BLITZKRIEGER

Real Name: Franz Mittelstaedt

Identity/Class: Human (German), mutate

Occupation: Adventure, former mechanical engineer

Group Membership: Schutz Heiligruppe

Affiliations: Arabian Knight, Captain America, Captain Britain, Hulk, Peregrine, Rom, Sasquatch, Shamrock

Enemies: Death, Dire Wraiths, Everyman, Grandmaster, Red Skull, Skeleton Crew, Storm, Arnim Zola

Known Relatives: Anna Mittelstaedt (wife), Johann Mittelstaedt (son), Hans Mittelsteadt (cousin)

Aliases: Blitzkrieg, Generator

Base of Operations: Stuttgart, West Germany

First Appearance: (As Blitzkrieg) Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions#1 (June, 1982); (as Blitzkrieger) Captain America I#389 (August, 1991)

Powers/Abilities: Blitzkrieger possessed the ability to summon lightning mentally, at up to 15,000,000 volts. He can manipulate all forms of electrical energy, using them to allow him to fly, create electrical energy shields and cages, and electrical tornadoes. He is also immune to electricity, and can sense electrical transmissions and track them to their source.

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#2) - Franz Mittelstaedt was investigating an electrical power plant when a stray bolt of lightning struck a faulty generator and bathed him in electricity. After emerging from a coma years later, he found he could summon lightning at will, and decided to use his powers to become Blitzkrieg, a crimefighter.

(Incredible Hulk II#279) - Blitzkrieg joined with other heroes of Earth in honoring the Hulk as he was awarded a presidential pardon.

(Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions#1) - Blitzkrieg was among the heroes gathered by the Grandmaster and Death to serve as a pawn in their game for the Collector's life, and was chosen to serve on the Grandmaster's team.

(Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions#3) - Blitzkrieg was placed on a team alongside Captain America and Sasquatch, and sent to recover a piece of the Golden Globe of Life from a jungle in South America. Blitzkrieg fought Storm, and although her lightning only helped him battle her, she was able to overcome him with an elemental assault. Blitzkrieg recovered in time to assist Captain America in searching for the globe, and uncovered it with an electrical vortex, only for Shamrock to snatch the globe away.

(Rom#65, 66 - BTS) - Blitzkrieg joined with other heroes of Earth, especially those from outside America, in battling the Dire Wraiths as they launched a full-out assault on Earth and Rom. The Wraiths were ultimately all exiled into Limbo by Rom, with the aid of Forge.

(Captain America I#387/2 (fb) - BTS) - Blitzkrieger later joined the German super-hero team Schutz Heiligruppe, and assisted in their assault on the castle of Arnim Zola to destroy the clone bodies of the Red Skull, the first step in their plan to arrest the Red Skull for war crimes.

(Captain America I#389/2) - While Hauptmann Deutschland guarded the Red Skull, Blitzkrieger piloted their ship to Berlin. Blitzkrieger sensed that the Red Skull had a homing device which would lead his Skeleton Crew to him, but Hauptmann Deutschland intended to capture them as well.

(Captain America I#390/2) - Blitzkrieger joined the Schutz Heiligruppe in battling the Skeleton Crew at an airfield in Berlin, and defended himself against the 4th Sleeper with his electrical fields, then overloaded its electrical systems to make it seize up. Mother Night attempted to defeat him by casting darkness about him, but she was tripped by Zeitgeist. Finally, Blitzkrieger closed Crossbones inside of an electrical cage, and Crossbones was shocked unconscious trying to break out. The three heroes then gathered up the Skeleton Crew to have them tried alongside the Red Skull.

(Captain America I#391/2) - Blitzkrieger joined the Schutz Heiligruppe in guarding the Skeleton Crew as they prepared to hold their trial.

(Captain America I#393) - When the Skeleton Crew broke lose, Blitzkrieger and the others prepared to recapture them, but were tricked into letting them go by bioplastoids of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.

(Alpha Flight I#108 - BTS) - Blitzkrieger couldn't attend the Pan-European Conference on Superhuman Affairs for unknown reasons. A German delegate apologized to Alpha Flight's Sasquatch for Blitzkrieger's abscence.

(Captain America I#442) - Blitzkrieger participated in a mission to Buenos Aires to investigate the deaths of several heroes and villains in South America. He was confronted by Zeitgeist, who presented him with a picture he had taken of the future, displaying Blitzkrieger's lifeless body. He then killed Blitzkrieger. Blitzkrieger was subsequently avenged by his teammate Vormund, who slew Zeitgeist.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Bill Mantlo, Steven Grant, John Romita Jr. and Pablo Marcos.

Alas, poor Blitzkrieger. But since the OHOTMU says he had a son, perhaps one day he'll take up his father's mantle?

Blitzkrieger's name became a problem in Germany. Read more about it in the Schutz Heiligruppe profile.
--Markus Raymond

Profile by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Blitzkrieger should not be confused with:

• Blitz, of the New Enforcers, @ Web of Spider-Man I#99
• Blitz, of the Zoo, @ Gun Runners#3
• Blitzgeist, of Earth-928, cyberspace assassin, @ Spider-Man 2099 Special#1
• Blitziana, of the Godpack, @ Thor I#472
• Blitzkrieg, electricity-wielding villain, @ Adventures of Captain America#1
• Blitzkrieg Squad, Baron Strucker's lackeyes, @ Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos I#14
• Blitz Squad, HYDRA agents mutated by Techno with ionic treatment, @ Avengers and Thunderbolts novel