Jacob Krigstein (Wildstorm Universe)

Jacob Krigstein was a gifted creative intellectual who was hired by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower to work for the American government in creating and training super-soldiers during the Cold War, in which the Soviet Union responded in kind, creating a shadow arms race. Thus, many superpowerd soldiers were trained and formed to protect and defend every major city in the United States. Although many of Krigstein's experiments were extremely costly in which many mass graves were made from his "studies."^[1]

After the closing end of the Cold War, many of Krigstein's superhumans were deactivated around the same time both Cold War combatants disarmed their nuclear arsenal. However, Krigstein saw the long-term problems of the aftermath of the Cold War: capitalism left unchecked would become bloated and unworkable, and like communism, it would cause the world to fall into chaos and anarchy. Krigstein then drafted a survival plan for the future and presented it to President George H. W. Bush. However, Krigstein's plan was based on a utopia enforced by superhumans and a society designed entirely to his specifications, and the Bush Administration dismissed Krigstein as a crank.

During the night of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Krigstein disappeared along with obtaining secret bank accounts, the remaining super-soldiers, and the codes for all five invisible U.S. hangars. After his disappearance, Krigstein spent the next ten years in fine-tuning his plans and creating new "super-characters" unlike anything mankind has ever seen before.

Return

By the early 21st-century, Krigstein, commanding from his secret hanger in New York City, resurfaced and was perturbed by the Authority's way of handling the world, such as their recent actions in overthrowing a dictatorship in Southeast Asia and causing an economic crisis in that region. Having acknowledge the birth of the spirit of the 21st century, Jenny Quantum, Krigstein ordered his team, the Americans, to kill the baby. However, when Jenny Quantum unnaturally showed her powers in defending herself against the Americans, Krigstein sees vast opportunity in having the baby in his possession and orders the Americans in capturing her, in which they succeeded after losing their numbers to the Authority.

With the Authority searching for him, Krigstein then unleashed his plan of having his newly trained and created armies of superhumans attacking and invading every major city and capitals on Earth. However, the Authority and every superhero team on Earth battled Krigstein's super-soldiers and ended the invasion in a stalemate. Krigstein is then confronted by Swift who then reasoned with him in stopping the hostilities, in which she offered him membership into the Authority to enable him to express his works and plans for helping people, in which Krigstein was initially skeptical and then eventually accepted it. After taking Swift's offering and advice, Krigstein established New Indonesia and apparently helped solve Southeast Asia's economic crisis.^[2]

When the Authority were incapacitated by Seth Cowie and replaced by the G-7 nations sponsored Authority, Krigstein was unofficially booted off of the original team and has since taken to living in Southeast Asia. Embittered with the "cheap knock-offs" of the new Authority, Krigstein had attempted to send his superpowered creations against the new Authority, in which the battle(s) remain inconclusive.^[3]^[4] However, after the G-7 Authority had all been slain by Midnighter and Apollo, Krigstein remained off the team ever since, though the Authority's Carrier still holds some of Krigstein's odd "experiments" and tech in his former quarters.^[5]

Post-Worldstorm

Krigstein recently died shortly after the United Nations ceded Indonesia to him. With his death and without his leadership, Krigstein's superhuman army broke into separate factions, which some took the opportunity to place themselves above humanity after the "off-switch" that was designed to keep them in line died with Krigstein. However, the rogue post-humans were altogether destroyed by the other post-humans who did not approve of their ilk's intentions. Many of Krigstein's post-humans, such as Jose Delgado (aka Tankman), joined the peace-keeping agency Anthem.^[6]

Krigstein's "unorthodox" notes were later put to use by the American government to clone super-soldiers from the remains of The High. However, the initial experiments were very unsuccessful. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created a partheno-genetic division known as the Reaper Initiative that eventually created a series of High clones which were controlled by neural inhibitors.^[1]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Genius Level Intellect

Other Characteristics

Dyslexia

Notes

Krigstein is noted to be despise by some while working for the American government, including General Zebulon McCandless who supervised the Number of the Beast program.

Trivia

Krigstein is based on legendary comic-book creator Jack Kirby, and indeed, The Engineer notes that he "probably would have created all your favorite comic book characters if he hadn't been snapped up by Eisenhower at the end of the war." Furthermore, Krigstein's army of superheroes contains analogues of many key characters from the Marvel Universe, such as the Americans, who are an Avengers analogue, consisting of Commander (Captain America), Tank Man (Iron Man), Storm-God (Thor), Hornet (Wasp) and Titan (Giant Man).

Jacob Krigstein (Wildstorm Universe)

Contents

History

Origins