Andy Serkis was first introduced as Ulysses Klaue, aka Klaw, in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but his appearance was too brief for us to learn much about the character. His role in Black Panther is expected to be more substantial, and we look forward to getting better acquainted with Klaw.
But if you need some instant gratification, a new Collider interview from 2017’s journalist set visit provided some excellent information about the character. Serkis told the interviewer that Black Panther would expose a new side to the character’s personality. Specifically, he has a sense of humor:
In this one, there's quite a lot more humor, actually, which is great. It's that thing where you don't know whether he's enjoying this, or playing at enjoying this, whether he's really laughing or just hiding behind it. It's very interesting the way Ryan and the writers have put it together.
Serkis added that unlike most supervillains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Klaw is quite grounded. As opposed to being just "one color", he’s made up of "different shades":
He's got a humorous side to him, he's got a sense of humor. But he's equally very deadly, and he's quite mercurial, and transitions emotionally very quickly. He turns on a sixpence. He can be outwardly friendly to some people, or funny or amusing, and then turn. He definitely feels grounded; there's a darkness to him that grounds him.
Serkis says Klaw and Killmonger don’t work together in Black Panther. (Photo Credit – Marvel)
The Black Panther trailers and TV spots appeared to indicate that Klaw might team up with Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). But Andy Serkis said that his supervillain is "his own man" who really doesn't trust anyone:
He does deals with people, he interacts, but he doesn't form allegiances or alliances with anyone. Ultimately, he's a lone wolf. He has these pop-up groups wherever he happens to be in the world. So he and Killmonger aren't working together, as such.
During the interview, Serkis shared that his character didn’t have a "personal relationship" with T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), or anyone else. But he went on to say that Klaw has a "very specific relationship" with Wakanda:
He's got a bit of a love/hate relationship with it, really. He certainly has discovered things about it that nobody else has, and we discover that in this movie. He's one of the few people who's been into Wakanda, and he reveals quite a lot about it.
Klaw didn’t appear in any of the MCU installments that followed Avengers: Age of Ultron, which led fans to wonder what he’d been up to for so long. Serkis’ explanation:
Well, he's just basically been causing mayhem in the world, on minor and major levels. He's a smart guy, in the sense that he's a businessman as well as an arms dealer. He manages to cover his tracks. He has a mercenary army that works with him in different locations all around the world, and he's able to go down rabbit holes and appear in other places. He's got the smarts, but he's also a little whacked-out.
