Mister Mind

Latest revision as of 07:01, 25 April 2023

Mister Mind in Shazam! v3 #3.

Mr. Mind is an comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Captain Marvel encounters Mr. Mind from Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #29.

Origin

Mister Mind was a worm-like creature who had plans to dominate the world.

He operated a Society of Evil that consisted of famous criminals and creatures from many worlds that were ready to answer his summons where their goal was ruling the universe. During World War II, he made contact with Captain Nazi and allied with the Axis powers where he stated the reason he joined them was because they were evil thus meant they were part of the society of evil in the universe. He dispatched Captain Nazi for acquiring a mystical Indian black pearl where he first encountered Captain Marvel. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #22)

Using the power of the pearls, Captain Marvel located Mister Mind's hidden base on the Moon an went to confront the villain. After breaking through the strong metal doors, he found the Goat-Man that he believed to be his nemesis. However, this proved to not be the case as Mister Mind was projecting his intellect into numerous Synthetic Forms that included a robot, an octopus and a large strongman. Billy Batson was ambushed by the strongman but managed to say the magic word and battled Mister Mind. He would later discover that the strongman was simply another body that his foe was using and their battle had resulted in the destruction of the Moon based laboratory. This led to Mister Mind escaping where he mocked Captain Marvel for not catching him and though he lamented the destruction of his base he did comment that he would make a new one on Earth. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #26)

Captain Marvel could not stop the lava flow, but thankfully when it flowed over the TNT it melted instead of igniting, and Marvel remembered that high explosives were set off by fulminate and not fire. Mr. Mind gloated in his miniature spaceship until he saw Captain Marvel flying at him and realized he’d been foiled. Mind flew into a flock of birds, managing to evade his nemesis. Billy Batson broadcast a warning that Mr. Mind was still on the loose, and director Hitchblock of Eastern Elephantine Studios sent Captain Marvel a letter, saying he was doing a film version of Mr. Minds wrongdoings and needed his technical advice. Captain Marvel was happy to help, believing it was important the world was warned about how dangerous Mind was, and he was impressed with the mechanical worm Hitchblock whipped up as a stand-in for Mind. Mr. Mind got word about the film from his underlings, and saw an opportunity to sow chaos. He also wanted to make sure he was being portrayed as evil and devious as he deserved to be. A janitor on the film set spotted him, so Mind took the place of the mechanical worm to hide in plain sight. Hitchblock needed an extra to play a boy in peril who the Monster Society would fling off a cliff, and Captain Marvel changed into Billy Batson to volunteer. Mr. Mind alerted his new Monster Society recruits, the Crocodile Men, and had them take the place of the other actors in the scene. The Crocodile Men were supposed to pull Billy back from the cliff edge at the last moment, but ignored the director and tossed Billy to his doom. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #38) Mr. Mind had his Crocodile Men round up Hitchblock and his actors, planning to film Mr. Mind, Murder Master! In which he’d depict the Monster Society taking over the world. He had his lackey Bonzo go to the dressing room to play the part of Captain Marvel. Billy survived his fall, since the jagged rocks he landed on were rubber props, and after changing into Captain Marvel he took Bonzo’s place. Mr. Mind wanted to film the Crocodile Men torturing Hitchblock and his crew to death, but the weapons the Crocodile Men chose were all rubber props, infuriating the villain. Captain Marvel revealed his presence, knocking out the Crocodile Men after a brief brawl. Mr. Mind had another trick up his sleeve, activating his Black Death Ray and turning it on Captain Marvel, who started to dissolve into a cloud of smoke. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #39)

Later on, he embarked on a new scheme to defeat Captain Marvel where he used a robotic body to mask himself as a man called Mr. Wonderful. With his many-armed assistant called the Handyman, he came to recruit six women who were empowered with abilities similar to those held by Captain Marvel. These became the Rainbow Squad who were empowered by the Rainbow Machine with them being unaware of their employers true nature. They were used to ambush Captain Marvel and depower him with a blast of lightning where as Billy Batson he was going to be crushed by a 5-ton weight. However, he was saved by Minute-Man allowing Batson to become Captain Marvel again where he fought Mr. Wonderful and uncovered him to be an android piloted by the diminutive Mr. Mind. (Shazam! v1 #31)

DC

Mary Marvel battles Mister Mind from Power of Shazam v1 #40.

Mister Mind was shown as being the ruler of his people that inhabited a vast world in another dimension though this was a boring existence. To alleviate his boredom, he amused himself by monitoring Earth's radio broadcasts that he could pick through the ether. Within his royal laboratory, he spent many hours listening to the planet's radio shows. He became fascinated by one of the radio shows and followed it into space where he witnessed Harbinger travelling between dimensions during the Crisis. After hearing her and Firebrand talk of Earth, Mr. Mind followed their trail where he passed through the dimensional barriers to Earth. Once there, he sought out the comedian Charlie McCarthy but was distraught after learning he was simply a wooden dummy whose voice was provided by Edgar Bergen. Failing that, he decided to meet the Justice Society of America but no one was within their headquarters either. In anger, Mr. Mind decided to become a supervillain and form his own society of criminals which he gathered after looking into the JSA casebook for their various enemies. As a result, he formed the Society of Evil consisting of Ramulus, Mr. Who, Oom, and Nyola to combat the Justice Society. (All-Star Squadron v1 #51)

He was later approached by Mister Mxyzptlk where the two formed an alliance to battle their respective foes. As the imp's silent partner, he helped guide him in using his powers to switch Superman's powers and place with that of Captain Marvel. (DC Comics Presents v1 #34)

For a time, it was believed that Mister Mind was killed when he was sentenced to the electric chair with his body stuffed at a museum. In reality, he was in hiding and commanded an army worms as well as insects to undermine the museum's foundations. This was with the goal of recovering the glasses that were on the stuffed dummy version of himself whereupon he decided to get revenge by destroying the world. (Shazam! v1 #1)

Destroying Skeets from within, Mind adopted his identity and made plans to consume the Multiverse, which had returned to existence as a result of Infinite Crisis. Discovering that Rip Hunter was aware of his plans, Mind as Skeets, attempted to hunt him down and draw him out, to no avail. Eventually, he discovered Hunter hiding in the Bottle City of Kandor, but when Hunter turned the Phantom Zone Projector on him, Mind overpowered it and 'ate' the Phantom Zone itself. At the end of the year, Mind tracked Hunter and Booster down to the lab of T. O. Morrow, intent on acquiring the head of the Red Tornado, whose computerized brain had mapped the Multiverse. (52 v1 #50) He possessed the body of the robot Skeets where he ate him from within his metallic shell to make it a cradle and cocoon for his transformation after being exposed to Suspendium particles. (52 v1 #51)

Though killed, an offspring of his managed to survive who retained his progenitors consciousness and went by the name of Mister Mind. (Action Comics v1 #891) After the Blackest Night, the Zone Child that inhabited the Phantom Zone began to use Mister Mind to achieve its goal in eliminating all emotion from the normal universe as these had tormented it during the Black Lantern Corps invasion. Due to Mister Mind consuming the Phantom Zone previously, he had a link to that dimension which was exploited by the Zone Child allowing it to control the worm and used him to seed events to bring about its emergence into the normal universe. (Action Comics v1 #899) Mister Mind was dispatched to telepathically control Luthor for the Zone Child as Lex was seeking the power of the remnants of the Black Lantern energy which unknown to him the Phantom Zone entity coveted for passing through the barrier between dimensions. Despite trying to telepathically control Luthor, Lex managed to outwit the extraterrestrial worm and defeat him. (Action Comics v1 #891) He would later return when the Zone Child exited he Phantom Zone and revealed via a holographic projection the creatures origins as well as how he was enslaved to its power during the earlier confrontation with Luthor. (Action Comics v1 #899)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. A denizen of the Monsterlands of the Magiclands, Mind was a simple worm who was looked down upon by everyone but despite that he longed to attain power. He heard of the Council of Eternity and sought to join likeminded beings where he made the journey to the Rock of Eternity with him sacrificing everything to meet them. However, upon finding them, the Council came to laugh at Mister Mind leading to him wanting to remake the realms under his rule. Thus, he assembled a band of followers where they created a terrible war as Mister Mind intended to shatter the barriers between the realms and give himself ultimate power whilst allowing magic to be free for all. Ultimately, his followers were defeated where they were trapped within the Monsterlands whilst Mister Mind himself came to be trappd at the Rock of Eternity. (Shazam! v3 #13) He remained there for many years until Dr. Sivana sought out the secret of magic in order to use it to find a means of saving his family as science had failed him. His search led him to bringing back Black Adam who sought the power of the Wizard and defeat the new champion known as Shazam though he was ultimately defeated. Returning to the Rock of Eternity, Sivana sought more magical knowledge where he heard a voice from a mystical bottle who called himself Mister Mind and offered him an alliance. (Justice League v2 #21) With Sivana by his side, the pair decided to seek the father of the current champion with this being C.C. Batson who was a noted grifter and thief. Upon locating him, Mister Mind took the man as a host and pretended to be C.C. Batson in order to approach Billy with the idea of re-uniting the family. In reality, he wanted Billy to empower him with the magic lightning and become the seventh champion. (Shazam! v3 #13)

Within the Rock of Eternity, they opened the doorway into the Monsterlands and broke the seal that closed it away. Once inside, the pair journeyed to gather likeminded prisoners and reform the Monster Society to destroy all their enemies. (Shazam! v3 #10)

Inside his host, Mister Mind came to overpower Billy Batson and threatened his loved ones unless he enacted the spell from the Book of Champions. With it, the barrier between the realms broke leading to all of them merging into one land that Mister Mind intended to rule. Shazam seemingly disappeared at that moment with the worm believing that their enemy had simply run away. However, in reality, Billy had shrunk himself so that he could battle Mister Mind from within his fathers brain with the intention of freeing C.C. Batson. (Shazam! v3 #13) The pair battled within C.C. Batson's brain where initially Billy found himself overwhelmed by the superior magical casting abilities of Mister Mind who attempted to torture the boy by stating that his father never cared for him. Mister Mind even attempted to entice Shazam into joining the Monster Society as they were similar to him as they had all been ostracised by society. During their fight, Shazam came to notice Mind's electronic voice box and determined that without it he could not cast spells and managed to break it thus defeating the worm. By this point, the Monster Society had been defeated and Shazam used magic to restore the Magiclands to their original forms as separate realms. (Shazam! v3 #14)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Whilst operating from an android body, he once masqueraded as a human and went by the name of Mr. Wonderful. (Shazam! v1 #31)

He claimed that he was the most evil being to had ever lived. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #22) Mr. Mind himself stated that he never gave up and simply escaped in order to begin his plans again. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #34)

According to one account, it was said that he grew bored of the dull life on his world. (Shazam! v1 #31)

Powers and abilities

Mister Mind was described as being a multidimensional psychic entity. (Action Comics v1 #891) It was said that he was born a mutant who was more brilliant than any other member of his race. (Shazam! v1 #31) His mental powers were capable of instilling great strength into others and was generated by his mind which were projected through the ether. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #22) He was equably able to generate powerful mental radiation to command wild life to follow his commands such as getting them to take him to safety. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #28) This trait allowed him to command armies of worms and insects that could be sent to sink entire buildings by weakening their foundation. (Shazam! v1 #1) He was said to suffer from poor-eyesight and a lack of means of communicating verbally. However, his race was said to be immune to electric shocks which did not kill them but instead put them into a state of suspended animation. (Shazam! v1 #31)

His small body allowed him to manoeuvre by underground tunnels with ease and enter spaces that larger individuals would struggle navigating. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #34) Beyond his fearsome mental powers, the intelligent worm was able to spin out silk allowing him to swing from surfaces, block the mouth of his enemies or even cocoon an individual. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #29)

Their species strands of DNA had Eight-D RNA and allowed them to pass their consciousness to their offspring. (Action Comics v1 #891)

In reality, his caterpillar-like form was simply his larval stage and after being irradiated with Suspendium particles he could enter a cocoon where he gestated across 52 weeks. (52 v1 #51) Upon emerging from the chrysalis, he was a titanic winged insect creature known as a Hyperfly that developed evolved to feed off space and time. This made it possible for him to eat years and events from the history of a universe with this act altering the events on that world. As such, artificial time such as Suspendium was addictive to a Hyperfly. In this form, he could consume entire dimensions such as the Phantom Zone and even the Multiverse itself. Among his abilities was to alter his vibrational frequency allowing him to tear apart his targets. As a parasite, the Multiverse itself became his host where he could devour the consciousness of every living thing and leave all of creation to rot in darkness forever. (52 v1 #52)

One incarnation of himself had over centuries come to learn to use magic but required the use of his electronic voice box for the task. This was because he needed to speak the words and without the voice box he was unable to cast spells. (Shazam! v3 #14)

Mister Mind was able to create a number of Synthetic Forms to house his essence allowing to operate through them. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #26) Among the bodies he could inhabit was the Invincible Man that drew power from residual energy from the Big Bang that had formed the soul of the universe which emitted energy that kindled stars and generated life. (World's Finest v1 #257) His scientific knowledge allowed him to build wondrous machines such as the mindtripper that was a flying machine with its own worm-warp drive. (All-Star Squadron v1 #51) Mr. Mind was able to craft a number of powerful synthetic monsters that were monstrous beasts with some having hybrid features of other animal traits. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #28) One weapon within his arsenal was the Black Death Ray that fired a blast of power able to dissolve anything struck by it. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #40)

He once controlled a floating island that served as a base for invasion forces. (Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #35)

Notes

• Mister Mind was created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck where he appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #22 (1943) though he made his actual debut in Captain Marvel Adventures v1 #26 (1943) by Fawcett Comics.
• After acquiring Fawcett Comics, the character was introduced as part of the main DC universe.
• In an interview on IGN, writer Geoff Johns noted, "Mister Mind’s aspirations are incredibly big, and just because he’s a small size, he might be funny to us and he might be underestimated by everybody around him, but his point of view is a pretty valid point of view. Size doesn’t matter, he could say the same thing to Shazam when they enter the Land of Giants, ‘Well, you’re tiny to them. You think they’re a threat?’ But I don’t think Mister Mind is so obsessed with him being a small worm. I think Mister Mind, because he’s a magical creature, he’s got more power. And more importantly, he’s got a lot of ambition. He’s very humorous in a lot of ways, but he’s also very threatening."

Alternate Versions

• In Tales from Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee v1 #1 (2023), an alternate version of Mister Mind appeared in the setting of the Just Imagine... reality set on Earth-6 world in the restored Multiverse. This version was Gerhard van Gehirn who went by the name of Mr. Mind where he was a criminal scientist who was able to expand his intelligence by networking multiple brains to his own. Interpol agent Robert Rogers was sent to apprehend Mr. Mind. Gehirn captured Robert and imprisoned him in a Faraday cage to prevent his handlers activating his notorious "contingency". Unbeknownst to him however, the contingency was not a technology, but the savage demon Shazam. Rogers transformed into Shazam, who effortlessly broke free of the cage and brutally killed Mr. Mind.

In other media

Mister Mind in the Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!

A mutated Mr. Mind from Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Television

• In The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!, Mr. Mind appeared in the setting of the animated television series in the episode where he was voiced by actor Alan Oppenheimer. The episode "The Incredible Shrinking City" showed him as a junior partner of Dr. Sivana who seemingly had an inferiority complex as no one took him seriously. During the episode, it was shown that Dr. Sivana had constructed a mind warper ray designed to cause the Marvels to forget the magic word Shazam. Mister Mind was said to had told Sivana that this plan would not work because Freddy Freeman instead called on Captain Marvel to empower him though the scientist dismissed the worm. Afterwards, Sivana would instigate his plan but failed when Freeman called on his magic word to defeat the villainous scientist though Mister Mind managed to escape into the sewer before Mary Marvel could capture him. Once there, he lamented his bad fortune and how no one took him seriously due to him being a worm. At that point, he decided to enlist the aid of other worms into causing sinkholes and earthquakes on a massive scale in order to get the world to submit to him. In that time, the Mary Family managed to enlist the aid of Uncle Dudley's hard ice machine to create heavy rain which caused all the worms to come to the muddy surface where they were eaten by birds. Mister Mind managed to escape and vowed his revenge against the Marvel Family.
• In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Mr. Mind made an appearance in the setting of the animated television series in the episode "The Malicious Mr. Mind!" where he was voiced by actor Greg Ellis. He appeared before the Monster Society of Evil after their defeat at the hands of Batman and the Marvel Family where he usurped leadership of the group from Dr. Sivana. Under his leadership, he managed to turn the Marvel Family against one another by entering the minds of each of them in order to create hostilities between them. When he returned to their headquarters, Dr. Sivana turned against him by unleashing a death ray on Mister Mind. However, Mister Mind seemingly anticipated such a move and fed false instructions to Sivana who inadvertently modified the death ray into a growth ray thus turning the once small worm into a giant insectoid monster. During this time, Batman was struck by the growth ray turning him into an infant but he managed to unite the Marvel Family as well as firs the growth ray on Mister Mind who was reduced back to his normal size. The growth ray was later used to help restore Batman back to his adult self.
• In Justice League Action, Mister Mind appeared in the animated television series where he was in the episode "Follow That Space Cab" and was voiced by actor Oliver Vaquer. He was a small green worm with a voice box to broadcast his voice who was an intergalactic terrorist wanted for many crimes. Mister Mind was captured and tried by the galactic court where he was given to the custody of the Justice League to keep him contained. Superman was transporting him to Earth when he was intercepted by two alien bounty hunters one of whom was Lobo who was hired to capture or kill the worm. In an attempt to escape, Mister Mind was stepped on by Lobo with half his body destroyed and him seemingly being dead. Lobo took half the remains to claim his bounty and gave the second half to the Justice League who were aware of the fact that the worm was able to regenerate his body. The supervillain restored his damaged half to normal only to find himself trapped in a cell at the Justice League's headquarters.

Films

• In Shazam!, Mister Mind appeared though was not named in the live-action film set in the DC Extended Universe where he was portrayed by actor David F. Sandberg. He was shown as a prisoner in the Rock of Eternity until Dr. Sivana freed the Seven Deadly Sins where his container was shattered. Afterwards, he appeared in the jail cell of Dr. Sivana in the post-credit sequence where he forms an alliance with Thaddeus where the pair were to open the doorway to the seven realms.

Appearances

• Captain Marvel Adventures v1: (1943)
• Shazam! v1:
• World's Finest v1:
• DC Comics Presents v1:
• All-Star Squadron v1:
• Crisis on Infinite Earths v1:
• Shazam! v2:
• Power of Shazam! v1:
• 52 v1:
• Action Comics v1:
• Justice League v2:
• Shazam! v3:

External Link

• DC Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry
• Comicvine Entry

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