KGBeast (Anatoli Knyazev) is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo, the character first appeared as an adversary of Batman. KGBeast has appeared in numerous series and films. Anatoli appeared in his first live adaptation as a recurring cast member on The CW Arrowverse television series Arrow played by David Nykl. Anatoli also appeared as a secondary antagonist and a henchman for Lex Luthor in the DC Extended Universe film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice played by Callan Mulvey. Publication history KGBeast first appeared in (March 1988) and was created by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo. Fictional character biography Backstory Anatoli Knyazev (, ), code-named "The Beast", and known to the C.I.A. as the "KGBeast" is 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 is cybernetically enhanced, and he also masters the use of every known deadly weapon. At the time of his first appearance, he is rumored to have killed at least 200 people. First appearance The Beast made his first appearance in the storyline, "Ten Nights of The Beast" Batman #417 (March 1988), which was later reprinted as a trade paperback of the same name. It was written by Jim Starlin and drawn by Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo. The Hammer's general, angry that the Soviet government is working to better relations with the United States, sends Knyazev on a mission to kill 10 high-ranking U.S. officials in an attempt to cripple the Strategic Defense Initiative program. These include scientists, civilian administrators, military figures, and politicians, the last of whom being then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan, scheduled to visit Gotham City. Despite Batman's best efforts, the Beast eliminates nearly all of his targets. In particular, he showcases his ruthlessness by poisoning an entire banquet, killing over 100 people, just to ensure that his target dies. When Batman finally faces the Beast in hand-to-hand combat, the Beast quickly gains the upper hand, at the time, proves himself better than Batman in both tactical planning and engagement. However, failing to realize that he had advantages over Batman in abilities, the Beast flees because he thinks Batman has contingencies based on the hero's reputation, loses his opportunity to kill Batman as the Dark Knight later improved his skills since then. During the rematch