Lady Mastermind
Lady Mastermind is a female comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Regan Wyngarde was a female Mutant who was born the daughter of Jason Wyngarde where she came to inherit his ability to cast illusions. (X-Treme X-Men v1 #6)
X-Men
The intrusion into her mind seemingly provided the stimulus to allow Regan to awaken from her coma and she found herself in a hospital gown within the care of the X-Men. She confronted Beast who revealed that she had been unconscious for a year after being captured by a mysterious person named Pan and that Serafina's actions had awoken her. Regan was then determined to get revenge on the parties responsible for her recent problems and she came to join Rogue's new X-Men team that went to confront the Children of the Vault that had launched their attack against the X-Men. (X-Men v2 #192)
The team intercepted the Children's flying ship, where Mastermind psychically tricked some of the enemies into murdering each other. After emerging victorious, the unusual squad of X-Men cut ties with the Xavier Institute to operate independently. (X-Men v2 #193) Their first mission was tracking down the Fordyce Clinic's owner. Mastermind used her illusion powers to expose Calvin Goynes, one of the hospital workers, in order to pinpoint the mastermind's whereabouts. Her mean streak became apparent for all X-Men to see, leading Rogue to reprimand her for her actions and remind her that she was only on the team because she had a personal stake in the mission. (X-Men v2 #194) The X-Men tracked Palance to Calcutta after he kidnapped Rogue and knocked the rest of the team out. His psychically cloaked headquarters was revealed by Mastermind. In the building, when fighting Palance's personnel alongside the other X-Men, Wyngarde displayed offensive psychic abilities, a sign of her parasitical infection. (X-Men v2 #195) Eventually, Palance incapacitated Wyngarde using her own illusions against her. She was to be vivisected by some scientists, but was saved by Mystique. Meanwhile, the X-Men took down Palance. Before Rogue could deal justice, she fell unconscious as a result of his macabre experiments. Lady Mastermind happily got payback and trapped Pan in a persistent illusion where he was lost in a giant maze. (X-Men v2 #196)
When Rogue returned to her old home in Mississippi to recover from her ordeal, Regan and the rest of the team followed her. When the X-Men were called to help, Lady Mastermind seemed just to hang out in the background. In truth, the X-Men should have been watching her more closely, as Lady Mastermind was about to reveal her true colors in the most brutal way possible. Unbeknownst to them, both Regan and Mystique had been recruited by Mister Sinister and were playing along until the right moment. With a house full of X-Men, Lady Mastermind dropped an illusion she had been holding and revealed the Marauders were there as well. The heroes were outnumbered, outsmarted and outmatched, and they quickly fell to the might of the deadly team. Sinister had been taking out every mutant with knowledge of the future and Rogue was on his list because she had read Destiny’s prophetic diaries. With the X-Men defeated and Rogue captured, Lady Mastermind and the Marauders returned to Sinister to wait for the next stage in their plan. (X-Men v2 #201)
She was by her father's grave paying her respects when she was visited by the Sisterhood of Mutants that had been formed by Madelyne Pryor with her sister Martinique being among them. Regan came to point a gun at Pryor's head though she was looking to recruit Lady Mastermind and offered to resurrect her father. This led to Regan joining the team much to the disgust of her half-sister Martinique. The Sisterhood later went to San Francisco in order to conduct a spell involving Kwannon's body and a captive Psylocke thus restoring her to her original body. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #508)
House of X
After the Mutant nation of Krakoa was established, Regan was one among many that made their way to the living island that was to be the home to their kind. She intended to travel through the gateway located in the ruins of the X-Mansion but whilst there she disturbed a nest of Sidri that were hidden underground. The insectoid aliens cocooned her where her powers created illusions to get someone to free her. This attracted the attention of the X-Men with Nightcrawler along with his team investigating the strange appearance of various X-Men at the site. They eventually learnt the truth with Nightcrawler coming to arrangement with the young Sidri and Lady Mastermind being freed from captivity allowing her to travel to Krakoa. (Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Regan Wyngarde was an attractive human female with blonde hair. (X-Treme X-Men v1 #6)
It was shown that she had a hostile relationship with her half-sister Martinique where she often insulted her upon seeing her and even calling her a 'skank'. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #508)
She had another half-sister in the form of Megan Gwynn who was born from an affair Mastermind had with the fairy Mrs. Gwynn. (X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back v1 #4)
Powers and abilities
Regan was a second generation Mutant with the ability to cast hyper-real illusions. (X-Treme X-Men v1 #6)
Unlike her father, Regan had a limited telepathic ability that enables her to read her foes' minds and make illusions all the more accurate for it. (X-Treme X-Men v1 #7)
Regan can also use her powers to make herself and others invisible and change others' perception of her to look like anyone she pleases. She was able to trick enemies into killing their own teammate by making their ally look like Regan. (X-Men v2 #193)
Notes
- Lady Mastermind was created by Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca where she made her first appearance in X-Treme X-Men v1 #6 (December, 2001).
- As noted in Comic Book Legends, Lady Mastermind originated due to a mix-up between Chris Claremont and Joe Casey who were the writers of X-Treme X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. Both had intended to use Martinique Jason but after learning of this then Claremont invented a new character that was Lady Mastermind.
- In an interview on Uncanny X-Men.net, writer Mike Carey commented on his use of the character, "So I chose Lady Mastermind partly because she's such a volatile and extreme personality. As with Mystique, you suspect that some aspects of her behavior may have their roots in an actual psychosis. But on the surface you've just got this amazing, wickedly ingenious, endlessly aggressive woman who never lets anyone get away with anything. She's the hardest X-Man for Rogue to wrangle, even taking Mystique into account. Because of course Mystique is trying hard – for whatever reasons – to be supportive of Rogue's position, while Regan doesn't give a damn."
Alternate Versions
- In X-Men: The End v2 #4 (2005), an alternate version of Lady Mastermind appeared in The End reality that was designated as Earth-41001 in the Multiverse. Both Martinique and Regan fell prey to Mister Sinister and he turned them to stone. Using their bodies, he created a device that would ensnare people in an illusion should they get too close. When the X-Men came to attack Sinister, the Ladies Mastermind caught them in an illusion that played out their heart’s desire. Thanks to a telepathic nudge from Jean Grey, Wolverine broke free of the illusion and destroyed the statues, ending Regan’s torture.
- In Age of X: Alpha v1 #1 (2011), an alternate version of Lady Mastermind appeared in the Age of X reality that was designated as Earth-11326 in the Multiverse. She was present when Magneto used New York City skyscrapers to create Fortress X.
Appearances
- X-Treme X-Men v1: (2001)
- X-Men v2:
- Uncanny X-Men v1:
- Uncanny X-Men:
- Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler v1: (2020)
External Links
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