Ulysses Klaue

"Every day the world is crazier. The rules are now... Well, what rules, right? At some point, it's just hard to be afraid anymore."

- Ulysses Klaue

Ulysses Klaue is a black-market arms dealer, smuggler and gangster operating out of South Africa. He is a former acquaintance of Tony Stark from his weapons-dealing days. During an encounter with Ultron, Klaue sold his stockpile of Vibranium to the A.I. before losing his arm in an argument with Ultron.

Arms Dealer
"Don't tell me your man swindled you; I sent you six short range heat-seekers and got a boat full of rusty parts. Now you will make it right or the next missile I send you will come very much faster... Now Minister, where were we?"

- Ulysses Klaue

Working as an arms dealer in South Africa, Klaue met Tony Stark during a weapons conference, although the pair never made a deal. His other dealings involved the HYDRA leader Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Sometime after this encounter, Klaue stole large amounts of Vibranium from Wakanda. He managed to get the metal out of the country, but he was caught and had the word "thief" burnt into his neck in their native language.

Klaue was paid ten million dollars to assassinate T'Chaka, the current Black Panther, at the Bilderberg conference in the case that he refused to negotiate Wakanda's resources including Vibranium. Klaue took the job as he had a personal hatred for T'Chaka as the Panther killed his great-grandfather in the 19th century. This activity put Klaue on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar as a potential threat to world security.

Encounter with Ultron
"So if you're going to fiddle with my brain and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't do business and I know you're not in charge, and I only deal with the man in charge."

- Ulysses Klaue to Pietro and Wanda Maximoff

While in his ship in the Salvage Yard, Klaue was on the phone with one of his buyers, threatening to kill him for selling him poor quality missiles before hanging up and continuing another conversation with a minister about their deal. Before he could conclude his deal, the lights in the facility were cut out; believing that he was about to be attacked, Klaue took a hand gun and readied himself for a firefight. Before he could react, Pietro Maximoff ran into the room and disarmed him, leaving the bullets on Klaue's desk. Klaue found himself face to face with Pietro and his twin sister Wanda Maximoff. Klaue remained confident, mocking the pair for their youth. Klaue explained he was aware of who the pair were, noting that he was saddened to hear of the death of Wolfgang von Strucker, teasing the pair when he noticed that they were not aware of Strucker's murder. Klaue continued to mock and belittle the pair before stating he only deals with the man-in-charge of their organisation. The man-in-charge turned out to be the Artificial Intelligence robot named Ultron, who threw Klaue from his office window and told him he needed his Vibranium for his new body. Klaue handed Ultron the Vibranium he required, but reminded him of its incredible worth and the personal cost he had been through to get it. Ultron responded by filling Klaue's bank account with billions of dollars, which he hacked from financial databases on the internet. Their alliance was cut short when Klaue noted that Ultron was quoting Tony Stark, questioning if he was another one of Stark's designs. This comment caused Ultron to go into a fit of rage as he deemed it an insult to be compared to Stark. Without warning, Ultron sliced off Klaue's left arm, only for the limb to be cauterized from bleeding due to Ultron's heated metal hand; Ultron apologized immediately afterwards. Klaue could only stare in shock and horror at the assult, momentarily unable to comprehend what had happened. Ultron's rage continued to build however as he kicked Klaue down the stairs.

Battle at the Salvage Yard
"Shoot them!" "Which ones?" "All of them!"

- Ulysses Klaue and his henchman

Klaue survived the fall and, knowing he stood no chance in a battle with Ultron, made his escape. When the Avengers arrived to confront Ultron and the Maximoff twins, Klaue managed to escape the scene, clutching his bleeding wound. Klaue then furiously ordered his soldiers to kill them; when his bodyguard asked whom he wanted dead, Klaue roared that he wanted all of them dead, leading to a fierce battle in which Ultron escaped with the Vibranium and Klaue's soldiers were quickly defeated by the efforts of the Avengers.

Abilities

 * Expert Assassin: Klaue worked as an assassin for hire, being hired to kill T'Chaka at the Bilderberg conference. He accepted not only for the money, but due to his personal feud against the Black Panther for killing his great-grandfather in the 19th century.
 * Expert Thief: Klaue managed to steal Vibranium from Wakanda; although he got branded as a thief, he was not arrested.

Family

 * Great-grandfather

Allies

 * Intelligencia - Former Member
 * Wolfgang von Strucker † - Acquaintance

Enemies

 * T'Chaka - Target
 * Ultron †
 * Pietro Maximoff †
 * Wanda Maximoff
 * Avengers
 * Tony Stark - Former Acquaintance

Trivia

 * In the comics, Klaw, who was the killer of Black Panther's father T'Chaka, wears a sonic emitter as a prosthetic for his right hand. However, this Klaw suffers the casualty on the opposite limb, losing his entire left arm.
 * Klaue claims to be terrified of cuttlefish. He even stated that a documentary on cuttlefish terrified him.

Behind the Scenes

 * Klaue's S.H.I.E.L.D. file has exactly the same content as his Marvel Database entry.