Kaiser

## **History**

### **Early Life**

**Klaus Sigmund Konig** was born in Berlin, Germany roughly 45 years ago. His mother was a British-born German Holocaust survivor named Helga, and his father was a member of the French Resistance in World War 2. He says that his upbringing was a typical one in the United States zone of Germany, not being well-off but by no means poor.

From a young age, he was obsessed with space and the possibility of space travel. He would become further inspired in his interstellar dreams after a viewing of *Star Wars*. Klaus soon attended university with a major in aerospace engineering, it was there that he would meet his love. A woman named Angela Schmidt, the pair hit it off instantly with their shared love of space and science and soon began dating.

Upon completion of his studies, he and Angela opened a laboratory of their own deep in the Argonne Forest. Among their few strides, the developed a mean of relatively fast travel within the solar system. A discovery they kept secret from all world governments. The two worked together in peace for almost a decade, until the couple found something terrifyingly extraordinary in their work. A black hole was forming near the Earth!

Thinking quickly, Klaus and his wife formulated a plan to save the planet. They would fly a small craft near the black hole and emit a signal strong enough to change the course of the black hole. However, the signal emitter malfunctioned, and they were sucked into the abyss. Klaus has never described what they saw within the black hole, appearing to be a sore subject for him or that he doesn’t remember.

Upon their return, Klaus was in possession of the mysterious sword Singularity and was now able to channel cosmic energy. He soon found the sword to be sentient, or at least partly such. Angela, however, was not as lucky, the sheer amount of radiation within the black hole had caused her to contract brain cancer. Not knowing why she had contracted the ailment and not he, Klaus worked tirelessly to find the source of his wife’s ailment; she was pregnant! This confused both parties, as they had not made love in several months. Even stranger, the child was born only three months later.

Over a brief time, Angela’s conditioned deteriorated rapidly to the point of needing constant care, Klaus was happy to do so and held her hand as she passed. Angela’s death instilled him with a feeling of survivor’s guilt, he didn’t want anyone else to die because of him. So, he decided to use his cosmic power for good and became the first modern superhero, Kaiser.

### **Blue Ribbon: Genesis**

Kaiser makes his first appearance in Blue Ribbon: Genesis during the inauguration scene in Issue #2; Nick points out that he [Kaiser] is likely the strongest member of Blue Ribbon by sheer power levels. He fights off the Omega Brigade and Mister Machine's robots within the conventions center.

He next appears after Strixa's death in a crowd control role, before signaling for Kortex to assist. He then appears in background roles until he and DamagePlan go to Germany to recruit Void for the Outcasts.

He again falls into a background role until after the Fall of the Tower, he accompanies the away team to Northern Canada to stop Silver Tongue. He survives this encounter and returns to The Citadel with the other heroes, unsure what to do following the attack in New York and subsequent attacks across the globe.

## **Appearance**

Kaiser is described as being a tall, somewhat stout, man with fair skin and an imposing physique. He has black, yet graying hair, and violet eyes. Klaus keeps his face trimmed and his many scars concealed beneath his supersuit.

## **Powers & Abilities**

* **Cosmically Charged:** Kaiser is filled with an, only partially understood, energy. He is able to channel this energy offensively with vicious efficiency.
	+ **Enhanced Strength:** Though not on par with DamagePlan, Kaiser is still able to lift more than three times his body weight with ease.
	+ **Vacuum Adaptation:** Klaus is able to breathe and move freely in space and other vacuums.
	+ **Flight:** Kaiser is able to fly at high-speeds.

* **Expert Swordsman:** Due to years of training with Singularity, Kaiser is likely the finest swordsman in the Western Hemisphere.
	+ **Energy Conduit:** Singularity is able to function as a conduit of energy that can be released at Kaiser's will. Similar to how Comet's powers function.
* **Skilled Diplomat:** Kaiser is also a skilled diplomat and mediator.
* **Leadership:** Klaus is a highly adept leader, and was considered for the leadership role within Blue Ribbon after Dred and Miri's mutual retirement.
* **Multilingualism:** Klaus can speak German, Danish, English, and Flemish with fluency. He is also proficient in French and Dutch.
* **Near-Genius Intelligence:** Klaus is nearly classified as a genius in numerous fields, particularly aerospace engineering.

### **Weaknesses**

* **Age:** Despite his ferocity in combat, Klaus is still a middle-aged mortal human man.

## **Notes and Trivia**

* Klaus identifies as culturally Jewish, though he hasn’t attended a synagogue since childhood.

* He has never told his daughter about her immaculate conception.

* The exact origins of Singularity are unknown, possibly due to Klaus’ reluctance to talk about the black hole.

* His father passed when he was a teenager, but his mother is still alive and lives in a small apartment in Berlin.

* Kaiser was offered the leadership position for Blue Ribbon but turned it down in favor of DamagePlan and Ms. Fortune.

* Klaus is a staunch anti-fascist.