History
Origins
Plan Chu is a descendant of the great Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan. Reportedly over 150 years old, Plan Chu apparently attained extended longevity from the apparent Pool of Blood[3] and a formula provided to him by a Tibetan Monk[4]. Due to his ancestry, Plan Chu became the head of the Atlas Foundation, a contemporary organization built from the original Mongolian Empire. The Atlas Foundation has become one of the worlds most secret organizations whose goal was to perpetuate the empire of old. Under the leadership of Plan Chu -- known as the Golden Claw among his people -- the Atlas Foundation focused on using it's resources to criminal pursuits for the purposes of world domination[3]. The Golden Claw sought out the aid of the Ancient One who assisted in bringing the Atlas Foundation the dragon known as Mr. Lao, who was a long time adviser of the Khan Empire[5] By the 20th Century, Golden Claw was also caring for his grand-niece Suwan, who developed a nearly unwavering loyalty to her elder[4]. Soon it was decided by the Atlas Foundation's Mr. Lao that someone was needed to succeed the Golden Claw. That person was Woo Yen Jet, whose parents did not wish this fate for their son. To try and escape Woo Yen's destiny, they immigrated to the United States where they encouraged their son -- re-christened James Woo -- to seek a career in law enforcement. However, the Golden Claw and the Atlas Foundation continued to watch young James Woo over the years[3].
20th Century
Much of Plan Chu's activities in the early 20th century is unknown. He used his identity as the Golden Claw to focus on growing his presence as an international criminal for the purposes of slowly reining James Woo to play his part as leader of the Atlas Foundation. This was during the height of the Cold War, when the Foundation felt the world was not ready for a "hero" of Chinese origin to fix the world, and so they played on tensions between the East and West, between democracies and communist nations that were running high at the time. Plan Chu became known by a more racist moniker of Yellow Claw in the west that was rampant at the time due to negative sentiments toward the communist Chinese government in the United States[3].
During World War II, Yellow Claw apparently supported the Axis Forces, likely to facilitate the goals of the Atlas Foundation. However when Lady Lotus and her minions in the Super-Axis were defeated at the hands of the Invaders, he chastised her for the defeat and vowed to crush the United States within the next decade on his own[6].
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Yellow Claw circa the 1950s.
In 1954, Plan Chu commissioned the construction of a robot for the purposes of orchestrating events to make Jimmy Woo a hero in the eyes of the world. This robot, dubbed M-11, was completed but its creator wanted it to have free will. He sacrificed his life to instill his life force into the robot, which then walked off into the sea[3][7].
In 1956 the Claw made an agreement with General Sung and other Communist Chinese leaders whereby the Claw would undertake to destroy the western democracies and conquer the United States and the rest of the western world on behalf of Communist China. In fact, the Claw only pretended to serve the Communist Chinese hierarchy, and intended to conquer the world for himself. However, his feigned alliance with the masters of the People's Republic of China proved beneficial to him for decades. Yellow Claw and his grand niece Suwan were then smuggled into the United States by communist forces. From there they set up operations within a curio shop in the Chinatown district of San Francisco. He met Nazi war-criminal Karl von Horstbadden, forcing him into servitude by threatening to expose his alias of Fritz von Voltzmann to the authorities that he was so desperately trying to hide from. Either by fate or design, Yellow Claw's presence in the United States became known to the FBI, who assigned Jimmy Woo -- now a high ranking member of the Bureau -- to the Yellow Claw case.
Yellow Claw attempted to recruit escaped convict Rocky Miller to his cause, leading to his first clash with Jimmy Woo. However Woo appealed to Miller's patriotism to turn against Yellow Claw. Woo became smitten by Suwan, but had to use this mutual attraction to trick Suwan into leading him to Yellow Claw when he moved to a new base. Yellow Claw captured Jimmy, but before he could "eliminate" him, Suwan facilitated his escape the first of many betrayals the otherwise loyal Suwan carried out against her grand-uncle[4]. Yellow Claw's next plan involved enslaving a group of mutants (including Gene Bitner, Craig Farnsworth, and Simon Lestron), pooling their powers to alter reality. This plot was also thwarted by Woo and Suwan and the mutants teleported away[8]. These mutants later formed the Promise[9]. Yellow Claw and Fritz next attempted to kidnap American diplomats aboard the S.S. Aloha headed to Hawaii. In order to prevent Suwan from tipping off Jimmy Woo, he kept his plan from her. However Jimmy uncovered the plot anyway. Yellow Claw next attempted to sabotage new planes being tested by the United States Air Force, but a tip to Jimmy Woo from Suwan foiled this plan as well. Jimmy once more attempted to exploit his connection with Suwan to find Yellow Claw's hideout, but fell into his trap and was summarily ejected from the base while Yellow Claw and his cohorts escaped. Yellow Claw relocated to Malay jungle where he worked with Kharion Krowe to build a massive robot of the god Temujai in an attempt to trick the locals into going to war, but this plan was also foiled by Woo with the help of Suwan[8].
Evading capture again, Yellow Claw kidnapped Professor Ford and used his shrink ray technology to reduce the size of his agents to steal government secrets from the FBI. This plan was foiled by Jimmy Woo as well, forcing Yellow Claw to flee his base when his minions were captured. Yellow Claw next encountered an alien being from Alpha Centauri that he named UFO the Lightning Man. Learning that the powerful alien came from a world where war was abolished and it's people incapable of lying, he tricked the creature into thinking that western democracies were evil and had UFO use his powers to destroy American missile tests. Jimmy Woo and Suwan convinced UFO that Yellow Claw was lying and the offended alien used his powers to send them all home and erase their memories of their encounter with him. Yellow Claw next tried to eliminate the FBI by having a robot duplicate of himself built that was armed with a nuclear explosive. Yellow Claw and Fritz then orchestrated a plot that saw the FBI capture the robot duplicate. However, Jimmy uncovered the plot and had the Yellow Claw robot dumped in a remote area where it detonated harmlessly. Yellow Claw next obtained a powerful knock out gas and attempted to use it to put the entire population of Central City to sleep, but this plot was also foiled by Jimmy Woo[10]. When Suwan was captured by the authorities, Yellow Claw enslaved members of an other-dimensional race known as the Living Shadows to rescue her from the authorities. However the aliens brought Jimmy Woo with them and Jimmy forced Yellow Claw to return the Living Shadows home. Yellow Claw complied, but managed to escape in the process. Yellow Claw next began to work with Captain Rak, who introduced him to the Screamies, seagulls mutated into intelligent humanoid forms by early atomic tests in the Pacific. Yellow Claw convinced the creatures to attack the United States in the hopes of causing a nationwide famine. However Jimmy Woo learned that the Screamies were highly intelligent and taught them farming techniques and send them back to Yellow Claw's island hideout, forcing him to flee once again. Yellow Claw next employed a mentalist named Sleepy Eyes to use his hypnotic powers to entrance the entire population of Central City in yet another plot to loot it. However unknown to the Yellow Claw, Sleepy Eyes was a double agent working for the FBI and used his hypnotic powers to make Yellow Claw believe he succeeded. Yellow Claw next traveled to the town of Riverdale where he encountered Barnaby Wade a man who could create anything with the power of his mind. Knowing that use of his powers weakened Wade, Yellow Claw offered him Vitamin X, which he claimed would revitalize Barnaby's strength. Wade agreed to use his powers to try and slay Jimmy Woo, but this failed. Yellow Claw then tried to create an invincible army but the creatures from Wade's mind attacked everyone in sight, including Yellow Claw, who retreated just as Wade regained control of his powers and willed the creatures away[11].
By 1958, Yellow Claw enacted his most ambitious plan of the century by kidnapping President Dwight Eisenhower. This prompted Jimmy Woo to form Department Zero and recruit a team of government backed super-human operatives to rescue the president. Woo gathered M-11, Venus, Marvel Boy, Gorilla Man and Namora. The so-called "G-Men" then stormed Yellow Claw's Mongolian base, causing it's destruction while rescuing the president, however Yellow Claw and Suwan managed to escape[7].
Eventually the Yellow Claw left the United States to perfect new methods for its Subjugation. To ensure that Suwan would no longer subvert his efforts, the Claw placed her in ageless suspended animation in the so-called lotus vial of dreamless sleep[12]. He did return to the United States briefly in 1961 where he discovered the amnesic Sub-Mariner in San Francisco, attempting to subvert Namor to his cause. This plan was thwarted by the First Line and the local known as the Hipster. Both the Sub-Mariner and Yellow Claw were believed slain in the encounter, but both survived[13].
Modern Age
In more recent years the Yellow Claw sent troops whom he had reduced to slaves with no wills of their own to invade the Statue of Liberty secretly. There the troops were to activate an "id paralyzer" device that was to sap the wills of the people of the United States, thereby enabling the Yellow Claw to take over the country. This scheme was thwarted, however, by Colonel Nicholas Fury of SHIELD and Captain America, who used a special weapon designed by Reed Richards. The Yellow Claw, himself did not come to the Statue of Liberty, but instead directed his troops through psionic means from afar.
Subsequently, Fury clashed repeatedly with a being whom he believed to be the Yellow Claw. This supposed Claw captured a weapon called the Ultimate Annihilator and nearly used it to destroy Manhattan Island. Only when Fury finally defeated this supposed Claw in battle did he learn that this "Yellow Claw" was actually a robot. The "Suwan" and "Voltzmann" accompanying this Claw robot were also actually robots. Unknown to Fury the Yellow Claw robot and the other robots were the creations of Doctor Doom, who pitted them against SHIELD as part of a strange game he played with another robot of his creation called the Prime Mover. During this time the real Yellow Claw continued to be engaged in his years of contemplative isolation, during which he formulated new strategies and means of world conquest. The Claw was infuriated to learn that he had been impersonated by a robot, but to this day he remains unaware that Doctor Doom was behind the imposter. As a result of his aiding SHIELD against the Claw robot, Jimmy Woo, the real Claws longtime opponent, became a member of SHIELD.
The real Yellow Claw finally reemerged to begin a new attempt at world domination. First he severed his ties with the People's Republic of China. Using occult means the Claw transferred the spirit of Princess Fanle-tamen of ancient Egypt, a woman who had a drive for conquest, into the body of Suwan, thereby causing a fusing of their personalities. The Claw knew that not even his elixirs could keep him alive forever, and he wanted an heir for his conquests. He believed that Suwan, who had revived now that the princess's spirit had entered her, was now better suited to being his heir. The Claw clashed with Captain America, Fury, and the Falcon. Finally, he seized control of the SHIELD helicarrier, the organization's flying headquarters, only to be shot by Suwan. She hated the Claw for having kept her in suspended animation, and by infusing her with the Egyptian princess's spirit; the Claw had unwittingly given her the desire to revenge herself on him. Now Suwan intended to use the Claw's resources to conquer the world herself. While Captain America, the Falcon, and SHIELD agents battled and defeated the Claw's minions on the helicarrier, the Claw himself uttered a spell that caused the life forces animating Suwan to leave her body and enter his. As a result Suwan crumbled into dust and the Yellow Claw regained his full health. The Claw then escaped.
Months later, the Yellow Claw was contacted by the enigmatic Black Lama, who stated that he would bestow the means of achieving world conquest upon the would-be world conqueror who proved himself the most powerful of his peers by killing the others in combat. Deciding to compete for this prize, the Yellow Claw captured the palace of his longtime rival, the Mandarin, and succeeded in bringing about the Mandarin's physical death. However, the Mandarin transferred his spirit into his alien rings, and then took possession of a new, younger body, thereby returning himself to physical life. The Yellow Claw did not win the Black Lama's competition, for Iron Man accidentally caused the destruction of the Mandarin's palace, forcing the Claw to flee.
Proclaiming that he intended to bring peace to the entire world and eliminate the threat of war by taking control of the planet himself, the Yellow Claw attempted to destroy New York City as a display of his power by creating a massive tidal wave. This time the Claw was opposed by Fury, SHIELD, and Richard Rider in his guise of Nova. SHIELD ended the threat of the tidal wave before it hit New York City, and Nova caused the Claw's sky-craft to explode. The Claw, however, somehow escaped the explosion. Earlier, Voltzmann had fallen from the sky-craft, seemingly to his death, but his body has never been recovered.
At some point, the Yellow Claw became the leader of a terrorist group called the Sept. This again brought him into conflict with Nick Fury. Carlyle Pallis, a traitor to SHIELD, aided the Yellow Claw in his plans. Eventually, Fury traveled to the Middle East and elsewhere to stop the Yellow Claw's plans, aided by agent Annie Wong.
Stating that he was becoming old and that not even his elixirs could prolong his life much further, and needing a new heir now that Suwan was dead, the Claw intended to wed a number of women who had been judged to have superior genetic traits. The Claw planned to father sons by these women. When these sons reached manhood, they would fight each other to the death, and the sole survivor would be the heir to his father. The surviving son of the Yellow Claw would rule over a new race of mankind, which he would create from genetic material that his father had gathered from what the Claw believed were the worlds most physically and mentally perfect human beings. This new race would succeed the present human race, for the Yellow Claw planned to release a vapor that would render all human beings on Earth except those within his hidden base permanently sterile. The Avengers opposed the Yellow Claw, and the Vision caused the Claw's spacecraft that was to spread the sterility-inducing gases to crash. The Yellow Claw was inside the plunging spacecraft and the Avengers believed him dead.
The Yellow Claw's last recorded schemes involved Werner Von Strucker, a son of Wolfgang Von Strucker, Madame Hydra, and SHIELD. Though he ostensibly planned to undermine SHIELD, nothing of the Yellow Claw's machinations seem to have come to fruition.
As his last scheme, Yellow Claw planted numerous clues in order to entice his long-time adversary, Jimmy Woo, to hunt him down. After stringing him along, enabling him to recruit several old allies and even assault his base of operations, Yellow Claw revealed his master plan. With the help of the dragon known as Mr. Lao he had manipulated Jimmy Woo his entire life in order to make him his proper heir. The allies Woo recruited along the way served as further evidence that he deserved to be heir. Feeling Woo had reached the point he was supposed to reach, Yellow Claw handed over his role as Khan of the Eternal Empire and C.E.O. of the Atlas Foundation, which Woo accepted so that he could enact changes within the organization. And, following Woo's acceptance of this, he willingly allowed Mr. Lao to consume him so that there would be only one leader for the clan to follow.Attributes
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Powers
The Yellow Claw has superhuman psychic abilities with which he can influence another person's sensory perceptions, causing that person to see, hear, and even feel the illusions the Claw projects into his or her mind.
The Claw can also use these abilities to completely mesmerize a foe into obeying his will. In the past, this power has been shown to cause the most loyal of followers to turn on their leader in an instant. The Claw can release those under his command with a clap of his hands, leaving them with no recollection of what happened while under the Claw's control.Abilities
The Yellow Claw is a genius in biochemistry, and, among his other achievements, he created the elixirs that prolong his life. He has also used this ability to create drugged cigarettes which, when smoked, will cause their user to enter a state of suspended animation resembling death, to which he alone possesses an antidote. In recent decades he has also made great strides in genetic engineering, enabling him to create monstrously mutated animals. The Claw also has considerable skill in robotics.
The Yellow Claw is a master of the Chinese martial arts and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. His battle prowess may have lessened somewhat recently, now that age has allegedly begun to catch up with him (unless he has found a new means to retard the aging process).
The Yellow Claw has considerable knowledge of sorcery, and has even proved able to reanimate the dead.
The Claw is also an effective master of disguise, having successfully disguised himself as a little old Caucasian man in the past.Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
Notes
- Nightshade (Tilda Johnson) credits the Yellow Claw with the creation of the werewolf serum[Captain America Vol 1#190(10/75) page 2 panel 3("The Yellow Claw's serum might have been able to turn men into werewolves")].
- The Yellow Claw and scientists in his employ have created gigantic mutated beasts, such as enormous spiders. Some of the Claw's mutated animals are cyborgs as well.
- First historical appearance was Yellow Claw #1; first modern appearance (telepathic "voice" of Yellow Claw) was Strange Tales #160, as robot Yellow Claw in Strange Tales #161, and as actual Yellow Claw in Captain America #164.
- The tagline for the Yellow Claw comic book series was, "Who... or What... is He??!"
Trivia
See Also
- 56 appearance(s) of Plan Chu (Earth-616)
- 10 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Plan Chu (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Plan Chu (Earth-616)
- 25 mention(s) of Plan Chu (Earth-616)
- 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Plan Chu (Earth-616)
- 29 image(s) of Plan Chu (Earth-616)
- 6 quotation(s) by or about Plan Chu (Earth-616)
- 3 victim(s) killed by Plan Chu (Earth-616)
- 15 item(s) used/owned by Plan Chu (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Strange Tales #162
- ↑ Marvel: The Lost Generation #7
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Agents of Atlas #6
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Yellow Claw #1
- ↑ Agents of Atlas (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ Invaders #41
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Agents of Atlas #1
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Yellow Claw #2
- ↑ X-Men: The Hidden Years #18
- ↑ Yellow Claw #3
- ↑ Yellow Claw #4
- ↑ Captain America #166
- ↑ Marvel: The Lost Generation #3
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Golden Age 2004 Vol 1 1
Template:Agents of Atlas