Ulysses was the son of Nazi war criminal Colonel Fritz Klaue. After World War II he moved back to Belgium and later anglicized his name to "Klaw," and raised his son with tales of Wakanda. In adulthood, Ulysses became a physicist working in the field of applied sonics at the Technical University at Delft. He designed a sound transducer able to convert sound waves into physical mass, but the theoretical element necessary to make his device work was Vibranium, a substance known to exist only in certain meteoric deposits in the small African nation of Wakanda. Desperate for a sample, Klaw organized a group of mercenaries to help him seize the element from the Wakandans, and bought intel on how to access Wakanda from Hydra. After the Wakandan king and bearer of the royal mantle of the Black Panther, T'Chaka, refused to yield any of the mental from the sacred mound, Klaw and his mercenaries opened fire. When Klaw's sonic weapons overpowered T'Chaka, the young prince T'Challa ran to his father's aid. Klaw prepared to kill T'Challa, but T'Chaka shielded the boy with his body, and lost his life. Klaw was disarmed by Wakandan warrior Zuri, who pierced Ulysses' right arm with a spear, and the orphan prince used Klaw's own sonic blaster to shatter his right hand, prompting him to call his troops to retreat. Ten years later, he mounted a second attack on the Wakandans. He was opposed by the Fantastic Four and T'Challa, now the Black Panther, who had succeeded his father as ruler. Thwarted again, Klaw leaped into his massive sonic converter device (the Vibranium for which he had acquired criminally on the open market), hoping to gain superhuman powers to combat his foes. His gamble was successful and Klaw was transformed into a creature whose body was composed of "living sound". In his new form, Klaw battled the Fantastic Four and was pummeled into unconsciousness by Mister Fantastic, wearing Vibranium knuckle guards, and was taken to prison.
