The Many Operatives of Mister Kline!

 

From late 1971 to early 1972, writer Gerry Conway introduced the nefarious Mister Kline, a character who for reasons unknown sought to upend the lives of Matt Murdock, Tony Stark, and Franklin Nelson, and whose hidden agenda would by extension draw in Daredevil and Iron Man. It's hard to say whether Kline's primary focus on Murdock and Stark had anything to do with Marvel's soon-to-be-launched large format books that would offer an increase in story length for selected titles at a cost of 25¢, given that both Invincible Iron Man and Daredevil were reportedly to be merged into a single book; otherwise, Murdock and Stark would seem to be worlds apart as far as gaining the interest of a figure in shadows who would go to any lengths to cause them trouble, to say nothing of the time and effort taken to conscript others to do that figure's dirty work.

And speaking of which, since Kline himself is due for a PPC post of his own, let's spend our time here running down the list of those whom he enlisted to further his plans--some willingly, some not so much, but all in one way or another complicating the lives of our heroes.

Which calls for a not too complicated

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Marvel Trivia Question

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Which characters were compelled to serve the enigma named... Mister Kline?

District Attorney Franklin "Foggy" Nelson being in Kline's pocket is sure to pave the way toward conflict with Murdock, of course, though Foggy's cooperation with Kline has more to do with being blackmailed because of "a stupid mistake" he once made than his having any antipathy toward Murdock.  But in the same scene, we learn that money was also a factor in "Bull" Taurus (aka the Man-Bull) being on the payroll.

It's not every day you see a man of arrogance like The Owl falling in line and doing the will of another--but Kline's resources and deep pockets have him putting aside his reservations for the time being and reporting in like a dutiful henchman. Yet Kline is all too aware of the kind of man he's dealing with--and in a curious revelation, we learn that Kline himself is in service to another.

Meanwhile, there's no shortage of Kline's plotting over in Iron Man, where a man named Demetrius and his partner, the Slasher, turn their attention to Iron Man, even as Kline again reports in.

Iron Man goes on to meet another Kline operative, the mutated Mikas, who takes control of Stark's lover, Marianne Rodgers, in order to trap Iron Man on behalf of his master.

Fighting against an armored foe who happens to be low on power (so what else is new?), Mikas, like most other villains who gain sudden overwhelming abilities, becomes haughty in dealing with Iron Man over the course of their struggle--which earns him a reprimand from his master who strongly cautions him to stick to the game plan.

Back in Daredevil, Nelson is again the subject of conversation between Kline and his mysterious contact. At this point we can only assume that Kline's blackmail of Nelson had more to do with tightening his grip on the man rather than any need for cash--that, or Kline is funneling whatever funds he receives from Nelson to cover the expenses of his operatives, which would seem beneath him. Yet the situation is explained when, soon enough, the Owl reaches his limit on playing the subordinate, and he and Kline have a parting of the ways--after which we learn that Kline (aka MK-9) is revealed to be, of all things, an android. (One which nevertheless has developed a fondness for cigarettes.)

Subsequently, the one now referred to as "the Assassin" (no, I've no idea why he didn't mention to his superior that he already had a non-android codename of "Mister Kline") gives Mikas the honor of being the first (after us, of course) to view his true form. Quite the multitasker, our Assassin, who in monitoring Mikas's battle with Iron Man is also keeping tabs on Nelson and his deteriorating relationship with Murdock in light of Murdock recently coming to the legal defense of the Black Widow.

Another pawn of Kline turns out to be the Night Phantom (or rather an android thereof), who takes a two-pronged attack against both Stark and Iron Man--first, by softening up Stark with menacing dreams, and then a more direct approach against the golden Avenger.

And while we're on the subject of androids, Kline has captured both the Scorpion and Mister Hyde behind the scenes and fashioned androids of each to use against Daredevil and the Black Widow (Kline must have learned his lesson with the Owl), with neither operative being aware that they are android duplicates. First up is the Scorpion, who gets the drop on the Widow here but would later meet destruction from a plummet to the street that would serve to frame the Widow for murder.

And when Daredevil pays a visit to the coroner on a hunch about the Scorpion's "death," he faces the rampaging Mister Hyde (who comes armed with explosive pellets, weapons which the real Hyde would most likely have considered unnecessary in light of his strength).

Which takes care of most if not all of the pieces that Kline had in play for whatever goal he sought to attain here. (All right, so I was bending the truth in saying this wasn't very complicated.  All of this makes navigating any company's Terms of Service a breeze by comparison.) For the answers to what exactly Kline and his superiors are after, we'll pivot exclusively to Daredevil, who would finally learn what there was to learn about Kline when his scheming foe targets him in the Swiss alps.

NEXT: Where Waits The Assassin!