Aliases : Anatoli Knyazev, The Beast.
Base of Operations : Mobile, but primarily Gotham City.
Tag : kgbeast
Important Plots : None.
Journal(s) : jla_villains
Status : Available

Powers and Abilities : KGBeast possesses no metahuman abilities, but is an incredibly well-trained assassin with extensive martial arts training and a superb shot. Since losing his left arm in an encounter with Batman, he now has a cybernetic limb in the style of a machine gun. He can also use this for both rapid fire and sniping, and is also generally equipped with other weapons such as grenades and blades.

History : Anatoli Knyazev was trained as an assassin by "The Hammer," a top secret cell of the KGB. In addition to being the master of several martial arts, his strength was cybernetically enhanced, and he also mastered the use of every deadly weapon known.

During the late 1980s, KGBeast was dispatched by the Soviets to assassinate ten Americans; a mix of corporate heads and politicians. Although he succeeded in murdering nearly all of these targets, Batman thwarted his attempt to assassinate then-President Reagan. During a fight between KGBeast and Batman, the hero used the wire from his utility belt to tie the assassin to a ledge, leaving him for the Gotham PD. More resourceful than perhaps Batman suspected, KGBeast cut his own arm off to escape capture, and later reappeared with a gun in place of his arm, added with relative ease due to his already existing augmentations.

From that point on, KGBeast and Batman came into frequent conflict, Batman acknowledging the Russian as one of his most deadly foes. KGBeast often got the upper hand in these battles, but with the help of Robin and Batman's other allies, he ended up incarcerated in Blackgate prison.

KGBeast escaped from his prison on many occasions, working as an assassin as well as attempting to perform terrorist acts on the behalf of Communism and his deceased USSR. To many heroes he became something of an anachronism, albeit a deadly one, and his skills as an assassin (despite being incredible) were often overlooked for less politically motivated killers such as Deadshot and Bane.

Recently, KGBeast has been accepting jobs from The Calculator and Oswald Cobblepot in order to make ends meet. He is aware of the great potential income there would be if he worked for Luthor, but he's also aware that a deal like that would be nigh-on-impossible to escape.

Whilst on an assassination mission in Star City, KGBeast encountered Solomon Grundy and the two engaged in fierce combat, as the zombie stole the Soviet's kill. KGBeast emerged triumphant after deploying many of his weapons, and after gaining the assistance of the Star City PD. As his mask was removed during the fight, his face was caught on CCTV and then added to one of the Star City tabloids under the heading 'Knyazev: Hero or Villain?' Despite his fight with Grundy, KGBeast shows no signs of becoming a nice man.

KGBeast attended the autopsy of the Solomon Grundy he helped bring down, where he discovered that the Grundy he attacked was one of many that had appeared from multiple universes. Since then he has fought Batman in the Riddler's ambush of the hero, but lost, and managed to crawl away before being arrested.

As well as Batman, KGBeast has come into conflict with Black Lightning, Nightwing, and at one stage Black Canary.

More recently, KGBeast has come to the conclusion that his time as an assassin had run its course - deadlier and more determined competition from Deathstroke and David Cain got him thinking about other career options. A chance encounter with Ted Kord has put him on the path to possible redemption, working in a security capacity for K.O.R.D. Industries.

Other Sources :

• KGBeast at the DC Database Project
• KGBeast at Wikipedia

Divergences : In the DCU canon, KGBeast has been murdered by the new Tally Man, on behalf of the Great White Shark. This was in an effort to frame Harvey Dent for the murder (an effort that failed). His corpse has since been stolen by reanimators, for predictable purposes. These events did not take place in Watchtower's continuity.

Disclaimer - unless otherwise noted, all characters are property of DC Comics, used here only for roleplaying purposes.