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Mad Thinker

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This article is about the Marvel Comics villain. For the DC Comics villains, see Thinker (DC Comics).
Mad Thinker
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceFantastic Four #15 (June 1963)[1]
Created byStan Lee (writer)
Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoJulius
Team affiliationsMaggia
Triumvirate of Terror
Intelligencia
Illuminati
Masters of Evil
PartnershipsPuppet Master
Egghead
Klaw
Wizard
Awesome Android
Notable aliasesDr. José Santini, The Thinker
AbilitiesMaster tactician and strategist
Genius-level intellect
Ability to project his mind into the body of Awesome Android and other robots

The Mad Thinker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is portrayed to be an evil genius specializing in robotics. He is sometimes referred to just as "The Thinker".

Publication history

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The Mad Thinker was introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #15 (June 1963).[2] Lee and Kirby gave the mad scientist a special ability to predict events to the precise second.[3]

Little to nothing was known of his origins or true identity until, over fifty years later, the Mad Thinker's first name was revealed to be Julius in the pages of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's Infamous Iron Man #2.[4]

Fictional character biography

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The professional criminal mastermind known as the Mad Thinker made his debut fighting the Fantastic Four.[5] He once attempted to take over New York City using the Baxter Building as his base and all organized crime members as his lieutenants. The Fantastic Four were lured away from New York just before a meteorite struck the city and briefly knocked out electrical power, including the Baxter Building's defense systems. The Mad Thinker took the opportunity to create a robotic servant, the Awesome Android. He trapped the Fantastic Four in the lower quarters of the building but was eventually caught after being stopped by an unforeseen factor: the building's mailman, Willie Lumpkin, who on Reed Richards' orders rang a bell at 4 pm, activating a circuit breaker built into all of his devices.[6]

It seemed that his primary objective had not been to take over the city, but to steal Reed's technology. The Mad Thinker would gladly get sent to prison for a peek at the secrets of what he considered the greatest mind in the world.

After his initial defeat against the Fantastic Four, the Mad Thinker teamed with the Puppet Master for the first time. He used the original X-Men through a mind-controlled Professor X to battle the Fantastic Four.[7] Again with the Puppet Master, he pitted the Thing against the Human Torch, but was foiled by Reed Richards.[8] Later he created a radio-controlled bouncing ball with which he tried to eliminate the Thing and Torch while they were at a new dam's opening and nearly brought down the ball, but the Torch was able to destroy it.[9]

He then created Quasimodo, a "living" computer. He located and revived the original Human Torch and used him to battle the present-day Torch.[10] Later, with his Triumvirate of Terror (consisting of Piledriver, Hammerhead, and Thunderboot), he captured the Avengers and invaded Avengers Mansion, believing that he had successfully overcome them by remembering to take advantage of the human element of his enemies' personalities that he had forgotten in the past, but he was nevertheless foiled by Hercules.[11]

Mad Thinker, along with Awesome Android, appears as a member of the Intelligencia.[12] During a conflict between the Intelligencia and the Sinister Six, the Mad Thinker is killed by Doctor Octopus. MODOK Superior later resurrects the Mad Thinker and the other Intelligencia members.[13][14]

As part of the "All-New, All-Different Marvel," Mad Thinker appears as a member of The Hood's incarnation of the Illuminati.[15]

Sometime later, the Mad Thinker appears in La Paz, Bolivia where he is surprised by Doctor Doom in his version of the Iron Man armor, who offers him the chance to turn his life around in exchange for a device he used in a robot. Upon refusing, Mad Thinker activated a few robots to fight Doom only for him to be defeated.[4] Mad Thinker is later shown to be in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[16]

After escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Mad Thinker became obsessed with Mister Fantastic's whereabouts, as he has not returned to Earth-616. Misinterpreting Mister Fantastic's absence, Mad Thinker thinks that Mister Fantastic wants Mad Thinker to succeed him and the Fantastic Four.[17] While styling his hair after Mister Fantastic and calling himself by that name, Mad Thinker hired three people named Lumen, Goodfire, and Smash to make up his Fantastic Four and gives them powers similar to the Fantastic Four. He took his Fantastic Four to follow Human Torch and Thing on their multiverse travels in order to eliminate the old remnants of the Fantastic Four. Mad Thinker's Fantastic Four confronts Human Torch and Thing in an unidentified reality. Despite Human Torch and Thing being powerless at the time, the two of them held their own against Mad Thinker's Fantastic Four until they escaped.[18]

During the "One World Under Doom" storyline, Mad Thinker meets with Dreadknight, Exterminatrix, Madcap, and Mister Hyde to discuss Doctor Doom becoming Sorcerer Supreme and the Avengers and the Masters of Evil trying to fight him. He pitches that they form their branch of the Masters of Evil. While rebuilding Quasimodo to help them out, they begin their takeover of the Impossible City and plan to drop an asteroid on New York City. However, the group is opposed by Captain America (Sam Wilson), who dons armor created by the Impossible City. After his teammates are defeated, Mad Thinker dons armor with technology derived from the Super-Adaptoid technology and fights Sam Wilson and Black Panther, with the armor allowing him to use all the abilities of his teammates. The Impossible City's Suit extension takes control of Dreadknight and performs a hard reset, freeing itself from the Masters of Evil. The rest of the Avengers appear and help defeat Mad Thinker.[19]

Powers and abilities

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The Mad Thinker does not have superhuman powers. However, he is an extraordinary genius with knowledge of technology centuries beyond conventional science, for reasons unexplained. He has an eidetic memory and can rapidly organize and correlate vast amounts of information and perceive non-obvious patterns. He has the facilities and means to create all manner of sophisticated weaponry, androids, armor, and vehicles.

His analytical, mathematical, and geometrical abilities are of a sophisticated order not commonly found on Earth. He is particularly adept at computers, robotics, and artificial intelligence, with Ph.D.s in computer science and engineering. He has constructed his own android Awesome Android and twice resurrected the original Human Torch. He also built Quasimodo and the Scavenger, and various other equipment as needed, including monocle-sized hypno-lenses. In addition to his own achievements he has stolen much of the secret technology of Reed Richards, back in the incident when he took over the Baxter building.

The Mad Thinker is also a proficient disguise artist. Through a surgically implanted radio link, he can project his consciousness into an android simulacrum of himself.

The Thinker's intricate plans are most often foiled by what he refers to as the x-factor, or human unpredictability. Also the Thinker is not an intuitive genius (e.g., Reed Richards) and is thus incapable of true invention; instead, he synthesizes for his own use the creations of others.

The Mad Thinker is able to escape from prison with little difficulty. He often uses his thoughts to control a robot at a remote, secret base. This gives him an alibi—he is already in prison.

Mad Thinker's robots and androids

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The following robots and androids were created by Mad Thinker:

Other versions

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Ultimate Marvel

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An original incarnation of the Mad Thinker named Rhona Burchill appears in the Ultimate Marvel universe. She is a rejected applicant of the Baxter Building's think tank who sought revenge and removed portions of her brother Bobby's brain to increase her own intelligence. However, this leaves her with a deformed head and a disjointed, stream of consciousness speech pattern.[26]

What If?

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In a parody issue of What If?, Spider-Man defeats the Mad Thinker by debating philosophy, boring the observing Uatu.[27]

In other media

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Television

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Miscellaneous

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The Mad Thinker appears in issue #12 of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes tie-in comic.[29]

References

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  1. ^ Misiroglu, Gina Renée; Eury, Michael (2006). The Supervillain Book: The Evil Side of Comics and Hollywood. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9780780809772.
  2. ^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  3. ^ Brevoort, Tom; DeFalco, Tom; Manning, Matthew K.; Sanderson, Peter; Wiacek, Win (2017). Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. DK Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 978-1465455505.
  4. ^ a b Infamous Iron Man #2 (January 2017)
  5. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Super-Villains. New York: Facts on File. p. 199. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.[1]
  6. ^ Fantastic Four #15 (June 1963)
  7. ^ Fantastic Four #28 (July 1964)
  8. ^ Strange Tales #126 (November 1964)
  9. ^ Strange Tales #131 (April 1965)
  10. ^ Fantastic Four Annual #4 (November 1966)
  11. ^ The Avengers #39 (April 1967)
  12. ^ Fall of the Hulks: Alpha one-shot (February 2010)
  13. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #676 (February 2012)
  14. ^ Deadpool (vol. 3) #55 (July 2012)
  15. ^ Illuminati #1 (January 2016)
  16. ^ Infamous Iron Man #6 (May 2017)
  17. ^ Marvel 2-In-One #3 (April 2018)
  18. ^ Marvel 2-In-One #9 (October 2018)
  19. ^ Avengers (vol. 9) #25 - 28 (June - July 2025)
  20. ^ Fantastic Four #79 (October 1968)
  21. ^ The Incredible Hulk #608 (May 2010)
  22. ^ The Avengers #63 (April 1969)
  23. ^ Captain America #269 (May 1982)
  24. ^ Marvel Team-Up #129 (May 1983)
  25. ^ Fantastic Four #70-71 (January - February 1968)
  26. ^ Ultimate Fantastic Four #19-20 (July - August 2005)
  27. ^ What If? #34 (August 1982)
  28. ^ a b c "Mad Thinker Voices (Fantastic Four)". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on September 20, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2019. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  29. ^ "Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes #12 - This Man, That Monster!; Fury File 2012-012; Rise of the Locust; Hulk Moon (Issue)". Comic Vine. Archived from the original on February 20, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
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