Enemies: Daredevil, Dr. Van Eyck

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: His castle in the european country Lichtenbad

First Appearance: Daredevil I#9 (August, 1965)

Powers: Klaus Kruger possessed no superhuman abilities. In combat, he wore a suit of medieval armor, and carried a shield, sword and/or mace. He claimed to be "the greatest hand-to-hand fighter in Europe", but tended to rely more on the force shield that surrounded his throne for protection. Even in civilian clothes, he still wore protective armor beneath his suits.

Height: 6' Weight: 190 lbs.

History: (Daredevil I#9) - Klaus Kruger, hereditary ruler to the throne of Lichtenbad, attended an American law school as a foreign exchange student many years ago. Among his classmates were Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock.

Years later, hearing of Murdock's loss of vision, Kruger contacted Murdock and Nelson, and offered to bring Murdock back to Lichtenbad with him, where the specialist Dr. Van Eyck might be able to restore his vision. Murdock's powers revealed to him that Kruger was lying, but he decided to go along with him, to learn what his real reason for wanting him in Lichtenbad was.

Upon their arrival in Lichtenbad, Kruger was shot at the airport by an assassin, but his armor protected him (Lucky thing they didn't try shooting him in the head). Murdock began to feel uneasy about his one-time classmate, seeing how others hated him. After seeing underground members taken into custody by Kruger's robot knights, Murdock, as Daredevil, invaded Kruger's castle and confronted him; Kruger was now clad in his armor. Kruger assumed that Daredevil was the leader of the underground, and set his robots upon him. Daredevil tried to defeat Kruger with a gas pellet fired from his billy club, but Kruger protected himself with his force shield, while his robots overwhelmed Daredevil, bringing him down.

When Daredevil awoke, he found himself in the dungeons of Kruger's castle. Kruger decided not to unmask Daredevil, claiming that "Your identity means nothing! NO revolt can ever succeed against ME!" Kruger revealed that his great plan was to take hostage all the great thinkers of the world and put them to work for him, then send his robotic army loose upon every nation, until he would be the ruler of the world.

However, Daredevil managed to escape the dungeon, and led the underground (for real) against Kruger. Daredevil took the fight to Kruger himself at his castle, and in the course of their battle, destroyed Kruger's robot control panel. Seeing his forces being crushed, Kruger activated a cobalt bomb, claiming the world would be destroyed one day at any rate, but it was deactivated by Dr. Van Eyck.

Atop a parapet of his castle, Kruger engaged in final combat with Daredevil, and fell from the castle when Daredevil dodged his attack. He did not survive his fall.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Wally Wood, and Bobby Powell.

So, wait...Matt and Foggy went to law school with the daughter of a Greek ambassador, AND the hereditary ruler of a European country. Any chance the Black Panther, Baron Zemo, and Dr. Doom were their classmates as well?

by Prime Eternal

Clarifications: Klaus Kruger should not be confused with:

• The Baron, a Luke Cage foe very similar in appearance @ Luke Cage, Power Man#39
• Krueger, leader of a sideshow, @ X-Men: Hidden Years#8

Kruger's Robots were dressed in knightly attire, and bore shields, maces, swords and the like into combat. They were strong, able to talk, and relentless, but very much unsentient machines. Members of Lichtenbad's underground were able to destroy the robots after Daredevil destroyed the controls on Kruger's throne.
--Daredevil I#9

Dr. Van Eyck was an American doctor who specialized in ophthalmology. Van Eyck moved to Lichtenbad, tricked by Kruger just as Murdock was, then he was used to bait Murdock into coming to Lichtenbad as well. For warning Murdock of Kruger's intentions, Van Eyck was arrested. In the midst of Daredevil's clash with Kruger, Van Eyck was released by the destruction of the machinery controlling the dungeon. Watching Daredevil battle Kruger, he realized that Daredevil was truly Matt Murdock! However, Van Eyck never related this information to another soul, as he gave his life dismantling Kruger's cobalt bomb.
--Daredevil I#9

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Last updated: 04/30/04

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