Mentallo appeared in 1965 Marvel Comics called Strange Tales.
Marvin Flumm was born in Watford City, North Dakota. He was born a Mutant; a telepath with only moderate ability.
Flumm was recruited by the original S.H.I.E.L.D. as a candidate for their Psi Division. Having been fired for cause after attempting a covert takeover of that organization by working with Hydra.
Still a freelance agent of Hydra; Flumm escaped from prison, and teamed with his partner Fixer, together they captured Nick Fury and attempted takeover of the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. base. However Iron Man arrived and took them out with a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
Jessica Drew was woken from a ten-year coma by agents of Hydra. Flumm used his powers to convince her that Hydra was an organization fighting the encroaching powers of corporations.
He battled Daredevil when he attacked a Hydra Base.
Mentallo and Fixer escaped again and tried to get their revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D. They captured the Thing and tried to steal Time Platform from the Baxter Building. They planned to bring Deathlok from his alternate future to the present. Mentallo controlled Deathlok's mind and had him try to assassinate the President, but they were stopped by the Fantastic Four and arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D.
They were freed again by Baron Karza of the Microverse who had taken control of Hydra. He was freed to create the living machine-intelligence Computrex. However the machine was defeated and destroyed by the Micronauts.
He along with the Fixer teamed up with Professor Anthony Power to use Professor X powers to heal Professor Power's son who was injured in the Vietnam War. He invited him to his home along with Spider-Man. When Professor X was unable to help he imprisoned him in a psychoplastic cage. Flumm shielded his mind while to hide the truth. Mentallo needed to drain Professor X's mind to fuel his own power. He planned to use the power to start a war with the Soviet Union. Spider-Man faced the Fixer while Flumm and Professor X fight a mind battle. However Professor X wins freeing himself after and explained to Professor Power that his machinations may had destroyed his son's mind forever.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Low-Level Telepathy: Mentallo is a mutant with limited telepathic abilities, allowing to read minds, communicate telepathically, and other applications. According to Hope; compared to someone like Prof. Xavier he's terrible. Some abilities include:
- Illusions: One of the first skills that he learned.
- Mind Control: Was able to control many of the monsters on Monster Island with sufficient preparation.
- Mental Probes: Mentallo also has the ability to send out mental probes to identify the shape and size of objects in his near vicinity, effectively creating some type of radar-sense. He can even locate invisible and intangible objects this way.
- Mind Creation: A.I.M. speculated that his lack of power compared to other telepaths isn't due to him being inherently weaker, but is more due to the fact that his powers are misapplied.
Arsenal[]
- Psycho-Helmet: To compensate for is limited powers Flumm had the the Fixer create the Psycho-Helmet to enhance his telepathic abilities.
- Telepathic Immunity: The special helmet protects him against telepathic feedback, background noise and other telepaths.
- Think Tank: As the Resistants member "Think Tank", he used a small tread-propelled vehicle in which he sat, with his upper body and head still exposed. This tank unit was armed with a wide range of weapons - machine guns, grappler arms, etc. - which Mentallo directly controlled with his telepathic ability and a special interface helmet. He later gained access to an updated version.
Weaknesses[]
- Cybernetic Dependence: Much of his abilities were initially reliant on his psycho-helmet, this has lessened over time but not wholly disappeared.