MISTER KLINE
MISTER KLINE
Real Name: MK-9
Identity/Class: Extra-temporal (Earth-71778) robot
Occupation: Agent of Baal
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Baal
(master);
Enemies: Ben Crandal, Daredevil, Final Sons of Man of Earth-711042, Iron Man (Tony Stark),
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Assassin, Emil Borgdsky
Base of Operations: Switzerland; also
had a smaller base in Manhattan, New York;
First Appearance: (BTS) Daredevil I#78 (July, 1971), (partially seen) Daredevil I#79 (August, 1971),(fully seen) Daredevil I#81 (November, 1971)
Powers: The Assassin possessed superhuman strength (800 lbs. to 25 tons) and physical abilities, including a speed of 700 mph and enhanced durability. He could fire destructive eyeblasts. He could generate heat within metal (and perhaps other materials) a short distance from him. He was also a master of disguise.
His greatest ability was the power to manipulate others; in a short time period, he achieved a reputation as a man to be obeyed without question. He preferred to remain behind the scenes, manipulating others into doing his bidding.
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 300 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
History:
(Daredevil I#84(fb)) - Mr. Kline was actually an android or robot from
an alternate future, @ 12000-14000 A.D. In that time period, his
master, Baal, was a computer that was the sole occupant of Earth.
Wishing to prevent his timeline from coming to be, Baal dispatched the
android back in time to the modern era, where it was to alter history
sufficiently to make this wish a reality. The android quickly
manipulated others into believing it to be a powerful criminal figure.
He also somehow engineered the mutations or creations of certain
beings, namely Demetrius, Mikas, and the Slasher.
(DD I#78-79) - Mr.Kline employed the Professor and others to develop a mutagenic process, resulting in the creation of the Man-Bull. Kline was seen only in shadowed silhouette, or partially, showing only his arms (human in appearance) and a cigarette in a holder.
(Iron Man I#41) - Kline employed Demetrius and the Slasher to destroy technology designed by Ben Crandall and Tony Stark, making it appear as if Stark's work was faulty. Senator McJavit, an android used by Kline, acted as accuser in these faults.
(DD
I#80-81) - Kline sent the Owl and his agents after Daredevil. The Owl
rebelled against Kline's authority and went out on his own. Kline
blackmailed Foggy Nelson over unknown past events. Kline decided to use
"the silent ones" (android agents) in the future to prevent such
betrayals. Kline was revealed as a robot, and first referred to himself
as the Assassin.
(IM I#42-43) - Kline sent Mikas against Stark; he had Mikas abduct and take control of Stark's girlfriend, Marianne Rodgers, and used her against him as well. McJavit continued his persecution, and Crandall turned all blame over to Stark. Iron Man nearly killed himself by exhausting his power reserves in the process, but blew up Mikas' base, destroying Mikas, his agents, and his giant snake, Doomprayer. Iron Man was saved by the Guardsman.
(Sub-Mariner I#42 (BTS)) - The Final Sons of Man arrived in the past and encountered Namor. They briefly scanned his mind and learned of great loneliness (after the death of Dorma) before heading off to track down Mr. Kline.
(Captain America I#151 (fb, BTS)) - Mr. Kline had the Scorpion and Mr. Hyde abducted and confined them within his headquarters while his Scorpion and Mr. Hyde robot doubles were created.
(DD I#82) - Kline sent the Scorpion robot against Daredevil and the Black Widow. The robot became erratic when its transmitter was destroyed, leaving it without orders from Kline. As it scrambled, the Black Widow tried to save it, but when it fell anyway, she was accused of murder by night watchman Frank Blondel. The Scorpion robot was then taken away to the morgue in an ambulance also carrying Sam and Max. Foggy Nelson subsequently tried to use a gun to force Kline to leave him alone, but Kline forced him to drop it. Kline claimed that the act of threatening him with a gun had now made him his helpless pawn.
(DD I#83) - The Black Widow was arrested, and Foggy was forced by Kline to frame her, using her Soviet heritage against her. She was ultimately cleared by Murdock. Kline sent the Mr. Hyde robot against Daredevil. In the course of the battle it set off some explosives which destroyed all evidence of it and the Scorpion robot.
(IM I#44-45) - Kline sent a Night Phantom robot against Iron Man, who narrowly defeated it, learning that it was sent by Kline in the process.
(DD I#84) - Kline/Assassin posed as Emil Borgdsky, a Russian surgeon claiming to have a cure for blindness, to draw the Black Widow to his base in Switzerland. Daredevil followed her and tracked Kline down to his base. Kline, as the Assassin, decided that humans were too unpredictable to manipulate, and should be killed. He attempted to kill Daredevil, but was incapacitated by a heavy blow to his head. Daredevil left him, and as Kline struggled to repair itself, the Final Sons of Man arrived and destroyed him and his base. They also teleported Daredevil and the Black Widow to safety.
Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan.
Baal and Mr. Kline's time period is different during several parts of the storyline. In addition, the Final Sons of Man describe themselves as having come from a time period after Baal, but they also say they came from thirty centuries in the future, ie. 5000 A.D.
I never can quite get a grasp on what tasks Kline was trying to accomplish, why he went about them the way he did, etc. He definitely wanted to bring down Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, and Tony Stark, who must have been integral to the future that spawned Baal. Their involvement was never explicitly explained, although one of his goals was to prevent Foggy from campaigning for governor. Another goal was to strip Stark of his industrial power.
The exact order of appearances is difficult to determine, and there is definite overlapping. DD I#80+81 and IM I#42+43 overlap. IM I#45 came out after DD I#84, which featured Kline's destruction.
Any other die-hard, old-time Marvel Zombies out there want to shed some additional info on Mr. Kline? I'm sure I'm missing some.
"Mr. Kline's" real name is MK-9;
does he perhaps have some connection to the Mechanoid, who was
designated Scout MK-5? Given they both come from different origins
(Kline from Earth's future, MK-5 from extraterrestrial origins), it
seems an odd coincidence that they should have such similar "names".
--John Kaminski
Mister Kline has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1970's Handbook. The designation for Baal's reality was revealed in Daredevil's entry in OHotMU A-Z Hardcover#3. McJavit's first name was revealed in Mr. Kline's profile in OHotMU A-Z HC#7.
Profile by Snood with some new subprofiles by Chadman.
Clarifications: Mr. Kline, aka the Assassin, is not to be confused with:
Baal of the future timeline (Earth-71778), is not to be confused with:
The Professor is to be distinguished from:
Baal was an immense super-computer built by humanity in the distant future. In a future either 5000, 12000, or 14000 A.D., it was the last thing left on Earth. It created and sent the android which would become known as Mr. Kline into the past to prevent its future from occurring. Key to its creation were the legal career of Matthew Murdock (Daredevil), the government career of Foggy Nelson, and the industrial career of Tony Stark (Iron Man). Kline succeeded only in decreasing the likelihood of Foggy running for political office before it was destroyed by the Final Sons of Man. Its fate is unrevealed.
--Baal was behind the scenes in every appearance of Kline, but was first visualized as a blurry image in Iron Man I#41, and then seen clearly in Daredevil I#84.
Frank BlondelWhen the robot Scorpion was seemingly killed in battle with Black
Widow and Daredevil, night watchman Frank Blondel loudly stated that he
saw Black Widow do it. At the subsequent trial of the Black Widow,
Frank Blondel gave testimony against Black Widow, questioned by "Foggy"
Nelson.
--Daredevil I#82-83
The Final Sons of Man claimed to have come from thirty centuries in the future, ie. 5000 AD, which they described as after the explosive death of Baal(?). They traveled to the past to stop Kline from altering the timeline. They appeared to be enemies of Baal, and they referred to each other as Father and Son. After the destruction of Kline, they apparently returned to their own era. The Son was the one with the pointed chin.
They were either robots or armored warriors of some type. They possessed empathic abilities: the Son was almost severely damaged while scanning the mind of Namor while he was hurting after the death of Dorma. They can also fire destructive eyeblasts.
--Sub-Mariner I#42 (Daredevil I#84)
images:
Daredevil I#79, p10, pan5 (Mr. Kline in shadow, main image)
Daredevil I#84, p12, pan2 (Mr. Kline's true form)
Daredevil I#84, p5, pan3 (Mr. Kline as Emil Borgdsky)
Daredevil I#84, p12, pan3 (Baal)
Daredevil I#83, p14, pan5 (Frank Blondell)
Sub-Mariner I#42, p5, pan3-4 (The Final Sons of Man images)
Appearances:
Daredevil
I#78-79 (July-August, 1971) - Gerry Conway & Gary Friedrich (#79)
(writers), Gene Colan (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Iron Man I#41 (September, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#80-81 (September-November, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer),
Gene Colan (pencils), Tom Palmer (#80) & Jack Abel (#81) (inks),
Stan Lee (editor)
Iron Man I#42-43 (October-November, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer),
George Tuska (pencils), Frank Giacoia (#42) & Jim Mooney (#43)
(inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Sub-Mariner I#42 (October, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#82 (December, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Jack Abel (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#83 (January, 1972) - Gerry Conway (writer), Barry
Windsor-Smith & Alan Weiss (pencils), Bill Everett (inks), Stan Lee
(editor)
Iron Man I#44-45 (January-February, 1972) - Gerry Conway & Robert
Kanigher (#44) (writers), George Tuska (pencils), Vince Colletta
(inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#84 (February, 1972) - Gerry Conway (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Syd Shores (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Captain America I#151 (July, 1972) - Gerry Conway (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
First posted: 09/07/2001
Last updated: 06/08/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters,
Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real
thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at:
http://www.marvel.com
The