DR. KARL MALUS

Real Name: Dr. Karlin "Karl" Malus

Identity/Class: Human/symbiote hybrid;
   formerly human bonded to alien symbiote

Occupation: Criminal research scientist, former surgeon

Group Membership: None;
   formerly Frightful Four (Klaw, Wizard), Power Broker Inc. (Dr. Seth Forrest, Golddigger, others), Corporation

Affiliations: Armadillo, Armando Aviles, Bludgeon, Captain America (Dave Rickford), Cruz, Cyclone, Dr. Ashley Kafka (clone), Daddy Longlegs, Enforcer, Nick Fury, Goliath (Erik Josten; now Atlas), Hammerhand, Hornet (Scotty McDowell), Human Fly (Rick Deacon), Madame Masque, the Maggia, Mangler, Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura), Norman Osborn, Power Broker, Power Tools, Serpent Solutions, Sons of the Serpent, Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, Willard, unidentified human/animal hybrids

Enemies: Atlas (Erik Josten), Avengers, Bantam, Battlestar, Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Captain America (Sam Wilson), Carnage (symbiote), D-Man, Falcon (Joaquin Torres), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), J. Jonah Jameson, Cletus Kasady, Madcap, Scotty McDowell, Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura), Misty Knight, Night Shift, Red Zepplin, Spiderlings, Spider-Man (Otto Octavius), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Thunderbolts, the Unwanted (Bud Adams, others), US Agent (John Walker), Vagabond (Priscilla Lyons), Werewolf

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Superior Carnage

Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California;
formerly Miami, Florida

First Appearance: (BTS) Marvel Team-Up I#67 (March, 1978); (seen) Spider-Woman I#30 (September, 1980); (as Superior Carnage) Superior Carnage#3 (November, 2013)

Powers/Abilities: Dr. Karl Malus has no superhuman powers. He is a brilliant surgeon with great knowledge in the field of chemistry, genetic manipulation and radiology. He is highly experienced at instilling superhuman powers in others, especially the strength augmentation technique.
   Temporarily bonded to the Carnage symbiont he possessed superhuman strength, durability, endurance and agility. He could shapeshift the symbiote into many different forms, creating clothing, blades, throwing stars and tentacles he could use to hold and fire several weapons at once.

Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 155 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

History:
(Official Handbook Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#8) - Dr. Karl Malus was fascinated by the subject of superhuman powers since the first time he read a newspaper account of the Fantastic Four. Upon graduating with a degree of biology from the University of California in Los Angeles, he applied to various institutions for a grant to study supernormal capacities in depth. Unable to get any funding through legal means, Malus contacted certain wealthy investors active in the Los Angeles criminal underground. They set him up with a laboratory facility with the agreement that they could exploit the results of his research.

(Spider-Woman I#31 (fb) - BTS) - Malus immodestly called his facility the Institute for Supranormality Research despite the fact that he composed its entire staff.

(Official Handbook Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#8) - The underworld provided him with human test subjects to experiment upon composed of individuals the mob sought to liquidate. None of Malus' early test subjects survived his various experiments. Malus eventually hoped to find an individual who already had superhuman powers he could study.

(Spider-Woman I#30 (fb) - BTS) - In the course of his research, Malus came up with a number of special toxins and other chemical-based weaponry, which he sold to such Los Angeles criminals such as the Enforcer.

(Marvel Team-Up I#67 (fb) - BTS) - Malus invented and sold a mnemonic scrambler to Kraven.

(Spider-Woman I#32 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Malus was contacted by Jack Russell who was seeking chemical means to control his Werewolf transformations.

(Spider-Woman I#30) - Malus encountered the Human Fly who had sought him out to bolster his waning powers. He sent him out to steal some special equipment, but the theft led the Fly into battle with Jessica Drew, the first Spider-Woman. Malus determined that to cure the Fly he had to transfer Spider-Woman's powers to the Fly. The Fly then lured Spider-Woman to Malus' facility by stealing the comatose body of Spider-Woman's then partner, criminologist Scotty McDowell, who had been stricken by one of the Enforcer's bullets. After Spider-Woman defeated the Fly, Malus offered to resuscitate McDowell in exchange for lenient treatment. While reviving him, Malus injected McDowell with an extract of the Fly's blood along with the antidote for the Enforcer's bullet.

(Spider-Woman I#31) - While incarcerated in jail, Malus listened with interest to radio reports of McDowell as the Hornet and his encounters with Spider-Woman. As the Hornet seemed to go on a rampage, Malus finagled his own release from jail in order to help them capture the Hornet. Malus was actually interested in obtaining Spider-Woman for his personal study. The police equipped him with a high-powered tranquilizer gun, but Malus actually used it to keep Spider-Woman from defeating the Hornet. In the resulting confusion, he escaped his police custody.

(Spider-Woman I#32) - As McDowell--as the Hornet--staggered home from his fight with Spider-Woman, he found Dr. Malus waiting for him. Malus revealed that he was responsible for his power as the Hornet. He revealed the treatment also caused certain repressed hostilities to surface that normally remained repressed. He provided him with a larger dose to renew and enhance McDowell's powers knowing fully that it would cause him to act even more erratic and mentally unstable than before. Under Malus' influence, McDowell then gave Spider-Woman a tip on where to find the Hornet.

   After the Hornet was once again defeated by Spider-Woman, Malus realized that McDowell was becoming too irrational to defeat Spider-Woman for his purposes. He made contact with Jack Russell claiming he now had the time to help him. He equipped Russell with a device mounted to his neck that was supposed to help him control his transformations, but it actually placed Russell directly under his control. Malus tested his control on Russell as the Werewolf by having him destroy a marble statue in front of the Los Angeles Center for the Performing Arts. Controlling the Werewolf (using a mnemonic scrambler) and the Hornet, Malus sent them both against Spider-Woman, but they actually got in each other's way. As Spider-Woman shorted out the control Malus had the Werewolf, they ganged up to defeat Malus and the Werewolf. Realizing his waylaid plans, Malus attempted to flee, but the Werewolf caught him and threw him hard against a wall out of revenge for trying to control him.

(Iron Man Annual I#7 (fb)) - Dr. Malus helped restore the superhuman Daddly Longlegs to his normal size. In the course of doing so, he learned how to harness Pym Particles.

(Iron Man Annual I#7) - Dr. Malus was approached by Erik Josten, the super-criminal known as Power Man and the Smuggler. He wanted to regain the strength he had lost, and Malus put him through extensive tests. He was finally able to learn how to not only make Josten stronger, but granted him the ability to change size using Pym Particles. Josten became Goliath, but then turned on Malus, refusing to aid him in criminal endeavors, deciding he was powerful enough on his own. When Goliath was finally defeated by the West Coast Avengers, Malus decided it had all been a terrible waste.

(Captain America I#308 (fb)) - Dr. Malus was sought out by Antonio Rodriguez, who was desperate to cure his wife Bonita's paralysis. Malus agreed to take the case, but had Antonio agree to serve as a test subject. Using gene splicing, Malus transformed Antonio into the Armadillo. He then sent him out to bring him Goliath, who lay in the Avengers Compound.

(Captain America I#308) - The Armadillo lost the Pym Particles needed to shrink Goliath down a manageable size, and returned to Malus to report his favor, unaware that Captain America had followed him. Malus threatened to kill Bonita unless Captain America lay down his shield, but Cap outsmarted him by striking down Malus with the shield first, breaking Malus' left arm. Captain America promised to turn Malus over to the authorities.

(Thing I#35 (fb) - BTS, Official Handbook Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#8) - Malus was contacted while in prison by Power Broker Inc. a mysterious underworld corporation whose major business was the supplying of superhuman manpower to various clients. Malus agreed to join the company for getting out of jail. Power Broker Inc. supplied Malus and his criminal scientists with all the test subjects they could manage. One of Power Broker Inc.'s major sources of clients were wrestlers who wished to have their strength augmented in order to join the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation. To ensure the wrestlers kept paying twenty percent of their earnings back to Power Broker Inc., Malus administered a highly addictive synthetic drug to the wrestlers in the course of their treatment. Power Broker Inc. supplied further quantities of the drug to the wrestlers who met their payments and told them that they would die without it to stabilize their powers. In reality, they would only experience intense withdrawal.

(Thing I#35) - Stuntwoman Sharon Ventura presented herself to Malus for augmentation so that she could join the Grapplers, but she broke free before Malus could administer the drug to her that would force her to be completely dependant on Power Broker Inc. for more drugs. She broke free using her new augmented strength and even ran across Malus' failed monstrous experiments in her escape.

(Captain America I#328) - Captain America attempted to infiltrate a Power Broker clinic, but was brought down by security guards. Malus attempted to kill him by placing him under augmentation and trying to make his muscles expand until they burst, but he was saved by D-Man, who also took Malus hostage.

(Captain America I#329) - As Captain America toured the clinic's facilities with Malus, members of the Power Broker's Sweatshop arrived, and Cap brought Malus into the sewers to evade them. As Cap untied Malus' hands, Malus confessed that his failed test subjects had been deposited in the sewers, placing them both at risk. When some of the test subjects attacked Captain America, Malus fled through a drain pipe.

(Captain America I#330) - Malus was recaptured by members of the Night Shift, and forced to join them and Captain America as they invaded the Power Broker's home base.

(Captain America I#331) - Malus was forced to monitor D-Man's condition after he suffered a heart attack, and was later turned over to the authorities.

(Captain America I#363/2-364/2) - When the Power Broker was bed-ridden after his augmentation process made him so muscular he could no longer move, Malus had Bludgeon and Mangler bring him Vagabond, who had befriended the Power Broker. He forced Vagabond to use an epidermold so that he could obtain the Power Broker's fingerprints and use them to access his employer's safe, promising her a free augmentation if she did so. Vagabond collected the fingerprints, but demanded that Malus meet with her in a washroom to remove the explosive bracelet he had placed on her to ensure her loyalty. Vagabond managed to overpower Malus, destroyed the fingerprint mold, and contacted the U.S. Agent to pick up Malus and his men.

(Avengers Spotlight#29) - Dr. Malus had his Power Tools kidnap Madcap so that he could experiment upon him, and hoped that he could also experiment on Daredevil, but Madcap's capture brought Hawkeye to his doorstep instead. Hawkeye set Madcap free and fought the Power Tools while Malus fled, setting his laboratory to self-destruct.

(Captain America I#375/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Power Broker had Malus' legs broken for trying to steal his fingerprints. He then put Malus in charge of an operation to cure him of his condition by experimenting on former test subjects, and Malus sent out the Power Tools to collect them.

(Captain America I#375/2-378/2) - Malus experimented upon the Red Zepplin and on Battlestar, and appeared to be making progress, when Battlestar managed to escape his cell and threatened Malus' life. Before the Power Tools and other security guards could respond, the U.S. Agent broke in and defeated them. He then forced Malus to restore all of the test subjects to normal, then destroyed his augmentation machine.

(Captain America Annual I#12) - Dr. Malus set up an augmentation clinic in Florida, and under a deal with Armando Aviles, augmented boxers into superhumans for bouts in Puerto Rico. Malus augmented boxer Roberto Velasquez, ultimately resulting in him becoming the Bantam.

(Captain America Annual I#12/2) - Captain America learned of Malus' operation, and was able to obtain an audience with Malus by pretending to be a previous augmentation subject. Malus immediately knew that Cap was not one of his prior subjects, but before he could react, the Bantam arrived, mad for revenge. Malus tried to flee with his ally Cruz, but Captain America struck them both down, and Bantam subsequently defeated another of Malus' employees, Hammerhand.

(Cage I#13 (fb) - BTS) - Some faction of the Corporation reorganized, under Dr. Karl Malus, based in the America Midwest, in Taylor, Mississippi.

(Cage I#13-14) - Malus gave the Corporation's quarterly report, announcing their great profit through the development of superhumans. They had made a good profit from their private army, the Assassin Nation (Contract, Kickback, Manslaughter, and Troubleshooter). He stressed the importance of their successfully remaining America's best kept secret. Malus initiated plans to turn James Lucas into their next operative: Coldfire. However, their capture of the Agent, Rick Mason, caused his father, the Tinkerer, to recruit Cage (Lucas' brother) to rescue him. Cage was more than happy to do so after learning his brother was involved.
    Cage, working alongside Dakota North, infiltrated the Corporation HQ, and freed his father (who had been kidnapped to force Lucas' compliance if needed), as well as the Agent. Upon learning that they had abducted his father, Coldfire turned against Malus and the Corporation, and attacked them. Though he was apparently destroyed as well, Coldfire destroyed the Corporation HQ, though many of its agents apparently escaped.

(Thunderbolts I#43) - Dr. Malus was hired by the Maggia to assist them in controlling Atlas and Wonder Man by using Baron Zemo's ion ray machine from his South American lab, but the lab was invaded by the Thunderbolts and Black Widow, who captured him before his bodyguard Cyclone could get him to safety.

(Thunderbolts I#44) - In return for a sentence reduction, Malus aided the Avengers, Thunderbolts and Madame Masque in designing the Ion Lock, a device which could decrease Count Nefaria's powers.

(Dark Reign Files) - Quasimodo researched Dr. Malus for Norman Osborn.

(Captain America I#615.1 (fb) - BTS) - Nick Fury made a deal with Dr. Malus and Power Broker, Inc.

(Captain America I#615.1) - At the Area 501 Laboratory Malus mutated ex-special forces soldier Dave Rickford to become the new Captain America under the Power Broker's (secretly Nick Fury)'s supervision. Malus and Fury were impressed by his training, then sent him to prevent a robbery. They were gone when he returned to the lab leaving him for agents of AIM to be abducted (Steve Rogers saved Rickford from AIM and Sharon Carter found out that Fury was working with Malus to turn Rickford into Captain America to manipulate Rogers to become Captain America again).

(Avengers: Solo#4) - As part of Power Broker, Inc. Malus, alongside Angela Golden, oversaw the research of Dr. Forrest. Malus plan was to create superhuman babies, but due to Forrest's research Malus' work became obsolete due to Forrest's experiments working on the women themselves. Golden got into a fight with Malus and joined forces with Forrest to continue the project without Malus.

(Superior Carnage#2) - Wheelchair-bound Dr. Malus was recruited by the Wizard as the fourth member of the Frightful Four and to remove the Carnage-symbiont from Cletus Kasady and create a new Carnage for the Frightful Four. Malus was shocked when Carnage assaulted the Wizard, but eventually Klaw helped him to recapture Carnage again. Malus, who knew about Wizard's mental problems, asked Klaw if he had noticed any worrisome behavior that would show that Wizard had become a delusional madman. Klaw said no to protect the Wizard, but eventually Malus realized that the Wizard was unable to control Carnage and the only way to create a new Carnage was to transfer the symbiont to another person's bloodstream. Wizard realized Malus was right and decided Malus would be the recipient of the symbiont against Malus' will. Klaw quickly made sure that Malus understand that Wizard was like family to him and knocked out Malus, then readied him for transfusion. The Carnage symbiont transfer was a success.

(Superior Carnage#3) - Malus, empowered by the Carnage symbiont, broke free of his shackles and attacked Klaw and Wizard, but Wizard's plan worked and he gained psychic control over Superior Carnage (Carnage symbiont/Karl Malus), who armed himself with several guns to attack NYC's City Hall. The Frightful Four's attack on City Hall resulted in death and destruction, but they were soon opposed by Spider-Man (Octavius) and his Spiderlings, who protected J. Jonah Jameson, the mayor.

(Superior Carnage#4) - Spider-Man and the Spiderlings fought the Frightful Four. Wizard lost control over Superior Carnage, who ran amok. When Superior Carnage stabbed his teammate Klaw, the villain detonated in a sonic explosion, which ripped the Carnage symbiont from Malus's body.

(Superior Carnage#5) - Spider-Man told Malus to stay down while Wizard, now controlled by the Carnage symbiont, fought Spider-Man. During the fight Carnage apparently ripped off Malus' legs. (see comments)

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#3 (fb) - BTS) - Malus was eaten by Carnage, who eventually digested him and shat him out. Malus survived as a human/symbiote hybrid, but the ordeal left him slightly mad resulting in occasional outbursts of violence.

   Malus reinvented himself and fully concentrated his work on bio-engineering. Malus was hired by Serpent Solutions.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#6 (fb) - BTS) - Serpent Solutions funded Malus, who worked under a strict work-for-hire agreement for them.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#2 (fb) - BTS) - Malus set up a lab in New York. He promised Armadillo to help him become human again in return for his services.

   Malus paid 5,000 dollars for each healthy male the Sons of the Serpent shipped to his lab in New York.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#1 (fb) - BTS) - Joaquin Torres, a young man that helped Mexican immigrants survive their way through the dessert, was caught by the Sons of the Serpents.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#3 (fb) - BTS) - Malus mutated several men sold to him by the Sons of the Serpent into human/animal hybrids.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#17 (fb) ) - Malus spliced the DNA of Joaquin Torres, one of the men delivered to him by the Sons of the Serpent, and Captain America (Sam Wilson)'s captured vampiric falcon Redwing to turn Torres into a human/falcon hybrid.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#2 - BTS) - With the aid of the hacker known as the Whisperer (Rick Jones) Wilson found out that the lab the Sons of the Serpent sent the captured men to was owned by Dr. Karl Malus.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#3 (fb) - BTS) - Malus mutated a man named Carlos into an iguana/human hybrid.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#3 (fb) ) - While Carlos cried over his fate Malus told him of the time when he became a meal for Carnage and how he reinvented himself after surviving the ordeal. Malus thanked his janitor Willard because without him he didn't know how to clean up his messes. Assuring Carlos that his wife Juana won't be interested in him anymore because he was an iguana, Malus suggested to Carlos to become a supervillain. At that moment Captain America (Wilson) crashed through the skylight, hit Malus with his shield and Malus just picked it out of his gaping chest, ripped off his vest and revealed his symbiote/human hybrid nature. Malus managed to captured Captain America and Redwing.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#3 (fb) - BTS) - Malus mutated Captain America into a wolf/human hybrid.

   In the aftermath of Cap's attack on his lab Malus quickly moved all his hybrids (except for Cap, who was still mid-transformation) to a new location with the aid of Willard.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#3 (fb) ) - In his new lab Malus threatened to kill his new landlord when he saw the hybrids in the tanks and told Malus that pets were not allowed. Malus' new landlord was saved when Misty Knight and Cap (Wilson), who honed in on Redwing with his psychic connection to him, found the new location. Malus sent his hybrids against the duo, but Cap and Misty held their own against them. Cap then ordered Redwing to use his sonic scream to incapacitate Malus, who was weak to sonic attacks due to his symbiote, before Cap knocked him out for good.

(Captain America: Sam Wilson#3 - BTS) - Malus' lab was destroyed and Cap sent all the information from Malus' computers to the Whisperer, who learned the cosmetics industry was behind Malus' experiments (actually Serpent Solutions, but they had their fingers in everything at that point).

(Ravencroft#5 (fb) - BTS) - Osborn found a clone of Dr. Ashley Kafka in Miles Warren's old lab. Osborn took her with him to Ravencroft because he knew John Jameson had a weakness for her.

(Ravencroft#3 (fb) - BTS) - Norman hired Dr. Karl Malus to become part of the Ravencroft staff. Malus took blood samples from Dr. Ashley Kafka to test what she was because Ashley Kafka was supposed to be dead.

(Ravencroft#3) - After running numerous tests Malus revealed to Osborn (who knew the truth), John Jameson (who was clueless) and Kafka (who was clueless as well) that she was the real Dr. Ashley Kafka. (Malus probably knew the truth, but followed Osborn's orders to lie because it was more advantageous for Osborn.)

(Ravencroft#5) - Malus continued working for Osborn at the Ravencroft institute and began experimenting on the Unwanted and Bud Adams alongside Kafka.

Comments: Created by Michael Fleisher, Steve Leialoha and Jim Mooney.

Dr. Karl Malus has an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#8...and in the Master Edition, too--Snood

Malus' connection to the Los Angeles criminal underground possibly places much of his research taken from the Doc, another scientist who took over Nicholas Trask's LA-based organization. Considering the Doc's past, much of his genetic secrets could be linked through the Jackal (Miles Warren), Arnim Zola, the High Evolutionary and Maelstrom who have all been linked in recent years. Conceivably, Malus fits in there someplace as well but as yet this is all both debatable and theoretical.

According to the OHOTMUDE#8, the same device that Malus used on the Werewolf was also used by Kraven the Hunter to control Tigra of the West Coast Avengers in Marvel Team-Up I#67 making it Malus' first BTS appearance.

The not-so-good doctor's remark that the technology used to mutate Coldfire was the same as that used to animate "a Living Colossus" might have been a reference to reverse-engineering of the original Kigor's spacecraft, by the Gargoyle (Gremlin's father), on behalf of the Soviet Union. This technology was then either bought (via the black market) or stolen-then duplicated, by Dr. Aloysius Vault to temporarily take control of the Living Colossus during It's violent encounter with the Hulk (Bruce Banner), in L.A.
 
Dr. Vault might even have been Dr. Malus' mentor; the latter thereby "inheriting" the equipment, by that means!
--Carycomic

Malus' seemingly died in Superior Carnage#5, but his death was off panel. On one panel Carnage/Wizard threatens to rip off his legs, on the next panel blood splatters on the Spiderlings. It doesn't look good for him, but maybe Malus survived...without legs!
--Markus Raymond
   It turned out to be so much worse, but Malus still survived.
--Markus Raymond

His full first name Karlin was first mentioned by himself in Spider-Woman I#32.
--Markus Raymond

Dr. Karl Malus: mad scientist or science geek with a Moe Howard haircut?

Dr. Malus may be based on Professor Milo, a Batman villain with a similar haircut.
--John McDonagh

Thanks for the improved main image to Loki.

Profile by Prime Eternal and Will U. Updates by Markus Raymond (Dark Reign Files to Ravencroft).

CLARIFICATIONS:
Dr. Karl Malus should not be confused with:

• Mauler (Aaron Soames) - Daredevil foe--Daredevil I#167
• Mauler (Turk Barret) - briefly wore the armor--Daredevil I#176
• Mauler (Brendan Doyle) - mercenary, wore the armor for longest period--Iron Man I#156
• Mauler (James Rhodes) - wore armor briefly--Iron Man Annual I#13
• Maulers - Sgt. Bull McGiveny's rivals to the Howling Commandos--Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos I#13
• Maulers - agents of Bastion--X-Men Unlimited I#11

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