Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Avengers

Latveria. The country was a superpower in the comics, but in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was no such thing. Victor Von Doom's homeland was a rural nation with a primitive economy and a population living an almost medieval lifestyle despite being ruled by one of the greatest minds in the Marvel Universe. Probably because that great mind wasn't an adult and was too hung up on the daughter of his mentor to actually be a king. Victor didn't have the time or patience to run an entire country full of people that he saw as beneath him. What he wanted to do was go to college in America where he would actually learn something, and where he could make a move on the girl he loved.

That's where I came in.

If Victor wanted to give up his birthright and go to America, that was fine because I could rule over Latveria. I'd be a firm, but just ruler and Victor could go live his dream life with Sue.

I held out my hand, offering the young king a pen.

"All you have to do is sign your name," I said. "And everything you want is yours."

Now, I'm not going to lie, when Victor took the pen I felt a bit guilty. I was pretty much stealing an entire country from him after all. Still, I knew that what I was doing was for the best and ignored the small voice in my head telling me that I was horrible a person. In a few years, the Baxter Incident would give Victor the power he needed to act on his less than ethical desires. It was better that someone like that didn't have an entire country under his command. I was doing the world a favor by taking over Latveria.

"Thank you, Mr. Klaue," Victor said as he signed his homeland away to me.

I took my pen back and smiled setting my hand on the young man's shoulder.

"This is your chance, Victor," I told him. "It's time for you to escape this cage. There is an entire world out there waiting for your genius to save them."

Victor smiled. I forced a smile of my own as he grabbed the bags at his feet and walked away.

I really did feel scummy for doing this to him and the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that I hadn't chosen this life. I didn't ask to be pulled from my home and stuck into the body of an arms dealer. That wasn't something I wanted to happen. Ulysess Klaue was one of the last people I'd have picked if given the choice. I would have wanted to be Peter Parker or Tony Stark. Captain America would be cool too. And Thor wasn't a bad choice either. But I didn't get a choice.

Whoever, or whatever had dragged me into this universe didn't ask for my opinion. Yes, stealing control of a country was wrong, but I was just making the best of a bad situation. It wasn't my fault that I was an international criminal.

"Is that it?"

I looked behind me as Doctor Samuel Sterns' grotesque figure stepped out of the dark. His oversized green head looked like a watermelon had been stuck on top of a toothpick.

"That's it, Doctor." I nodded. "I'm the King of Latveria, and you're its head scientist. Now, let's get to work."

/

When I woke up, the first thing that I noticed was that I was not in the room I had gone to sleep in. My room was just a plain old room, nothing special about it except for a few posters on the walls of movies and shows that I liked.

So when I woke up in what looked like a five-star hotel room I should have panicked. Like completely lost it. I think anyone who woke in a strange place was entitled to a freakout. The only thing that kept me from having said freakout was the new memories that were rolling through my brain like a movie. Memories of a second life. A terrible and horrible life full of killing and stealing that I was glad I hadn't actually lived.

I also remembered watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. All of them, even the ones that a lot of other people disliked. Which was fine, people were entitled to their opinions, but I was entitled to mine as well. And my opinion was that while not all of the MCU movies were great, none of them actually sucked. They were all rewatchable to me so I've seen them all at least three times. Some a lot more than others. The memories of those movies were why when I caught sight of my reflection in the full-length mirror in the corner of the room, I knew that I was looking at Ulysses Klaue.

An Arms dealer and International criminal in the MCU.

Seeing that face I skipped the whole trying to figure out why and how I had ended up in a fictional universe. I was no scientist, hell I wasn't even out of high school yet. Trying to figure out the metaphysics would have been a waste of my time. And I had bigger things to worry about, like the fact that instead of being a hero in the MCU, I was a villain.

Why couldn't I be a hero? I thought sliding out of the silk sheet covered bed. Was there was a reason that I couldn't wake up as Tony Stark? Or King T'Challa? Hell, if I had to be a villain, why not Ego? At least as Ego I would have a good chance against most beings in a fight.

Ulysses Klaue while intelligent was still just a normal human. And in the MCU being a normal human that wasn't an Avenger did not bode well for a long lifetime. Klaue himself would die in less than ten years. Or that is to say, he had died in less than ten years because no way in hell was I teaming up with Erik 'Killmonger' Stevens. The guy was a sociopath.

No, Ulysess Kalue's days of being a criminal were over. I had to get to work turning my new life around. I didn't know exactly how many countries Klaue was wanted in, but I did know that it was more than one. He was an international criminal after all. And in a world that would soon be full of super-powered heroes being a criminal wasn't the smartest choice. That meant I had to not only stop being an arms dealer, but also find a way to make all of 'my' past crimes obsolete.

The first would be quite easy. All I had to do was make up a lie to tell my crew and have them transport the Vibranium somewhere safe. Then kill them. Okay yeah, maybe that wasn't the most morally right thing to do, but they were all horrible criminals who had done atrocious things. I doubt that I would lose any sleep over their deaths.

No, quitting being a criminal wasn't my problem. My problem was what could I do about the crimes Klaue had already committed and was currently wanted to for?

I walked over to the desk in the corner and sat down, grabbing a pen and pad. I started writing down a list of ideas. It wasn't very long, just three suggestions before my brain picked the last and started to run with it.

1. Turn myself in and serve time in prison.
2. Trade my stash of Vibranium to a country in exchange for a clean slate.
3. Become a King and gain Sovereign immunity like DR. Doom.

That's the one. I crossed the first two out and circled the third. I had to become a king. Not only would Sovereign immunity protect me, but it would also allow me to prepare for Thanos. Give me access to things an internationally wanted arms dealer could never attain. Like legitimate political clout. Maybe even an in with SHIELD.

I ripped the sheet from the pad, crumbling it into a ball and tossed dropped in the wastebasket next to the desk. On the clean sheet, I started a new list.

Becoming King

First I had to find a country to...take over. The ideal country would be a Third-world country. And when I say Third-world, I don't mean struggling or impoverished as so many people think. I mean not allied with the United States or Russia. I needed a country that didn't have allies, other countries that would come calling when I became King.

But where? I frowned. Sokovia?

I looked around the room and found a fancy looking laptop sitting on the bedside table. A quick search for a world map and information on Sokovia ended that train of thought before it left the station. Sokovia would have been the ideal nation, small with no allies. The only problem was the constant wars. The people there had been fighting too long. As a foreigner and a criminal, my reign wouldn't last a year before there was an uprising or attempted coup.

So, Sokovia was out. Where else? I stared at the world map and moved the cursor to scroll away from Sokovia. And then I saw it. Sandwiched between, and dwarfed by Romania, Hungary, and Serbia.

Latveria.

Ah, why didn't I think of that? I wanted to smack myself over the head. Dr. Doom was literally the inspiration for gaining Sovereign Immunity.

As I looked deeper and deeper into the state of Latveria in the MCU, I could barely contain joy. I wanted to jump and shout. Hell, maybe even fist pump. Latveria was perfect.

And the cherry on top, the King and Queen were dead. Their son Victor Von Doom was in line to take the throne but had put off his coronation to travel to New York and work at the Baxter Institute. Their son who looked remarkably like Toby Kebbell, who would die in a few years when he tried to destroy the Earth.

This was great. I closed the laptop and started on another list. If I wanted to become the King of Latveria, legally, then I needed a few things. Lucky for me, I had access to Klaue's bank accounts, and more importantly the most valuable metal on Earth. People would bend over backward for just a small bit of Vibranium, and I didn't have a problem parting with some of the rare metal. Not if it got me what I needed to survive and thrive in a world full of superheroes that would want me in jail.

Or dead. I thought, imagining the riots in Wakanda when they heard that their number one most wanted criminal was legally untouchable. Or course I didn't think that'd stop T'Challa. In fact, if how he acted in Captain America: Civil War was any indication, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to assassinate me. I'll have to prepare for that too.

However, that was years away. I needed to focus on what was right in front of me.

Self-Insert in the MCU as Ulysses Klaue. This story will mostly follow the Cinematic Universe, but I plan on adding other Marvel elements.