Mister Mind
Mr. Mind is an comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
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)
DC
He was actually 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)
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)
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. 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)
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)
Overview
Personality and attributes
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)
Powers and abilities
Mister Mind was described as being a multidimensional psychic entity. (Action Comics v1 #891) 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)
His small body allowed him to maneuver 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)
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)
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."
In other media
Television
- In The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! cartoon series, the character made an appearance 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, the character made an appearance 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:
- All-Star Squadron v1:
- Shazam! v1:
- Power of Shazam v1:
- 52 v1:
- Action Comics v1:
- Justice League v2:
- Shazam! v3:
External Link
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