Follow

    Klaw

    Character » Klaw appears in 509 issues.

    Ulysses Klaw is a Dutch scientist and an arch enemy to Black Panther. He has a gun on his arm that turns sound into images. His body was converted into pure sound when he jumped into his sound converter machine.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Klaw last edited by wkndnexile on 08/19/21 08:01PM View full history

    Origin

    Klaw before his transformation
    Klaw before his transformation

    Ulysses Klaw comes from a military family. His father was Fritz Klaue, an operative for Nazi Germany during World War II. Fritz crashed landed in Wakanda and sought to murder his way to obtaining the rare metal Vibranium from the people of that nation, but his deadly mission failed.

    Ulysses grew up and became a physicist working on applied sonics in Rotterdam and the Belgium city of Antwerpen, which eventually led to him developing a sound converter. Discovering this technology needed vibranium to work, Ulysses traveled to Wakanda, following in his father's footsteps in killing their people when they refused to hand over the precious ore. During the battle, T'Challa blasted off Klaw's right hand with one of Klaw's sound weapons. Years later, Klaw returned to Wakanda again, and hooked up his new sound converter machine to the vibranium. This machine was able to create solid creatures from sound, and he used them to battle the Fantastic Four and T'Challa (now the Black Panther). Things went badly for Klaw and his machinery is overloaded by Black Panther. Trapped in a cave, Klaw jumped into his machine and became a being of solidified sound.

    Creation

    Kirby's Klaw
    Kirby's Klaw

    Klaw first appeared in Fantastic Four #53 - The Way It Began in August 1966 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

    Character Evolution

    Klaw's origin has recently been ret-conned by Reggie Hudlin in the Black Panther series. In this version, his great-great-great grandfather was one of the founders of South Africa, whom T'Chaka killed in a fight. Klaw is now an assassin, hired to kill him. Ulysses Klaw, a Dutch scientist, had developed a weapon that could turn sound into solid objects - as before, it needed only Vibranium to work finally. Klaw makes his move at a global economic conference where plenty of 'potential employers' gathered. When Klaw realizes no deal is going to be made, he takes action, managing to kill the Panther. During his escape, Black Panther's son T'Challa blasts Klaw's hand off and severely injures Ulysses. After having his half-dead body experimented on for close to a decade, Klaw returns to being an assassin. With a gun attached to his hand, and Vibranium from the black market, he returns to Wakanda ten years later, as before, attacking Black Panther and the Fantastic Four.

    Major Story Arcs

    Fantastic Four and Avengers

    Klaw and the Masters of Evil
    Klaw and the Masters of Evil

    Seeking revenge for his defeat in Wakanda, Klaw travels to New York to the Baxter Building and attacks the Fantastic Four, but is beaten and put in prison. Klaw is then rescued by Crimson Cowl, and joins the Masters of Evil in a plot to capture the Avengers. They are successful, although the Avengers later escape with the help of the Black Knight, and defeat Klaw and his allies.

    Klaw then escapes and attempts to reform a small band of the Masters of Evil, who try to kidnap a famous scientist, but they are foiled by the Avengers and Lady Liberators.

    Klaw would continue to battle the Black Panther in several different clashes - first in trying to steal the Vibrotron device from Wakanda, and then with the help of Solarr trying to con Black Panther and the Avengers into handing control of Wakanda to him. His hatred for T'Challa has grown during each battle that has ended with his defeat.

    Savage Land

    Klaw reemerges when an alien Sheenarian named Shauran asks for his help in opening a portal for an invasion of Earth. Klaw starts by attacking Ka-Zar in London, England, but is driven off and then goes to the Savage Land where he helps the aliens begin their invasion. Ka-Zar and his tiger Zabu are able to turn the tables on Klaw and force him to return through the portal with the aliens. Klaw eventually finds a way to transport himself back to Earth.

    Molecule Man and Mad Thinker

    Klaw then finds Molecule Man’s wand in Florida after Man-Thing drops it. Molecule Man and Klaw fight, then team up to battle the Impossible Man and Fantastic Four in New York. The Impossible Man and Klaw create constructs that explode when they battle, knocking out Klaw.

    Klaw returns with the Mad Thinker with a scheme to trick Vision into beating the Fantastic Four with a set of sound construct FF members and a construct Scarlet Witch that is apparently kidnapped. Vision breaks free of the villains’ programming and together with the real Fantastic Four defeats Klaw.

    Project: PEGASUS

    Klaw ends up in Project Pegasus, where fellow inmate Solarr freed him, but both villains are defeated by a band of heroes including Giant Man, the Thing and Quasar.

    Klaw’s next scheme, when revived by an unsuspecting cleaning lady, is to start mining on a Native American reservation, where a confrontation with Ward and Jason Strongbow results in them gaining powers from the radioactive rocks and Klaw’s sonic blasts. Klaw flees to the Savage Land to go after Vibranium again, but despite some dinosaurs used for protection, the Thing, Wyatt Wingfoot and Ka-Zar are able to knock him out and he is put back in Project: PEGASUS.

    Soon after, Klaw found a way to escape by tricking Dazzler, but is trounced by the new superhero and he is dissipated once again .

    Secret Wars

    In the series " Secret Wars" Klaw is resurrected by Doctor Doom after being brought to Battleworld on board Galactus' ship and is given the power to make real things out of sound, not just images. At the end of that series, he was presumed dead after being used by Doom and battling all the assembled heroes and then disappearing in an energy blast.

    Frightful Four

    Back on Earth somehow, Klaw seeks out Daredevil’s help but ends up fighting him and is disrupted when led into a tone generator. He then joins the Frightful Four, led by the Wizard. The villains fight the Fantastic Four but are driven off back to their base. The Fantastic Four surprisingly pursue them there and the fight is rejoined. Aron the Watcher and Dragon Man enter the fray and the Fantastic Four are beaten. At that time, Sharon Ventura had taken Thing's place on the Fantastic Four, and Ben Grimm had just been returned to his human form. Ben manages to help free the heroes and they beat the Frightful Four, only for Aron to transport both teams to another dimension, with clones taking their place. When the original characters eventually return, the Frightful Four are beaten again and sent to the Vault by Aron.

    Klaw then struggled for a while, fighting Quasar, Iron Man and the Avengers in successive breakouts, but is sent back to the Vault. He is briefly used by AIM to apprehend the Molecule Man and Volcana but manages to free himself from AIM's control. He also popped up again when Captain America investigated an AIM Weapons Expo on Boca Caliente Island. When he returns to attack Wakanda again with a new army of mercenaries, Black Panther calls in the help of the Fantastic Four and he is returned to jail again.

    West Coast Avengers and Doctor Demonicus

    When Dr. Demonicus raises an island called Demonica, he enlists Klaw, freeing him from Wakanda. The West Coast Avengers battle Klaw and Zvezda and are imprisoned by Klaw. A battle then breaks out between Raksasa - the demon who was actually controlling the other villains - and the Avengers and the Pacific Overlords. Klaw and Zvezda decide to join the heroes, and help them win through but Klaw is swept away in a rockslide when the island sinks.

    A New Frightful Four

    Reappearing once again, Klaw, Huntara, Paibok and Devos coincidentally attack the Fantastic Four at the same time, with the group already undergoing some internal strife. The fight grows to involve Daredevil, Spider-Man, Sandman and Silver Sable as well as a group of Avengers, forcing the villains back to Paibok’s ship. Later, when the four villains return, Paibok and Devos abscond with the Fantastic Four to space, while Klaw encounters Sharon Ventura in her Thing form held in stasis. Klaw later returns and kidnaps Sharon and enlists her into a new Frightful Four led by the Wizard. But when Klaw is sent to the Baxter Building to attack Ant-Man he is defeated and runs away.

    Klaw attacks Black Panther again when the hero comes to New York but is beaten by Vibraxas, Huntara, Devlor and an adult Franklin Richards as Psi-Lord. He tries to beat Black Panther again with the help of Killmonger, but this time Daredevil helps knock him out. He even tried teaming up with Black Panther's cousin Joshua Itobo to get to Wakanda's Vibranium again, but was stopped by Cable who was visiting Black Panther at the time.

    Masters of Evil and Thunderbolts

    Klaw joins a Masters of Evil team led by Crimson Cowl, along with Man-Killer, Flying Tiger, Tiger Shark, and Cyclone. A first meeting with the Thunderbolts and Black Widow sees them retreat for a time. In their next encounter, Klaw traps the Thunderbolts in a sonic bubble and knocks out Songbird with a sonic blast. This time the Masters win and offer the Thunderbolts a place on their team. The Thunderbolts eventually decline, leading to a fight where Klaw defeats them all at once with a huge blast. Hawkeye (as Dreadknight) helps the Thunderbolts escape death and takes over leadership of that team. The Thunderbolts pursue the Masters of Evil to Mt Charteris and defeat them, despite a greatly enlarged roster of villains on their team. The Masters of Evil are effectively disbanded.

    Vibranium Cancer

    Klaw returns
    Klaw returns

    When Klaw found that his Vibranium cell had dissipated, he traveled to Wakanda. There he somehow absorbs the 'Vibranium cancer' that had destabilized the world's Vibranium and tries to destroy the Vibranium mound. Captain America manages to stop him and shatters Klaw into fragments with his shield. A fight between White Wolf and Vibraxas somehow restores Klaw, who attacks White Wolf but then teams up with him to go after Black Panther. Klaw frames Black Panther for sinking the US ship 'Roussos' and tricks the country of Lemuria into attacking Wakanda. Klaw goes to New York to personally fight Black Panther. With the help of Namor, Black Panther believes he has killed Klaw.

    Negative Zone

    After some brief encounters with his counterpart from Earth-5127 and a fight with Songbird, Klaw joins a group of villains assembled by Puppet Master. Although he is then imprisoned in the Negative Zone he manages to escape, evading even the efforts of the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk and Hercules and getting back to Earth.

    Fall of the Hulks

    Klaw defeats the Invisible Woman
    Klaw defeats the Invisible Woman

    The Wizard briefly assembles a new Frightful Five to fight the Fantastic Four with Klaw held as a secret weapon in the form of his prosthetic arm from which he re-forms his body during the fight. Although unsuccessful, a new Frightful Four forms afterward with Wizard, Lyra, Trapster and Klaw and they manage to kidnap Mr Fantastic. It is later revealed that the new Frightful Four are operating under the direction of the Intelligencia - a team comprised of the Leader, Wizard, Egghead, Mad Thinker and Red Ghost who sought to capture the 8 greatest minds on Earth (Mr Fantastic being one of them), attack the world's superheroes and bring down the Hulk in the Fall of the Hulks and World War Hulks storylines. During the Frightful Four's attack on the Fantastic Four, Klaw demonstrated some superb intellect. He was able to get the better of the Invisible Woman, by using her childrens' voices to disorient her and frighten her.

    Dazzler and She-Hulks

    Versus the She-Hulks
    Versus the She-Hulks

    After the failure of the Intelligencia's schemes, Klaw seeks revenge on Dazzler with the help of Mortis, but is defeated, although he manages to escape. Hulk, wanting to tie up the loose ends of the end of the Fall of the Hulks sends out Lyra and She-Hulk to capture escaped villains who are still on the run including Klaw. Klaw had decided to try to become normal again and had traveled to Switzerland. The She-Hulks track him down there and stop him transferring his powers into Byte, and cause an avalanche.

    Klaws of the Panther

    Returning to action once more, Klaw makes a plan to take control of the world via satellites and a sonic attack in Klaws of the Panther. On board the AIM Space Station, he transforms the daughter of AIM's chief scientist into MUSIC (Multiframe Universal Sonic Integration Codec). He then uses AIM agents to gather Vibranium from the Savage Land. The combined efforts of Spider-Man, Shuri (the new Black Panther) and Black Widow are not enough to stop Klaw, but MUSIC knocks him into space when Shuri shows her compassion by sparing her life.

    Daredevil-Sound and Fury

    While Daredevil investigates why no one will take the open and shut case of Ahmed Jobrani he learns that someone has been threatening other lawyers, and the trail leads back to Jobrani's electronics store. There Daredevil finds a bunch of Klaws working on a machine. Before Daredevil can react the Klaws explode into deafening sound and knock the hero out. When he wakes up he is in the machine and approached by a man much like Klaw, only hollower. This hollower Klaw is one of Klaw's sound clones who escaped capture. He created Klaw copies from himself to work for him in an attempt to build an antenna to bring the real Klaw back from space. Daredevil escapes the machine, and destroys the antenna before the Klaws can complete it. He then destroys all the copies of Klaw.

    Superior Carnage

    Klaw is hired by his old friend the Wizard to join his new lineup of the Frightful Four. This new lineup would consist of himself, Wizard, Dr. Karl Malus, and hopefully Carnage. Unfortunately, during the jailbreak attempt to capture Carnage, Wizard is almost killed but saved at the last second by Klaw's sonic blaster demobilizing Carnage.

    Unable to control the symbiote with Wizard's mind control technology, The team attaches Cletus Kasady to a sound cage designed by Klaw to prevent him from escaping. While the team decides their next move, Klaw and Dr. Malus get into an argument over what to do with the Wizard, who has begun to go mad from Dementia. Dr. Malus wishes to get rid of the Wizard, while Klaw still is loyal to his old friend.

    Unfortunately for Dr. Malus, The Wizard's plan is to give him a blood transfusion with Kasady, turning Malus into Carnage and then controlling his mind. This plan is successful and the new Frightful Four decides to launch a raid on City Hall and take over NYC.

    Klaw is killed by Carnage
    Klaw is killed by Carnage

    During the raid, the team is met by The Superior Spider-Man and his army of Spider-Minions. The two sides engage in an epic and violent clash, in which several minions are murdered by Carnage. Spider-Man attacks Wizard, beating him mercilessly outside in the eyes of the press. To protect his old friend, Klaw shoots himself at Spider-Man, throwing him into a nearby wall. Klaw then proceeds to shoot a concentrated sonic scream at Spider-Man's head until it explodes, but is interrupted by Carnage coming up behind and stabbing him with a vibranium blade. Being made of pure sound, the piercing in Klaw's body caused him to become unstable and explode into a sonic boom

    Klaw is then revealed to still be alive because his energy had become a part of the sound wall. Only able to observe the events currently happening, Klaw is for all intents and purposes a ghost. Witnessing Carnage prepare to kill his friend The Wizard, Klaw sacrifices himself a second time by using the last of his energy to create a lightning bolt that hits Carnage. With Carnage now unconscious and the Wizard safe, Klaw fades away into nothingness

    Powers and Abilities

    • Sound Manipulator
    • Superhuman Strength
    • Superhuman Durability
    • Ability to project concussive force
    • Possibly Immortal

    Other Media

    Film

    Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

    Andy Serkis as Klaue
    Andy Serkis as Klaue

    Ulysses Klaw (renamed Ulysses Klaue) appears in Avengers: Age of Ultron, portrayed by Andy Serkis. In the film, he is a powerful gangster and arms dealer from South Africa, and knows Tony Stark from back during Stark Industries' days as a weapons manufacturer. It's mentioned that in the past, he had managed to steal a large amount of vibranium from Wakanda, and that as a result, the Wakandans had branded his neck with their word for "thief."

    When Ultron, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver arrive in Africa in search of vibranium, they seek out Klaue, knowing he is one of the few people on the planet who has access to the material. A confrontation ensues after Klaue states that Ultron reminds him of Stark, which results in the robot violent severing one of his hands.

    Black Panther (2018)

    Klaue in the Black Panther film
    Klaue in the Black Panther film

    Andy Serkis reprises his role in the solo Black Panther film. He now has his trademark sonic cannon, which is hidden in a prosthetic arm that he now wears to replace the one that was cut off by Ultron.

    In the film, Klaue has allied himself with Erik Killmonger, who helps him steal Vibranium from the Museum of Great Britain. Klaue is later taken into custody after he is captured by Black Panther when he intervenes in a black market trade between Klaue and Everett K. Ross, but is soon broken out by Killmonger. However, Killmonger kills Klaue in order to gain access to Wakanda and thus challenge T'Challa for the throne.

    Television

    Fantastic Four

    Klaw's first animated appearance
    Klaw's first animated appearance

    Klaw appears in the episodes "Klaws," voiced by Hal Smith. He is already in his sound form when he first appears, though he makes mention of an unspecified past encounter with the Fantastic Four where he was nearly killed. He traps the team inside the Baxter Building and attempts to kill them, but is defeated when the previously-absent Human Torch arrives with a special pair of vibranium bands. He is defeated by Mr. Fantastic and turned over to the police, who trap him in an vibranium cell.

    Fantastic Four: The Animated Series

    Klaw in the animated series
    Klaw in the animated series

    Klaw appeared in the Fantastic Four episode "Prey of the Black Panther", voiced by Charles Howerton. The episode largely retells his first appearance from the comics, with Klaw returning to menace Wakanda years after killing T'Chaka and losing his right hand. During a battle with Black Panther and Mr. Fantastic, Klaw is knocked inside his sound machine, transforming him into a being of pure sonic energy. He is defeated when Black Panther throws him onto a large mound of vibranium, which absorbs him, trapping him inside.

    Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes

    Klaw in WGH
    Klaw in WGH

    Klaw appeared in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes as a member of the Frightful Four.

    Black Panther

    Klaw was the main villain on the Black Panther show, voiced by Stephen Stanton. He wanted to take over Wakanda for revenge on T'Challa because what happened in the past between them.

    Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

    Klaw in EMH
    Klaw in EMH

    Ulysses Klaw appeared in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Mark Hamill. 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 in order to steal a sample of Vibranium. In the episode "Panther's Quest", Klaw helps Man-Ape dethrone Black Panther as the king of Wakanda in exchange for the nation's supply of Vibranium. In both episodes, he is dressed as a regal European explorer instead of his typical comics costume, and he replaced his hand with a vibranium-powered sonic cannon in the latter episode. At the end of "Panther's Quest", the sonic cannon is damaged and transforms Klaw into living sound energy, and Hank Pym traps him in a capsule carved from vibranium.

    Ultimate Spider-Man

    Klaw in Ultimate Spider-Man
    Klaw in Ultimate Spider-Man

    Klaw appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man as a member of the Frightful Four, voiced by Matt Lanter.

    Avengers Assemble

    Klaue in Avengers Assemble
    Klaue in Avengers Assemble

    Klaw (renamed "Klaue") appears in the Avengers Assemble episode "Thunderbolts Revealed", voiced by David Shaughnessy. Baron Zemo sets Klaue up by arranging a vibranium deal, only to have the meeting ambushed by Captain America, Hawkeye and the Thunderbolts. After Klaue is taken into custody, Zemo manipulates events in order to transform Klaue into a massive being of energy, which is later defeated by the Avengers.

    He returns in Avengers: Black Panther's Quest, now voiced by Trevor Devall.

    Marvel Future Avengers

    Klaw in the Future Avengers anime
    Klaw in the Future Avengers anime

    Klaw appears in the Marvel Future Avengers episode "Black Panther," voiced by Taketora in the Japanese version and Patrick Seitz in the English dub. He sports a more robotic appearance than usual. In the episode, he infiltrates Wakanda to steal vibranium for the Masters of Evil, and fights Black Panther during one of the attempted thefts. During the battle, he taunts T'Challa over having killed his father in the past, and manages to overpower him with sonic attacks. However, Charade arrives and attacks Klaw, preventing him from finishing off the Panther. Iron Man soon joins the fight, and together the three heroes are able to beat Klaw, with Black Panther getting the final blow. After his defeat, Klaw is taken to a Wakandan prison for interrogation.

    Video Games

    Klaw in Captain America and The Avengers
    Klaw in Captain America and The Avengers
    • Klaw appears as an enemy in Captain America and The Avengers, where he is partnered with Living Laser.
    • Klaw is mentioned in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
    • Klaw appears in Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics.
    • Klaw appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers.
    • Klaw appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.
    • Klaw appears in Marvel Future Fight.
    • Klaw appears as a boss enemy in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, voiced by David Shaughnessy.
    • Klaue appears in the Square Enix Avengers game, where he is the main antagonist of the War for Wakanda DLC pack. He was voiced by Steve Blum.

    Merchandise

    Marvel Legends
    Marvel Legends
    • Hasbro released a figure of Klaw as part of a two-pack with Captain America for the company's Marvel Universe Comic Packs line.
    • Hasbro released a Klaw figure in the Marvel Legends Terrax Build-a-Figure wave.
    • Eaglemoss Publications released a lead Klaw figurine for The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection.
    • Klaw was featured in The Marvel Chess Collection, also from from Eaglemoss Publications.
    • Hasbro later produced a completely redone Marvel Legends Klaw figure as part of a Black Panther two-pack with Shuri.
    • Klaue was featured in Diamond Select's Minimates line in both his comic and movie incarnations.
    • Klaw was featured in the HeroClix figure game.
    • The movie version of Klaue was featured in the "Royal Talon Fighter Attack" Lego kit.
    • The movie version of Klaue was featured in Hasbro's Marvel Legends line as part of the M'Baku Build-a-Figure wave.
    sizepositionchange
    sizepositionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    bordersheaderpositiontable
    positionchange

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.