Rolf Müller was a circus strongman from East Germany[1] and member of the Ku Klux Klan. Müller was suspected to be Hooded Justice, but it was never confirmed.
Biography[]
Rolf Müller was born in 1917 to Henrik and Greta Müller. His family was on the run during the Communist witch-hunts.[1]
The Müller family immigrated to Macon County, North Carolina when Rolf was two years old. Müller's father was very physically abusive towards Rolf's mother with incident reports being regularly filed but no charges were ever pressed.[2]
On February 6, 1930, Rolf, aged thirteen years old, brutally beat his father in retaliation for the abuse that he and his mother faced.
Later on, Henrik ran away to Atlanta, Georgia with a young grocer from the nearby township of Fulton named Mary, leaving behind a letter asking Greta to tell Rolf that he loved them both.[2]
On April 15, 1932, Müller ran away from home which caused his mother to file an incident report and have a bulletin issued.
Sometime after this, Müller joined the Sackson and Shanley Circus's "Big Top Hello Mobile" troupe as Rolf the European Powerhouse. Müller also began a sexual relationship with a fellow performer named Frank Burrows, something he became deeply ashamed of.
At some point, Müller becomes a staunch anti-communist and joined the Ku Klux Klan. He, along with Burrows and three other Klan members, are accused of murdering a black couple named Samuel and Elois Horton, after they attend the circus in Atlanta, Georgia. They are eventually acquitted of the murder in question. At age 21, Rolf left Sackson and Shanley's for another circus, NYC Shriners, which was permanently located in New York City.[2]
Müller quit his job at the height of the Senate Subcommittee hearings.[1]
Almost a year after H.J.'s disappearance, the New Frontiersman mentioned Müller's disappearance, and implied that he was executed by his Communist superiors. Three months later a decomposing body with a shot on his head was washed up the coast of Boston. It was tentatively identified as Müller.[1]
Legacy[]
Connection to Hooded Justice[]
In the fifth chapter of Under the Hood, Hollis Mason speculates about the fate of the mysterious Hooded Justice, and raises the possibility that he was actually Rolf Müller, a prominent circus strongman who quit his job at about the same time the vigilante vanished, only to wash up three months later in Boston, with a bullet to the head. Mason alludes to the article in the New Frontiersman that implied Müller, a suspected communist, had been murdered by his superiors. However, he doubles down on the possibility that Müller was Hooded Justice, noting their similar builds.[1]
Trivia[]
- While he didn't appear in the movie, the Hooded Justice spoke with a subtle German accent, which heavily implies that he's indeed Müller in the movie's continuity.
- Interestingly, Samuel and Eloise Horton were murdered in Atlanta, Georgia. The exact same city as the one Rolf's father Henrik claimed he was running away to with Mary.