Baron Wolfgang von Strucker was probably the third most diabolical Nazi, after Hitler himself and the Red Skull. In fact, the Red Skull and Strucker both had their own plans to take over the world, and were always wary of one another. Strucker was mostly a foe of Sgt. Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos, but his status as leader of Hitler's elite Death's Head Squadron brought him into conflict with the Invaders on a few occasions.
The first time Strucker had a run-in with the Invaders was during their battle with the Teutonic Knight. While the Knight served as a decoy for the Invaders, Strucker and some of his top agents in the Death's Head Squadron were making an attempt to capture British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and British Field Marshall Montgomery. Fortunately, the Invaders were able to defeat the Teutonic Knight in time to capture Baron Strucker and thwart his mission.
A few years later, when Hitler had an encounter with Victor von Doom, Strucker saw the bandaged Doom leaving Hitler's quarters following an explosion. As Nazi troops ran to Hitler's aid, Strucker followed Doom to a time-travelling device. Strucker found himself in the 1960s, where he located books documenting the fall of the Third Reich and the building of the atomic bomb. He was discovered by Dr. Doom, who revealed that he had gone back in time to kill Hitler but decided to let history play itself out instead. Realizing that having books from the future could not actually change the past, Doom sent von Strucker back to the 40s with his newfound knowledge. Strucker used this new information to begin building an atom bomb, so that he and his new subversive organiztion Hydra could take over the world. However, even with knowledge of the future on his side, Strucker was defeated by the Invaders once more.
Shortly before the end of the war, Strucker was contacted by the German Herr Nacht. Nacht had Strucker build a cryogenic chamber in order to preserve the Nazi superhumans Master Man and Warrior Woman. Strucker froze them, and they were awoken in the early 1990s.
Strucker fought a young Charles Xavier and Erik Magnus (Magneto) Lensherr in the late 40s, and continued his battles with Nick Fury. Strucker became the Supreme leader of his terrorist organization Hydra and fought with Fury when he became an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. In the late 60s, during one of his many battles with Fury, Strucker had a Nick Fury mask put on him by the real Fury. Fury then took two Strucker masks and put one on himself and one over top of the Fury mask on Strucker. When they were confronted by Hydra agents, Fury removed Strucker's Strucker mask to reveal the Fury mask [confusing, no?--eric]. Fooled, Strucker's agents began firing at him. Unaware of the Fury mask he was wearing, Strucker ran to safety behind a heavy steel door. Unfortunately for him, the door led to the inside of a nuclear reactor and he was instantly incinerated. A Strucker android was created after the death of the real Baron von Strucker, but it was eventually destroyed by Nick Fury. Today, Strucker's mutant twin children Andrea and Andreas continue the Strucker quest for world domination as Fenris.
INSIDE STORY: Strucker made many appearances in Marvel comics and was one of the biggest villains of the 60s. His time-travelling story in MARVEL UNIVERSE started off great but ended pretty pathetically. In the end, he was ultimately killed when his submarine was crushed by a giant squid. This wouldn't have been so bad if Strucker didn't have such a long history. He obviously didn't die in 1945, so it was stupid to have him die at the end of that story. Was it supposed to take place in an alternate reality? If so, then the story had no real bearing on the 'true' Marvel Universe. Oh well...
First Invaders Appearance: INVADERS #30 (1978)
Other Appearances: MARVEL UNIVERSE #1-3 (1998); [behind the scenes]NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER (vol. II) #11-12 (1991)
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