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Quote1 The Thinker forgets nothing! Quote2
Mad Thinker[src]

History

Origins[]

The past of the Mad Thinker is a complete mystery. A high executive of Genetech named Jinkins claimed to have met the Thinker at college, not specifying details, and kept contact with him.[9] The Thinker himself has claimed to have worked in the private sector over a decade before the modern age.[10] The Thinker also has claimed to have a sister and a nephew named David. He had stated that early on in his career he allowed his nephew to observe his experiments. However, when he created a thermoconductor device, it killed his sister and mutated his nephew. The Thinker then had David put in stasis while he tried to find a way to deal with him.[8]

Early Career[]

Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 15 0002

The Mad Thinker early in his career

A genius, the Mad Thinker became obsessed with probabilities, developing massive computers to determine the outcome of future events. With these machines he began working with various criminal gangs in New York City. He was able to predict precise moments in time where the police could be thwarted while chasing his clients. He was able to predict things like when a hot dog vendor would impede a foot chase, to where pipe mains would burst making a police chase impossible. So skilled was the Mad Thinker, he could even predict something as weirdly specific as a organ-grinder's monkey setting fire to a deserted shack where incriminating evidence was held. Establishing himself in the criminal underworld and earning the trust of many of New York's gangs, the Mad Thinker then set for higher aspirations, namely the conquest of New York and then the world.

Fantastic Four[]

Believing that that the Fantastic Four were the only ones capable of stopping him, the Mad Thinker manipulated events so that the team would disband. Events played out so that the Thing left the group to become a professional wrestler, the Invisible Girl went to pursue a career in acting, he also tricked the Human Torch into helping his cousin "Bones" and his failing circus. Last of all, he tricked Mr. Fantastic into taking a job at General Electronics in New England. When a calculated meteor fall cut off the power in New York, the Mad Thinker and the mobsters were able to infiltrate the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four. Using Mr. Fantastic's notes on androids, he constructed the Awesome Android. Eventually the Fantastic Four drifted back together only to find that their headquarters was now under the control of the Mad Thinker. Fighting their way into the building they had to fight the building's own defenses as well as the Awesome Android, who could mimic or counter their super-powers. However, when the Mad Thinker prepared to kill the Fantastic Four, suddenly the defenses shut down. Much to the Mad Thinker's surprise, Mr. Fantastic anticipated the possibility that someone might have compromised his headquarters and rigged a specially button outside that once pressed deactivated the building security. Upon Reed's instructions, Willie Lumpkin -- the Fantastic Four's mailman -- deactivated the security in the nick of time and the Mad Thinker was apprehended and turned over to the police.[7] This began a trend in the Mad Thinker's checkered career wherein some unforeseen x-factor that would throw off his calculations.

Awesome Android (Earth-616), Phillip Masters (Earth-616), and Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 28

The Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master meet for the first time[11]

Getting out of prison, the Mad Thinker then sought an alliance with another Fantastic Four foe, the Puppet Master, which would be the first of many team-ups to destroy their mutual foes. Seeking to manipulate other super heroes into battling the Fantastic Four, the Mad Thinker deduced the appearance of Professor X -- leader of the X-Men -- whose identity was a secret at the time. The Puppet Master, using his clay, then took control of Xavier and the two villains manipulated the X-Men into attacking the Fantastic Four at their Baxter Building headquarters. The two villains became overly ambitious by having the X-Men lured the FF to their secret hideout. As the battle raged, Professor X managed to break free of the Puppet Master's control. Seeing their mission as a failure, the Mad Thinker used his Awesome Android to distract the heroes while they made their escape.[11] The pair then plotted to destroy the Fantastic Four individually next. Using the Puppet Master's clay, they took control of the Thing and used him to attack the Human Torch. This attempt failed due to the fact that the Thing unexpectedly reverted back to human form, breaking the link. When the Puppet Master went to construct a new and more powerful puppet of the Thing, Mr. Fantastic had already devised a feedback device that caused the Puppet Master's puppet to explode in his face.[12]

Working alone, the Mad Thinker began utilizing criminals to commit robberies on his behalf. After the Human Torch and the Thing thwarted one of his carefully planned robberies, the Mad Thinker developed a weapon dubbed the Bouncing Ball of Doom to destroy them. When the two heroes were invited to the unveiling of a new hydroelectric dam, the Mad Thinker unleashed the Bouncing Ball of Doom against them. During the course of the battle, the Human Torch managed to use one of his nova blasts to destroy the device, foiling the Mad Thinker's revenge scheme.[13] The Thinker was later manipulated by Dr. Doom's Emotion Changer device as part of a scheme to attack the Fantastic Four during the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. The Mad Thinker and his Awesome Android joined an army of super villains on the attack, but they were countered by the many super heroes in attendance. The Thinker and his Awesome Android were bested battling the Avenger known as Iron Man. Later he and his android were banished when Reed Richards used a Time Displacer device provided to him by Uatu the Watcher.[14][15] The Mad Thinker went on a rampage through Manhattan with his Awesome Android again soon after. This led to yet another clash with the Fantastic Four. The Thinker was defeated this time thanks to the assistance of Marvel Girl of the X-Men, who was under evaluation by the Invisible Girl for Professor X at the time. After the Thinker was apprehended, the Fantastic Four and X-Men dismantled his secret headquarters hidden in a rock quarry outside of New York.[16]

Iron Man[]

Free once again, the Mad Thinker was hired by Countess Stephanie de la Spiroza to learn the secret identity of Iron Man, as part of a means to forcing Stark Industries owner Tony Stark to remain in a relationship with her. Unaware that Tony Stark was really Iron Man, the Mad Thinker sent his Awesome Android to the Stark Industries offices to capture Stark. Succeeding, the Android brought Tony to the Thinker's mansion hideout. When the Thinker tried to open the briefcase in which Stark stored his Iron Man armor, it triggered a defense mechanism that enveloped the room in opaque knockout gas. Tony used the opportunity to change into Iron Man. While the Mad Think had prepared to battle Iron Man, he could not consider all the various devices that the hero could employ to defend himself, and the Golden Avenger easily bested the Awesome Android and the Thinker's defenses. After destroying the Mad Thinker's computers, Iron Man subdued him and turned him over to the authorities.[17]

The Original Human Torch[]

Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616) and Jim Hammond (Earth-616) from Avengers Vol 1 134

Reviving the original Human Torch[18]

When the Mad Thinker was freed again, his obsession with androids brought him to seek out the original Human Torch, an android hero from World War II who had been missing since the 1950's. Locating the inert android buried in the southwest where he went inert decades earlier and returned him to his lab to be repaired.[19] By this time, the Mad Thinker had developed a new computer dubbed Quasimodo to assist in this task. Quasimodo was an artificial intelligence which desired to have a humanoid body, but the Thinker refused to provide one.[20] The Mad Thinker then used his genius to revive the original Human Torch, but clouded his memories in order to manipulate him into attacking the Fantastic Four through the Torch's successor.[18][20] The two Human Torches clashed drawing out the rest of the Fantastic Four.[20][21] The Mad Thinker's plots began to fall apart when the Fantastic Four convinced the original Human Torch to fight against the Mad Thinker. When the Thinker activated a self-destruct mechanism in his base, the original Human Torch sacrificed his life to save the Fantastic Four while the Mad Thinker once more evaded capture.[20]

Triumvirate of Terror[]

After his defeat at the hand of the Fantastic Four, the Mad Thinker decided to stop using androids and use super-humans in his schemes instead. Using his inventive skills, the Thinker created the Triumvirate of Terror, three criminals outfitted with strength enhancing weapons. He then set them against the Avengers in order to take control of Avengers Mansion and all the Stark technology contained within. While the Triumvirate were easily able to defeat the Avengers Hawkeye, Goliath, Wasp, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch, the Mad Thinker did not account for the fact that the Olympian demigod Hercules was a guest of the Avengers at the time. Seeing his plan doomed to failure once again, the Mad Thinker fled the scene leaving his Triumvirate to fend for themselves. The Triumvirate then were easily trounced by Hercules and the Avengers and turned over to the authorities.[22]

Ultron[]

Learning that Mr. Fantastic was planning to enlist the aid of Dr. Jose Santini to try and cure the Thing of his mutation, the Mad Thinker then began planning to kidnap him and take his place.[23] Before he could further his plans, the Thinker was interrupted by the sentient robot known as Ultron-5 who demanded one of his androids for one of his revenge plots against the Avengers. The Thinker refused to give up any of the androids currently being used in his schemes, but informed the robot where he could find the inert body of the original Human Torch. Ultron recovered the Torch's body and later rebuilt it into the android Vision.[24] However, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the time traveler known as Immortus had been monitoring the Avengers' history and was manipulating it to suit his masters the Time-Keepers. To this end, he used the Forever Crystal to create a chronal duplicate of the Human Torch. While Ultron-5 took one from the Thinker's old lab, another was left there where it remained for many months.[21]

Triangle of Terror[]

The Mad Thinker resumed his latest revenge scheme against the Fantastic Four by kidnapping Jose Santini and taking his place. Completely fooling Reed Richards, the pair worked on a supposed "cure" for the Thing. Instead the Thing was made evil thanks to the machinations of the Mad Thinker.[23] While the Thing attacked his teammates, the Mad Thinker took the opportunity to go through Reed's files and pilfer more of his scientific work. When the battle between the Thing and the Fantastic Four took to the streets, the Mad Thinker doffed his disguise and began exploring Reed's lab, which resulted in the Mad Thinker discovering his portal into the Negative Zone. Figuring his calculations, the Mad Thinker decided not to take any more chances and fled back to his hideout in the event that the Fantastic Four survived his plot.[5] At his hideout, the Mad Thinker soon had to face off against the Fantastic Four and the police who had come to apprehend him. Although locked in jail, the Mad Thinker still plotted to eliminate the Fantastic Four. Using a signal watch, he activated one of his newest android and sent it to attack the Baxter Building. It arrived just as the Fantastic Four had yet another clash with the Thing, and although they managed to cure him, the group was in no condition to fight.[25] Although the Fantastic Four were caught off guard, this android was defeated when Reed managed to dump it into the Negative Zone.[26] While incarcerated, the Mad Thinker's Android Man was accidentally unleashed by the police while they were securing his secret lab, but it was destroyed by the Thing.[27]

Elihas Starr (Earth-616), Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616), and Phillip Masters (Earth-616) from Sub-Mariner Vol 1 14

Working with Egghead and the Puppet Master[28]

Escaping prison once again, the Mad Thinker returned to his lab and discovered that the Human Torch android was still in his possession.[21] He then came up with a new plot, and staged a mock funeral for the Torch in order to draw out his former partner Toro. Approaching Toro after the funeral, the Mad Thinker then drugged him and then mentally conditioned him to think he was the Human Torch, enslaving Toro in the process.[28][29] The Mad Thinker then formed an alliance with the Puppet Master and Egghead in a plot to conquer the world using a massive satellite to threaten the United States by using a heat ray to burn up the continent.[28] In order to thwart any attempts to destroy their satellite base, the Mad Thinker sent his Man-Slayer android to Cape Kennedy to destroy a new rocket about to be launched there. The Man-Slayer was opposed by the Kree soldier Captain Marvel. As the Mad Thinker watched from his monitors, the spy known as the Black Widow infiltrated his lair, but he managed to capture her.[30] However, Captain Marvel ultimately managed to destroy his Man-Killer android.[31] The Mad Thinker fled with the captive Black Widow to his allies' secret hideout located at Coney Island in New York. The Avengers eventually learned their location and their teammate Goliath, the Widow's former lover, went after her. The trio of super villains used a massive construct created by the Puppet Master to imperil the Black Widow, distracting Goliath long enough for the Mad Thinker and his cohorts to escape.[32]

The Mad Thinker then began the next phase of the plan: sending Toro to collect volcanic energy, causing massive volcanic eruptions along the Pacific coast. This attracted the attention of the Sub-Mariner who then clashed with Toro, resulting in the battle reviving his memories and making him realize how he was manipulated by the Thinker. The pair then went after the Mad Thinker, who once again tried to flee. This time, however, Toro sped after his escape ship, flying into its rocket engines and causing it to explode, slaying Toro and seemingly the Mad Thinker as well.[28] The Thinker's allies soon met defeat with the Puppet Master bested by Captain Marvel and Iron Man,[33] and Egghead defeated by the Avengers who destroyed their satellite weapon.[34]

Back to Basics[]

Surviving the explosion, the Mad Thinker then went back to basics, focusing on destroying the Fantastic Four once again, in a plot to once again loot the Baxter Building of its scientific resources. Creating android duplicates of the foursome, he was able to capture the Torch, Thing, and Invisible Girl. When his android duplicate of Mr. Fantastic went after his target, it was the real Reed Richards who prevailed in battle. Returning to the Baxter Building, Reed battled the Thinker and his android duplicates. Finding the Thing, he revived him, and the pair destroyed the Thinker's androids and recover their missing teammates. After his defeat, the Mad Thinker was turned over to the authorities by the Thing.[35] After escaping captivity again, the Mad Thinker once again teamed up with the Puppet Master. Utilizing the Puppet Master's clay, they created duplicates of all of the Fantastic Four's foes to date and ambushed the team as they were returning from the Inhumans' Great Refuge. The Fantastic Four held their own against all the duplicates, destroying all that were sent against them. The Thinker and the Puppet Master's plans all fell apart when they created a clay duplicate of the Hulk which proved impossible to control. When the Puppet Master tried to shoot the duplicate, he missed and hit a batch of explosives causing a massive explosion that seemingly slew the pair.[36]

The Mad Thinker cheated death once again and fled to one of his old hideouts that he shared with the Puppet Master to plot anew. Some time later, the Puppet Master brought his step-daughter Alicia, the Thing, and Spider-Man back to this hideout under the premise that he had a means of curing Alicia of her blindness. In reality the Puppet Master used this as a means to escape the heroes. Finding his old ally also hiding out in the base, the two agreed to work together to destroy both the Thing and Spider-Man. As the heroes fought through various death traps, the Puppet Master turned on his partner when one of the Mad Thinker's androids threatened his step-daughter, and with the help of Spider-Man, knocked the Mad Thinker out. Before Spider-Man could get both the Puppet Master and the Thinker out of the hideout, the base was detonated -- seemingly killing the pair once again.[37]

War of the Super Villains[]

George Tarleton (Earth-616) and Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616) from Iron Man Vol 1 75

Seemingly slain by M.O.D.O.K.[38]

The Mad Thinker survived once again and was approached by the Black Lama of Earth-7511 who was offering super villains the Golden Globe of Power in exchange for warring against one another to determine who was the superior villain. Incarcerated at the time, the Mad Thinker broke himself and Firebrand out of jail. Charged with eliminating AIM leader M.O.D.O.K., the Mad Thinker quickly realized that he did not have the resources for a frontal attack. Instead he used his genius to take control of Iron Man's armor and use him as his weapon. M.O.D.O.K. however deduced this attack and, using a massive battle suit, easily incapacitated the enslaved Avenger. M.O.D.O.K. then traced the signal back to the Mad Thinker's hideout for a direct conflict.[39] The Mad Thinker then sent one of his androids against M.O.D.O.K., who easily destroyed it. M.O.D.O.K. then seemingly crushed the life out of the Mad Thinker and left with Iron Man, intending to use him against his next opponent the Yellow Claw. In reality the Mad Thinker had switched himself and Iron Man with android duplicates and waited on the sidelines as he began to prepare to face whoever won the battle between M.O.D.O.K. and Yellow Claw. However, while he was watching events unfold, Iron Man managed to break free.[38] Iron Man easily incapacitated the Mad Thinker's remaining android and after knocking the Thinker out, disabled his headquarters. Before the Mad Thinker could be turned over to the authorities, the Black Lama arrived with Yellow Claw and Firebrand, which culminated in a battle that ended with Yellow Claw fleeing the scene and Iron Man, Black Lama, and Firebrand being transported to Earth-7511.[40]

Monster Android[]

Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616), Monster Android (Earth-616), Reed Richards (Earth-616), and Annihilus (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 181

Commanding the Monster Android[41]

After his android was lost in the Negative Zone,[26] it was found by the Zone's ruler Annihilus[42] who turned it into his loyal Scavenger.[43] However, following the Fantastic Four's last battle with Annihilus,[44] the Scavenger took his master's Cosmic Control Rod and was transformed into the so-called "Monster Android". The creature then took over the Negative Zone.[42] Learning of this, the Mad Thinker called for his Monster Android to return to Earth in order for it to conquer the planet.[45] In order to keep the Fantastic Four at bay, he sent his Metalloid to rob a bank.[46] Unbeknownst to the Mad Thinker, at the time the Fantastic Four were entertaining the cat-woman Tigra, the Femazon Thundra, and the impish Impossible Man. Also unknown to the Mad Thinker was the fact that Reed Richards had been dumped into the Negative Zone by his counterpart from Counter-Earth who then took his place.[47] When the Metalloid began running amok, the Thing and Tigra destroyed it and sent it landing into the Hudson River.[46] The Reed Richards from Counter-Earth then sent the Thing, Impossible Man, Tigra, and Thundra to recover the Metalloid for examination. Meanwhile, the Mad Thinker continued to command his creation to come back to Earth. Along the way, it encountered the real Reed Richards, as well as Annihilus, and was ordered to destroy them.[41]

Meanwhile back on Earth, the fake Reed Richards sent Thundra, Impossible Man, and Tigra back to the bank the Metalloid robbed to look for clues, then tricked the Torch and Thing into going into the Negative Zone in order to strand them there with their true leader. Ordering his Monster Android to come through the Negative Zone portal, the Mad Thinker believed that it would be able to disarm the Baxter Building -- which he presumed to be deserted -- so he could pilfer the scientific treasures inside. Before leaving, he ordered the Monster Android to cease battling Richards and Annihilus and return to Earth.[48] However when the Mad Thinker finally arrived he found the reunited Fantastic Four, Tigra, and Thundra all fighting his Monster Android. Not expecting this, the Mad Thinker realized that his mission was once again a failure and retreated before he could be discovered and captured. His Monster Android meanwhile was defeated and the Counter-Earth Reed Richards sacrificed his life to send the Cosmic Control Rod back into the Negative Zone.[42]

The Vision[]

The Mad Thinker continued focusing on his obsession with androids. Learning that the Vision was rebuilt from the Human Torch, he began building an army of Vision duplicates but lacked the know-how on to duplicate his powers. Entering information into his computers, they advised him that the Thing could lead him to an individual with precognitive abilities that would aid him in capturing the Vision.[49] During this period of time the Fantastic Four had broken up leaving the Thing alone with little money and without the FF's resources. The Mad Thinker used a device to cause Ben great pain, enough so he unknowingly caused a great deal of property damage. The Thing was arrested and went along peacefully. He was brought to a pretrial hearing where the Thing's lawyer Matt Murdock (secretly the hero Daredevil) tried to plead the Thing's case.[50] However, the Mad Thinker had planted an android under the identity of Alex Stone,[49] and with Stone's testimony the jury concluded that a criminal trial should go ahead. Before the Thing could be taken out of the courtroom, the Mad Thinker triggered more attacks, causing him to wreck the courtroom, eliminating any need for a trial, and the Thing was locked up.[50]

When Daredevil went to investigate Alex Stone he was nearly killed in the fight. Relaying this information to the Thing, Murdock prompted the Thing to break out of prison and clear his name. Neither were aware that young juvenile calling himself "The Kid" decided to leave the holding cell and follow the Thing as well. Infiltrating the Mad Thinker's lair, both the Thing and Daredevil were subdued and taken prisoner by his army of androids. Thinking that Daredevil was the individual with precognitive abilities he threatened to gas the Thing to death in exchange for the use of these powers.[51] Detecting "The Kid" from behind a doorway with his radar sense, Daredevil bluffed his way into saving the Thing and convincing the Mad Thinker that he had precognitive abilities. With "The Kid" taken prisoner, the Mad Thinker then revealed his plans to the Thing and Daredevil. Using his hypnotic goggles the Mad Thinker hypnotized the Thing and sent both him and Daredevil to Avengers Mansion to capture the Vision. The only other Avenger at the mansion at the time was Yellowjacket and he was easily knocked out. Using the Thinker's specially made weapons, Daredevil was able to incapacitate the Vision in an ionic barrier. Ordered to collect containment module, Daredevil went to do so. However along the way he revived Yellowjacket and the two exchanged costumes. Having Daredevil hide in the containment module, Yellowjacket posing as Daredevil helped the Thing return the Vision to the Mad Thinker. There the two heroes sprung their trap, and freed the Thing from the Mad Thinker's control. When the Mad Thinker unleashed his army of Vision duplicates, the heroes freed the real Vision who easily destroyed the Thinker's army. The Thinker was quickly subdued, and it was revealed that the "precognitive" that he actually sought was really "The Kid", who didn't have any special powers, only an instinct for determining the outcome of sporting events.[49]

The Mad Thinker continued to plot against the Vision after this. After getting out of prison again, the Thinker teamed up with the sound manipulator known as Klaw. To this end the pair used Klaw's solid sound constructs to make it look like the Fantastic Four attacked the Vision's wife the Scarlet Witch. Knocking the Vision unconscious, the Mad Thinker inserted programming into the Vision's mind to make him believe the real Fantastic Four were responsible. The Vision went to the Fantastic Four's headquarters and attacked the group head on. Defeating the foursome, the Vision then allowed the Thinker and Klaw into the headquarters. As he was ordered to load the Fantastic Four into a ballistic missile, he began overriding the Thinker's programming and assisted his victims in breaking free. Klaw was easily defeated by the Fantastic Four, and when the Thinker tried to use one of Reed Richard's inventions to incapacitate the group, the Vision disarmed him. Coming close to slaying the Thinker right there, the Vision was stopped by the Thing who convinced the android that it was not worth it. Scared for his life, the Thinker fainted and was turned over to the authorities.

The Intelligencia[]

Intelligencia (Earth-616) from Fall of the Hulks Alpha Vol 1 1 0001

Ransacking the libraries of Olympia with the original Intelligencia[52]

The Mad Thinker, after recovering his Awesome Android, later joined a cabal of super-intelligent criminals that called themselves the Intelligencia. In this group, he worked alongside the gamma-powered Leader, his old ally Egghead, the Russian scientist Red Ghost, and fellow Fantastic Four foe the Wizard. Learning of the secret home of the Eternals the Intelligencia breached security of Olympia to gain access to Alexandrian tomes that were stored there, taking what they wanted and leaving carbon copies behind. They then brought the stolen goods to the castle of Dr. Doom in Latveria for safe keeping. Learning that there were two more caches of Alexandrian works in both Atlantis and the African nation of Wakanda the group promised to go after them at a later time when they could all meet up between their own individual schemes. In the meantime they made a pact to secretly help each other either cheat death or escape incarceration. Later the Thinker joined his fellow teammates in a break-in at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. to steal a Nth Projector, only to find that someone had already stolen it.[53]

Ponder[]

Not long after this the Mad Thinker learned of the arrival of Rom the Spaceknight who came to Earth from the planet Galador.[54] Mistaking Rom for an android, he sent his Awesome Android to battle the Spaceknight outside of the town of Clairton, West Virginia to test his abilities. Convinced that Rom had superior abilities, the Mad Thinker presented himself and offered Rom a chance to join him. He soon learned the errors of mistaking the alien cyborg for an android, and was soon carried away by his Awesome Android, who was gaining rudimentary intelligence and fled after being hurt by Rom's Neutralizer.[55] Gaining control over his android, the Mad Thinker ordered it to hide out in an abandoned barn in Mayfield, Ohio to wait for further instructions.[56] Wishing to retire, the Mad Thinker then created the town of Ponder, New Hampshire and populated it with androids based on historical scholars such as Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare, and other. However the Thinker soon found that that their knowledge was limited to what information on the individuals he could get and sought more challenging minds to debate with. He sent one of his androids to capture a number of Nobel Prize winners in order to transfer their minds into android bodies so he could have androids with a more current understanding of science and philosophy. One of his victims was Alfred Knopfler who was in attendance at a Madison Square Garden motorcycle stunt show for charity. Present at the show were Captain America and the stunt motorcyclists Team America. Witnessing an android teleport in and kidnap Knopfler, Cap and Team America followed after him and wound up in Ponder. The heroes were briefly captured and Captain America was about to share the same fate as the scientists when the Mad Thinker's trap was foiled by the mysterious motorcyclist known as the Marauder.[57] With Cap and Team America free, they seemingly destroyed all of the Mad Thinker's androids and rescued the captured Nobel scientists. The Mad Thinker was then turned over to Nick Fury and his anti-espionage organization S.H.I.E.L.D..[58]

Assassination Attempt[]

Later when the Thing was hospitalized to recover from injuries,[59] the Mad Thinker monitored and computed the success of various super villains getting into the hospital and assassinating the Thing. All attempts were thwarted by various super heroes who came to Ben's aid. The Mad Thinker however had an agent of his own, the Sandman who managed to sneak in, but instead of eliminating the Thing, brought him cigars and a six-pack of beer as the two were on good terms.[60] With the death of Egghead,[61] the Intelligencia met to determine who should replace him. They eventually chose M.O.D.O.K. as a replacement, but agreed to put aside their raids on Atlantis and Wakanda to a later date.[52]

"Iron Bars Do Not a Prison Make"[]

At least by this point, the Mad Thinker had installed a cybernetic link in his brain that allowed him to project his mind into mechanical constructs of his body in the event of incarceration, although this is also likely how he cheated death so many times before in the past.[62] Whatever the case, the Mad Thinker was once again apprehended and placed in prison. After seeing security footage of Spider-Man battling an android near his old New Hampshire base,[63] the Mad Thinker confirmed the rumors that Spider-Man must have a special sixth sense and became determined to confirm this in order to utilize it for his later schemes. Although locked up in jail, he transmitted his mind into his android simulacrum and set loose one of his androids to test out Spider-Man's powers to confirm it without a shadow of a doubt. The android battled Spider-Man while the hero was working out at a Con-Edison power plant, and when Spider-Man destroyed the android, the Mad Thinker was convinced of Spider-Man's abilities and began to plot how to exploit them.[62] However the Mad Thinker never followed through on this scheme to focus on other matters. Later the Mad Thinker assisted the Intelligencia in robbing the nation of Wakanda of its Alexandrian texts and, with the information, constructed devices on Doom's castle that could pull meteors containing Vibranium to Earth. They later began observing the activities of the Beyonder on Earth. Shortly thereafter when Spider-Man seemingly destroyed the alien symbiote that he wore as a costume at the time, the Mad Thinker and his allies recovered it and stimulated it to live and find a new host.[64]

With news that the Human Torch was going to marry his long time girlfriend Alicia Masters,[65] the Mad Thinker came to his old friend the Puppet Master and offered his services to assist in attacking the wedding. The old friends also enlisted the aid of the Wizard. However, during the ceremony the Puppet Master had a change of heart after seeing how happy his step-daughter was and tried to call off the attack. When the Thinker and Wizard refused to comply, the Puppet Master unleashed the android Dragon Man to fight them off, destroying the Mad Thinker's android simulacrum in the process before fleeing the scene.[66] The Fantastic Four soon learned of the Mad Thinker's involvement and raided his old headquarters for clues while the authorities also checked his prison cell but found no proof. Later, when he transmitted his mind into another simulacrum at the Wizard's hideout, the Mad Thinker was shown security footage that captured Reed and Sue's son Franklin using his dreamform to project his image to the scene of the Mad Thinker's lair. When the Wizard suggested they kidnap the boy and use him in their revenge against the Fantastic Four, the Mad Thinker calculated a 98% chance the boy would be killed in the attempt. Disgusted at the Wizard's insistence of putting a child's life at risk, the Mad Thinker terminated their partnership and detonated his simulacrum. The Wizard went ahead with his plans but ultimately failed.[67]

Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616), Awesome Android (Earth-616), and Fantastic Four (Earth-616) from Marvel Fanfare Vol 1 46

Trapped in the body of the Awesome Android[68]

The Mad Thinker later uncovered an abandoned underground hideout belonging to the mutant Apocalypse and used the facility to construct a new android. This "Apocalypse Android" disobeyed the Thinker's commands, swatting him aside and went off to battle the New Mutants under the directives of his true master Apocalypse. Ultimately the android was no match for the young mutants and was recalled by Apocalypse himself.[69] The Mad Thinker next used his ability to transmit his mind into android bodies as part of a plan to destroy the Fantastic Four again. To this end he transmitted his mind into the body of the Awesome Android and went to the FF's Four Freedoms Plaza headquarters claiming to be trapped in the android's body.

Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616), Reed Richards (Earth-616), and Benjamin Grimm (Earth-616) from Marvel Fanfare Vol 1 46

Mad Thinker's mind inside the security computer at the Four Freedoms Plaza[68]

This was all a ploy that allowed the Thinker to transfer his mind into the FF's newly installed security system. With his mind now controlling the computers, he once again tried to used the Fantastic Four's security system to destroy the team. However the team pulled together and were able to fight their way into the control room. When Mr. Fantastic threatened to destroy his database -- and the Mad Thinker's mind with it -- the Thinker realized his foe was not bluffing and fled back to his own body, relinquishing control of the computer.[68] During the Acts of Vengeance conspiracy, the Asgardian trickster god Loki made an offer to the Mad Thinker to join him, an offer that the Thinker refused. By his calculation he believed that the implementation of the Superhuman Registration Act would cause more trouble than good. To this end, he manipulated the simple-minded villain known as Gargantua to attack a speech being made by the Avengers Wonder Man and the Wasp in order to force public opinion to turn to the side of heroes opposed to the Superhuman Registration Act. As predicted the heroes defeated Gargantua and gained public support at their keynote speech. The irony that this was his only victory as a super villain to date was not lost on the Mad Thinker.[70]

Shortly after this, the Thinker began working with the android known as Primus and began assisting it on the android's path to self identity. The Mad Thinker was hired by the Genetech organization to study the novice heroes known as the New Warriors so that they might use the heroes for their own ends. The Thinker agreed to examine the young heroes but would consider his options on what to do with the information he learned. This came at a time when the young group was on the brink of falling apart, so the Thinker and Primus then confronted each member of the team giving them cryptic hints that if they went to an important meeting place they would find new purpose. As per his calculations, the Warriors were all drawn to where they all first met to battle the cosmic being known as Terrax. It was thanks to the Thinker's interference that the group resolved to stay together. The Thinker decided to leave the heroes to their destiny, revealing his Genetech connections but assuring them that he would provide them no information.[71] Unknown to the Warriors at the time, the Thinker believed that the young heroes might be the ones he was seeking that could train his nephew David on how to use his powers.[8] Using another simulacrum, the Mad Thinker then applied for a job repairing animatronic dinosaurs for an exhibit that was on display at the Stamford Mall. He began putting his own technology into the dinosaurs in the hopes of stealing the box office money from the exhibit to further fund his criminal operations. This plot was thwarted by the unforeseen presence of the Power Pack's Destroyer and Tattletale who thwarted the Thinker's plans leading to his arrest.[72]

The Vault[]

By this time the Mad Thinker was relocated to the Vault prison, the authorities still had no idea that he could transmit his mind into android bodies outside of his cell. Deducing that the "Alicia Masters" that had married the Human Torch was really a Skrull spy,[73] he then began plotting a scheme to destroy the Fantastic Four using this information. Knowing that they would fly into space to rescue the real Alicia, he used his simulacrum to break into the factory where the Fantastic Four were having radiation shields built for their ship and altered the calculations, compromising their construction.[74] The Thinker then to reached out to his old ally the Puppet Master who suspected that "Alicia" was not his beloved stepdaughter and gave him the information that he brought to the Fantastic Four who uncovered the Skrull spy, named Lyja, hiding in their midst.[73] Fearing that the Mad Thinker's plot would jeopardize the rescue of his step-daughter, the Puppet Master tried to press information out of the Thinker by possessing his cellmate the Cobra, but this ploy did not work. Later, when the Fantastic Four rescued the real Alicia from the Skrulls, the radiation shields on their ship fell apart on the return trip home, stranding them in space.[74] However, despite the Mad Thinker's best planning, the Fantastic Four eventually got back to Earth.[75]

From then the Mad Thinker kept up the façade of being a model prisoner, even in the face of other prisoners rioting.[76] He was later used to provide expert testimony in a consumer fraud case against the Tinkerer and his super villain clients where he questioned the quality of the Tinkerer's work. When the super villains rioted, the She-Hulk stopped their rampage.[77] The Thinker and his ally Primus then resumed their observation of the New Warriors who at the time were going through a transition period following a recent high profile victory against the Sphinx.[78] He explained to the group that part of growing up was to live with the changes that were happening in their lives even if their instinct was to fight against them. As with his last encounter with the heroes, the Mad Thinker left them wondering what his motivations were.[79] Learning that the Thing was meeting with the mutant hero known as Wolverine at a bar along the Cuyahoga River, he sent minions including a Super Android to slay the Thing. The pair put aside their differences and, with the help of the Thing's teammate Ant-Man, defeated the Mad Thinker's minions. Deducing that the Thinker was behind the attack, the trio sent him a mocking photograph of them having a good time. This was also followed by a complete strip down of his cell.[80][81] Later the Mad Thinker sent another one of his Super-Androids against the Thing, who was able to destroy it after discovering its weakness to alcohol. The Mad Thinker's motivation for this attack was unknown.[82]

After many months of observing the New Warriors, the Mad Thinker finally came to the conclusion that the team could finally help his nephew David. To this end he and Primus kidnapped the comatose villain Cut. The Thinker then probed Cut's mind to learn the location of the eco-terror group known as Undertow and submitted it to the New Warrior's former leader Night Thrasher in the hopes that he could rescue his missing teammate Kymaera.[6][83] The Thinker then watched closely as the New Warriors engaged in a clash with the Dire Wraith known as Vlox[84] who sought to strip all super-humans on Earth of their superpowers using a neutralizer weapon built by the mutant inventor known as Forge.[85] As the New Warriors defeated Vlox, Night Thrasher and his comrade Rage rescued Kymaera and traced the anonymous email back to the Mad Thinker who revealed his entire plot. Night Thrasher and his comrades then reunited with the New Warriors and the group presumably used the neutralizer weapon to cure David, although his fate remains unknown.[86]

From his cell in the Vault, the Mad Thinker sought to obtain the Asgardian sword known as the Raven's Eye which was in the possession of wealthy union leader Victor Prazniki whom the Thinker had kidnapped.[87] When the thunder god Thor went after Prazniki and the Raven's Eye, the Thinker tried to hold him back with robots based on his half-brother Loki, father Odin, and brother Balder the Brave. However Thor managed to obtain the Raven's Eye and found himself and his allies transported to Asgard,[88] with the magics used to transport Thor having shattered the Thinker's mind seemingly beyond repair.[89].

The Mad Thinker recovered and using yet another one of his simulacrums, he once more targeted the hero Spider-Man in order to exploit his spider-sense. Using one of Spider-Man's Spider-Tracer he incapacitated the hero and took him prisoner. However before the Thinker could experiment on Spider-Man his simulacrum was destroyed by his old computer Quasimodo. Quasimodo then manipulated Spider-Man into fighting the Silver Surfer, a plan that ultimately failed. The Thinker meanwhile was rendered comatose.[90]

While the Mad Thinker was recovering, his old foes the Fantastic Four and the Avengers were seemingly slain battling the psychic entity known as Onslaught.[91] With the Four Freedoms Plaza gutted of all Reed's technology by his father Nathaniel,[92] the Mad Thinker decided to target Franklin Richards instead. Using another simulacrum and a newly revamped Awesome Android, the Mad Thinker attempted to kidnap the boy in order to probe his subconscious mind in order to try and learn all of his father's secrets. The Thinker was opposed by the newly formed Thunderbolts who easily destroyed the Thinker's simulacrum.[93]

Free Again[]

The Mad Thinker remained inactive for months, during which the Fantastic Four and their allies turned up alive and well and resumed their regular activities.[94] By this time the Mad Thinker was out of prison and had teamed up with the Red Skull to create nanite technology to alter the personalities of those it infected.[95] They tested these nanites out on both the Thing and She-Hulk with successful results.[96] Later when the Fantastic Four and the Avengers appeared at the San Diego Comic-Con, the Mad Thinker used these nanites to turn the Avengers against the FF and battle them along with the Skull's minions and his Awesome Android. However the Skull and Thinker's plot was foiled due to the fact that Reed Richards had developed a cure for the nanites. When the duo attempted to destroy the heroes, they were unprepared for the additional powers of Marvel Girl of Earth-9809 who helped defeat them and forced them to retreat.[95] Much later, when it appeared that Captain America was killed, the media interviewed members of the superhuman community including the Mad Thinker, who said he would have to think about the current developments.[97]

Having grown tired of his Awesome Android's constant failures, the Mad Thinker then began making upgrades so that the android could not only duplicate superhuman powers, but the attributes of anything it came into contact with. This, however, worked against the Mad Thinker when he set his Awesome Android against the thunder god Thor. By coming into contact with Thor and his enchanted hammer Mjolnir, the Awesome Android replicated Thor's nobility and became sentient while turning against his master who was then arrested. The Awesome Android soon obtained the services of the lawyer Holden Holliway from the Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway law firm who cleared his name and, as a result, became the firm's secretary and was renamed Awesome Andy.[98] The Mad Thinker escaped prison once again and attempted to build more androids based on the greatest minds of history, but like his previous attempt, these androids were limited in their capabilities to even challenge the Thinker and he eventually expelled them from his home. These androids then attempted to wipe out the human race but were destroyed by the New Warriors.[99]

Retirement[]

The Mad Thinker next considered retirement again when he encountered a Negative Zone sorceress named Threska after she ended up trapped on Earth and attempted to steal some of his equipment to return home. The Thinker agreed to work with her to return home and they began a plot to manipulate the Fantastic Four into helping the Thinker and Threska get to the Negative Zone. To this end, he had Threska replace the wife of security designer Andrew Lewis. The Thinker then used Lewis' office in the Baxter Building to access the Fantastic Four's headquarters where he planted subliminal suggestions that the Fantastic Four would be dead within two years if they did not stop all their foes all at once.[100]

Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616) and Threska (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Foes Vol 1 5

Breaking out of the Negative Zone Vault[101]

The next step in the Thinker's plan was to manipulate the Puppet Master with a phony revenge scheme on the Fantastic Four. They called a meeting of a number of the FF's foes where the Puppet Master proposed they all worked together. As planned, none of the gathered villains were willing to do so and left, unaware that the Mad Thinker had placed DNA gathering devices that would allow the Puppet Master to take control of these various foes to battle their mutual enemies. However the Mad Thinker set the Puppet Master to take a fall and he was easily defeated by the Fantastic Four.[102] Thanks to his tampered data, Reed fell into the Mad Thinker's plot and the Fantastic Four began rounding up all their foes, starting with the Mad Thinker who surrendered immediately. As planned, the number of villains the group began apprehending became too much for them to handle and Reed contacted Andrew Lewis to build a new Vault prison in the Negative Zone, unaware that Threska had infiltrated the Lewis home by murdering and replacing his wife.[103] Meanwhile the Mad Thinker was being temporarily held in a stasis tube in the Baxter Building.[104][105] Once the Negative Zone prison was completed, the Mad Thinker and the other captured foes were all transported to it. After everything was in place, Threska used her connection to Andrew Lewis to stage a jailbreak, thereby freeing the Mad Thinker.[101] While the Fantastic Four and their allies She-Hulk and Hercules fought off the other villains, the Mad Thinker and Threska fled into the Negative Zone. After the riot was shut down and Reed deduced the Mad Thinker's role in the entire ordeal, he and his team tracked the Thinker down. When caught, the Mad Thinker broke down his entire scheme and then willingly surrendered having found a renewed love for his old schemes and vowed that when he next clashed with the Fantastic Four he would kill them all.[100]

Mad Thinker Construct[]

A Mad Thinker construct was apprehended and placed in the prisoner known as the Big House, where Pym Particles were used to shrink its prisoners down in size. This Mad Thinker construct attempted to stage a breakout,[106] but was defeated by the She-Hulk who destroyed his body. The Awesome Android -- now working for the law firm Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway and calling himself "Awesome Andy" -- recovered the Thinker robot's severed head and kept it hidden away.[107] Later, when the GLK&H-owned Excelsior apartments were attacked by the Power Gem-enhanced Titania, the building was decimated. The Thinker was discovered by the She-Hulk's ward Southpaw[108] who ran away with it to learn to become a super villain under the "Thinker's" tutelage.[109][110] Eventually the severed head of the Mad Thinker construct was discarded, although the circumstances are still unknown.

Civil War[]

Soon a super hero Civil War broke out over the implementation of a new Superhuman Registration Act pitting Captain America's anti-registration forces against the pro-registration heroes under the command of Iron Man.[111] Having escaped prison once again, the Mad Thinker began working with his old partner the Puppet Master. The pair plotted to attack a transport of captured heroes who were resisting registration.[112] To this end they supplied information to the Yancy Street Gang who were sympathetic to Captain America's cause.[113] They then constructed a massive replica of Yancy Street out of the Puppet Master's clay and used it to manipulate events into a battle between pro- and anti-registration forces. While the two sides were fighting each other, they attempted to control the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were part of the security detail and force them to attack both sides. This whole plot was thwarted by the Thing. However, when the incident cost the life of a Yancy Street Gang member, Ben decided to leave America until the war was over, not wishing to get involved in either side.[112]

Meanwhile, the Civil War had torn the Fantastic Four apart, and while trying to repair the rift between his teammates, Reed Richards revealed to the Human Torch that he backed the SHRA due to his calculations in psychohistory, which predicted historical trends, and that the only way for the world to avoid total annihilation was to support the Registration Act. However in order to confirm his calculations, both Mr. Fantastic and the Torch paid a visit to the Mad Thinker and convinced him to come to the Baxter Building and review Reed's calculations. After some review and discussion, the Mad Thinker concurred that the calculations were indeed correct.[114] Ultimately the Civil War ended when Captain America finally surrendered upon realizing that the majority of the American people supported the Act.[115] The real Thinker later took Southpaw under his wing and the two went into hiding while he continued his plans. Shortly thereafter the Mad Thinker recovered the Awesome Android, who had self-deleted his new-found personality as a penance for a perceived wrong that he had committed and went looking for the Thinker as part of his programming, allowing him to find the Mad Thinker and Southpaw in one of his safehouses in Florida.[116]

The Thinker then reunited with the Intelligencia to discuss recent developments, such as the outcome of the super hero Civil War and the apparent death of Captain America. During this session the Thinker suggested they try to recruit the young genius Mastermind Excello, but his suggestion was turned down. They then went on their mission to Atlantis to collect the last of the Alexandrian Library texts stored there. When they went to deposit them at Dr. Doom's castle, Doom turned on them forcing them to flee empty-handed and the Leader seemingly abandoned them for a time.[117]

Torch[]

Later the Mad Thinker was hired by AIM to build a weapon that could destroy the town of Vretik, Estonia. Due to being offered an unlimited budget and resources, the Mad Thinker took on the job, and grudgingly, an assistant named Eugene Toussaint. While he was working AIM's Dawntreader research platform, it was infiltrated by the recently resurrected Toro and the extra-dimensional being known as Vision. Toro had come to the platform seeking revenge against the Mad Thinker for his death. Toro was easily subdued by the Mad Thinker who then decided to experiment on the mutant in order to learn the secrets of his flame powers. The Thinker discovered that although Toro was a mutant, his powers were influenced by traces of the "Horton Cells" that also comprised Toro's former partner: the android Human Torch. To study this further so as to weaponize the Horton Cell, the Thinker had AIM agents recover the dead body of the Human Torch.[118]

Thomas Raymond (Earth-616) and Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616) from Torch Vol 1 2 Cover

Being attacked by Toro[119]

While the Mad Thinker began working on restoring the original Human Torch to be his mindless weapon, he had Toussaint research the connection between Toro's mother and the Torch's inventor Phineas Horton as well as a German-American businessman named Laumer who lived in the early 1930s. While working on restoring the Human Torch, he also took cell cultures and developed Compound D, a fast spreading virus which he hoped to use take over the world by making every living thing his slave. With the Torch revived, he then unleashed him upon the town of Vretik, thus fulfilling his obligations to AIM. However, when he attempted to leave with Compound D, Toussaint attempted to stop him but it was too late as the Thinker had already infected him with the compound.[119] He then forced Toussaint to go to the lower levels of the platform where he displayed gallons of the compound which he planned on using before forcing Toussaint to shoot himself in the head. It was at this point that the Human Torch was knocked into the cold ocean, which resulted in the destruction of the virus in his body, thereby freeing him from the Thinker's control. He then angrily attacked the rig, which destroyed it in the process but unintentionally also unleashed the compound which then infected the dead body of Toussaint, as well as countless fish who went on to infect Namor and a number of his Atlantean warriors.[120]

Compound D had mutated creating a hive mind that sought to take over the world itself.[121] The Mad Thinker had retreated with Toussaint to his hideout in Red Walls, Arizona. There he was contacted by the Nazi scientist who was involved in stealing Horton's technology decades earlier: Sigmund Fell, who offered the Mad Thinker sanctuary in his secret domain New Berlin hidden deep in the wilds of Bolivia. Just then Toro, the android Human Torch, and Johnny Storm -- the Torch's modern day successor -- arrived and forced the Thinker to surrender the antidote for Compound D. Threatened with having his legacy destroyed, the Mad Thinker turned it over but teleported away to New Berlin.[122] There he found that Fell had created a Nazi "utopia" with androids using Horton's technology. However his people were unable to leave the sanctuary without bursting into flames and as such the atmosphere within New Berlin required specially treated air. Fell asked the Thinker to perfect his creation the Inhuman Torch so that he might be used as a weapon. When Fell refused to meet the Thinker's demands, he tried to teleport away only to find that Fell prepared for this and that he was trapped. With promises that he would be allowed to live, the Mad Thinker grudgingly began to work on completing the Inhuman Torch.[123]

When the Mad Thinker completed making the Inhuman Torch fully operable, Fell reneged on his word and had the Thinker locked up with the Torch and Toro who were captured after following the Thinker to New Berlin. However the Thinker predicted treachery and injected their guard with a chemical that made him burst into flames, melting through the bars of their cell. The Thinker then brought the Torch and Toro up to the lab where he exposed them to fresh air, allowing them to both to ignite again. Seeing the Inhuman Torch on a rampage, the two became determined to stop it.[124] As the two heroes battled the Inhuman Torch, the Thinker attacked Fell and forced him to lead him out of New Berlin through a secret elevator. Fell appeared to get the upper hand thanks to the defenses in the elevator that prevented the Thinker from shooting Fell, but when they went outside Fell was horrified to realize that he was a Horton android himself and summarily burst into flames. The Thinker then took Fell's supply of gold and bonds and teleported away. Fell's Inhuman Torch was later destroyed by the Human Torch, ending its threat.[125]

The Gauntlet[]

When Electro, a long time Spider-Man foe, found that his powers were raging out of control and threatening to kill him, he went to the Mad Thinker for assistance, but did not have the money to pay for treatment after his fortune was swindled from him by Wall Street brokers. Electro went on a rampage, raging over economic inequities instead of getting the money he needed to cure himself, leading to a clash with Spider-Man.[126] Soon his powers began to fluctuate again and the Thinker was able to convince Electro to get back on track. After Electro extorted the money he needed from DB! owner Dexter Bennett, he went to the Thinker to get the treatment he needed. Despite interference from Spider-Man, who tracked Electro, the Mad Thinker succeeded in not only curing Electro, but also boosted his powers exponentially, and fled as the enhanced Electro battled with Spider-Man.[127] Spider-Man eventually defeated Electro in battle.[128]

Fall of the Hulks[]

Intelligencia (Earth-616) from Fall of the Hulks Gamma Vol 1 1

The Mad Thinker and his Gammadroid[129]

The Mad Thinker then reunited with his Intelligencia colleagues in a scheme to take over the world in a massive conspiracy centered around the Hulk. This plot involved the creation of a new Red Hulk to collect the energy they needed to carry out their plans.[130] By this time, the Mad Thinker created a Gammadroid based off his Awesome Android. When the Red Hulk seemingly slew General Thaddeus Ross, the Intelligencia agreed that it was time to accelerate their plans.[131] Needing to check to see if their mission would be a success, the Mad Thinker sent his Gammadroid to locate the secret location of and use one of Dr. Doom's Time-Platforms stolen by Thundra. Using its computers to access the future they saw visions of a future where they succeeded in winning their battle against the Hulk and taking over the world. This convinced them to continue their plan unchanged, but at the time they were unaware that the Red Hulk had betrayed them to Bruce Banner and the pair had hacked into the computer and fed the Intelligencia false images of the future.[132]

Part of the Intelligencia's plot was to incapacitate the 10 most intelligent people on Earth. With Reed Richards and Dr. Doom captured, the Mad Thinker rigged their minds into Dr. Doom's Liddleville simulation as well as the other minds that were later captured.[133] Ultimately, the Intelligencia's plot was doomed to failure and while the Hulk and Red Hulk battled it out in Washington, D.C., the Mad Thinker, Red Ghost, and Wizard robbed the US Treasury before fleeing the battle.[134] The Mad Thinker then fled to Switzerland where at one of his hideouts he attempted to cure Klaw, transferring his powers into a new android named Byte. However, the operation was interrupted when the Sensational and Savage She-Hulks came to apprehend him. The two heroes defeated his army of Gammadroids and caused an avalanche that destroyed his base.[135] Before the She-Hulks could take the Thinker back into custody they were attacked by Klaw and Byte but they too were defeated. The Thinker was then incarcerated at Gamma Base.[136]

Future Foundation[]

When Valeria Richards accidentally unleashed members of the Interdimensional Council of Reeds on Earth-616,[137] Reed Richards and Dr. Doom invited many of the Fantastic Four's old foes to the headquarters of the recently formed Future Foundation to devise a way to defeat these alternate reality versions of Reed Richards. The Mad Thinker was among those invited to the meeting.[138] Working with Richards, Doom, the High Evolutionary, Nathaniel Richards, the Wizard, two of his AIM cohorts, and Diablo,they all deduced that the Council of Reeds were trying to build a device to return to their home realities, but to do so they would set off the world changing War of the Four Cities.[139] When they later learned that the Invisible Woman took some of the Future Foundation to battle the Council's forces at Old Atlantis, the Thinker and the others were kept under watch while Reed rescued them.[140]

Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616) from FF Vol 1 8

Future Foundation uniform[141]

The Council next appeared at the Forever City of the High Evolutionary, where they battled the Inhumans. The evil geniuses agreed to accompany the Future Foundation into battle. The Mad Thinker and his colleagues even adopted the stylized colors of the Future Foundation as a sign of solidarity. During the battle Dr. Doom attempted to betray the group to the Council of Reeds but was attacked by the Thinker and Diablo.[141]

Doom fought back, but was easily incapacitated his opponents, but the fighting soon stopped when the the Reeds from Earth-4280 and "Earth-Unknown" were defeated and captured, but Reed of Earth-12498 managed to escape.[142] The Thinker and his cohorts were then incarcerated by the Inhumans.[143]

Return to the Intelligencia[]

The Mad Thinker eventually escaped captivity and reunited with the Intelligencia. They set up operations in Promyshlennyi, Russia but were forced to flee that location when it was attacked by the Russian super heroes known as the Winter Guard. From their base on the North Pole they used their Zero Cannon to launch the Russian heroes into space. Soon after their arrival they were attacked by Dr. Octopus and his Sinister Six. Octopus and M.O.D.O.K. agreed to a challenge to see whose team was better, in which the losers of the battle would be pushed into the Zero Cannon and sent into space. The Thinker was attacked by Electro, but the Thinker was able to negate his powers. Still, despite this, Electro was a dirty hand to hand combatant and was able to incapacitate the Thinker by kicking him in the groin and hauling him into the path of the Zero Cannon. The rest of the Intelligencia also fared no better and M.O.D.O.K. was forced to flee the base which was destroyed. M.O.D.O.K. vowed to rescue his comrades and restore them.[144] M.O.D.O.K. succeeded in doing so and the Thinker and the rest of the Intelligencia met aboard a ship in the North Sea. There they decided with the constant warring between heroes, the Intelligencia would lay low until their foes destroyed themselves and they could act. However the meeting was compromised when they were attacked and almost drowned by the mercenary known as Deadpool. The Intelligencia managed to survive the attack and Deadpool -- bereft of his healing factor at the time -- was trounced by the Trapster and left for dead.[145]

Going solo again, the Mad Thinker set up operations in Manchester, Alabama to develop a weapon that utilized Quantum Molder as a weapon. His set-up was located by S.H.I.E.L.D. who had then recently inducted the Hulk into their ranks. The Hulk was easily able to destroy the Thinker's base and Quantum Molder weapon and the Thinker was turned over to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[146] Escaping captivity again, the Mad Thinker rejoined the Intelligencia and they recovered what they thought was alien technology but was in reality the Earth-built killer robot known as Ultron. When the Intelligencia accidentally freed Ultron, the Avengers arrived on the scene to stop the robot.[147] The Mad Thinker, back in custody again, was briefly used by General Fortean to utilize She-Hulk and his technology to track down the location of her Red She-Hulk counterpart.[148]

Matthew Murdock (Earth-616) and Mad Thinker (Julius) (Earth-616) from Daredevil Road Warrior Infinite Comic Vol 1 3

The Thinker calculates his foe[149]

Subsequently, the Mad Thinker obtained an Adaptoid in his next scheme. This Adaptoid clashed with Daredevil. When the Adaptoid adopted DD's form, he convinced him to help him track down the Thinker and bring him to justice.[149] Attacking the Thinker in his secret hideout, Daredevil was overpowered by the Adaptoids that were hidden in the walls and floor of the hideout. During the struggle, Daredevil realized the Adaptoid he came to help was unable to harm his creator, and so Daredevil tricked it into thinking that the Thinker was really a robot duplicate. This overrode the programming and the Adaptoid beat the Mad Thinker nearly to death. Daredevil was forced to pull the android off of the Thinker then convince it to shut down in order to save the Thinker's life.[150]

Time Runs Out[]

The Mad Thinker was at some point contracted by Doctor Doom to be part of his attempts at uncovering the truth behind the incursions. Thinker managed to tap into and map the Mapmakers' network, allowing them to locate the source of the incursions.[151]

The Hood's Illuminati[]

The Hood recruited the Mad Thinker to his group called the Illuminati, along with Titania, Thunderball, Enchantress (Sylvie Lushton), and Black Ant.[152] He "had been slowly rebuilding" Black Ant and made the team's stealth suits. After being told of their first mission as a group, he claimed to be only interested in the science of Asgard and that the team was only a means of accessing it.[153] When they reached Asgardia's armory, he stunned the Hood and revealed that betrayal was his plan all along. He picked up one of the miniaturized containers and revealed that Black Ant was a bomb. He left in a portal afterwards.[154]

The New Fantastic Four[]

Fantastic Four (Mad Thinker) (Earth-616) from Marvel 2-In-One Vol 1 8 001

The Mad Thinker's Fantastic Four

Following the resolution of the incursion crisis, Reed Richards and Sue Storm were presumed dead.[2] Having retreated to La Paz, Bolivia, the Mad Thinker was confronted by the reformed Doctor Doom, who had donned the armor and moniker of Iron Man. Doom attempted to threaten the Mad Thinker into putting his intelligence to use for the good of mankind, but the villain refused to follow Doom's path and instead confronted him with an army of robots, with no effective results. The Mad Thinker seemingly perished in the ensuing explosion caused by Iron Man that destroyed his lab;[1] however, in reality he had secretly been captured and transferred into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[155]

After escaping, the Mad Thinker was further driven into insanity trying to figure out Mister Fantastic's whereabouts. He interpreted Richards' absence as a calling to succeed him and the Fantastic Four. Modelling his hair after Richards' and calling himself "Mister Fantastic,"[2] the Mad Thinker granted himself and a trio of hired muscles powers similar to the Richards family using the technology of Rachna Koul, from whom he also stole a device of dimensional teleportation called the Multisect. Declaring his team the new Fantastic Four, the Mad Thinker tracked down the Human Torch and The Thing to an alternate post-apocalyptic Earth where they had become stuck during a multiversal journey looking for their family, with the intention of eliminating them to declutter the universe of the remnants of the old Fantastic Four.

Despite having lost their powers during their journey, Johnny and Ben managed to evade the Mad Thinker and his team due to their inexperience.[4] They regained their powers before their second encounter, and easily defeated the villain and his pretenders. Before returning home with The Thing and Mad Thinker's team, Johnny left the villain stranded in this reality, stripped of the equipment that simulated Mister Fantastic's powers, and encouraged him to fill the void of that world's Reed Richards and act selfless.[156] Following the return of the real Fantastic Four, Mister Fantastic visited this universe to retrieve the Mad Thinker, believing it was only a matter of time before he'd only grow to torment this reality's inhabitants.[157]

Road Trip[]

During a road trip with the other members of his family, Reed Richards decided to stop near a recent crater, formed after the impact of a meteorite , in order to bring a bit of soil with him and study its composition. The day after they arrived, the Fantastic Four saw their powers unstable: Mister Fantastic started melting, Franklin appeared everywhere simultaneously, Thing's skin fell down and so on. Richards examined the soil of the crater and discovered that it was been contaminated with particles from planet Spyre, a planet full of cosmic radiation and that was poisoning all of them. It was revealed that the Mad Thinker had contaminated the soil, trusting in Richards' curiosity; but the members of the Fantastic Four joined together in an abnormal being, in order to use Mister Fantastic and Valeria's intelligence to lead Franklin in using his powers to heal them; the Thinker was watching, and decided to kill them via a missle. That one hit FF's house, but the squad emerged now cured and, having seen where the missile was from, they attacked the Thinker, who was defeated.[3]

Attributes

Power Grid[160]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Poor:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Long Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Genius

Powers

Computer Link: At present, the Thinker has a surgically implanted, biochemically powered, high-frequency, pulse-code modulated radio link to his laboratories, permitting him to be in mental contact with the full range of his private facilities while serving his sentence in prison. This link also enables him to project his consciousness from his body into an android simulacrum of himself.[158]

Abilities

Computer Mind: The Mad Thinker has great intellectual and cognitive abilities, as well as vast mechanical genius. His brain is so naturally adept at higher mathematics that he can perform unaided mental calculations such as finding large, complex, and imaginary square roots, solving equations including vectors, Boolean logic, probability and statistics, differential and integral calculus, and computing analytic functions. He has an eidetic memory, and is able to recall 99.99% of everything he sees, hears, or reads. The Mad Thinker's brain is like an organic computer. By "programming" it with all the relevant data possible, he is able to mentally calculate event probabilities to two decimal places. The only thing that ever works against his probability forecasts is what he calls the x-factor, certain variables of which he is unaware and thus is unable to use in his computations. The Mad Thinker is not an intuitive genius like Reed Richards, capable of creating and inventing: he can only synthesize for his own use what has already been created or invented by others. Although the Thinker has mastered many areas of science, his specialties are computer design, in which he has no known equals, and robotics. However, he has apparently contributed no original discoveries to any of these areas.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Hypno Lens: The Mad Thinker's only frequently used personal weapon is a monocle-sized hypno-lens, capable of mesmerizing anyone who looks at it.

Computers: The Mad Thinker uses many computers to gather and store information for him. These computers constantly augment his base of knowledge about the world around him and recheck his mental calculations to eliminate as much error as possible.

Zeoparticle-Enhanced Gloves (formerly): When the Mad Thinker attempted to replace Mister Fantastic, he used a pair of gloves of the same nature of Rachna Koul's zeoparticle-enhanced prosthetic hand, which allowed him to simulate a degree of body elasticity similar to Mister Fantastic's, but only with his lower arms.[156]

Notes

  • The Mad Thinker's real name remains curiously unknown, despite interacting with family members[159] and people who knew him before he became the Thinker.[10]
    • In the prose novel The Baxter Effect, the Mad Thinker's real name was given as Max von Scharf. This has not yet been confirmed nor denied in any other source.
    • Doctor Doom has addressed the Thinker as "Julius."[1][2]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Infamous Iron Man #2
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Marvel 2-In-One #3
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Fantastic Four: Road Trip #1
  4. 4.0 4.1 Marvel 2-In-One #9
  5. 5.0 5.1 Fantastic Four #69
  6. 6.0 6.1 New Warriors #72
  7. 7.0 7.1 Fantastic Four #15
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 New Warriors #75
  9. New Warriors #2
  10. 10.0 10.1 New Warriors #3
  11. 11.0 11.1 Fantastic Four #28
  12. Strange Tales #126
  13. Strange Tales #131
  14. Fantastic Four Annual #1
  15. Marvel: Heroes & Legends #1
  16. X-Men First Class (Vol. 2) #1
  17. Tales of Suspense #72
  18. 18.0 18.1 Avengers #134
  19. Avengers #134. This story states that this occurred 11 years after the Torch deactivated himself, citing the year the Mad Thinker found the Torch as 1966. However as per the Sliding Timescale this should be considered a topical reference in relation to when the story was originally published. 1966 was the year that Fantastic Four Annual #4 was published, a story that follows chronologically after the flashback in Avengers #134
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Fantastic Four Annual #4
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Avengers: Forever #8
  22. Avengers #39
  23. 23.0 23.1 Fantastic Four #68
  24. Avengers #135
  25. Fantastic Four #70
  26. 26.0 26.1 Fantastic Four #71
  27. Fantastic Four #79
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Sub-Mariner #14
  29. Avengers: West Coast #50
  30. Captain Marvel #12
  31. Captain Marvel #13
  32. Avengers #63
  33. Captain Marvel #14
  34. Avengers #64
  35. Fantastic Four #96
  36. Fantastic Four #100
  37. Marvel Team-Up #6
  38. 38.0 38.1 Iron Man #75
  39. Iron Man #74
  40. Iron Man #77
  41. 41.0 41.1 Fantastic Four #181
  42. 42.0 42.1 42.2 Fantastic Four #183
  43. Fantastic Four Annual #6
  44. Fantastic Four #141
  45. Fantastic Four #180
  46. 46.0 46.1 Fantastic Four #179
  47. Fantastic Four #178
  48. Fantastic Four #182
  49. 49.0 49.1 49.2 Marvel Two-In-One #39
  50. 50.0 50.1 Marvel Two-In-One #37
  51. Marvel Two-In-One #38
  52. 52.0 52.1 Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1
  53. Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1. The Nth Projector was stolen by Thundra in Marvel Two-In-One #67
  54. Rom #1
  55. Rom #14
  56. Captain America #311
  57. The Marauder is a being created from the collective minds of Team America, this was later revealed to be a mutant power as revealed in New Mutants #5
  58. Captain America #269
  59. Sustained battling Gladiator in Fantastic Four #249 and the Champion in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #6
  60. Marvel Two-In-One #96. At the time the Sandman was convinced to turn his life around by the Thing, as depicted in Marvel Two-In-One #86
  61. Avengers #229
  62. 62.0 62.1 Amazing Spider-Man #242
  63. Marvel Team-Up #129
  64. Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1. The Beyonder was active on Earth in the Secret Wars II limited series and almost every Marvel book published around that period, see entry on Secret Wars II for more info. Spider-Man was wearing an alien costume since Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #12, he discovered the costume was alive and sapping his life in Amazing Spider-Man #258 and seemingly destroyed it in Web of Spider-Man #1. It would later bond to Eddie Brock to create Venom in Amazing Spider-Man #299
  65. Actually a Skrull spy named Lyja who took Alicia's place as revealed in Fantastic Four #358. See entries on Alicia Masters and Lyja for more details
  66. Fantastic Four #300
  67. Fantastic Four #301
  68. 68.0 68.1 68.2 Marvel Fanfare #46
  69. X-Men: Odd Men Out #1
  70. Avengers Spotlight #28
  71. New Warriors #3. The New Warriors formed and battled Terrax in New Warriors #1
  72. Power Pack #54
  73. 73.0 73.1 Fantastic Four #357
  74. 74.0 74.1 Fantastic Four #358
  75. Fantastic Four #360
  76. New Warriors #36
  77. Sensational She-Hulk #59
  78. New Warriors #4750
  79. New Warriors #51
  80. Fantastic Four #395
  81. The Thing was meeting Wolverine over the fact that Wolverine scarred his face in Fantastic Four #374. Ant-Man was had joined the Fantastic Four following the supposed death of Reed Richards in Fantastic Four #381. He was a member of the team from Fantastic Four #384 to Fantastic Four #407
  82. Fantastic Four: Unplugged #1
  83. Kymaera was captured by Undertow in New Warriors #56. Night Thrasher left the New Warriors to lead their rivals Psionex in New Warriors #57 and New Warriors #60 respectively
  84. New Warriors #73
  85. New Warriors #74
  86. New Warriors #75. Forge created the neutralizer in Uncanny X-Men #184
  87. Thor #498
  88. Thor #499
  89. Thor #500
  90. Spider-Man Team-Up #2. This Spider-Man was actually a clone of Peter Parker who took Spider-Man's place in Sensational Spider-Man #0 due to the fact that they were convinced that the clone was the real Peter Parker. Peter was finally revealed to be the true Spider-Man in Spider-Man #75. See the Clone Saga for all the confusing details.
  91. Onslaught: Marvel #1. However it was revealed that Reed and Sue's son Franklin transported them to a pocket dimension later referred to as Counter-Earth. See Fantastic Four (Vol. 2), Iron Man (Vol. 2), Captain America (Vol. 2), Avengers (Vol. 2), and Heroes Reborn for more details
  92. Tales of the Marvel Universe #1
  93. Thunderbolts #2. The Thunderbolts were in reality the Masters of Evil pretending to be heroes as per Thunderbolts #1
  94. Heroes Reborn: The Return #4
  95. 95.0 95.1 Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #23
  96. Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #22
  97. Captain America (Vol. 3) #50
  98. She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #14
  99. New Warriors (Vol. 3) #5
  100. 100.0 100.1 Fantastic Four: Foes #6
  101. 101.0 101.1 Fantastic Four: Foes #5
  102. Fantastic Four: Foes #1
  103. Fantastic Four: Foes #2
  104. Fantastic Four: Foes #3
  105. Fantastic Four: Foes #4
  106. She-Hulk #5
  107. She-Hulk #6
  108. She-Hulk #11
  109. She-Hulk #12
  110. She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #9
  111. Civil War #1
  112. 112.0 112.1 Fantastic Four #539
  113. Fantastic Four #538
  114. Fantastic Four #542
  115. Civil War #7
  116. She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #20: Awesome Andy had accidentally mimicked Starfox's powers to make GLK&H employee Mallory Book fall in love with him, which he realized in She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #14 and disappeared
  117. Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1. Captain America was seemingly killed in Captain America (Vol. 5) #25 but he was restored to life later in Captain America: Reborn #6
  118. Torch #1. Toro died battling the Thinker in Sub-Mariner #14, he was brought back to life at the end of Avengers / Invaders #12. The original Human Torch had seemingly died in New Invaders #9
  119. 119.0 119.1 Torch #2
  120. Torch #3
  121. Torch #4
  122. Torch #5
  123. Torch #6
  124. Torch #7
  125. Torch #8
  126. Amazing Spider-Man #612
  127. Amazing Spider-Man #613
  128. Amazing Spider-Man #614
  129. Fall of the Hulks: Gamma #1
  130. Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1. They spent much of the time plotting how they were going to divide up the world after they had conquered it, as seen in Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk #4 The prelude to this conspiracy began in Hulk (Vol. 2). See entry on Red Hulk for more details.
  131. Fall of the Hulks: Gamma #1. This was later revealed to be a LMD of Ross as the Red Hulk was General Ross himself as revealed in Hulk (Vol. 2) #23
  132. Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk #4
  133. Hulk (Vol. 2) #20
  134. Hulk (Vol. 2) #24
  135. She-Hulks #3
  136. She-Hulks #4
  137. Fantastic Four #572
  138. FF #3
  139. FF #4
  140. FF #5
  141. 141.0 141.1 FF #8
  142. FF #9
  143. FF #11
  144. Amazing Spider-Man #676
  145. Deadpool (Vol. 4) #55
  146. Indestructible Hulk #1
  147. Age of Ultron #10
  148. Red She-Hulk #66
  149. 149.0 149.1 Daredevil: Road Warrior Infinite Comic #3
  150. Daredevil: Road Warrior Infinite Comic #4
  151. New Avengers (Vol. 3) #24
  152. Illuminati #1
  153. Illuminati #2
  154. Illuminati #4
  155. Infamous Iron Man #6
  156. 156.0 156.1 Marvel 2-In-One #10
  157. Marvel 2-In-One #11
  158. https://gyazo.com/8b2b192ae070b2d4accb14643d9095e2
  159. New Warriors #7475
  160. Fall of the Hulks: Alpha Vol 1 1
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