Brain (DC Comics)

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This article is about the DC Comics character. For the Canadian publisher's character, see The Brain (Bell comics).
Brain
Brainmallah.png
Monsieur Mallah with the Brain, from the cover to Outsiders #37.
Art by Daniel Acuña
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceThe Doom Patrol #86 (March 1964)
Created byArnold Drake (writer)
Bruno Premiani (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoUnknown (Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis)
Ernst ("The New 52" continuity)
Team affiliationsBrotherhood of Evil
Injustice League
Secret Society of Super Villains
PartnershipsMonsieur Mallah
Notable aliasesUltimax
AbilitiesGenius-level intellect
Bionic surrogacy

Brain is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics commonly as a frequent enemy of the Doom Patrol. He is a French mastermind and criminal genius.[1]

The Brain appears as the main antagonist in the third season of the HBO Max series Doom Patrol.

Publication history[]

The Brain first appeared in Doom Patrol #86 (March 1964) and was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani.[2] Drake later commented: "I used that same concept in a Jerry Lewis comic book, and in a Bob Hope comic I had a totem pole that talked to him. Often times, I wrote the same storylines for the comedy stuff that I wrote for the serious stuff. I just turned it on its head".[3]

Fictional character biography[]

As a scientist, the Brain performs experiments on animals to raise their intelligence. One of these is on a gorilla, who he names Monsieur Mallah and educates for almost a decade before making him his personal assistant. His colleague Niles Caulder grows jealous of his work and arranges for the Brain to get caught in an explosion, which destroys his body. Only the brain survives, which Caulder plans on putting into a robotic body. Mallah rescues the Brain, transferring him to a computer network that keeps him functioning.[4]

The Brain and Mallah form the Brotherhood of Evil in hopes of conquering the world and getting revenge on Caulder where it gains members like Madame Rouge, General Immortus, and Garguax.[5] Caulder, now known as the "Chief", through a series of other accidents that he manipulated, forms the Doom Patrol (Caulder's involvement in the events which transformed the Doom Patrol, and the Brain, was a retcon decades after the creation of the Doom Patrol and the Brain; originally the incidents were genuine accidents). The Brain, Mallah, and their Brotherhood's criminal activities also pit them against the Teen Titans. The Brotherhood go against the newly formed Justice League, with the Brain using a genetic splicer to take the Flash's legs, Green Lantern's ring, Black Canary's vocal chords, and the Martian Manhunter's eyes.[6] The Brain is defeated by the League and the Doom Patrol, the League using cybernetic implants created by Niles Caulder to compensate for their lost powers. Aquaman is thrown to the Brain, overpowers his control of the ring, and separates the Brain from his makeshift body.[7]

Art from Doom Patrol vol. 2 #34, by Richard Case.

During Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, Mallah places the Brain in Robotman's new body (Robotman's brain had been removed from it due to its malfunctioning). In his new body, the Brain confesses to Mallah he is in love with him. When Mallah reveals he feels the same way, the two kiss. However, Robotman's body, having developed sentience and vowed never to be enslaved by a brain again, triggers a self-destruct mechanism and explodes as they kiss.[8][1]

The two later resurface (the Brain back to floating in a jar), with no explanation of how they survived the explosion. The Brotherhood begins raiding genetic research facilities to unlock the secrets of cloning and create a new body for the Brain, so he and Monsieur Mallah can resume their romance.[9][10][11] After a short while the Brain's new clone body begins to break down, so he has Mallah rip off his head and put his brain back into another jar.[12]

In the Salvation Run storyline, Brain and Monsieur Mallah appear amongst the villains that were sent to the planet Cygnus 4019. An altercation between Monsieur Mallah and Gorilla Grodd ends with Grodd beating Monsieur Mallah to death with Brain's chassis, also killing Brain in the process.[13]

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this continuity, Brain was originally a New England scientist named Ernst who experimented on a gorilla named Mallah to increase his intellect. He treated Mallah like a friend and an assistant. When an explosion occurred in his lab, Ernst was badly burned and Mallah saved his life by preserving his brain.[14] After becoming distrustful of humans, Brain took Mallah into attacking humans that they blamed for their plight. Then they raided LexCorp where they received a cyber optic nerve so that Brain can see. During a standoff with the Special Crimes Unit, Maggie Sawyer tried to talk them down and agreed to help them if they surrendered.[15]

In an alternate future of this new timeline, Brain and Monsieur Mallah assist Gorilla Grodd in taking over the remains of Central City at the time when The Black had taken over most of the world. They capture Animal Man and the heroes that are with him. Animal Man's group is saved by Frankenstein and his Patchwork Army.[16]

He reappears in DC Rebirth. The Brotherhood of Evil worked together on a narcotic element which is then distributed to the addict population of New York City.[17] The designer drug, Bliss; in actuality was designed to put people in a fugue state so Brain could use their dormant mental capacity as a type of cloud space to expand his own intellect into godlike territories.[18]

In record time, Brain and Monsieur Mallah spearheaded their opiate both from a purer sample that they created. And through faulty counterfeits fabricated by the rival underlife, both having purposely leaked the original formula on the black market, then enlisted the mercenary Cheshire to steal back their original concoction while furthering the goal of expanding Brain's intelligence.[19]

As his acumen began to reach hyper-genius levels of intellectual capacity. The Brain began to physically transcend his mortal coil at varying percentages over time, 10-15% enabling him to solve unsolvable mathematic formulas while masking his and Monsieur Mallah's operation, 23% giving him power over climate change and weather patterns, 47% enabling natural disaster & cosmological force phenomena manipulation and so on and so forth. As his mental abilities increased more and more with time he situated ecological catastrophes as bait to lure his enemies in the Justice League towards various traps while he worked towards achieving transcendent consciousness.[20]

His ascent to godhood also came with the side effect of nullifying his empathy; becoming personally distant from the humanistic coil such as relations and his dearest confidante. To that end, Mallah betrayed Brain to the Titans before he could reshape reality to his own ends, ending the threat he posed for good.[21]

Brain retired from the villain life and went to go see Faye Gunn about the ad for a teacher. She didn't trust him due to his villainous association with the Brotherhood of Evil.[22][14] She did encourage Brain to know the Generation Outlaws better.[23]

During the "Year of the Villain", Joker imprisoned Brain and Monsieur Mallah in an old fair ground at the time when The Batman Who Laughs was infecting people. Joker tortured them and left their care in Lex Luthor's hands in exchange for the knowledge to defeat The Batman Who Laughs.[24]

Powers and abilities[]

One of the most formidable villains ever encountered by the Doom Patrol, or even in DC Comics, The Brain is more of a cerebral opponent but all the more dangerous for it. A former polymath, The Brain has a genius-level IQ which he puts to use as a criminal mastermind and is more than capable of plotting out perfect crimes. The Brain is completely single-minded and motivated almost entirely towards the domination of others, the committing of even more perfect crimes, and ultimate revenge against Niles Caulder. Adept in psychology, he is also a master of coercion, deceit, and manipulation, being able to persuade almost anybody to do his dirty work for him, even to the point where his agents are under the illusion that they are not actually committing evil or immoral acts.

It is, however, hinted that it is a result of mind control through telepathy by The Brain. It was through these cerebral abilities that The Brain was able to unite various villains under his leadership, forming the Brotherhood of Evil. Although others often act as brawns to his brain, most notably his assistant–partner Monsieur Mallah, The Brain has occasionally used agile robotic bodies to give him mobility. The different contraptions which have been seen to hold his brain were designed by The Brain himself (also a master in biology and robotics) and have proved time and time again to be durable and even nigh-indestructible.

On the rare occasion when The Brain has been vulnerable without robotic protection or assistance from other villains, he has protected himself by attacking opponents through telekinesis. Except for the times when he possesses robot bodies, the Brain is portrayed as an ordinary human brain, albeit housed within what could be described as a life-sized chess piece which contains the equipment required to keep him alive; it is this portrayal that was adapted in the animated versions of the Brain as mentioned in this article. In the original Doom Patrol series, he was regularly portrayed as a disembodied brain, bobbing inside a sealed dome filled with a nutrient bath, hooked up with numerous machines, including a loudspeaker to convey his voice.

During a confrontation with the newly-formed Justice League and the Doom Patrol, the Brain used genetics equipment provided by the mysterious Locus organization to 'steal' the Martian Manhunter's eyes, Black Canary's vocal cords, the Flash's legs, and Green Lantern's right arm, granting him access to the Manhunter's vision abilities, Canary's sonic scream, the Flash's speed, and Green Lantern's power ring. However, during this time he was only ever shown using the ring and was caught off-guard by its vulnerability to yellow, with Aquaman eventually managing to overpower the Brain's will and use the ring to sever him from his makeshift body.

In Rebirth, The Brain found a way to increase his intelligence by tapping some several hundred thousand people's vacant thought spaces to achieve mental divinity. Not only showcasing increased cognizant genius but obtaining various superpowers accessed via the power of his mind alone as a result.[25] Having solved Ordlich's heuristic paradox and deciphered the Voynich manuscript while masking his whereabouts from outside detection, changing and manipulating weather patterns via remote climate alteration, engineering natural disasters, manipulating cosmic & quantum force, casting himself into technology alla Cyborg-Superman, twist space/time and manipulating reality by sheer force of will.[21]

Other characters named Brain[]

DC Comics previously had other villains named the Brain:

The first villain was an ordinary criminal who earned his nickname for his cleverness and was not literally just a brain. He alongside , , False-Face and were one of five small-time villains hired by to commit a bank robbery. They were all foiled by the Seven Soldiers of Victory.[26]

The second villain to use the name Brain was a crime boss who fought Flash.[27]

The third villain to use the name Brain is a crime boss who fought Wonder Woman and manipulated her into questioning her own existence.[28]

The fourth villain to use the name Brain is a criminal mastermind who fought Superman.[29]

Brain was also the alias used by three identical brothers who commit crimes while the city has been distracted by three giant boxes they have placed in each other after a fog has descended on the city, which the authorities try to open. The Flash jails the first two as they attempt robberies with clever tricks, like a tightrope which the first one cuts and spring-heeled shoes, and jails the last one when he attempts a bank robbery by draining his live wire suit with which he intended to break his brothers out with silver. It is then revealed the last box led into the bank vault.[clarification needed][30]

Other versions[]

Earth-S[]

On Earth-S, the Brain is a man named Warden Loomis. He is a serial killer who is an enemy of Mr. Scarlet and Pinky the Whiz Kid.[31]

Smallville[]

In Smallville season 11, The Brain appears on the back of Monsieur Mallah, robbing the Musée du Louvre. They are both taken down by Superman, and Impulse. In this version, Brain and Mallah are revealed to be lovers.[32]

In other media[]

Television[]

  • An episode of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure was titled "The Brain, the Brave and the Bold", in which Aquaman battles a supervillain named the "Brain".
  • The Brain appears as the main antagonist of the fifth and final season of the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Glenn Shadix in a computer-altered voice. His appearance is very similar to a Dalek, major antagonists in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and indeed the producers of Teen Titans mentioned the British show in interviews about Season Five. When interviewed at the unofficial Transformers convention TFCon, stated that the Brain was a "Total Dalek", claiming that he even talked like one, and the resemblance was intentional. Like Mallah, his sexuality was not mentioned due to the targeted young audience. Considered the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil, he (like his comic counterpart) is a brain preserved in a robotic jar. The Brain seems to do very little during the series, and acts behind the scenes coordinating the villain attacks. When he appears in his secret base, he is frequently seen playing chess with Mallah and comparing it to the game of wits he considers himself to be playing against Robin. In the rare instances where he himself fights, he appears to possess limited telekinetic and telepathic abilities. He is otherwise defenseless and an easy target several times in the series, not even able to defend against a slap on the back from Beast Boy. As a result of his defenselessness from a physical standpoint, he relies almost entirely on his evil subordinates to carry out his plans. With himself providing the strategy and intelligence, this reliance proves mostly justified in the episode "Calling All Titans". In this episode, the Brain uses a stolen Teen Titans communicator (Robin's, to be precise, who gave it to Madame Rouge thinking she was Hot Spot) to track down and capture every honorary Teen Titan by sending villains to capture them. In most cases, the Brain is able to provide exactly the evil opponent (or more than one opponent) needed to capture any hero. The Brain seems unable to adapt to any possible holes in his plan, and this flaw costs him in the episode "Titans Together" as the remaining heroes infiltrate his base to free the captured heroes. In a last-ditch effort to escape when the tables turn, he detaches the skull jar from the rest of his body, simultaneously turning it into a fusion device to blow up his base so he could escape (saying that sometimes the best strategy is to "clear the field"), which he immediately activates. As he gets alarmingly close to leaving the now-ravaged Brotherhood base, the Brain is knocked off the scaffold by Beast Boy, which Robin retrieves seconds before the jar smashes onto the ground, and is subsequently flash-frozen by Beast Boy.
  • Brain appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Journey to the Center of the Bat!", voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in a French accent. He controls Chemo and uses him to attack a Bialyan city. The Brain later has a cameo in the episode of "Deep Cover for Batman!". He joins Owlman and other villains in the following episode, but is defeated in a psychic battle against an alternate universe version of Batman. Unlike in his Teen Titans appearance, the Brain shows emotion and openly mocks Batman as he attempts to fight him. Besides his psychic powers, he displays a variety of weapons mounted on extendable robot arms. In "The Last Patrol!", he and Monsieur Mallah target the Chief, noting his old rivalry with him, only to end up fighting Batman. He and Monsieur Mallah are later defeated on General Zahl's ship.
  • Brain appears in Young Justice, voiced by Nolan North in the first appearance and by Corey Burton in all subsequent appearances; with both voice actors using a French accent. In "Revelation", it is revealed that Brain is L-6 of The Light (Project Cadmus' Board of Directors). In "Summit", Brain and Monsieur Mallah join the Light in a summit with the Reach within the caves of Santa Prisca. During a three-way fight between the Team, the Light, and the Reach, Impulse defeats Brain by disarming him of his weapons.
  • Brain appears in the Teen Titans Go! episode "Brian", voiced by Scott Menville. He captures the Teen Titans in order to steal their powers and fuel his Project B.R.I.A.N. (Brain's Robotic Indestructible Armor Nexus). A recurring gag in that episode is that the Teen Titans thought that Brain's name is Brian. This causes the little buddies of the Teen Titans to end up saving the Teen Titans and defeating Brain. The Brain returns in the episode “40%40%20%”, wielding a new four-armed spider mech body. Here, he captures the other Titans while Cyborg is trying to break his addiction/dependence on his favorite song, "The Night Begins to Shine". During Cyborg's song-induced fantasy, the Brain tries to stop him using a giant stone mech and an army of flying punk zombies. With Monsieur Mallah's help, the Brain is able to destroy Cyborg's tape, rendering him powerless, but the other Titans sing the song for Cyborg to give him his strength back, allowing him to defeat Mallah and the Brain.
  • Brain appears in the Justice League Action episode "The Brain Buster", voiced by Jim Ward.[33] He alongside Batman, Mister Terrific, Lex Luthor, and Calculator are abducted by Mister Mind posing as a cosmic being to see who is the more intellectual of the group by having them partake in three challenges.
  • Brain appears in Doom Patrol, voiced by an uncredited actor. In the episode "Doom Patrol Patrol", Brain's Ultimax form was one of the villains that the original Doom Patrol fought. Steve Dayton has kept his robotic body, but has claimed that the Brain escaped. Brain was first seen in a flashback in "Vacay Patrol" where he instructs Garguax to assassinate Rita Farr.

Video games[]

  • Brain appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by .
  • Brain appears as a final boss in the DS version of Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame.
  • The Brain has a cameo appearance in Injustice: Gods Among Us. He is seen in the Insurgency Level where he is placed next to Lex Luthor's battlesuit.
  • The Brain appears in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced by Jason Spisak. He is unplayable but appears on Monsieur Mallah's back whenever the player selects Mallah. Also in the Young Justice DLC level pack.

Miscellaneous[]

  • Brain made an appearance in issue #29 and a cameo in the Teen Titans Go! comic book series.
  • Although he never appeared in Justice League himself, a version of the Brain from this continuity appeared in a comic story based on the series, where the League faked an elaborate 'auction' to lure all of their villains into one place. When the Brain realizes what is happening, he attempts to deduce which members of the auction are actually League members in disguise, but his deductions are thwarted by the assumption that Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were not among the League members (being seemingly frozen in time by Chronos) and he only had to track down Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter, when in reality even Chronos's role was faked (Chronos being a disguised Batman) and the League capture the villains. Brain and Mallah were both taken out after Wonder Woman, disguised as Catwoman, threw them into Metallo.
  • The Brain appeared in the Young Justice tie-in comic series in issues #18-19. In 2008, the man who would become the Brain was among a group of scientists that settled in Bwunda to conduct experiments on the native gorillas. The female leader had her brain removed and placed into an albino gorilla, becoming the Ultra-Humanite, while the man removed his brain and placed it in a robotic container, becoming the Brain. The scientists then built a compound called Gorilla City, where they enslaved the gorillas and enhanced their intellects with Kobra-Venom and controlled them with inhibitor collars and kept their children hostage to ensure the gorillas' cooperation. In 2010, the Brain and the Ultra-Humanite were pursued by the Team and sent their subordinates, Grodd and Solovar to dispose of them, but the gorillas ended up forming an alliance with the Team, via Miss Martian's telepathy, and destroyed Gorila City and freed their children, but the Brain and Ultra-Humanite escaped.

References[]

  1. ^ a b Jimenez, Phil (2008), "Brain", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, London: Dorling Kindersley, p. 60, ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1
  2. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  3. ^ Browning, Michael (July 2013). "The Doom Patrol Interviews: Arnold Drake". Back Issue!. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing (#65): 41.
  4. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. pp. 38–39. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  5. ^ Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 180. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  6. ^ JLA: Year One #5. Marvel Comics.
  7. ^ JLA: Year One #6. Marvel Comics.
  8. ^ Doom Patrol vol. 2 #34 (July 1990). DC Comics.
  9. ^ Teen Titans vol. 3 #34 (May 2006). DC Comics.
  10. ^ Teen Titans vol. 3 #35 (June 2006)
  11. ^ Teen Titans vol. 3 #36 (July 2006). DC Comics.
  12. ^ Teen Titans vol. 3 #37 (August 2006). DC Comics.
  13. ^ Salvation Run #1-7 (January–July 2008). DC Comics.
  14. ^ a b Red Hood: Outlaw #44. DC Comics.
  15. ^ Young Monsters in Love #1. DC Comics.
  16. ^ Animal Man vol. 2 #15. DC Comics.
  17. ^ Titans vol. 2 #19. DC Comics.
  18. ^ Titans vol. 2 #20. DC Comics.
  19. ^ Titans vol. 2 #21. DC Comics.
  20. ^ Titans vol. 2 #22. DC Comics.
  21. ^ a b Titans vol. 2 Annual #2. DC Comics.
  22. ^ Red Hood: Outlaw #43. DC Comics.
  23. ^ Red Hood: Outlaw #45. DC Comics.
  24. ^ Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1. DC Comics.
  25. ^ Titans vol. 2 #19-22
  26. ^ Leading Comics #2 (Spring 1942). DC Comics.
  27. ^ Flash Comics #78 (December 1946). DC Comics.
  28. ^ Wonder Woman #58. DC Comics.
  29. ^ Superman #83 (July 1953). DC Comics.
  30. ^ Showcase #8. DC Comics.
  31. ^ America's Greatest Comics #1. DC Comics.
  32. ^ Smallville Season 11 #9
  33. ^ "The Brain Buster". Justice League Action.

External links[]

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