Shazam's End-Credits Villain Has DC's Weirdest Origin Story
Seen in the end credits of 2019's Shazam!, Mister Mind is one of the hero's weirdest villains, and his origin was originally appropriately bizarre. He has been a thorn in Shazam’s side since the character’s earliest days, a murderous alien bent on world conquest... who happens to look like a caterpillar. Although his origin was revealed during his initial appearances, DC took it a step further in 1985’s All-Star Squadron #51 and retconned Mister Mind’s origin further, giving him a silly motivation for his reign of terror.
Mister Mind first appeared in 1943’s Captain Marvel Adventures #26, created by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck, the duo behind the creation of Shazam (then called Captain Marvel) a few years earlier. Mister Mind came to Earth from a distant world, bent on conquest; to that end, he created the Monster Society of Evil to fight Shazam and his allies. Shazam’s fight against the Monster Society of Evil formed the basis for one of his greatest arcs; a complex adventure story that ran for nearly two years - something unheard of in comics at the time. Mister Mind was revived along with the rest of the Shazam family in 1973 when DC acquired the characters from Fawcett, their original publisher. In 1985, DC decided to add another layer to Mister Mind’s origin, showing what made him evil in the first place. All-Star Squadron #51 was written by Roy Thomas (with co-plotter Dann Thomas), pencilled by Mike Clark and Arvell Jones, inked by Vince Colletta, colored by Carl Gafford and lettered by David Cody Weiss.
In the issue, Doctor Fate and Hourman, members of Earth-2’s Justice Society, have discovered a new group of villains, calling themselves the Monster Society of Evil. The group has kidnapped Hawkwoman and is able to quickly overwhelm the heroes, who then meet Mister Mind, the Society’s creator. He tells them his story, revealing he is originally from an alternate dimension. Mister Mind tells the heroes he monitored Earth’s radio broadcasts for years, and became enamored with Earth culture - so much so that he decided to pay the planet a visit, arriving on Earth-2 in 1942.
However, Mister Mind’s visit quickly went awry. His first destination was comedian/ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Mind was a particular fan of Bergen’s and made it a point to meet him. He arrived at Bergen’s house, but learned that the comedy star he'd worshiped was actually a wooden dummy, with the human he'd dismissed dictating the entire act. Mister Mind was disappointed, to say the least. His next visit was the Justice Society, but they were not present either. The sheer disappointment Mister Mind felt hardened his heart and led him to create the Monster Society of Evil on Earth-2. After he was defeated, he made his way to Earth-S, where he would reside until the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
This story is a textbook example of a retcon, short for “retroactive continuity.” Retcons involve later creators bringing new information to a classic story, adding layers to it and potentially addressing inconsistencies. Prior to this story, Mister Mind’s reign of terror began and concluded on Earth-S, but then readers learn he had another Monster Society of Evil, only on Earth-2. When that Society fell apart, and he was vanquished, he simply made his way to another Earth and started all over again and was nearly successful this time. The revelation that his disappointment with Earth culture led him to his wicked ways is new as well, adding another layer to the character. However, this reason is quite shallow, and after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, this origin was forgotten in yet another retcon.
In modern comics, Mister Mind's innocuous form is generally treated as a mislead, with the caterpillar-like being being both a major threat and a remarkably cruel foe. However, his early appearances established that Mister Mind's reign of terror began when he was disappointed by a puppet show and then felt rejected by the Justice Society. Seen in the end credits of Shazam, seemingly setting him up as the villain for the movie's upcoming sequel, here's hoping Mister Mind's next movie appearance draws from his later stories, rather than blaming his inter-dimensional evil on his disappointment in Earth's pop culture.