Flag-Smasher

The Flag-Smasher is the name used by two fictional supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original was most often a foe of Captain America while other adversaries of the Flag-Smasher include The Punisher, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, The Runaways, The Liberteens and Deadpool.

Flag-Smasher (Karl Morgenthau)

Concept and creation

Mark Gruenwald created Flag-Smasher as a character in the tradition of the Red Skull: a villain with a symbolic aspect that would make him a nemesis specifically for Captain America. Whereas the Red Skull symbolizes Nazism, Flag-Smasher symbolizes anti-patriotism.^[1]

Fictional character biography

The first Flag-Smasher was born Karl Morgenthau,^[2] the son of a wealthy Swiss banker-turned-diplomat, in Bern, Switzerland. He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a diplomat until his father was trampled to death in a riot at a Latverian embassy. He came to believe that humanity needed to do away with the concept of countries and nationalism that made people feel superior to those of different nationalities.

The Flag-Smasher used terrorism to spread anti-nationalist sentiment. He conducted a one-man terrorist campaign in New York City against nationalist symbols, holding hundreds as hostages until Captain America captured him.^[3] Establishing a society he called ULTIMATUM, whose name was an acronym for "The Underground Liberated Totally Integrated Mobile Army To Unite Mankind," he made it an anti-nationalistic terrorist organization and made himself its Supreme Commander. With ULTIMATUM, he hijacked an American airliner, held its passengers hostage, and demanded the surrender of Captain America, who joined forces with S.H.I.E.L.D. to thwart his plot.^[4]

The Flag-Smasher later learned that the Red Skull had been funding ULTIMATUM. Surviving assassination attempts ULTIMATUM made upon him, he captured the most recent Captain America, John Walker. The Flag-Smasher then reluctantly teamed with Captain America, Battle Star, and Demolition-Man in thwarting an ULTIMATUM plot to set off a worldwide electromagnetic pulse that would have rendered all electrically operated machinery useless, feeling that completing such an operation using funding provided by a national symbol such as the Red Skull would have compromised his own integrity.^[5]

The Flag-Smasher again made himself head of ULTIMATUM, and attempted to supply armaments to American subversives, but he was thwarted by Moon Knight and the Punisher.^[6] He then made a new attempt to create anarchy in the United States through distribution of arms to malcontents, but this time, the Punisher and the Ghost Rider thwarted his plot.^[7]

The Flag-Smasher later captured an amnesiac Demolition-Man, but during a battle with U.S. Agent, he fell into the Arctic Ocean.^[8] Roxxon Oil turned him into a berserker with super-human strength. However, he later lost those powers.

The Flag-Smasher was installed as the ruler of Rumekistan by the V-Battalion as a compromise between powers.^[9] It was later revealed that the Flag-Smasher had allegedly been assassinated by Domino as part of a series of events which installed Cable as leader of that nation.^[10][11]

Powers and abilities

The Flag-Smasher is an athletic man who is a gifted hand-to-hand combatant with great proficiency in the martial art of shotokan karate-do. He is also a brilliant terrorist strategist, and has fluency in English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Japanese, and Esperanto.

ULTIMATUM personnel have supplied him with a number of weapons and other devices, including a flame-throwing pistol, a teargas gun, a spiked mace, a shield, jet-propelled skis used for flight, teleportation devices, submarines, and rocket-propelled hovercrafts.

Flag-Smasher (Guy Thierrault)

Following the apparent assassination of the original Flag-Smasher, Canadian ULTIMATUM agent Guy Thierrault assumed the role to continue the spread of anti-nationalism agenda.^[12][13][14] During the Civil War story arc, he attacked the Santa Monica Farmers' Market to show his opposition to the Super-Human Registration Act, but The Runaways defeated him.^[15]

Later, a fight between the Flag-Smasher and Araña was described. The second Flag-Smasher struck Araña with his mace, but Spider-Man later defeated him.^[16] He was next shown being described as the new Flag-Smasher.^[17]

After this he was seen fighting against Liberteens, but was defeated and imprisoned.^[18] The Flag-Smasher then returned and launched an attack on a New York diner, where Nomad (real name Rikki Barnes) was having a chat with her friend John. The explosion caused John to get hurt, and Rikki quickly put on her new Nomad uniform to fight the Flag-Smasher, who was now wearing a similar suit to the original Flag-Smasher. The Falcon and his "sidekick" Redwing helped Nomad defeat the Flag-Smasher, who was again arrested and jailed.^[19]

The Flag-Smasher later kidnapped a Middle Eastern banker, but was confronted by the new Venom, Flash Thompson. Venom then succumbed to his symbiote's murderous tendencies. After killing the Flag-Smasher's cohorts, he then bit off the Flag-Smasher's right arm.^[20]

After an ULTIMATUM helicarrier was infiltrated and many of its members were slaughtered by Deadpool,^[21] the Flag-Smasher confronted, and was defeated by, Deadpool, who ordered him and his followers to stay away from the Merc and his daughter.^[22]

The Flag-Smasher was later apparently murdered by another ULTIMATUM member named Carl, who then assumed the identity to achieve a vengeance against Deadpool.^[23]

Eventually, this Flag-Smasher was apparently slaughtered, as were all of the ULTIMATUM forces, after they attacked Deadpool a final time, thus apparently ending both ULTIMATUM and the Flag-Smasher.^[24]

In other media

Video games

• A version of Flag-Smasher appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

References

External links

• Flag-Smasher (Guy Thierrault) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe