KRUEL

Real Name: Victor Krueller

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Criminal

Group Membership: None;
formerly Kingpin's henchmen

Affiliations: Formerly Kingpin (Wilson Fisk)

Enemies: Robert Asbury, Daredevil (Matt Murdock), John Garrett, Kai-Shek, Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), Kathy Malper, "Foggy" Nelson, Glorianna O'Breen, Karen Page, Benjamin Urich, Doris Urich

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York, USA

First Appearance: Daredevil I#338 (March, 1995)

Powers/Abilities: Kruel was a human turned mad by the traumas he had suffered. He had a muscular body and was trained at acrobatics and hand-to-hand combat. His strength was above-average.

Height: 6'2"
Weight: 220 lbs.
Eyes: Black
Hair: Auburn

History: (Marvel Encyclopedia HC Vol. 4: Marvel Knights - Kruel entry -BTS) - Victor "Kruel" Krueller was said to have above-average strength.

(Daredevil I#342 (fb) - BTS) - Krueller had a top spot in Wilson Fisk's businesses but he got greedy and betrayed Fisk by skimming profits from Fisk's businesses and using Fisk's spice import business as a way to bring designer drugs into the city.

(Daredevil I#339 (fb)) -  In Pennsylvania, Krueller was chased by the Kingpin and his henchmen for hours for stealing drugs in an attempt to keep the drug profits for himself. Unable to outrun the Kingpin, who wanted to make Kruel pay for his betrayal, Kruel realized his car was almost empty in gas and he felt that his death was fast approaching.

(Daredevil I#338 (fb)/Daredevil I#340 (fb)) - Kruel and Fisk crashed into the "Ghost of a Chance" bar and the crash dirtied reporter Ben Urich's falafel with blood which led Ben to hate falafels from that day forward. Ben then witnessed the Kingpin beating Kruel at the bar's entrance.

(Daredevil I#340 (fb)) - The patrons of the bar (Glorianna O'Breen, Ben Urich, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Karen Page and Kathy Malper) stared at the bleeding Kruel and Malper asked others help to get pressure on Victor's wound. The Kingpin then warned told everyone inside the bar, even including the cook Robert Asbury, to step away from Krueller and himself.

(Daredevil I#341 (fb)) - Fisk fully entered the "Ghost of a Chance" and threw aside the people who tried to bare his path. Kruel was lying wounded on the bar desk and Fisk forced Kruel to ingest the stolen drugs. Fisk's henchmen took the witnesses out of the "Ghost of a Chance" and then proceeded to burn the bar to ashes. They used a drug on the civilians to wipe their memories of the event.

(Daredevil I#342 (fb)) - In east Pennsylvania at a warehouse owned by Fisk, the witnesses who were sedated with a drug intended to mess with their memories were dumped at home like nothing had happened by Fisk's henchmen. The next morning, Kruel woke up in the mud with his body severely bludgeoned and burned, the trauma of which changed his mind into a primal state with a need for revenge.

(Daredevil I#338) -  Years later, in eastern Pennsylvania, possessions belonging to Glorianna O'Breen, Karen Page, "Foggy" Nelson and Kathy Malper were found on the scene of Kruel's beating. In Manhattan, Daredevil patrolled until he found Victor Kruel attacking one of his first victims. Kruel threw Daredevil's club back at the hero and used that diversion to flee. Daredevil didn't pursue the criminal but instead helped Kruel's victim, Robert Asbury, until the NY EMS Team responded the assault.

In a building in the South Bronx, Kruel was training and thinking about his earlier defeat against the Kingpin. He remembered how Fisk forced him to ingest some drugs before leaving him for dead in a burning building. He also recalled how it took him years to put names to the faces that had witnessed him facing the Kingpin. Kruel planned to attack the remaining witnesses (Page, Urich, Malper and Nelson) before ending his revenge plot with the Kingpin himself.

(Daredevil I#339) -  Ben Urich and his wife Doris walked near New York City's St. Mark's Pub when Kruel suddenly attacked them in the middle of their discussion. Doris tried to stop Kruel from holding her husband but Kruel smashed her face into the ground. The criminal then declared that he had plenty of violence for everyone and for Kingpin, something special. On New York's West Side, Matt Murdock (in his identity of "Jack Batlin") and Ernie Wagner were talking when Murdock heard a police call identifying Doris and Benjamin Urichas potential victims. Leaving Wagner alone and moving through the city after changing into his Daredevil costume to get information about his friends, Matt found Ben on the top of a building smoking a cigarette, where Urich rejected Daredevil, arguing that Matt should have been there to prevent Kruel's attack. At Inveigle's Auto Yard, the Kingpin was speaking with Clogger, evoking their old days and speaking of Vic Krueller's betrayal and subsequent suffering for it. Early the next morning at 4am, Daredevil was at St Mark's Pub hunting for a match to trace evidence left behind by Urich's attacker, Kruel, unaware that Kruel was then tracking "Foggy" Nelson on the New York metro uptown.

(Daredevil I#340) - At the New York bar called "Satan's Armpit," Daredevil gave the criminals the third degree to get information about Kruel. He made quick work of the gangsters and told the bartender to tell them that he expected answers as soon as possible. After Matt left, the bartender called one of the Kingpin's henchmen to inform him about Daredevil's actions. Elsewhere, Glorianna O'Breen and her friend Tina visited Matt's former apartment to take some pictures of the inside but unfortunately, Kruel was waiting in the shadows and attacked Glorianna, throwing her through an open window. She died, crushed on the pavement several stories below, while her friend Tina escaped Kruel. Shortly after, Matt Murdock (in his guise of  "Jack Batlin") heard about O'Breen's death on television and infiltrated the morgue that night under the fake ID of "Simon Azden," a janitor, confirming what happened to Glorianna. Matt believed that someone was trying to reach Daredevil, unaware that down in the sewers, Kruel was chasing, eating and readying to attack his next prey, another of the survivors from the "Ghost of a Chance" attack.

(Daredevil I#341) - On the island of Manhattan, Daredevil asked prosecutor Kathy Malper if she had thought about Urich's attack and O'Breen'smurder. Matt soon noticed a grate that was opened when it hadn't been moments earlier and sensed the vibrations and breathing of the nearby Kruel. Realizing Kruel was near, Daredevil located Kruel and punched through a wall, revealing Kruel, who jumped completely through the wall, destroying it. Briefly fighting Daredevil,K ruel tossed Daredevil aside in favor of chasing Malper and tried to crush her throat, making her drugged away memories of the Kingpin's earlier beating of Kruel surface. Daredevil stopped Kruel's assault and forced him to flee. Later, at the East River, Kruel was planning his next two attacks that he thought would help him regain his lacking memories about Fisk and make his revenge complete. Later still, at Inveigle's Auto Yard, Fisk, after a phone call, decided it was time to put an end to the trouble of Kruel. When Kingpin stepped outside, he found Daredevil was there, ready to bring down Fisk.

(Daredevil I#342) - At Inveigle's Auto Yard in Brooklyn, Daredevil accused Fisk of being linked to Kruel's attacks on his friends but the Kingpin told him that Vic Krueller was the man he wanted, explaining the situation between him and his former employee, Kruel. Revealing that Kruel had once had a good place in Fisk's business but had gotten greedy and betrayed him, Fisk explained that he wanted to stop Kruel but Daredevil answered that Fisk only wanted to stop Kruel because Kruel made Fisk look bad. At Marcus Garvey Memorial Park's watchtower, "Foggy" Nelson was relaxing and thinking about how he had recently threw harassment from his former university professor, Golde, back at him. Kruel attacked the unaware "Foggy" but the attack was stopped by Daredevil. The criminal quickly recovered and attacked Daredevil, who evaded the blow but Nelson was knocked over the barrier of the watchtower. Daredevil grabbed his friend's leg and struggled to get him back on solid ground because he had no leverage. Kruel was about to hit Murdock from behind when the Kingpin revealed himself and taunted Victor, starting a fight. Fisk had quickly the upper hand and started beating Kruel into unconsciousness but Daredevil raised up "Foggy," saving his life, and told Kingpin to cease hitting the unconscious Kruel. Fisk dropped Kruel on the ground and Kruel quickly recovered to attack "Foggy" again. Daredevil jumped and pushed "Foggy" out of Kruel's way, knocking Kruel through the watchtower's barrier and causing Kruel to fatally fall to the ground.

Comments: Created by Alan Smithee, Alexander Jubran, Ande Parks and Don Hudson.

Profile by Julien Vivé.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Kruel has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Daredevil I#342, p19 (Kruel, full body shot)
Marvel Encyclopedia HC Vol. 4: Marvel Knights, Kruel entry main image (Kruel, headshot with hair)
Daredevil I#342, p3, pan4 (Kruel, bald headshot)

Appearances:
Daredevil I#338 (March, 1995) - Alan Smithee (writer), Alexander Jubran (penciler), Ande Parks, Don Hudson (inks), Marie Javins (editor)
Daredevil I#339 (April, 1995) - Alan Smithee (writer), Alexander Jubran (penciler), Ande Parks, Don Hudson, Bud LaRosa, Rod Ramos (inks), Marie Javins (editor)
Daredevil I#340 (May, 1996) - Alan Smithee (writer), Alexander Jubran (penciler), Ande Parks, Don Hudson, Marie Severin (inks), Marie Javins (editor)
Daredevil I#341 (June, 1995) - Alan Smithee (writer), Keith Pollard (penciler), Art Nicholls (inks), Marie Javins (editor)
Daredevil I#342 (July, 1995) - Alan Smithee (writer), Keith Pollard (penciler), Tom Palmer (inks), Marie Javins (editor)
Marvel Encyclopedia HC Vol. 4: Marvel Knights (2004) - Kit Kiefer (writer), Kuljit Mithra, Jeff Christiansen (head writers, research), Barry Reese (writer, research), Michael Ruscoe, Seth Biederman, Syd Barney-Hawke (contributing writers), Ronald Byrd, Michael Hoskin, Kyle Sims (additional writers, research), Jeff Youngquist (editor)

First Posted: 10/24/2018
Last updated: 10/24/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters