Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg was a super-villain from Nazi Germany and one of the first costumed villains faced by Captain America.

History
Blitzkrieg was a costumed German super-villain active in Nazi Germany in the early years of World War II. Along with Säurespritze and Zahnmörder, he was part of a team known as Das Vernichtungs-Kommandos (also referred to as the Death Squad or the Killing Squad). The mysterious leader of the Killing Squad was the masked villain Agent X. Clad in an insulated costume, Blitzkrieg was armed with special wrist harpoons that generated an electrical discharge of lethal voltage.

In early March of 1941, Agent X's superior, the Red Skull, learned of the secret U.S. military program known as Project: Rebirth. Seeking to acquire the project's secrets to create his own army of super-soldiers, he sent the Death Squad to the United States to steal the formula that transformed scrawny Steve Rogers into the muscle-bound Captain America.

The creator of Project: Rebirth's Super Soldier Serum, Doctor Abraham Erskine, had already been assassinated by a Nazi agent. Before his passing however, he gave each of his research assistants a part of the formula. He entrusted the complete formula, as well as the secret of his Vita-Ray research to one man, Colonel James Fletcher.

The Killing Squad systematically sought out all of Erskine's associates. Blitzkrieg intercepted an Army convoy transporting a scientist named Doctor Keller to a safe house. He killed Keller with his electric barbs as well as the military personnel assigned to protect him. He then met up with his confederates at their secret stronghold in an abandoned meat-packing plant in Indianhead, Maryland.

When the Red Skull discovered that Colonel Fletcher possessed the complete formula, he sent the Killing Squad to the Project: Rebirth facility to abduct him. They brought him to a hidden safe house where they interrogated him at length. Fletcher managed to escape, but Blitzkrieg entangled Fletcher in his electro-cables as the soldier dived out the window. Both men fell to the ground, but survived. Blitzkrieg's cable was still attached to Fletcher as he entered a vehicle and began to drive off. The Nazi sent another electrical surge down the conduit that caused the car to explode. Fletcher survived, but Blitzkrieg and the others tracked him to a local eatery called Smyth Diner. Säurespritze captured Fletcher and they brought him to a Nazi compound in occupied Paris, France.

Along with another Nazi agent known as the Master Interrogator, the Killing Squad continued to torture Colonel Fletcher, but he refused to yield the secrets of the Super Soldier Formula. Fletcher was able to escape once again, but his freedom was short-lived as he flung himself through a window to his death. The complete Super Soldier Formula died with him.

Captain America, arriving too late to save Fletcher, raided the Nazi compound and fought against the Killing Squad. Blitzkrieg fired his electro-dart at Captain America, but the hero deflected it with his shield. The assailants continued to exchange blows with one another and Säurespritze was killed during the fight. Cap ran out of the compound onto the streets of Paris, but Blitzkrieg and Zahnmörder stayed close behind. As they approached the Eiffel Tower, Blitzkrieg fired his electro-dart again, but his battery pack malfunctioned, causing a power surge that electrocuted him.

Powers and Abilities
Blitzkrieg did not appear to possess any superhuman abilities. All of his offensive tactics originated from his weaponry, though he possessed the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engaged in moderate regular exercise.

Weapons
Blitzkrieg's weaponry consisted of an electrically-charged battery back woven into the fibers of a special insulated costume. Conduits ran from the battery pack along the length of his arms, terminating in a pair of gauntlets. Blitzkrieg could fire razor-tipped cables from the conduits that carried the electric charge from his pack into his target.