KARL STRYKER
Real Name: Karl Stryker
Identity/Class: Human technology user; German citizen (World War II era)
Occupation: Inventor
Group Membership: Nazi party
Affiliations: Adolf Hitler; several unnamed Nazi soldiers
Enemies: Bucky (James Buchanan Barnes), Captain America (Steve Rogers)
Known Relatives: Viktor Stryker (son)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Blackmoor Asylum, presumably somewhere in Germany
First Appearance: Marvel Fanfare I#5/2 (November, 1982)
Powers/Abilities: He was a very intelligent man who unfortunately believed in the Nazi propaganda. Through his own invention, the Hydraulics Powered Combat Suit, he possessed super-human strength and could fire flames from his gloves' fingertips.
History:
(Marvel Fanfare I#5/2 (fb) - BTS) - Stryker worked as an inventor for the Nazi party. His greatest invention was the Hydraulics Powered Combat Suit. With the suit's prototype finished he decided to lure America's greatest hero into a trap and beat him on camera for Adolf Hitler.
(Marvel Fanfare I#5/2 (fb) ) - Captain America and Bucky ran right into Stryker's trap at the Blackmoor Asylum. Stryker's allies had a hard time against the American heroes. Stryker attacked Captain America on his own wearing his newly invented suit. He got the better of Captain America and tried to squeeze him to death in front of a camera, but Captain America blocked the deadly grip with his shield and then escaped it. Stryker went through a wall after a kick, but he wasn't done and now used flamethrowers in his glove against the heroes. They avoided the attack, and Captain America tossed his shield and damaged the suit so badly that Stryker dropped to the ground and collapsed.
(Marvel Fanfare I#5/2 (fb) - BTS) - After his defeat Stryker spent a long time in an allied prisoner war camp. After that he was never the same again and died as a broken man.
Comments: Created by Roger McKenzie, Luke McDonnell & John Beatty.
Marvel's sliding timescale causes a small problem in this story: The age of Stryker Jr.!
Perhaps grandson, or Compound X, or something else...
How did Stryker Jr. get into possession of the film? Bucky was the last one with the camera, but it could be that Bucky handed it over to the US Army and years later Stryker Jr. got it from them for his exhibition in the Washington War Pavillion.
The first names of both Stryker were revealed in Marvel Atlas#1.
Profile by Markus Raymond
CLARIFICATIONS:
Stryker has no connection to:
(Marvel Fanfare I#5/2 (fb) - BTS) - Stryker's son Viktor swore on his father's grave that he would make Captain America renounce America and its ideals.
(Marvel Fanfare I#5/2) - Stryker hired some men and showed them the old film clip of his father's defeat. One mercenary made fun of Stryker's father, and Stryker attacked him. Afterwards he explained his plan to destroy Captain America. In the following weeks Stryker and his men prepared everything for their trap. When the Washington War Pavilion just outside Arlington, Virginia was finished, Stryker lured Captain America to the pavilion by asking for approval before the exhibition went public. Captain America didn't like the exhibition's war-glorifying route and was shocked when Stryker showed him a Captain America statue with a Nazi flag standing over Bucky. Captain America thought it was a sick joke, and it was indeed as Stryker's men overpowered him with chloroform. While Cap was out, he was dressed up as a Nazi, Stryker dressed up as Captain America and one mercenary as Bucky. Stryker wanted to redo his father's attempt to beat Captain America and tape it, but Captain America broke free after taking some hits and fled into the shadows. He beat all mercenaries until only Stryker was left. Stryker beat Captain America with his own shield, but Captain America didn't give up. They returned to the statue, and Stryker accidentally hit the statue's legs. It fell over and the stone flagpole stabbed Stryker through the back. Captain America took back his mask and shield and left.
--Marvel Fanfare I#5/2
images:
Stryker body shot: Marvel Fanfare I#5, p20, pan1
Stryker head shot: Marvel Fanfare I#5, p20, pan5
Stryker (son) head shot: Marvel Fanfare I#5, p23, pan2
Last updated: 06/19/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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