BFTB Backstory Project: Baron Ironblood

[The Baron]

Baron Ironblood

The File on the Baron

[momaw nadon]

Ironblood is a great starter, Baron. I need a few facts before I can really get into coming up with something for him, maybe we can brainstorm them here? I like what they did with Ironblood overall, but I think we can add much into his history/story.

Age during the 83-84 period. It doesn't have to be exact, but would like a ballpark age to work around for him. If you like the 1928 birth year claim, that would put him at 55-56 during that time. I think that might be a little old, but I think this needs to be set in some form.

Motive I think needs to be established. What is his driving factor for him wanting to take over the world? Is he insane or have some medical condition that it all stems from? Did a series of events set him on this path? I don't remember the comics defining a motive at all. This might make a great story all it's own with some big part of his past.

Lastly I would be interested in what he did or was before becoming the Baron and hell-bent on ruling the world? Some might want to keep this in the dark, but if that is the case, maybe we can do some more "might be" stories like in "The File on the Baron"? This part could have some great tie-ins to WWII. Might make him on the older side than you really want, unless you make him the son of so and so of said faction during that period. Though you could add into the mix with some fountain of youth thing. Then age would just be a number with him, but I still think it’s needed.

Anyway, would like to get some others point of views on this and we all can get a few facts to work from .

momaw nadon

[humby248]

Maybe something along the lines of Hannibal Rising?

[Chopper]

I was thinking that The Baron was taken under the wing of a ex-SS officer, maybe even a son? Hence the South America tie in and also later with the Shads. At least that was how I was planning to tackle the problem.

[Shadow_Contact]

Hopefully we can all add to this here is off the top of my head

I would like to see some aspects of his schooling mentioned. Is he a Scientist? (That would help explain his brainwashing abilities and how he was able to revive Kracken)
Is he a Mechanical Genius? (Once again would help brainwashing and give reasons for the creation of Skeletron and Red Jackal)
Where does he gain his wealth from? (Brainwashing may get troops but it dont pay for roboskulls)
Whats his sense of "Injustice" that leads him to believe that he should lead the world? (Is it just he sees everyone as incompitent or is there something more pressing)?
Not really about the Baron per se, but if you make his Birth still in 1928 what influence would the Current Red Shadows have from him? (I assume he would be dead by now, but hell maybe his brain is in Skeletron) Or do the Current Shadows follow a revised "history"? (Like how Dictators will omit the previous dictator or just make passing references to them)

[The Baron]

The simplest solution to the timeframe issue would be to utilise the technology used in "Death in South America" to keep Hitler alive.

I don't think he needs any reasoning beyond being a power-crazed warlord. He's definitely the scientific angle of the Shadow tech, while the Black Major runs field ops.

[Chopper]

That would mean in 1983 he was 55. Now he would be 82. Bit old I think, SC. Red Jackals work was done by hired doctors, but I think that genetics and mind control is a mandatory field of experience for him.

Hows this, son of a German concentration camp Komandant, he escaped to South America after his family were forced to leave in 1945. Maybe even a small tie to GI Joe Special missions #2? One of my favourites. His dad and other exiled Nazi's may have become his mentor's. One of the idea's behind the concentration camps was medical experiment's so he may have developed his skills (and been encouraged at a young age) from that in South America while his father and his cronies attended to maintaining Hitler.

There could have been an event that forced him to leave during his school years, maybe boarding school in the UK to further his education? During which a catastrophe occurred at Hitler's bunker and he never went back, assuming they were all dead. His actual rise to power after he left home to study can be anybodies baby.

ENTER BAF HERE:

Then there his rise as CC. Later this would come back to bite him when the SAS and Cobra were captured. Altho he had assumed there was nothing left. Before we saw it, it was a small Nazi city, what was left was a fraction of its former glory.

What do you think?

[momaw nadon]

I really like the Kassells name in the story from The File on the Baron. Not so much the name they allegedly gave him, but the meaning behide the name and ultimately ending with him talking the name Ironblood. So I think there would need to be some Swiss tie for his family and him. I still think we need to keep him nameless, or if anything only that last name. I don't care for everything that was in that comic, but it has some things we could add and build on.

That Hannibal Rising idea could work, but I don't see it going much farther than revenge on the ones that wronged him. Now if you could elaborate the story to maybe where he would blame a whole country, then it could work. I think it would have to be an allied country though, as it wouldn't make much sense if it was towards Germany or even Soviets. I only say that is because Germany is defeated and so much comes from those two nations to supply his armies from what I have read. That is a great idea though.

I do think motive is key though. With any Tyrant hell-bent on totally control there is some form or another that drives them to attempt world domination. Even with there twisted view on how the world works. I don't thing Baron Ironblood and Cobra Commander would be any different in that fact. Hitler, Napoleon, Caesar, Saddam, etc, all had something that drove them to do what they did. It wasn't like one day they woke up in a craze and thought I should take over the world today. Without motive, that is how Ironblood seems, IMO.

The idea for his family being force to flee, is another good angle. Only problem is that Switzerland was neutral during WWII. That might play a role in motive though with the grudge against the Allies though, as many incidents happened more frequently from British and American bombers than from Germany or Italy in Switzerland.

I think Ironblood needs to be born around the early '40s, maybe late '30s at the earliest and before '45. Only reason for that is it doesn't make him totally old in the 82-83 time frame. It would put him in his 40s. then maybe we can play around with the fountain of youth idea for later on or not.

I think we are all on the right track though as brainstorming will make everyone's thoughts count on this project. Plus I can't wait to read what others come up with on this.

momaw nadon

[The Baron]

OH, I forgot to add, there's the whole Karl Vagan theory in the strip Codename Sky Raider to mix in.

[Chopper]

Maybe his folks were Swiss but believed in the Arian ideal? As for revenge, how about they were Swiss, moved to west Germany in the early mid 30's and his half of the country was fed to the Soviets by the allies after the war? Maybe the rest of his family left behind, Uncles, Aunts etc wound up in Soviet camps.

Remind's me of the Goldeneye back story a bit. A great example of lust for revenge. The Lienz Cossacks story. Alex Trevelyan;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Trevelyan

"Trevelyan reveals that his motive for his betrayal is a personal one. His parents were Lienz Cossacks who had collaborated with the Nazis but attempted to defect to the British at the end of World War II. When The British instead sent them back to the USSR, many were executed by Stalin's execution squads. Though Alec's parents survived, his father, ashamed to have lived, killed his wife and himself. At the time, Alec was only six years old. He was then transported to the United Kingdom and was taken in by MI6, who issued him the new surname Trevelyan, chosen because it had origins in the British Isles (specifically Cornwall) but bore coincidental phonetic similarities to Armenian and other southeastern European surnames. MI6 continued to sponsor his training and education throughout his childhood, and he began formal work for the British government upon attaining his majority, in order to set revenge against the British government for his family's demise."

And for the Swiss angle, it would seem there were Swiss Nazi's;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Gustloff