Klaus Kruger

Klaus Kruger was the dictatorial Duke of Lichtenbad in the years leading up to his death in 1965.

Kruger had inherited the title after attending law school in the United States, where he met Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson. A large man, Kruger was a gifted athlete and scientist as well as attorney. When he returned to rule Lichtenbad, Kruger ruled over his country cruelly, building an army of robot guards that carried out his wishes without mercy and crushing any hint of rebellion. He aimed to abduct and imprison bright minds in every field of arts and science, making his small principality the most powerful nation in the world. So oppressive was his rule that news of his cruelty failed to travel beyond Lichtenbad. In 1965, Kruger took Dr. Van Eyck, an ophthalmologist from the U.S. He also visited Matt Murdock in New York, who was considering traveling to Lichtenbad to see Van Eyck and potentially cure his blindness. Murdock went peacefully with Kruger, but realized the horror of his situation soon after arrival. Murdock was in fact secretly the hero Daredevil, and he used his superior senses and agility to fight back against Kruger and his robot guards and free his prisoners. During a final confrontation, Kruger desperately activated a "cobalt cloud" that would annihilate all of humanity. Van Eyck managed to shut off the nuclear device, sacrificing himself in the process. Kruger and Daredevil continued to fight, and Kruger recklessly charged off of a battlement, falling to his death.