KLAW

 

KLAW

Real Name: Ulysses Klaw

First Appearance: Fantastic Four (Vol. 1) #53, August 1966

Powers: Ulysses Klaw was originally a physicist who lost his hand to the child-king T'Challa (the future Black Panther) years ago. He had it replaced with a sonic blaster which absorbed ambient sonic waves and converted them into a blast of concussive force. After an encounter with the adult Black Panther and the Fantastic Four, Klaw leaped into his own Vibranium converter machine and his physical body was destroyed. However, his mind was reconstituted in a body created out of solidified sound (with the sonic blaster still in place as one of his hands).

Composed of solidified sound, Klaw does not need to sleep, breathe, eat, or drink, and is immune to diseases, impacts, and wounds. He can increase his size by converting surrounding sounds into mass and adding it to his form, and can decrease his size by discharging sound mass from it. Through unknown means, Klaw's prosthetic grows or shrinks in size with him. Klaw can alter his own shape, and has done so to form himself into a large sound train. He can also add other elements into his form as he grows larger, as he once mixed water in with his increased sound mass, appearing as a watery giant. Klaw is resistant, if not immune, to telepathic attacks. Klaw is super-strong, capable of lifting up to 10 tons. Klaw's form can be cut apart and fused back together without injury to himself. His form was once converted into a group of lenses before becoming corporeal again. Before his transformation, Klaw replaced one of his hands with a prosthetic sound converter, also called a sonic claw or sound horn, which can absorb sound and solidify it. When Klaw has been dissipated in the past, his form is generally absorbed by his own converter until a sound or vibration restores his form and sentience. Klaw, through unknown means, has attached his prosthetic to his sound form, and it has been known to increase and decrease in size with him. Though his prosthetic has at times been destroyed, Klaw has either reformed it or re-equipped himself with another. Klaw has occasionally upgraded his prosthetic, making it larger and once equipping it with a Vibranium lace (which ultimately proved unhealthy), but he has always returned to using his standard prosthetic.

Klaw can create various constructs of solidified sound which he can mentally control and which maintain cohesiveness until Klaw dissipates it, either willingly or because distracted, or because the construct is disrupted. Klaw can maintain these constructs even at a distance. He generally prefers to create giant constructs of various jungle animals, usually gorillas, panthers, and elephants, and has been known to call these constructs his “Sonimals”. Klaw has also created solidified suits of armor, walls capable of shattering bullets, balls that will continue to absorb sound mass independent of Klaw, diagrams, and even a baseball team. Klaw's constructs are capable of speech if he wills it. Klaw can reabsorb any of his constructs at will. Klaw's constructs are almost always crimson, but he has been known to create black and gold constructs and while under the influence of the Beyonder, dozens of multi-colored monsters. Though non-sentient and less powerful than him, Klaw's constructs are capable of vast damage and usually possess enhanced strength. When Klaw's prosthetic is damaged, he is unable to create sound constructs.

Klaw can manipulate sound vibrations to varying effects. He can amplify existing sounds up to an intensity of 170 decibels, capable of deafening anyone in a .6 mile radius. Klaw can utilize vibrations to cause vertigo in the inner ear of others, burst the ear drums of others, briefly hypnotize others, or drive animals into frenzies with high pitches. Klaw can mimic any sound, including music and others' voices. Klaw can fire concussive blasts of sound at others, sometimes referring to these blasts as his “immobilizer beam”, and can cancel out his other constructs with a “reversion blast” of sound. He can also fire steady streams of sonic pulses.

Klaw can transform himself into pure, non-solidified energy. While propelling himself through the air at the speed of sound he can smash through the hull of a battleship. Klaw can also utilize his constructs to fly with him at this speed, even if those constructs contain living beings, and he has used this as a method of transportation for various teams he's belonged to.

Klaw is extremely vulnerable to the vibration-absorbing ore Wakandan Vibranium which, when in contact with his, causes him to lose energy or parts of his corporeal form. Klaw has successfully been held in prisons with Vibranium bars or walls. Klaw was once briefly empowered by unstable Vibranium, which was weakened due to a “Vibranium cancer.” Klaw is also susceptible to the metal-disintegrating Antarctic Vibranium, which can destabilize his form. Klaw is vulnerable to sonics or vibrations that disrupt his own internal vibrations, and can be knocked unconscious by blows or blasts powerful enough to do this. Klaw cannot generally maintain his corporeal form in a vacuum, though he has been known to do so by drawing from the sound in his own body. Klaw's form or energy has been absorbed by super-heroes capable of doing so, such as Dazzler, Guardian (Heather Hudson), and Ms. Marvel. Klaw's ability to utilize his powers seems to depend upon his mental state, his inner vibrations harmonics, and his time spent recovering from wounds. Klaw's powers, when unstable, have caused his form to build to dangerously explosive levels. Using the right frequencies, Klaw was able to possess humans with sound vibrations, turning them into facsimiles of him with sound waves; these frequencies could be countered with the right counter-frequency.

Ulysses Klaw is a gifted intellect, holds a Ph.D. in physics and a Bachelor of Science degree in geology. He is an expert physicist specializing in applied sonics.