Karl Ziktor/Grimlord

Grimlord, was the alter ego of billionaire Karl Ziktor, owner of Ziktor Industries, and the primary enemy of VR Troopers. Years ago, Grimlord was responsible for the capture of scientist, Tyler Steele, and the near death of Professor Horatio Hart, which forced Hart to remain in Virtual Reality in order to stay alive. Grimlord, during the same measures that were taken, also accessed a source of Steele's and Hart's experiments in Inter-reality travel, and gained the incredible powers that were required to access Cyberspace.

After he arrived in Virtual Reality, Grimlord assembled a fierce army of mutants and cyborgs and commanded them from a place of authority. In the first season, that was the Virtual Dungeon. In the second season, it was the Virtual Dark Fortress. Grimlord also appointed several mutants and cyborgs as authority figures themselves including General Ivar and Colonel Icebot. In perhaps the greatest irony, Grimlord transformed Tyler into Dark Heart. But Dark Heart turned traitor after Ryan Steele freed him from execution. When Ryan and Dark Heart confronted Grimlord, Grimlord escaped after he set the Virtual Dungeon to self-destruct. When Dark Heart regressed back to Tyler, Grimlord abducted him with his powers as he still needed him for his next plan.

Grimlord, like the VR Troopers, had a civilian identity and traveled between both realities on a regular basis. Ziktor used a transference orb that was placed on the desk in his office and chanted: "Forces of Darkness, empower me! Take me back to my virtual reality!" The orb then sent a current of energy into Ziktor's body, which changed his physical appearance. Upon transformation, Grimlord then was taken to his throne room in his command center.

Like most heartless supervillains, Grimlord cared very little for his army and henchmen, and generally lost patience with them quite easily when they reported a complication or failure. Grimlord's constant defeats by the VR Troopers caused a frequent irradiation in his eyes and a clenched fist at the conclusion of every episode which made them glow red. Grimlord was not above destroying his own base to kill the VR Troopers, as displayed three times in the series: twice with the Virtual Dungeon, and once with a cave that he temporarily used after Dungeon's final destruction. In the second season, Grimlord attempted to trap Ryan in another dimension just to prevent the VR Troopers from learning his name in reality. In fact, no one, not even the VR Troopers or Hart, knew that Grimlord and Karl Ziktor were one and the same. Surprisingly, the only creature who Grimlord seemed to value the life of was a pet lizard of Ziktor's personality, whom he affectionately referred to as "Juliet", to the point that he appeared horrified at the idea of subjecting her to an experiment in order to test a device to use against the VR Troopers.

In the second season, Grimlord underwent a drastic change in appearance and format after he self-destructed the Virtual Dungeon for the second time. With barely any footage of his counterpart that existed for use anymore, Saban upgraded Grimlord into an American exclusive character and base of operations. After he siphoned off Tyler's knowledge of Virtual Reality into an energy prism (which resembled a green, pyramid shaped crystal), Ziktor discarded his traditional orb, used that prism, and accessed a whole new army of Virtual creations and a new base of operations that was called the Virtual Dark Fortress. Grimlord had a sleeker, modified appearance that included a cape and a long tail, though as he was always seated in season one, those features could have always been present. Grimlord was no longer confined to sitting on a throne and also had the ability to teleport to different places at will.

We Are VR Troopers
The crossover with the VR Troopers and Mutant League Football by TheIkranRider. Here, Grimlord unleashes a full-scale war across virtual reality as soon as the Mutants fled from the Techies' homefield, Asteroid 66. The Techies have been operating his Dark Fortress behind the scenes and made an assault on both realities. Meanwhile, Ziktor Industries was infiltrated by Bones Jackson, Gangrene, Galileo, and Chita as they encountered some Skugs and drained Karl's prism of power; the volatile energy was being absorbed into Galileo itself.

Soon, after a few challenges, as well as Prof. Hart's demise, Ryan gets beamed up in an attempt to rescue his dad, Tyler. Though, Grimlord had the upper hand, causing massive damage to his VR armor, as well as nearly hypnotizing him to kill Tyler. His powers eventually ran out, and so did Grimlord's by the time Galileo entered the virtual world and unleashed the prism's energy onto the Fortress, rendering it and Grimlord powerless. He turned back to his secret identity, Karl Ziktor, while he was strangling Ryan. Then the Blue Hawk, piloted by Razor Kidd, invaded the vessel and shot Karl in the shin, killing him almost instantly before the Fortress exploded. As for Juliet, she's been taken and raised as Tao's own pet.