Wilhelm Eckhardt

**Wilhelm Carl Eckhardt** is the Secretary-Marshall of U.N.T.I.L. and the older brother of Kyle Eckhardt.

## Biography

Wilhelm Carl Eckhardt was born in 1955 in what was then known as West Germany.
His father had fought for Nazi Germany in World War II, but had renounced his past affiliation with the Nazi Party and decided to work to make the new Germany a good place for his children to grow up.

Eckhardt’s childhood was more or less normal; he was neither a troublemaker nor a top-notch student. As he became older and realized what had happened to Germany in the wake of the war, he grew angry at the stupidity of the world powers and the silly Cold War games they were playing. He had just about decided to join the German army after finishing school, but then he read an article about U.N.T.I.L.. Now, this sounded like a group that knew what was going on in the world! Somehow, it made more sense to Wilhelm to have a single world government instead of so many little states running around fighting wars and splitting each other up. The presence of supercriminals didn’t help matters; Wilhelm had read about some of the ones who’d fought in the war and realized World War II would not be the last time superhumans posed a threat to the world. After finishing school, he applied for and was accepted into U.N.T.I.L.

Eckhardt slowly worked his way up through the ranks, receiving training as a UD Combat Pilot. During a posting in a combined UD/OAD squad in Spain, he learned SCUBA diving and parachuting. Eventually he became a Sergeant, then a Lieutenant, then a Captain, and finally joined the upper echelons of U.N.T.I.L. The early 1980s found Major Eckhardt serving as an attache to “Major” Juan Martinez, U.N.T.I.L.’s Secretary-Marshall. Eckhardt respected Martinez tremendously and considered him a role model. Martinez, seeing in Eckhardt a responsible, competent officer, began giving him more and more duties. When the time came for Martinez to retire, he decided he could have no better replacement than Eckhardt. Although several persons questioned this decision strongly, arguing Eckhardt was too young for the position, Martinez was adamant. On July 16, 1990, Eckhardt became the second Secretary-Marshall in the history of UNTIL. Since then, Eckhardt has reorganized and streamlined UNTIL to improve its efficiency; he’s looking forward to leading UNTIL into the twenty-first century.

Eckhardt has a wife, Clarice, to whom he’s been married for 25 years. They have four children, three boys, and a girl, all adults or teenagers.

## Personality

Eckhardt is a career U.N.T.I.L. officer who takes his job very seriously. U.N.T.I.L. and its ideals mean everything to him, and thoughts about improving the organization are never far from his mind. He realizes just how important U.N.T.I.L. is, and how dangerous some of its foes are, and is determined that U.N.T.I.L. always be ready to perform its mission. He often works 20-hour days; his wife jokingly refers to herself as a “U.N.T.I.L. widow.” Unlike the more easygoing Martinez, Eckhardt is something of a stickler for military discipline.

He expects his underlings to obey his orders quickly and precisely, but his sometimes-prickly demeanor hides a strong paternalistic attitude toward those in his employ. He is slow to anger, but his aides and commanders have learned that goading him is a very, very bad idea. The only time he truly seems to soften up is around his various beloved pets; he has several dogs and keeps horses at his estate in Offenbach. Eckhardt works hard to live up to the image of his predecessor, and to dispel the lingering doubts about his age making him unprepared for the job.

Martinez left some big shoes to fill, and even after 13 years Eckhardt often feels the strain of trying to measure up to the expectations of the organization. He has continued most of Martinez’s policies, including ones regarding cooperation with superheroes, but unlike Martinez knows when to
delegate

## Abilities

Wilhelm Eckhardt has the strength, endurance, and agility of a man in his late forties who has engaged in strenuous physical activity for all of his adult life. He has received extensive UNTIL training in the areas of hand-to-hand combat, small unit tactics, and piloting, among others. Even today, when he hasn’t been in
the field in years, he is considered an excellent combatant by UNTIL standards and could easily hold his own in a firefight.

* **Master Tactitian**: Wilhelm Eckhardt is a master strategist and an astute judge of character. He uses these talents to great effect in his leadership of U.N.T.I.L..
* **Expert Martial Artist**: Eckhardt is a seasoned unarmed and armed-combat expert and veteran.

## Equipment

As Secretary-Marshall, Eckhardt has access to an array of U.N.T.I.L. weapons, conventional and otherwise. In addition, due to him being the leader of a secret but covert/military organization, he has access to the most cutting-edge technology U.N.T.I.L. has to offer.

* **U.N.T.I.L. Uniform**: Eckhardt wears a has a specially made uniform constructed from 9-ply Kevlar (able to withstand ballistic impact up to .45 caliber bullets) and a fire-resistant material whose kindling temperature is 1,700 °F (930 °C). It includes numerous U.N.T.I.L. paraphernalia such a radio-link tie.
* **H.U.G.I.N.** and **M.U.N.I.N.**: As Secretary-Marshall, Wilhelm possesses undaunted access to U.N.T.I.L.'s hyper-advanced supercomputers.