History
Karl Morgenthau was the son of a wealthy Swiss banker turned diplomat. As a youth, he accompanied his father on his diplomatic mission to various countries, never living in the same place for more than a year. Although he learned to speak several foreign languages fluently, the constant readjustment to new environments hampered his social growth. Consequently, he felt an outcast and became too introverted to form many friendships.
While living in Tokyo, Morgenthau began to study martial arts, and at fifteen earned his black belt in karate. At the age of nineteen, he followed his father, who had become a delegate to the United Nations, to America and enrolled in Columbia University. He intended to major in political science and follow in his father's footsteps by becoming a diplomat. However, when his father was trampled to death in a riot outside the Latverian embassy, the young man's goals changed. He felt that his father had pursued the goal of world peace and unity far too passively. He would spread the message using the only language he felt the world would respond to, the language of violence.
Employing his vast inheritance to finance his mission, Morgenthau contracted certain unrevealed parties to supply him with an arsenal of experimental weaponry. He then fashioned himself the costumed identity of the Flag-Smasher and returned to New York to begin a campaign of terrorist assaults on symbols of world separatism such as national flags and embassies. Though these random strikes he hoped to convey the message that nationalism is an outmoded concept which tends to promote disunity among the family of man. Learning that the hero Captain America was going to make a public speech, Flag-Smasher held the hundreds of people attending the press conference hostage, forcing them to listen to his anti-nationalistic rhetoric. When the confrontation turned physical, Captain America overpowered the Flag-Smasher.
Flag-Smasher was deported from the country, but soon joined the subversive organization U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M., whose goals mirrored Flag-Smasher's own.
The Flag-Smasher was installed as the ruler of Rumekistan by the V-Battalion as a compromise between powers. It was later revealed that the Flag-Smasher had allegedly been assassinated by Domino as part of a series of events which installed Cable as leader of that nation.[3]
Powers and Abilities
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Abilities
Fluent in many languages. Skilled in martial arts.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
He wears a highly resilient costume as body armor and special lenses in his mask which help him resist blinding flashes of light. His principal weapon is a spiked mace, although he has also used, on occasion, a flame-thrower pistol and traditional machine handguns.
Weapons
Mace
Notes
- Flag Smasher had a grey skin and hair when he was under mind control of Roxxon Oil. [2]
with grey skin
Links and References
- 30 Appearances of Karl Morgenthau (Earth-616)
- 1 Minor Appearances of Karl Morgenthau (Earth-616)
- Media Karl Morgenthau (Earth-616) was Mentioned in
- 6 Images featuring Karl Morgenthau (Earth-616)
- 1 Quotations by or about Karl Morgenthau (Earth-616)
- Character Gallery: Karl Morgenthau (Earth-616)
- Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Discover and Discuss
- Search this site for: Flag-Smasher · Karl Morgenthau · Karl Morgenthau (Earth-616)
Footnotes
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