| Klaw | |
|---|---|
 Klaw battles theFantastic Four on the cover ofFantastic Four #56 (Nov. 1966). | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance |
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| Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Ulysses Klaue |
| Species | Human mutate |
| Team affiliations |
|
| Notable aliases | Ulysses Klaw Master of Sound |
| Abilities |
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Klaw (Ulysses Klaue)[3] is asupervillain appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel 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 is often in conflict with theFantastic Four and theAvengers, and he is also an enemy of theBlack Panther andKa-Zar.[4]
The character is featured in other Marvel-endorsed products such as arcade andvideo games,animatedtelevision series, and merchandise such astrading cards.Andy Serkis portrays Klaue in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) filmsAvengers: Age of Ultron (2015) andBlack Panther (2018), and theDisney+ seriesWhat If...? (2021).
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The character first appeared inFantastic Four #53 (1966) and was created byStan Lee andJack Kirby.[5]
Ulysses Klaue is the son ofNazi war criminal Colonel Fritz Klaue of the Blitzkrieg Squad led byBaron Strucker. He was sent byAdolf Hitler to small African nation ofWakanda to learn their secrets. AfterWorld War II, he moved back toBelgium, later anglicized his name to "Klaw", and raised his son with tales of Wakanda.[3]
Klaw later becomes aphysicist, working in the field of applied sonics. To continue his design of a sound transducer which converts sound waves into physical mass, Klaw steals the metalvibranium to power his device. This is a metal substance known to exist only in certain meteoric deposits in Wakanda. By stealing this rare mineral, Klaw comes into conflict with the Wakandan ruler/superheroT'Chaka, whom Klaw murders in cold blood. T'Chaka's adolescent sonT'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.[6][7]
Years later, Ulysses resurfaces with a sonic emitter/gun on his right wrist as a replacementprosthetic 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.[8] Klaw as a professional criminal battles T'Challa (who has now officially become the newestBlack Panther) andsuperhero team theFantastic Four in New York state, but he is defeated.[9]
Klaw is imprisoned but freed by theCrimson Cowl, which turns out to be an alias ofUltron. Joining the second incarnation of theMasters of Evil, Klaw and the other villains battle superhero team, the Avengers. The Avengers, however, defeat them, with the Black Panther subduing Klaw.[10] 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 theLady Liberators.[11]
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 theThing, theHuman Torch, and the Black Panther, Klaw is defeated.[12]
Klaw later joins forces with the murderousSolarr and traps the Avengers within a solid sound barrier. Klaw threatens to execute them if the Black Panther did 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 on his threat.[13]
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 withKa-Zar inLondon, he travels with the Sheenarean to theSavage 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.[14]
Materializing in the Nexus of All Realities located in the Florida Everglades, Klaw happens upon the wand of theMolecule 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 visitingImpossible Man.[15]
Klaw finds his powers waning, which results 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.[16] He finds himself imprisoned within his own gun-hand, stored at the research facilityProject Pegasus. InMarvel Two-in-One #57-58 (Nov.-Dec 1979), Klaw is freed by fellow villainSolarr, although both are defeated by a group of heroes, including theThing,Quasar,Giant-Man, andAquarian.[17]
After that, Klaw fights the Thing, Ka-Zar, andAmerican Eagle.[18]
Klaw's career soon takes a downward spiral, after an encounter withDazzler results in his humanoid form being dissolved and his sound energy being blasted out into space, where it ends up being collected byGalactus.[19] His energy is found byDoctor Doom during thelimited seriesSecret Wars. Doom restores Klaw to normal. 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 theBeyonder. 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.[20]
Klaw fightsDaredevil andVision, before being recruited by theWizard to join his latest incarnation of the Frightful Four. Attacking the Fantastic Four while the group are performing a delicate scientific procedure on theHuman 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 rogueWatcherAron, who ultimately returns Klaw and his fellow villains to prison after the Fantastic Four break free.[21]
Klaw's imprisonment would not last. Escaping during the "Acts of Vengeance" story line, Klaw is taken in byA.I.M., who plant a pain-control device into his gun-hand to control him. He is then sent to attackVolcana in hopes of luring out her loverMolecule Man, but abandons the battle when his gun-hand is destroyed.[volume & issue needed]
Klaw is later recruited by the "Pacific Overlords" group, led byDoctor Demonicus, but turns against the group and instead aids theWest Coast Avengers in defeating them when it becomes apparent that Demonicus had become a thrall of a dangerous demon.[22]
Klaw later joinsCrimson Cowl's version of the Masters of Evil, fighting theThunderbolts on several occasions.[23]
When Earth's vibranium deposits begin to explode due to a 'vibranium cancer' introduced into the world whenCaptain America's shield was broken and improperly repaired,[volume & issue needed] 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.[24]
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 theInternet and later been downloaded by the Wizard to fight the Fantastic Four again as part of a new incarnation of the Frightful Four.[25]
Klaw is later seen with Wizard's Frightful Four when it comes to helpingIntelligencia capture Mister Fantastic.[26]
Chameleon later poses as Klaw to infiltrate Intelligencia and be ready for theSinister Six to attack them.[27]
Klaw is enlisted by the Wizard to captureCarnage, so that he can be added to the latest version of the Frightful Four, alongsideKarl 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 withSuperior 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. 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.[28]
During theAvengers: Standoff! storyline, Klaw appears as an inmate of Pleasant Hill, a gated community established byS.H.I.E.L.D.[29]
Courtesy of avibranium-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. Themolybdenum 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 byAIM scientists and technicians.[volume & issue needed] 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".[volume & issue needed] 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.[volume & issue needed] After Klaw became temporarily commingled with the ship of the cosmic entityGalactus and reconstructed byDoctor 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.[30]
Klaw is unable to regain his original organic form. He has a susceptibility to vibranium, which can cause his body 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. 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.[volume & issue needed] 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.
Klaw holds a Ph.D. in physics and is an expert physicist specializing in applied sonics.
Klaw appears in "Heroes Reborn" as a member ofLoki'sMasters of Evil.[35]
Ulysses Klaue appears in media set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed byAndy Serkis. This version is anAfrikaner arms dealer and an old acquaintance ofTony Stark who was literally branded a thief after stealing Vibranium from Wakanda. Klaue first appears in the live-action filmAvengers: Age of Ultron (2015),[40] and makes a subsequent appearance in the live-action filmBlack Panther (2018).[41] Additionally, Serkis voices an alternate timeline variant of Klaue in theDisney+ animated seriesWhat If...? episode "What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?".[42][43][44][45]
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