Venimus

Real Name: Klaus Venerisch

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: (Mad) Scientist

Group Membership:Formerly Nazi Party, Hitler's Forschung Division

Affiliations: Schlamm

Enemies: DNAgents, Zev Shomer

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Klaus Venimus

Base of Operations:Mobile;
   formerly Germany

First Appearance: New DNAgents#7 (Eclipse, April 1986)

Powers/Abilities: Though possessing no superhuman abilities, Venimus is a genius geneticist and commands an army of monsters of his own creation.

Height: 5'9" (by approximation - he's around the same height as Hitler in their flashbacks together)
Weight: 120 lbs. (by estimation - very thin for his height)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History: Klaus Venerisch was a scientist working for Hitler's Forschung Division, experimenting on Jews and captured P.O.W.s to find ways to control victim's minds and bodies, and ultimately to be able to create life itself. When it became clear to Venerisch that the Nazis' defeat was imminent, he realised he would have to flee Germany before the Russians arrived. Aware that he could be identified by dental records from when he had worked in Switzerland prior to the war, Venerisch convinced a fellow scientist to transplant the teeth of a dead man into his own head, though the rushed experimental surgery left him with an unnatural overbite and rictus grin. With his original teeth now left with the corpse whose dentures he had stolen, Venerisch and his compatriot then prepared to torch the scientist's laboratory, only for the Nazi to deliberately trap his erstwhile ally in the fire, ensuring no one alive knew of his deception. Now calling himself Venimus, Venerisch escaped just ahead of the Russians reaching Berlin. As he had hoped, the Soviets hunting for him found the burned corpses in the remains of his lab and thanks to the teeth mistakenly declared him dead. However a Jewish youth, Zev Shomer, who had devoted himself to tracking down Nazi war criminals was unconvinced, and so continued to hunt for the Nazi.

   Four decades passed, during which time Venimus' face became increasingly emaciated, accentuating his corpse-grin. His experiments also continued, and when he learned of that Doctor J.D. Harden of Matrix Industries had successfully created artificial humans he obtained a pirated version of Harden's formula to finally make his own goblin-like creations. However, the copied formula was incomplete and Venimus deemed his creatures inferior. Realising he needed to obtain the "regeneration energies" Harden used to perfect his creations, Venimus used his prototype monsters to kidnap the DNAgent Sham, whose body housed the energies he desired. Draining Sham's life force enabled Venimus to produce more powerful monsters, which he sent out on a rampage; wanting Matrix Industries resources, Venimus then threatened Matrix owner Lucius Krell, demanding he hand over ownership of the company lest Venimus publicly lay the blame for the rampaging beasts on Krell's doorstep. With Harden's help the DNAgents lured the monsters to an isolated spot and tricked them into slaying one another. However, when the DNAgents then confronted Venimus he pointed out that they could not arrest him, as if he were charged with creating the monsters the subsequent inevitable investigation would reveal to the world the true nature of the DNAgents. Confident that they were powerless, Venimus made to depart, only to be confronted by the indefatigable Zev Shomer, who promptly arrested him to face trial for his war crimes.

Comments: Created by Mark Evanier and Will Meugnoit.

Appearance checklist (not including reprints): New DNAgents#7-9

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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