MENTALLO (Marvin Flumm, aka Think Tank)
Created By: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Strange Tales #141 (Feb. 1966)
Role: Telepath
Group Affiliations: S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, The Resistants, A.I.M.
PL 10 (164)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+6)
Deception 5 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+7)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 4 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Gun) 2 (+8)
Stealth 2 (+3)
Technology 4 (+6)
Advantages:
Equipment 5 (S.H.I.E.L.D. Battlesuit), Ranged Attack 6
Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Telepathy"
"Mental Detection" Senses 4 (Mental Awareness- Ranged, Radius, Acute) [4]
"Psychic Screen" Enhanced Will Save 6 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Attacks, Sustained +0) [3]
"Mental Probes" Senses 4 (Ranged Accurate Radius Radar Sight) [4]
Mind-Reading 8 (Feats: Dynamic) Linked to Mental Communication 1 [21]
"The Fixer's Gear" (Flaws: Removable) (Feats: Restricted to Mentallo 2) [68]
"Anti-Psionic Helmet"
Immunity 20 (Mental Effects) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) (10)
"Boosted Psionic Powers"
"Focused Mind Control" Mind Control 10 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Sustained +2) (61) -- (72)
- Dynamic AE: Mind-Reading 2 (total 10) (Extras: Effortless 10, Sensory Link 10) Linked to Mental Communication 1 (total 2) (Feats: Subtle) (Extras: Area 2, Selective 2) (30)
- Dynamic AE: "Group Mind Control" Mind Control 6 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (31)
- Dynamic AE: "Mental Stun" Affliction 9 (Will; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Cumulative) (37)
- Dynamic AE: "Mental Bolt" Damage 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Will Save) (33)
- Dynamic AE: Remote Sensing 8 (Mental- 4 miles) (Feats: Dynamic) (9)
- AE: "Mental Illusions" Illusion (All Senses) 10 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Selective) (Flaws: Resisted by Will) (50)
Equipment:
"Battlesuit"
"Flying Discs" Flight 5 (60 mph) (Flaws: Platform) (5)
Protection 2 (2)
"Rocket Gun" Blast 7 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Limited Uses) (14) -- (15)
- AE: "Pistol" Blast 5 (10)
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Mind Control +10 Perception (+10 Perception Affliction, DC 20)
Mental Stun +9 Perception (+9 Perception Affliction, DC 19)
Pistol +8 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Mental Blast +8 Perception (+8 Perception Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +1
Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +1 (+3 Battlesuit), Fortitude +4, Will +5
Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Mentallo is out for himself, plain and simple. He wants to make a quick buck, and get out.
Power Loss (Telepathy, vs. Animals)- Mentallo was incapable of controlling Reptil in a dinosaur form. However, he HAS controlled the Kaiju of Monster Island.
Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 100 / Defenses: 17 (164)
Mentallo- Journeyman Mind Controller:
-Mentallo is one of those lifelong bottom-tier Marvel villains that somehow managed to stick around. He's also one of those weird characters who would've fit WAY better into the DC Silver Age- the "something-O" name says it all, really. Not to mention the lifeless, dull villain design, the silly goggles, and his weak concept. He's basically your garden variety Mind Controller, but he needs The Fixer's specially-designed gear to use most of his powers to their full potential. He's been a D-League Jobber villain for decades, and SHOCKINGLY was able to duck both Scourge AND Decimation, which took out hundreds of other lame characters combined. Truly a lucky S.O.B.
-Mentallo was a mutant Telepath hired to join S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ESP Division, but turned out to be a mole, working with The Fixer to take over the organization themselves. Nick Fury fought them off, and he later joined a HYDRA cell led by Silvermane. Later opponents included the first Deathlok (Luther Manning), Professor Xavier, and the Fantastic Four, often with the Fixer as his ally. Falling into disuse, he joined The Resistants in the 1990s- a band of TRUE jobbers made up of the members of the middle-era Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (you know; the shitty ones like Peepers & Quill that Jack Kirby crapped out on a bad day, who even CLAREMONT never utilized). Here, he changed his name to "Think Tank" and wore their big yellow outfit with the blue "R" on the front. Quickly beaten by Captain America, he went back to Mentallo in the next story.
-He started a mass breakout in The Vault due to the treatment of Truman Marsh, but his powers were amplified and used by Iron Man to convince the other prisoners to surrender. A true "Filler Villain", he popped up in background scenes and as one-off threats here and there, just doing the "Journeyman" thing. At one point, he bullied the HULK into submission by imitating the Hulk's abusive father, and sent him against the Avengers.
M.O.D.O.K.'s Seven:
-In the 2000s, he was a major character in M.O.D.O.K.'s 7, a Villain Heist Limited Series that was kind of a way to give props to, and utilize, many of the undervalued Journeyman Villains in the Marvel Universe (including The Spot and The Puma). He annoyed the hell out of me in that, because he WOULD NOT STOP CALLING PEOPLE "BUBBELEH". I mean, a CLAREMONT character would be like "Bozche Moi, okay, I get it- you're ethnic. Stop using a vocal confirmation of it!". I mean, it was agoninizing- the thing that wouldn't bug you reading month-to-month, but in every issue? At once? It's basically "M.O.D.O.K. Bubbeleh." and "Oh, bubbeleh, we should do ____." and all that. He spams it out like Kilowog spams out "Poozer" if you read a Green Lantern Corps.-related trade. In the story, Mentallo figured out that M.O.D.O.K. had merely used the ILLUSION of money to ply them, and that the Chameleon was actually Spider-Man using a disguise. Unfortunately, this character was playing a DOUBLE-bluff, and was actually the ULTRA-ADAPTOID, mimicking Spider-Powers while disguised as the Chameleon. And so when Mentallo came to him with the idea to sell their allies out to the Avengers for money... the Ultra-Adaptoid vaporized him.
Later Mentallo:
-Of course, the VERY NEXT WRITER didn't seem to realize this, and so Mentallo un-died and showed up alive later with no explanation (remember the days when villains would spend two pages after their reveal giving exposition about their entire history up till that point? Explaining every loss, and why they're not actually dead? I kind of miss those days). He was in prison, joined The Hood's army, fought Reptil and the Avengers (he was savaged when Reptil turned into a dinosaur, too savage to control), then tried to control the Kaiju of Monster Island on behalf of Roxxon Oil, but was beaten by the X-Men. He was then seen as a member of the High Council of A.I.M., alongside Andrew Forson, Superia, and others. He was most recently seen an inmate of Pleasant Hill prison.
Mentallo- Pricey Mind Control:
-Mentallo ends up being way pricier than a crappy jobber ever should, mainly because he's got a baseline Mental Power, but gets a bunch of others with his Gear on, which necessitates making an entire Array with his core powers outside of them. It's confusing and kind of a pain in the ass, but it pretty much entails all that he can do. He's actually PL 10, but then most of my Mind Controllers end up in that zone- they tend to overwhelm almost any hero on the first go, and it takes some effort for the good guys to break out of it. The fact that he needs a Device to do it also weakens him. Also he's a giant sissy who can't stand up to any kind of punching or kicking, so super-teams are his downfall (he can do a Mind Control, but at a lower level). There was a time he was also running around in a mini-tank that had his head sticking out of it (like a Powersuit or something) that had some built-in guns and grappling arms, so you can alternately do that.
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