Mentallo
Real Name: Marvin Flumm
AKA: Think Tank
First Appearance: Strange Tales 141
What's His Problem? A mutant who originally only had limited psychic abilities, Mentallo was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. to be part of its ESPer squad. Using S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment, Mentallo boosted his own powers and teamed up with the Fixer to (temporarily) take over S.H.I.E.L.D. Since then, both with the Fixer and on his own, Mentallo has made many grabs at more power and money, usually trying to run over Nick Fury during his attempts.
Abilities: Mentallo has psychic powers which he has often used for unfair advantages in combat. Mental powers come in handy just for sneaking around, too! Some boosting by the Fixer's machines once allowed him to mentally combat Professor X; despite his frequent boasting, however, he isn't the world's most powerful psi and certainly isn't in the Prof's league. As he isn't well trained and doesn't have effective mental barriers in place, without his helmet he can be overwhelmed by "psychic feedback." When he was calling himself "Think Tank," he used a small tank with mini-guns and Dr. Octopus-like tentacles.
Favorite Quote: "Patriotic clown! You may be able to distract my teammates, but you can't outwit a man who knows your every thought ... can anticipate your every move!" (Captain America 346. Too bad ol' Marvin couldn't use his powers to figure out that wasn't the real Captain America he was fighting, eh?)
Heroes He Keeps Running Into: An ex-SHIELD agent, Mentallo first tried to test his mental mettle against Nick Fury and company. He's also gone up against Deathlok, Spider-Man, Professor X, and the Micronauts. In his Think Tank identity, he battled Captain America (well, he battled the guy now known as the USAgent) and got slammed.
People Who Think He's Not So Bad: He got along with the Fixer pretty well, although they tended to blame each other whenever a plan inevitably went wrong. His friendship with the Fixer led to one of his most mind-boggling experiences; on one particularly bad day, Mentallo mind-scanned the Super-Adaptoid, who was posing as the Fixer at the time, and was left babbling incoherently. His relationship with his long-time partner was never the same after that. -- Editor Jeanne. Evil organizations like the Maggia and HYDRA put him to work, as did evil individuals like Silvermane and Professor Power. Mentallo was also recruited by the Resistants, a squad of mutant terrorists secretly under the control of the Red Skull.
Most Despicable Act: While only moderately successful solo, once during his partnership with the Fixer Mentallo succeeded in breaking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s super-secret headquarters, kidnapped Nick Fury, and chained him to a miniature H-bomb. He hasn't been nearly that inventive since.
by Bobby Coakley
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