Under the guidance of who he believed to be Magneto (actually a robot), Mesmero used his ability to mesmerize people to try to make Polaris believe she was Magneto's daughter. The X-Men foiled his plans, and thus began a long cycle of Mesmero attempting to do something criminal and then being stopped by an X-Team. He lost his powers on M-Day, and moved on from his life of controlling people to become a 'normal' person. His powers later returned through unknown means.
History
Early Life
As a young boy, Vincent suffered abuse at the hands of his father.[1] When his powers manifested, Vincent developed a green complexion and hypnotized his father into leaving the family,[1] possibly killing himself.[2]
Following "Magneto"
At some point, he got into managing a circus and hypnotizing people on stage,[6] but left that job when he was approached by "Magneto", who wanted 'Mesmero' to hypnotize Lorna Dane into believing Magneto was her father. Alongside the Demi-Men, Mesmero was in the middle of doing so when the X-Men got in the way, ruining the whole plan.[3]
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Mesmero vs the X-Men
The "Magneto" Mesmero followed as well as all of the Demi-Men would eventually be revealed as robots, controlled by Samuel "Starr" Saxon the Machinesmith, when Sentinels destroyed "Magneto". This revelation devastated Vincent, who couldn't believe he had been following a robot all that time.[7]
Sideshow X-Men
He would later take his revenge on the X-Men, waltzing into the mansion and taking over their minds. He had them perform in the sideshow of his old circus, where they eventually rescued by the Beast.[8] Just as the X-Men were going to try to overpower him, the real Magneto appeared, having followed Beast to the circus. Capturing them all, Magneto flew them out to his Antarctic base, attempting to strand Mesmero in the Amazon jungle along the way.[9]
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Spider-Man
Mesmero was picked up by some kind of South-American Air Force who had been tailing Magneto's flight,[9] and made his way back to America, taking his talents to the stage on Broadway. During one such show, Peter Parker happened to be in the audience when the curtain caught fire, and put it out with his webbing. Realizing that Spider-Man had to be someone in the audience, Mesmero asked that he meet with him after the show. Offering to share the spotlight with him, Mesmero piqued Peter's interest until a bad review of his performance came out and Mesmero had the critic attempt to kill himself. Spidey realized what was going on, saved the critic, and confronted Mesmero. Vincent was ready for him with a trap meant to burn down the theater with Spidey and the toughest critics in town within. Of course Peter was able to escape the trap and turn Mesmero over to the police.[10]
Alpha Flight & Sentinels
After being sent to a federal correctional facility in Yakima, Washington, Mesmero was able to fool the doctors into believing he was in pain, taking them over and escaping. He made his way to Canada, where he encountered Alpha Flight at the Vancouver Expo. Little did he know that a new model of Sentinels had been following him as well. The Sentinels attacked, attempting to capture him, but he put the lives of innocents in the way, and they could not act. Persuasion was eventually able to overpower his control on the innocents' minds, using them to capture him again.[11]
Revenge
Somehow escaping capture again, Mesmero resurfaced in New York City, where he used Vera Cantor to try to get back at Beast, and thereby the X-Men. Vera overcame the hypnosis while Beast beat off Mesmero's goons, only to find Mesmero gone once again. in reality, Mesmero was hired by Infectia. [12]
England
Giving up on the X-Men for awhile, Mesmero turned his attention to making honest money as a hypnotist/psychiatrist in England. His ability allowed him to gain access to high powered individuals in the British government, including the Prime-Minister, and someone noticed. They used robots to force him use his connections for their own plans. Unwilling to become an unknown foe's pawn, he visited Excalibur and took control of them, using them to find out who was trying to control him and attack them. They were successful in capturing the Fenris twins, with the help of Kitty Pryde, who happened to show up at the right time. As Mesmero attempted to bring her under his control, Lockheed intervened with a breath of fire at Mesmero's backside, which caused him to lose control of the entire team, and they bring him into custody again.[13]
Arms Dealer Conference
Mesmero was in attendance of the arms dealer conference in Boca Caliente when Captain America, Diamondback, and Falcon infiltrated it.[14]
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The Gauntlet Game
In Seattle, the Dark Riders tested Mesmero to see if he should join their ranks, and thought they killed him, since they saw Gauntlet shoot him off of the edge of a skyscraper.[15] According to Mesmero's recollections of the events, he managed to fool Gauntlet into thinking he had killed him. In actuality, Mesmero was able to reach out and take over his mind. He instructed Gauntlet to fire past away from Mesmero's actual position, convinced the man that he had actually killed Mesmero, and told him to take his dreary little friends and leave the apartment. Which he did. [16]
Gauntlet was through with Mesmero, but Mesmero was not through with Gauntlet. Mesmero kept concentrating and managed to extend his influence on the mind of the "stupid man" for months. He used this power to torment his would-be killer. He made Gauntlet step in front of oncoming traffic, caused him to buy shoes that he did not really need, and had him start overeating until Gauntlet gained 50 pounds (22.68 kilograms) in additional weight. He only let go of Gauntlet when he got bored with the game. The experience changed Mesmero's outlook on himself and his powers. He had realized that he was much like a virus, able to infect minds and stay in them until he himself provided the cure. [16]
Alpha Flight Diner
Back in Canada again with a new costume, Mesmero waited in a road-side diner for weeks thinking about his next move when the three newest members of Alpha Flight (Flex, Murmur, and Radius) stopped in while trying to free Sunfire from Department H. Mesmero took the happenstance as luck, and captured them all, putting them to work in the diner. When Heather Hudson and Mac stopped in to eat, they recognized the new recruits acting as if they worked there, and attempted to intervene. Eventually Mesmero had all of Alpha Flight under his command, having them fight each other while he watched. One by one they broke free, confronting him, at which point he told them he was just playing with the new-found aspects of his powers in his old stomping grounds and disappeared.[17]
Weapon X
Intending to start the Weapon X Program again, the Director approached Mesmero, offering to increase his powers if he joined the team. By the end of the painful process, Vincent was able to control crowds with a glance, rather than being limited to a small group of people at a time.[18]
As a member of this team, Mesmero exercised his new abilities across the world. In Bosnia, he had rebels turn their guns on themselves.[19] In Canada, he went on television and hypnotized the entire country into believing that mutants were not being abducted and that Neverland never existed.[20] He also used this ability to trick his teammate Marrow into sleeping with him,[18] and reluctantly saved the entire team from situations where they had gotten in over their heads on more than one occasion.[21]
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Mesmero's life changed while he was on this team, visiting his dying mother at the peak of his power. She was able to see through all of his illusions, (having known him his whole life), and died regardless of his best efforts.[1] Vincent's powers were based on his confidence, and when he couldn't prevent his mother's death, he lost his ability to control others. No longer of any use to the program, he was sent to Neverland to be terminated,[22] but somehow escaped, working on Agent Brent Jackson's team.[23]
Post M-Day
After M-Day, Mesmero lost his abilities completely.[23][24][2] The once 'great' villain who had single-handedly taken on the X-Men, Excalibur, and Alpha Flight on their own turf and won, had been reduced to begging for change. He managed to find happiness in his new situation, however, finding love in a prostitute who turned out to be the first person aside from his mother that he ever received trust and love from without the use of his powers. For her, he put his past as Mesmero behind him and moved forward in his life as Vincent.[24]
Mesmero's Brotherhood
Mesmero became the leader of a newly formed Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He also appeared to have gotten his powers back through unknown means.[25] He first had his Brotherhood attack the United Nations and was thwarted by the X-Men.[26] He then had his Brotherhood kidnap the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio.[25] It was eventually discovered by the X-Men that Mesmero had used his powers to brainwash the members of his Brotherhood to join the team and force them to carry out those attacks. Once his control was broken, Mesmero's Brotherhood was dissolved, and Mesmero was arrested. The reason for Mesmero's actions was that he was paid by Lydia Nance, director of the anti-mutant Heritage Initiative, to carry out these acts in order to paint mutants in a bad light.[27]Attributes
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Powers
- Hyper-Hypnosis: Mesmero was one of the most powerful hypnotists on the planet. His powers allowed him to manipulate even the most powerful of telepaths with nothing but eye contact.[28] Once within his control, the effect would only either fade away or Mesmero would reassert it. The exact time that he was able to keep a person hypnotized was known to vary from person to person. In the case of mutants or super-humans, they were able to use their abilities for Mesmero's purposes. [8] Though eye-contact is required by his own admission, in the case of potent telepaths, it seems that a bit of disorientation and confusion might also be required. And that a strong enough and prepared will can withstand his attempts to hypnotize them as Beast was able to resist the full-power of Mesmeros' attempts at hypnotizing him.[8] Under Mesmero’s control, the victim obeyed him as much as they possibly could.
- Memory Tampering: He would usually use his abilities in such a way that the person regained consciousness with little or no memory of their previous activities.[12] Mesmero could implant false memories or erase existing ones and shape a completely new personality.
- Illusions: He could use his abilities to create illusions, making the victim see things Vincent wanted them to see.[12][18] He was able to convince Marrow he was another person to sleep with her. She eventually figured out that it was him afterward, and the trick never worked on her again.[18]
- Group Control: Mesmero’s powers were augmented by the Weapon X Program, and afterward, if he looked at a group of people, he was able to control the entire group.[19][20]
- Individual Control: Mesmero was able to implant key phrases in Sabretooth's mind so that the Director of Weapon X could control him. Phrases such as "wax off" made Sabretooth become controllable while "wax on" made him extremely violent once again.[29]
Weaknesses
- Confidence: Vincent’s abilities were hard-wired to his confidence level, and since he was normally a very self-confident person, his powers were normally very strong. Once his mother died, he lost confidence in his abilities and in turn, lost his ability to control people.[1]
Notes
- "Vincent" is the name his mother called him.[1]
- According to the narrative in Alpha Flight Vol 2 4 (November, 1997), Mesmero has always been "a second-rate villain" and is aware of his own status. He has considerable power and has enjoyed the right opportunities, but he has never had the right plan. Which is why he has always failed. [16]
- When Murmur and Mesmero tried to use their mind-control powers on each other, Mesmero won. He comments that he is a more powerful mental manipulator than she is.[16]
- Mesmero likes his own codename because he finds it has a certain devilish flare. He thinks that newer villains such as the Dark Riders have silly and uninspired names. He reasons that he was christened back when being a villain was more than just a job. [16]
See Also
- 55 appearance(s) of Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616)
- 12 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616)
- 10 minor appearance(s) of Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616)
- 21 mention(s) of Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616)
- 103 image(s) of Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616)
- 5 quotation(s) by or about Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616)
Links and References
- Mesmero (Vincent) on Marvel.com
- Mesmero (Vincent) on Wikipedia.org
- Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616) at Comicvine
- Mesmero (Vincent) (Earth-616) at marveldirectory.com
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Weapon X (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dark Reign Files #1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 X-Men #49
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #½
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ Marvel Encyclopedia #2 (X-Men)
- ↑ X-Men #58
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 X-Men #111
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 X-Men #112
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #207
- ↑ Alpha Flight #43
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 X-Factor #55
- ↑ Excalibur #32–34
- ↑ Captain America #411
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #21
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Alpha Flight (Vol. 2) #4
- ↑ Alpha Flight (Vol. 2) #3–5
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Weapon X The Draft #Marrow
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Deadpool #57
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Weapon X (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #11
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 New Excalibur #9
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 X-Men Unlimited (Vol. 2) #13
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ Classic X-Men #17
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #4
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #5
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update Vol 1 5