Ulysses Klaue is a villainous character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, who also goes by the supervillain alias Klaw. While his comic book counterpart is a metahuman who is able to manipulate sound, the MCU version of Klaue is a normal human. He is portrayed by Andy Serkis.
Biography[]
Early history[]
Ulysses Klaue was a criminal racketeer who made money by selling weapons to the highest bidder, be they government agencies, terrorists or dictators. Throughout his life, he held a grudge against Wakanda since his great-grandfather had been killed by the Black Panther of the time.
In 1992, Klaue was hired by Prince N'Jobu of the Golden Tribe to steal a supply of vibranium from Wakanda. Klaue launched an attack that left dozens of Wakandans dead and managed to get away with a quarter-ton of vibranium. As a result, he was deemed an enemy of Wakanda, who would spend years searching the globe for him. Despite King T'Chaka's best efforts, he never managed to find him.
Avengers: Age of Ultron[]
In 2015, Klaue was operating out of the freight ship Churchill on the African Coast, having managed to steal a sizeable amount of vibranium. He was visited by the genocidal robot Ultron and the Maximoff twins, who wanted Klaue's vibranium so that they could build an indestructible body for Ultron. With his digital consciousness linked to the internet, Ultron instantly made Klaue exceedingly rich by hacking financial databases around the world. The robot made a remark about keeping both friends and enemies rich, and Klaue recalled hearing Tony Stark make such a comment before, asking if Ultron was one of Stark's creations. Ultron was enraged by Klaue comparing him to Stark and attacked him, superheating his hand so that it quickly sliced off Klaue's arm and cauterized the stump. Terrified, Klaue made his escape from the ship just as the Avengers arrived to confront Ultron.
Black Panther[]
By 2016, Klaue had obtained a vibranium-based cybernetic arm to replace the arm he had lost to Ultron. This arm was capable of reconfiguring into a sonic cannon powerful enough to dismantle a tank.
Klaue had allied himself with Erik Killmonger and together they stole a vibranium axe from the Museum of Great Britain. He later travelled to Busan, South Korea after finding a buyer for the artifact. The Wakandans had finally managed to track Klaue down by this point, having traced the vibranium used by Ultron back to him. T'Challa, Nakia and Okoye then travelled to Busan undercover as high-rollers, visiting an underground casino where the deal was to take place.
In the casino, Klaue met with his buyer: CIA agent Everett Ross. Ross presented a metal briefcase containing millions of dollars in diamonds in exchange for the vibranium axe head, which Klaue had been hiding in his pants. Although the deal started out smooth, it was soon sabotaged by the presence of the Dora Milaje, as Klaue's bodyguards were ambushed by Okoye. Realizing the deal was a set-up, Klaue furiously opened fire on Ross, who then used the briefcase of diamonds as his shield to deflect the shots before taking cover behind a table while Klaue demanded that his men get the diamonds and run before they could be captured or killed by the Wakandans.
As Klaue fled, he gunned down several people in his way, but was stopped by T'Challa. Klaue activated his prosthetic arm's sonic cannon and fired, blasting T'Challa out of the way and running to his car. T'Challa, Okoye and Nakia pursued Klaue and his men through the city streets and, after a lengthy chase, managed to catch up to the criminal and capture him.
Klaue was taken into CIA custody at their South Korean black site where Ross conducted his interrogation. As the interrogation began, Klaue told Ross not to trust the Wakandans, although Ross insisted that he did not trust anybody due to his job before then asking Klaue about his prosthetic arm and where he had gotten it, to which Klaue explained that it was a mining tool which he made some adjustments to, before promising that he could get Ross one if he wanted.
As Ross asked for whoever supplied him with the arm, Klaue made it clear that T'Challa was who he should be looking at, as he confirmed that it was from Wakanda. Seeing Ross was skeptical of this, Klaue asked what he actually knew of it while Ross explained his belief that Wakanda was nothing more than a third world country. Klaue then told Ross that Wakanda was actually the legendary El Dorado which had been secretly hidden in Africa for centuries, while telling him that Wakanda was actually a technological marvel that stayed hidden. As he went on, Klaue then noted how Wakanda became rich due to mining the vibranium which gave them incredible technology beyond anything the world had ever seen before. Ross, however, remained unconvinced, noting how Klaue had stolen all Wakanda's vibranium from T'Chaka years earlier, which angered Klaue as he explained that he had stolen a tiny piece while Wakanda still had a mountain filled with vibranium which they had been mining for thousands of years.
Klaue told Ross that he was still the only outsider who had managed to get into Wakanda and escape with his life and, seeing that Ross was still unsure about what was said, Klaue recommended that Ross speak to T'Challa and ask him what his Panther Habit was made out of, making it clear that it was actually made out of the vibranium and therefore confirmed what Klaue had been saying to him. With that, Ross thought for a moment before picking up his coffee and walking out of the room, leaving Klaue alone in the interrogation room.
Minutes later, the wall of the interrogation room exploded as Killmonger arrived to rescue Klaue. After blasting the wall open, he opened fire into the office, killing two CIA agents. He and his henchmen then led Klaue outside and into their getaway van. Black Panther pursued the van, but was struck by a grenade launcher round, incapacitating him long enough for Killmonger and Klaue to escape.
Klaue was taken into an old junkyard where their getaway plane was waiting. While loading the equipment and the artifact on the plane, Killmonger asked to be transported to Wakanda, but due to the friction between him and T'Challa, Klaue refused. With this, Killmonger then shot Klaue's henchman Limbani through the back of the head. Seeing the betrayal, Klaue then quickly retaliated by taking Linda, Killmonger's girlfriend, hostage as he threatened to execute her. Reassuring Linda that it would be alright, Killmonger shot through her to get to Klaue. Klaue threw Linda's body to the ground and tried to run, but Killmonger was able to shoot and wound him. As Klaue lay bleeding, Killmonger approached him and revealed a tattoo on the inside of his lower lip, revealing that he was a descendant of the Golden Tribe and claimant to the Wakandan Throne. Klaue laughed at this, stating he had thought that Killmonger was just a deluded American, to which Killmonger responded by shooting him again, this time fatally.
Killmonger would bag up Klaue's corpse and carry it to the Wakandan border, presenting it as an "offering". Revealing his true identity as N'Jadaka, son of N'Jobu, and having eliminated an enemy of Wakanda, Killmonger attempted to stake his claim to the throne.