklin Richards, Klaw appeared as a member of Loki's Masters of Evil.[27]

In other media

Television
  • Klaw appears in the 1967 Fantastic Four animated series, voiced by Hal Smith.
  • Klaw makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends animated series episode "Attack of the Arachnoid".
  • Klaw appears in the 1994 Fantastic Four animated series episode "Prey of the Black Panther", voiced by Charles Howerton. Years ago, he infiltrates Wakanda and kills T'Chaka, but loses his right hand to T'Chaka's son, T'Challa, who goes on to become the Black Panther and seek revenge against Klaw for the death of his father. In the present, Klaw attacks Wakanda, having replaced his missing hand with a sonic inverter. He fights Black Panther and the Fantastic Four, during which he is transformed into an entity made of solidified sound, only to be defeated when the heroes use Vibranium to absorb Klaw.
  • Klaw makes a non-speaking appearance in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes animated series episode "Frightful", as a member of the Frightful Four.
  • Klaw appears in The Super Hero Squad Show animated series episode "Hulk Talk Smack", voiced by A. J. Buckley.[28] This version is a member of Doctor Doom's Lethal Legion. Doom sends Klaw and Screaming Mimi to recover an Infinity Fractal from the Super Hero City library before being sent with Melter and Toad to find a fractal at the local reservoir.
  • Klaw appears in the BET/Marvel Black Panther animated series, voiced by Stephen Stanton.[29] This version has a cybernetic hand that can convert into a variety of tools, such as a sonic weapon. His history of killing T'Chaka remains intact within the series. Similarly to the "Who is the Black Panther" story arc, he assembles Batroc the Leaper, the Juggernaut, the Radioactive Man, the Black Knight, and a group of mercenaries to help him invade Wakanda.
  • Klaw appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes animated series, voiced by Mark Hamill.[29] In the episode "The Man in the Ant Hill", he leads a small band of mercenaries to a S.H.I.E.L.D. research facility in Africa to steal a sample of Vibranium from Hank Pym. While the scientist uses Pym Particles to shrink them and defeat the mercenaries, Klaw escapes. He later wields a sonic disruptor over his right hand to assist Man-Ape in killing T'Chaka in order to seize control of Wakanda's Vibranium deposits. In "Panther's Quest", Klaw fights Pym as Ant-Man until the Grim Reaper blasts the former into Wakanda's Vibranium mound, turning him into a being of pure sound. He attacks Grim Reaper and his HYDRA agents until Ant-Man and Iron Man use Klaw's sonic emitter on the Vibranium to absorb him.
  • Klaw appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Matt Lanter.[29][30] This version is a member of the Frightful Four.
  • Ulysses Klaue appears in the Avengers Assemble animated series, voiced by David Shaughnessy (in season three),[31] and Trevor Devall (in season five).[32] This version wields a sonic converter in place of his left hand. In the episode "Thunderbolts Revealed", he arranged a deal to sell Vibranium to Helmut Zemo, only to run afoul of the Avengers and the Thunderbolts. While escaping the two groups, Klaue runs into Zemo disguised as Thunderbolt member Citizen V, who defeats him and places a device on him that later merges him with his Vibranium. The Avengers and Thunderbolts work together to defeat him, but when Zemo's identity is revealed, he turns the remnants of Klaue's energies into a giant energy monster, though Captain America and Songbird are able to defeat it. In "Panther's Rage", Klaue reassembles himself and hires Crossbones to take out T'Challa. When Crossbones fails to do so, Klaue goes to Wakanda, steals Vibranium, and fashions it into armor so he can confront T'Challa as Black Panther and the Avengers, who work together to defeat him before the former takes him back to Wakanda to face justice. In "The Night Has Wings", Klaue attempts to weaponize a colony of giant, mutant bats nesting in a Vibranium cave. While Black Panther thwarts this plan and forces Klaue to escape, the latter is approached by Killmonger for information on the cave.
  • Ulysses Klaue appears in the animated special Lego Marvel Super Heroes - Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda, voiced again by Trevor Devall.[29][33]
  • Ulysses Klaue appears in the Marvel Future Avengers anime series episode "Black Panther", voiced by Taketora in Japanese and Patrick Seitz in English.

Film
Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
  • Andy Serkis portrays Ulysses Klaue in live-action films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This version of the character is an Afrikaner arms dealer, an old acquaintance of Tony Stark from before the events of Iron Man, and was literally branded a thief when he successfully stole a large amount of Vibranium from Wakanda.
    • Klaue first appears in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron.[34] Ultron finds him and steals his Vibranium, though the android compensates him by transferring billions from Stark's accounts to his. After Klaue accidentally enrages Ultron, the latter severs the former's left arm and forces him to evacuate.
    • Klaue returns in the 2018 film Black Panther.[35] After the events of Age of Ultron, he has replaced his left arm with a prosthetic that contains a retractable piece of advanced Wakandan mining equipment. It is also revealed that in 1992, Klaue received help from rogue Wakandan prince, N'Jobu, to steal vibranium from the country. In the present, he aligns himself with N'Jobu's son Erik "Killmonger" Stevens. Following a sting operation in Busan, Klaue is apprehended by Black Panther and interrogated by Everett Ross until Stevens extracts him. Stevens later kills him and brings his body to Wakanda as an offering to gain access to the throne.

Video games

References
  1. Fantastic Four Unlimited #1 (1993), Marvel Comics
  2. Brevoort, Tom; DeFalco, Tom; Manning, Matthew K.; Sanderson, Peter; Wiacek, Win (2017). Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. DK Publishing. p. 118. ISBN 978-1465455505.
  3. DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  4. Fantastic Four #53 (August 1966)
  5. Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 180. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  6. Fantastic Four #53
  7. Fantastic Four #56
  8. Avengers #54-55
  9. Avengers #83
  10. Fantastic Four #119
  11. Avengers #126
  12. Ka-Zar Vol. 2 #16-20
  13. Fantastic Four #187
  14. Black Panther Vol. 1 #14-15
  15. Marvel Two-in-One #57-58
  16. Marvel Two-in-One Annual #6
  17. Dazzler #9-11
  18. Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #6-12
  19. Fantastic Four #326-333
  20. Captain America (vol. 3) #22
  21. Fantastic Four #547
  22. Hulk Vol. 2 #19, March 2010
  23. Amazing Spider-Man #676
  24. Superior Carnage #1-5
  25. Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Alpha #1
  26. Secret Wars #8 (Dec. 1984)
  27. Avengers Vol. 2 #8
  28. "Marvel Super Hero Squad Voice Cast". Comicscontinuum.com. 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
  29. "Klaw Voice - Marvel Universe franchise". Behind The Voice Actors.
  30. "SNEAK PEEK: 'ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN' ON DISNEY XD (STILLS, VIDEO)". Archived from the original on 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  31. "Thunderbolts Revealed". Avengers Assemble. Season 3. Episode 6. April 17, 2016. Disney XD.
  32. "The Night Has Wings". Avengers Assemble. Season 5. Episode 8. November 4, 2018. Disney XD.
  33. "The Official Site for Marvel Movies, Characters, Comics, TV, & More". Marvel Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  34. "'The Avengers: Age of Ultron' New Stills, Behind-the-Scenes in High Resolution; Serkis Confirmed as Klaw". Stitch Kingdom. February 3, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-02-04. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  35. Gonzalez, Umberto (September 28, 2016). "'Black Panther' Hires 'Person of Interest' Star Winston Duke as Villain". TheWrap. Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  36. "Throwback Thursday: Captain America and the Avengers Arcade Game". Comicbook.com.
  37. "Characters". IGN Database. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  38. "The King of Wakanda Rules Marvel Games - News - Marvel".
  39. "Enemies – MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE 3: The Black Order for Nintendo Switch™". marvelultimatealliance3.nintendo.com.
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