Master Mind Excello

Master Mind Excello
Publication information
Publisher	Timely Comics Marvel Comics
First appearance	Mystic Comics #2 (April 1940)
In-story information
Alter ego	Earl Everett
Team affiliations	The Twelve
Abilities	Superhuman intelligence and telepathy

Master Mind Excello (Earl Everett^[1]) is an American comic book character owned by Marvel Comics who exists in that company's Marvel Universe. His only appearances were in Mystic Comics #2 and 3, published in the 1940s by Marvel's forerunner, Timely Comics, during a period that is known as the Golden Age of Comic Books.

Fictional character biography

Master Mind Excello is a short lived golden age of comics character, whose only known appearances were in issues #2 and 3 of Mystic Comics, published by Timely Comics in 1940.

Master Mind Excello, whose real name is Earl Everett is a precognitive with great mental powers and physically honed to perfection who uses his powers to help the US Naval Intelligence Department. He makes use of his assets sensing spies on the European battlefield, to catch them, and thwart a gang of railway saboteurs. ^[2][3]

He then fades into obscurity until the 2000s limited series The Twelve.

The Twelve

In the twelve-issue miniseries The Twelve, he is sent along with Captain America and the Invaders to help the Allies' efforts in the Battle of Berlin, and is captured by Nazi SS researchers. Held in stasis with ten other fellow heroes and the deactivated robot Elektro, he is scheduled to be shipped to a secret lab to gain insight on American superheroes. The surrender of Germany, and the collapse of the cave in which the heroes are held, meant that Excello was never smuggled away, and was left to sleep for sixty years.^[1][4]

Awakened in modern times, Excello now finds his sensory powers overburdened by the noise and broadcast communications of the modern world, and unable to see the future. He taps into his Swiss bank account, which has ballooned with decades' worth of interest, and moves away from his fellow heroes to a quieter mansion with lead-lined walls in upstate New York.^[5]

In the series' last issue, Excello reveals the origin and nature of his powers to the Phantom Reporter following the death of Fiery Mask. According to Excello, he was born into a life of wealth and privilege, the son of a famous nuclear science researcher, who had rejected a life of scientific advancement for one of gambling and petty vices. Although dedicated towards spending his family's fortune as quickly as his father could make it, Excello soon realized that he possessed a form of low-level telepathy (rationalized as intuition) which made it possible for him to aways win at games of chance due his ability to "guess" the future. This ability was later amplified after Excello was exposed to a radioactive bullet, created by his father for use against the Nazis, and fired at Excello after he used his powers to prevent a double agent from assassinating his father with the same bullet. Although he was shot through the skull, the bullet travelled through Excello's corpus callosum and united his brain's two hemispheres, increasing his telepathy and cognition at the cost of having the bullet's shrapnel permanently lodged in his brain. Excello goes on to say that every time he uses his powers the bullet shards move closer to killing him, and thus, he must be mindful of how often he uses them. At the end of the series, Excello decides to use his inheritance to fund EXC Executive, a private investigation agency which he hopes will make a difference in the world; he hires Phantom Reporter and The Black Widow as agents.^[6]

Notes

1. The Twelve #1
2. Master Mind Excello at Nevins, Jess, A Guide to Golden Age Marvel Characters. WebCitation archive of latter.
3. Master Mind Excello at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
4. Mystery Men's Dozen: Brevoort Talks "The Twelve", July 26, 2007, Comic Book Resources
5. The Twelve #4
6. The Twelve #12

References

• Master Mind Excello (Golden Age) at the Comic Book DB