All I want to do is give Germany a superhero other than a bouncy guy in lederhosen, one that's actually serious, because Germany is under-represented in anything other than supervillains.
I'm sorry to say that I'm not sure how she or her origin story embody the ideals of Germany, whatever they are (
ruthless efficiency, presumably
)
I should be working on mein SSS or SDNW4, but I'm gonna do this since it's been a loooong while since I did anything related to Comix and I'm feeling impulsive, so pardon me if I am a little rusty.
Der Autobahnluftkapitan
Real Name: Hans Vogler
Origins:
In Germany, there is one name synonymous with the ruthlessly efficient enforcement of law -
Der Autobahnluftkapitan. He is cold and stern, with a steely gaze and a mailed fist that delivers German justice to the face of criminals and supervillains alike, and patrols the lanes of the autobahns of Germany implacably in his
EWR VJ 101 jumpjet. The mere shadow of his aircraft is enough to make wrongdoers abandon their wrongdoings, and if not, then the
Autobahnluftkapitan is more than ready to swoop down from the sky and dissuade them at the point of his gun.
But before there was
Der Autobahnluftkapitan, there was Captain Hans Vogler of the GSG 9 der Bundespolizei. The
Grenzschutzgruppe 9 is an elite counter-terrorism and special operations unit of the German Federal Police, and Hans was among their select number, partaking in many classified operations to safeguard Germany from the acts of terrorists, hostage-takers and extortionists. In the turbulent years immediately after reunification, Germany was rife with discord as left-wing terror-organizations and paramilitaries made their last stands against the government, while less-mundane groups likewise sought to take advantage of the nation's precarious position - namely rogue elements of the former Stasi, and even worse, Paul von Austerlitz' resurgent Shadow Legion.
It was in 1993, when the GSG9 was still authorized to carry out special operations, that Captain Hans Vogler and the operators under him were participating an undercover mission outside Germany. They were tracking down members of the leftist terror group
Rote Armee Fraktion when their investigation brought them into the corporate micronation of Galude. While this was normally outside the jurisdiction of German police, Captain Vogler decided to press on, for to him borders were irrelevant in the pursuit of justice, and his main priority was to ensure that these terrorists were made to answer to German law. His undercover investigation bore fruit, revealing hints of a disturbing conspiracy between not only the RAF and former members of the Stasi who had gone to ground, but also that of outside supporters for their revanchist cause. These ominous findings seemed less important at that moment, though, compared to more the more immediate intentions of the terrorists they had tracked. Their plan was to take Baron Engel von Emmerich, the leader and CEO of the corporate micronation of Galude, hostage and demand not only the release of imprisoned RAF members, but also the cessation of the privatization of the East German state economy (in which the Baron had a rather prominent role).
In that moment, Vogler hesitated, his steely resolve to stop crime in all its forms conflicting with the ingrained need to follow proper police procedure. In the end, he relented to protocol and contacted the local authorities of Galude, but they were slow to react, more like corporate security guards than proper police - blundering and inefficient. The result was a shootout between the Galudian authorities and the urban guerrillas, the death of several people including an undercover GSG9 operative, and Baron Emmerich being taken hostage on board his personal airship, the
Galude Whim. As the terrorists made their way up into the stratosphere and broadcasted their demands to the public at large, Vogler was left with his meticulously crafted operation in ruins. He would have had to explain everything to not only his own superiors, but to Galudian corporate security as well. But there, he realized that it was his strict adherence to protocol that led to the situation in the first place, blindly following the book and leaving matters to the hands of those who were inefficient to carry out true justice. He left Galude, without explaining anything to their corporate security for it was they who were at fault for their incompetence. This time, matters would be left to more efficient hands. His.
The hijacked
Galude Whim entered German airspace. While the local and federal police were deciding on whether or not the hostage crisis fell into the jurisdiction of the individual state whose airspace the airship was in, and while the government was busy communicating with their Galudian corporate counterparts - who were more more familiar with their stock portfolios than actual crisis situation management - it was a decision from the very top, from
Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl himself, that authorized the deployment of the GSG9 to resolve the situation. With that, Captain Hans Vogler commandeered a
Luftwaffe EWR VJ 101 jumpjet and took to the skies. There, he would act with the swift and steely fury of
Deutschland's law incarnate and bring justice to those who would dare fly above Germany in blimps to tauntingly defy its authority.
The terrorists looked down and proclaimed that there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. Vogler looked up and whispered, "
Nein."
Meanwhile, aboard the
Galude Whim, Baron Engel von Emmerich had other plans rather than to play the helpless hostage. His kidnappers had made the mistake of thinking he was a harmless old man, nothing more than a pencil-necked banker, and while this was true, Von Emmerich took it upon himself to inform them that he was also an avid and accomplished swordfighter - by pulling out his cane sword and disarming the terrorist guarding him. A scuffle ensued, and using his superior knowledge of the zeppelin's layout - the zeppelin he himself designed - he attempted to make his escape by making for the
Galude Whim's parasite bi-plane, but the terrorists preempted him and he was forced to flee to the open top of the zeppelin. They cornered him and he backed away hesitantly, nearing the very edge of the zeppelin more and more.
It was then that Captain Vogler arrived on his jumpjet. He was more than pleased to see that the hostage had spared him the trouble of having to jump off the jumpjet and storm the zeppelin himself, so he pulled open his canopy and shouted for Von Emmerich to jump. Emmerich did, and landed safely on the back of the jumpjet. The terrorist's leader, the ruthless Wolfgang Grams, did not hesitate to jump after Emmerich as well, and several of his followers did so too. Wolfgang landed on the jumpet, but the others missed and fell to their deaths. The terrorists who were still on the zeppelin also attempted to shoot down Vogler's jumpjet by firing their weapons out of the windows. Vogler returned fire with his fighter's cannons, ending most of the terrorists and ripping new holes into the zeppelin. Incensed by the demise of his revolutionary brethren, his
kameraden, Wolfgang Grams attempted to attack Vogler, all while Baron von Emmerich desperately held on the plane for dear life. Vogler tried to shake Wolfgang off, but the terrorist proved to be a sticky case and either way Vogler couldn't remove Wolfgang without also likewise causing Emmerich to fall off the plane. Meanwhile, the ventilated zeppelin began to leak gas and descend, the surviving terrorists boarded the
Galude Whim's parasite biplane, the very same craft the Baron had tried to escape on. They made their escape, and as they flew away on their biplane, they saw their revolutionary leader struggling on the
Luftwaffe jumpjet - that symbol of fascist imperialism - and decided to make their final attack.
So it was, with a desperately clinging Baron and an attacking Wolfgang Grams, did Captain Vogler maneuver his plane to engage the terrorist aircraft in a dogfight for the ages - him, on his VTOL-capable F-104 Starfighter; them, on their propeller-driven biplane. The sun was behind Vogler, he had the advantage. Too close for missiles, he engaged the terrorist biplane with cannons, but though slow the craft proved very maneuverable and Vogler's jumpjet was too fast and perpetually on the verge of overtaking them. They weaved through the clouds, their contrails drawing dizzying circles around in a crazy waltz, until Vogler finally broke off, having expended his cannon rounds. He went and established some distance - so that he could use his missiles instead. In that moment, an unsteady Wolfgang Grams clambered atop the jumpjet's canopy and opened fire with his sidearm. Vogler activated the explosive bolts on the canopy, blasting it off the plane to try and throw Wolfgang off - but it merely unbalanced the terrorist. But before he could resume his attack at a now-exposed Vogler, Baron von Emmerich blinded him by using his monocle to reflect sunlight, causing Wolfgang to slip - but instead of falling off to his demise, the terrorist merely rolled off a wing and got snagged on a JDAMRAAM missile.
The jumpjet's fire control radar locked on to the encircling biplane, Vogler had tone. He looked down at the hanging Wolfgang Grams and smirked knowingly at him. In the rushing wind, he said, "
Du bist gefeuert!" and launched the terrorist to his comrades in an express delivery by JDAMRAAM. Both the terrorist leader on the missile and his terrorist followers on the biplane screamed, and then they stopped screaming and exploded.
Captain Vogler landed his jumpjet and helped a still-quivering Baron down to terra firma, while at the same time the now-deflated
Galude Whim softly crash landed somewhere in the countryside. They were accosted by a whole mob of journalists, as TV helicopters had caught the action and transmitted it live for the whole world to see. In that moment, upon the whole of Germany seeing Captain Vogler exact uncompromising German justice on his silvery jumpjet, that
Der Autobahnluftkapitan was born.
Current Status:
Alive. The live coverage of the hostage crisis and its explosive resolution immortalized Vogler in the German consciousness. In a time of uncertainty and turmoil, the GSG9 captain's swift actions in dealing with the terrorists brought the German people something they had long needed: a symbol of hope, a reassurance that justice was there and that the rule of law was still being enforced by something more than just a faceless, abstract system, but by something solid and concrete - like Captain Vogler's fist. He became the hero Germany needed, a personification of the efficiency of the police and the GSG9.
Ironically, the fact that Captain Vogler's identity has become public - not to mention his blatant violation of police protocol, the hundreds of regulations defied just in his resolution of the hostage situation, the jurisdictional infringements, the excessive use of force, the problems raised with operating in foreign territory, the commandeering of military aircraft and the destruction of foreign property, and the fact that he had gone ahead and did what he did when the GSG9 was already assembling an authorized heliborne tac-squad to deal with the terrorists, just to name a few - has led to his 'retirement' from the GSG9. Since 1994, the GSG9 was also no longer allowed to take part in Special ops.
Despite having his police chief chewed his butt off and demand his gun and his badge, Captain Vogler somehow managed to keep his jumpjet. He received personal awards from Baron Engel von Emmerich himself, as well as other high-ranking politicians in Galude as well as Germany. For a while, public debate raged on, arguing whether or not Vogler's heroic actions were right or if they were unduly harsh and reminiscent of the oppressive methods of older, sordid times - but in the end, public support far outweighed any disapproval of his methods.
Eventually, he was reinstated to his rank of captain but transfered to the
Bundeskriminalamt, the Federal Criminal Police Office, where to this day he continues to enforce the law - but no longer as a special operative, although he still possesses all his old training and skills as a GSG9 operator plus a shiny old jumpjet, but as a detective investigating federal cases related to international organized crime, terrorism, cases of special interests, and in cases where the
Bundeskriminalamt's presence is requested by the respective federal state authorities.
As ever, his will to enforce the edicts of German law is as strong as ever, as is his sense of justice. Now, outside the bounds of the secretive GSG9 and in view of the public, he continues his work, and though in the public eye he is seen as some kind of superhero, he remains in his heart a police officer humbly serving Germany and its people in the way he knows best - by ruinating wrongdoers and villains alike, and making sure that crime does not pay
ever. He is Captain Hans Vogler,
Der Autobahnluftkapitan.
Powers and abilities:
Captain Vogler is a baseline human in prime physical condition. Moreover, he is a former GSG9 operative and was trained by the best of the best in the usage of special weapons and tactics, and possesses a not inconsiderable amount of experience from his time in the organization, having partaken in an undisclosed number of clandestine missions prior to GSG9 being disallowed from special operations. In terms of crimefighting abilities, his current work with the
Bundeskriminalamt has endowed him with years of experience as a federal investigator and detective, working with not only law-enforcement agencies and agents in Germany proper, but also with international agencies and agents through Interpol.
Aside from this, Vogler has also become quite an astute pilot and is a regular competitor at the International Bridge Limbo Tournament. He has also extensive martial arts training, and has recently gone to Hawaii, to the dojo-hangars of the Smackdown Squadron, where he has developed the Messerschmitt Me 262 "
Schwalbe" - a technique that emphasizes the speed of movements and the power of attacks to defeat the enemy.
On duty Vogler wears a Saintly Concerns Light Blue light armored muscle suit, a variant similar to that being used in the
Bundeswehr's
Infanterist der Zukunft system and in the GSG9 as well. His preferred weapons are the G-11 caseless assault rifle and the MP-7 personal defense weapon. His preferred mode of transportation is, of course, his
EWR VJ 101 jumpjet - a 1970s-era
Luftwaffe variant of the F-104G Starfighter capable of Mach 2 flight and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL). His aircraft is the only example still flying, as the
Luftwaffe had retired its fleet in the 1990s. It is armed with missiles and a cannon, and its systems were last modernized in the late 1980s. Nevertheless, it is his trusty vehicle and to the public it has become associated with
Der Autobahnluftkapitan.
Weaknesses:
Being a baseline, Captain Vogler is a mere mortal man without any truly special or extraordinary abilities. He also tends to be intolerant of what he perceives as inefficiency in others, or inefficiency in protocol and procedure. As in the Galude hostage incident, he seldom hesitates to go around protocol and procedures to get the job done in what he sees to be the most efficient manner, even if it involves varying degrees of violence.
Relations:
Captain Vogler is an investigator of the
Bundeskriminalamt and also works with Interpol from time to time, and as such has contacts throughout German law enforcement as well as some allies in other neighboring European agencies. He also maintains his connections with the GSG9, though he did not part with his superiors in the best of terms, he is still considered as a good cop by his former co-workers. Those who aren't as familiar with his methods tend to regard him as a maverick renegade loose cannon cop, and they may be right, but Vogler has never failed to deliver results and his commitment to German justice and the rule of law is unquestionable.
Outside the thick blue line, over his career as an officer of the law, Vogler has made many friends and enemies in the years since Galude. He has Baron Engel von Emmerich's gratitude, and the leader of Galude has often offered to replace his
EWR VJ 101 jumpjet with a superior aircraft, such as the X-32s used by his company. So far, Vogler hasn't taken him up on it, and despite having saved Von Emmerich, he has become suspicious of the Baron's other nebulous business dealings. Like every other German police officer, Vogler was also involved in the Berlin Hand Basket incident, and later he took part in investigating a number of suspected Technotheocratic front-companies operating in Europe. He has also been acquainted with the Danish teen adventurers Louise Exner and Karl Popper, having once assisted them in breaking an illegal organ trafficking ring operating in a remote hospital at the German border, and in another occasion encountering them and the EUFIXIT (European Union Force for the Intervention of Extraterrestrial Intergalactic Threats) in an incident involving an extraterrestrial robot automobile and a miniature alien invasion. Vogler has worked with Uder Bernhoffer - the Lederhosenman - in a number of cases, in particular the arrest of Meister Meatmensch, a supervillain who used necromancy to reanimate meat products in an attempt to conquer a countryside town in Bavaria. It was also through Vogler's contacts that the Lederhosenman was furnished his
Lederhosenwagen.
In terms of rivals and enemies, Vogler has had to deal with quite a few unsavory characters. Baron Engel von Emmerich's partners in the EVIL Corporation have repeatedly gotten themselves on the wrong side of German law, which means they have repeatedly gotten themselves on the wrong side of Vogler. Another similar character is the Russian billionaire defense contractor Maks Mikoyan, the notorious MiG Man, who was briefly implicated in an international arms smuggling ring ranging from Russia and Eastern Europe, to as far away as Skyhaven. Vogler was part of the Interpol investigation team, and eventually Mikoyan was absolved of suspicion when the ring turned out to have been masterminded by former elements of the Stasi gone rogue working with an organization called Crimson Dawn. In the end, Vogler was forced to team up with Mikoyan to fend off communist-counterfeit MiG Men in a dogfight over Wild Manchuria. After this incident, a drunken Mikoyan claimed to be Vogler's ally and offered his assistance to Interpol, but Vogler wasn't one to tolerate his kind, no matter how many times the power armored billionaire tried to buzz his jumpjet or show him up.
Aside from this, on a frequent basis Vogler has to contend with everything from Paul von Austerlitz' menacing Shadow Legion and their myriad schemes at world domination, to grinning Germano-Austro-Prussian madmen repeatedly seeking to reforge Germany and Austria into their new empires to also dominate the world again and again and again, to literal illegal aliens from outer space who can inexplicably speak fluent German and end up getting sent to neutral Switzerland for political asylum reasons, and so on. Sometimes, dealing with more mundane cases can be a welcomed respite, such as organized crime syndicates involving misplaced Mongolian biker gangs prowling the autobahn - which gives Vogler a refreshing chance to just don his jumpsuit, throttle the engines of his jet, and go fly over to the autobahn to smash some skulls.
