Out of all the Captain Marvel supervillains introduced in the Golden Age, Dr. Sivana stands above the rest for the sheer star power (appearing in nearly half of his stories) and Black Adam is the only one who not only retains his popularity, but is arguably more popular today than in the 40s.
There is however one exception, who despite being only important for Captain Marvel has a huge impact on the comics genre considering how he debuted.
That’s because we are talking about the “Monster Society of Evil”, the very first supervillain team (!!!) that appears in the first and longest serialized story arc in comic book history!
This is a story in twenty-five parts… that’s right, TWENTY-FIVE, meaning this story lasted over two years!!! There is NO WAY I’m reviewing the entirety of it, especially since by using every Captain Marvel villain introduced that far it would require to cover pretty much all of his previous stories… and there are A LOT of Golden Age Captain Marvel stories.
But instead I’ll just cover the parts relevant to the mysterious leader of the Monster Society of Evil… Mister Mind.
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #22 (1943)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
Mister Mind himself doesn’t appear in the first chapters, giving instead orders to various villains.
Captain Marvel runs into him when he discovers Captain Nazi is stealing a magic pearl from an Indian princess.
I probably don’t have to spell out that Captain Nazi is a villain.
And he’s not alone: Mister Mind is leading basically every recurrent supervillain.
I haven’t covered most of these guys, but don’t worry, they’re not particularly important to the story.
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #23 (1943)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
It is impossible to escape WWII in any of these stories.
As well as the fact that, uhm, some of the stuff in these comics has… not aged well.
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #26 (1943)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
This is the first chapter that is of interest for Mister Mind, because that’s when Captain Marvel uses the magic pearls he recovered in the previous chapters (don’t ask) to find his headquarters.
By this point Captain Marvel was as powerful as Superman, possibly even more so.
Captain Marvel spends the rest of the issue fighting various aliens he believes are Mister Mind, but are actually just vessels for his mind.
In all this confusion, he doesn’t pay any attention to a worm running around. And here I thought he had the Wisdom of Solomon.
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #27 (1943)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
This is where Captain Marvel and Mister Mind actually meet, and it’s partially thanks to a character who has NOT aged week: “Steamboat”.
Yeah, uhm, let’s not think too much about Steamboat. But after Captain Marvel saves the city from a horde of termites (!!!), he’s the one to discover that Mister Mind is actually just a worm.
Golden Age Captain Marvel does not f##k around!!!
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #28 (1943)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
Mister Mind is saved by a mind-controlled bird…
…and ends up teaming up with ADOLPH HITLER.
It goes without saying that Golden Age Captain Marvel is AMAZING.
The serial couldn’t POSSIBLY get crazier than that, right?
Right?
Well it sure can get more racist!!!
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #29 (1943)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #30 (1943)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #32 (1944)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
Recruiting those crocodile-headead aliens allows Mister Mind to devote less time to racist stereotypes and more on larger-than-life plans.
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #34 (1944)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
Mister Mind gets relegated to more and more comedic stories, including one where he’s involved in a Captain Marvel movie he doesn’t like.
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #40 (1944)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
Honestly he works as both a joke character and a serious villain, being able to switch between the two LITERALLY from one panel to the other.
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #46 (1945)
by Otto Binder & C.C.Beck
Eventually, after a loooooot of random adventures, the Monster Society of Evil is defeated and captured.
And prosecuted. Yes, the superintelligent worm from Venus is put on trial!!!
He’s accused of trying to blow up Washington D.C., which… yes it’s a thing he did, but considering he tried to blow up the entire planet MORE THAN ONCE, that’s an understatement!!!
Not only he’s found guilty… he’s EXECUTED!!!
And so we truly end this gigantic saga with the villain’s corpse being stuffed and put on public display!!!!
As I said, Golden Age Captain Marvel does not f##k around!!!
Historical significance: 10/10
First long-running serial? Check. First supervillain team? Check. First alien worm executed with the electric chair? Probably, but I’d have to verify.
Silver Age-ness: ∞/10
HOLY F##KING MOLEY!!!
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
These are A LOT of fun, and the manic energy still holds up. The comedy however is extremely hit-and-miss, and there is a truly overwhelming amount of stuff that is absolutely not acceptable today.
How close is this to the classic character?
This IS the classic character: Mister Mind actually stays dead for what’s left of this continuity.
And I don’t know nearly enough about Captain Marvel to say if future incarnations are similar enough.