Mad Thinker

The Mad Thinker was introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #15 (June 1963).^[3] Lee and Kirby gave the mad scientist a special ability to predict events to the precise second.^[4]

Little to nothing was known of his origins or true identity until, over fifty publication years later, the Mad Thinker's first name was revealed to be Julius in the pages of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's Infamous Iron Man #2.^[5] In Fantastic Four #7 (2026), the character's name is instead stated to be René Rodin.^[2]

The professional criminal mastermind known as the Mad Thinker made his debut fighting the Fantastic Four.^[6] He once attempted to take over New York City using the Baxter Building as his base and all organized crime members as his lieutenants. The Fantastic Four were lured away from New York just before a meteorite struck the city and briefly knocked out electrical power, including the Baxter Building's defense systems. The Mad Thinker took the opportunity to create a robotic servant, the Awesome Android. He trapped the Fantastic Four in the lower quarters of the building but was eventually caught after being stopped by an unforeseen factor: the building's mailman, Willie Lumpkin, who on Reed Richards' orders rang a bell at 4 pm, activating a circuit breaker built into all of his devices.^[7]

After his initial defeat against the Fantastic Four, the Mad Thinker goes on to battle the Fantastic Four on multiple occasions.^[8][9][10] With his Triumvirate of Terror (consisting of Piledriver, Hammerhead, and Thunderboot), the Mad Thinker captures the Avengers and invades Avengers Mansion, but is foiled by Hercules.^[11]

Mad Thinker, along with Awesome Android, appears as a member of the Intelligencia.^[12] During a conflict between the Intelligencia and the Sinister Six, the Mad Thinker is killed by Doctor Octopus. MODOK Superior later resurrects the Mad Thinker and the other Intelligencia members.^[13][14]

In "All-New, All-Different Marvel," Mad Thinker appears as a member of the Hood's incarnation of the Illuminati.^[15]

After escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Mad Thinker becomes obsessed with Mister Fantastic's whereabouts, as he has not returned to Earth-616. Misinterpreting Mister Fantastic's absence, Mad Thinker thinks that Mister Fantastic wants Mad Thinker to succeed him and the Fantastic Four.^[16] Mad Thinker hires Lumen, Goodfire, and Smash to make up his Fantastic Four and gives them powers similar to the Fantastic Four. Mad Thinker's Fantastic Four confronts Human Torch and Thing in an unidentified reality. Despite Human Torch and Thing being powerless at the time, they hold their own against Mad Thinker's Fantastic Four until they escape.^[17]

During the "One World Under Doom" storyline, Mad Thinker meets with Dreadknight, Exterminatrix, Madcap, and Mister Hyde to form a new version of the Masters of Evil. The Masters of Evil invade the Impossible City and plan to drop an asteroid on New York City. After his teammates are stopped by Captain America, Mad Thinker dons armor with technology derived from the Super-Adaptoid that allows him to use all the abilities of his teammates. The Impossible City takes control of Dreadknight and performs a hard reset, freeing itself from the Masters of Evil. The rest of the Avengers appear and help defeat Mad Thinker.^[18]

The Mad Thinker does not have superhuman powers. However, he is an extraordinary genius with knowledge of technology centuries beyond conventional science, for reasons unexplained. He has an eidetic memory and can rapidly organize and correlate vast amounts of information and perceive non-obvious patterns. He has the facilities and means to create all manner of sophisticated weaponry, androids, armor, and vehicles.

His analytical, mathematical, and geometrical abilities are of a sophisticated order not commonly found on Earth. He is particularly adept at computers, robotics, and artificial intelligence, with Ph.D.s in computer science and engineering. He created the androids Awesome Android and Quasimodo, and uses various other equipment as needed, including monocle-sized hypnotic lenses.

The Mad Thinker is also a proficient disguise artist. Through a surgically implanted radio link, he can project his consciousness into an android simulacrum of himself.

The following robots and androids were created by Mad Thinker:

• Android Man - An android created by Mad Thinker as a fail-safe in the event that he was betrayed by Wizard.^[19]
• Awesome Android
• Dragon Man - This Dragon Man was created during Mad Thinker's collaboration with Puppet Master. Unlike the original Dragon Man at the time, Mad Thinker and Puppet Master's Dragon Man is capable of speech.^[20]
• Gammadroid - An android powered by a combination of gamma radiation and cosmic energy. Mad Thinker can control Gammadroid with his mind and have it do heavy-lifting jobs for him.^[21]
• "Gargan-Droid" - A giant robot that was created by Mad Thinker when he collaborated with Egghead and Puppet Master.^[22]
• Mad Thinker's Intellectual Robots - A group of robots modeled after history's greatest thinkers, including Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Confucius, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leonardo da Vinci, Mark Twain, Niccolò Machiavelli, Plato, Sigmund Freud, Socrates, Virginia Woolf, and William Shakespeare. The Mark Twain robot additionally built Alpha, a robot with a mace-like right hand who is not modeled after any one person.^[23][24]
• Monster Android - A 12 ft. android created by Mad Thinker and classified as his most powerful android creation.^[25]
• Quasimodo - A computer that was created in the Mojave Desert and later abandoned. It was given a humanoid body by Silver Surfer.