Lady Mastermind

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Lady Mastermind
Lady Mastermind from X-Men #197.
Art by Chris Bachalo.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceX-Treme X-Men #6
(December 2001)
Created byChris Claremont
Salvador Larroca
In-story information
Alter egoRegan Wyngarde
SpeciesHuman mutant
Team affiliationsBrotherhood of Mutants
Hellfire Club
Marauders
Sisterhood of Mutants
X-Men
Notable aliasesMastermind
Abilities
  • Telepathic
    Illusions
    :
    • Psychosomatic symptoms
    • Telepathic invisibility

Lady Mastermind is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Salvador Larroca, the character first appeared as Regan Wyngarde in X-Treme X-Men #6 (December 2001).

Regan Wyngarde is the daughter of

Martinique Jason, the second Mastermind, who now shares her codename, and the X-Men's Pixie.[1] Like her sister and father, Regan possesses the ability to cast telepathic illusions.[2]
Although the character originally appeared as a villain, she would later have a brief stint as an X-Man, betraying the X-Men a short time after joining them.

Fictional character biography

X-Treme X-Men

Lady Mastermind is one of three daughters of Jason Wyngarde, the original Mastermind. She has an intense hatred for her half-sister, Martinique (though she was the first to use their now-shared codename).[3] She is hated by her sister for "stealing the spotlight", while she hates her sister for being a "skank", with the two of them constantly insulting each other.[3]

She was originally involved in a plot created by

Sage and gain control of the Sydney underworld. This plot was created by using Regan's telepathic illusionary powers to assassinate Miles Warbeck, an Australian underworld crime lord known as Viceroy, and framing Gambit over his death.[4]

In an attempt to make Sage work for Shaw again, Lady Mastermind placed her in a series of

Joining The X-Men

Regan is one of few mutants that retained their superhuman powers after

Iceman find a comatose Regan, along with a partially disassembled Karima Shapandar. It was stated that Regan fell victim to scientists of the Fordyce Clinic who were trying to determine if a person can catch mutation like a disease.[7]

Regan finally awakened from her coma after her powers had been temporarily hijacked by

Cable's island utopia of Providence to find a cure for Rogue. While there the island is attacked by an ancient Shi'ar superweapon known as the Hecatomb, forcing Regan and the rest of the team to fight the psionic horror. The weapon is eventually defeated thanks to Rogue's power-absorption abilities, now supercharged due to Strain 88.[8]

Marauders

When Rogue's team of X-Men goes to one of Mystique's safe-houses an intruder alarm later goes off. Initially confused by the seemingly invisible nature of their opponents, the X-Men are caught off guard when Regan drops her illusionary cloak to reveal the Marauders.[9] Regan later fights alongside the other Marauders in Flint, Michigan, against Iceman and Cannonball, as both sides try to obtain the Diaries of Destiny.[10]

Messiah Complex

Along with fellow Marauders

Muir Island, Lady Mastermind attempts to cast an illusion to hide the Marauders. However, Wolverine picks up her scent and stabs her in the abdomen.[13]

Sisterhood of Mutants

The Sisterhood approaches Regan, who is at a graveyard mourning

Kwannon's body and a captive Psylocke, restoring her to her original body.[3] Later, when the Sisterhood attack the X-Men, Regan takes out Emma Frost by trapping her in an illusion and then leaving her bound and gagged in a dark room, cutting her off from her senses.[14] While trapped, Emma unexpectedly finds what seems to be Jean Grey communicating to her, and seemingly aiding Emma. Emma becomes the first person not to fall for Regan's illusion, prompting Regan to worry. Emma then savagely beats Regan, calling her a traitor to her kind. Emma leaves Regan's bruised and battered body upon the ground, though the Sisterhood later pick her up and escape.[15]

When they return to base, the Red Queen orders Regan, Martinique, and Psylocke to stay while she and the other members of the Sisterhood go to Jean Grey's grave. They take on

Spiral collects the Sisterhood and teleports off.[16]

Pixie Strikes Back

In the second issue of X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back, the mother of X-Man

Saturnine. During the final confrontation with the demon, Pixie teleports both Regan and Martinique away when X-23 attempts to attack them.[17]

All-New X-Men

Sometime later, Regan ends up incarcerated in The Raft. Together with

Sabretooth, Mystique breaks Regan out of jail and offers her a chance to get rich as well as informing Regan of Charles Xavier's death. Regan agrees to join them and after being held up by S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers, Regan casts an illusion to make it seem the soldiers are being attacked by zombie Avengers so the trio can make their escape.[18]

Regan is shock to see a live, although time displaced,

Shadowcat phased through the aircraft, causing it to malfunction. Regan is knocked unconscious with one punch from Kitty. Whilst Mystique was put in prison, it would seem Regan gave the authorities the slip once more, as she was soon seen causing trouble again.[21]

Despite Regan’s apathetic attitude, at times she clearly wanted to become better at using her powers and strived to push herself to create even more realistic illusions. She just needed practice. To that end, when she saw Anole, one of the X-Men’s students, she realized she had found the perfect guinea-pig. Anole had skipped out on a first date with a guy because he was afraid that his reptilian appearance would scare him off. Regan latched onto this insecurity and trapped Anole in an illusion that preyed on his fears of rejection. She was having a wonderful time watching the boy succumb to his fears and it got better when a couple of X-Men turned up to help. She immediately trapped them in their own fear-based illusions and the trick worked, for a while at least. As he had faced his fears numerous times, Nightcrawler broke out of Regan’s illusion and forced Anole to do the same. Regan’s over-confidence worked against her once more when she allowed herself to get too close to the X-Men and she was knocked unconscious.[22]

All-New, Different Marvel

Following the rebirth of the Marvel Universe, Regan is revealed to be one of the many mutants poisoned by the Terrigen Cloud roaming the Earth's atmosphere. Suffering from the M-Pox and fearing to die alone, she trapped as many people as she could in illusions and planned to take them with her. Regan was, however, found by Dani Moonstar, who tried to reason with her to release the people she put under and let the X-Men help her. At first, Regan refuses and tries to trap Moonstar in an illusion; as Moonstar resisted her illusion, Regan begs her to stop fighting, stating if she is going to die she won't die alone. Persistent, Moonstar tells her that she understand her fear and pain more than she knows, but Regan finds it hard to believe, saying to her that she has no idea what it's like to live with fear. To show how much she understood, Moonstar shows Regan her memories and all the pain she went through, cancelling her illusion in the process. As the M-Pox began killing Regan, she begs Moonstar end her suffering by killing her, unwilling to live with the pain; Moonstar convinces her not to give up and maintain her courage, no matter what happens. Moonstar transports Regan to X-Haven, where the healers managed to stabilize her condition. As Moonstar leaves her to get healed, Regan thanks her for making her see the error of ways.[23]

Rejoining the X-Men

After her recovery, Lady Mastermind was eventually welcomed to the new mutant island of Krakoa, created by Xavier, Magneto and Moira. She entered through the teleportation gateway alongside other villainous and fractious mutants, who had been invited to join the nation in order to heal mutantdom and start over as a whole species together.[24] However she apparently left Krakoa for her own reasons and went to the now abandoned X-Mansion in order to use one of its teleport gates to rejoin the X-Men on Krakoa. There, she is attacked and captured by a horde of Sidri hatchlings after accidentally disturbing their nest. She instinctively uses her powers to exert some control over them, causing Krakoa to alert the X-Men to investigate. After Cypher, a member of the scouting party, manages to establish a rapport with the Sidri, Regan is liberated and taken back to Krakoa.[25]

During the "Empyre" storyline, Lady Mastermind is among the psychic mutants that are summoned to Genosha.[26] She is among those who witness Magik's fight with the Cotatinaught.[27]

Characteristics

Powers and abilities

Regan demonstrating her powers, art by Humberto Ramos

Lady Mastermind possesses the mutant power to project extremely convincing and realistic illusions into the minds of others, the same ability her father had.

Her illusions are telepathic and her victims tend to accept them as fact, even when the images and scenarios they are confronted with involve sudden changes to the world around them, or are inconsistent or improbable (for example, Rogue, when under Lady Mastermind's control, did not question the sudden existence of a multitude of

Vargases, or the random jumps in location and time she was experiencing). As such, they can be used as a very effective brainwashing
tool.

Regan's powers have psychosomatic effects, meaning they can also kill, as her victims' bodies respond as if her illusions are real. She confronted Viceroy with the illusion that he was drowning, and, believing it to be real, he suffocated, despite having no physical injuries and being in a room with sufficient oxygen. Heather Cameron's body also responded in a similar way, bleeding through the pores in her back when she was under the illusion she had been stabbed.

Also, her illusions can put enemies in a coma-like state, by telepathically trapping her enemies' minds in a maze from which there's no escape. This technique, when combined with a psychic chaff that Regan is also capable of emitting, is an effective tool against even the most powerful of telepaths: as Regan was able to imprison a sleeping Emma Frost's mind using such a method. The White Queen found that her cognition was too interrupted to even understand what was happening, much less summon her own psionic abilities to fight back. Emma was freed, however, by the appearance of Jean Grey, who broke the psi-chaff, utilizing her emblematic Phoenix raptor.

In addition, unlike her father, both Regan and her half-sister Martinique have limited telepathic abilities that enable them to read their opponent's mind and make their illusions all the more accurate for it. Regan's illusions have also been shown to persist even after she has been rendered unconscious.

Personality

Lady Mastermind has a distinct personality, to a point where writer

Mike Carey refers to her as an "exuberant, sexy sociopath".[28] Regan's brief tenure as an X-Man has granted her the X-Men uniform, something she still wears proudly even after attacking several of the X-Men. Interviewer Trevor Cates asked Carey why he added Lady Mastermind to the X-Men; Carey's response was:[29]

"So I chose Lady Mastermind partly because she's such a volatile and extreme personality. As with

Rogue to wrangle, even taking Mystique into account. Because of course Mystique is trying hard – for whatever reasons – to be supportive of Rogue's position, while Regan doesn't give a damn."[29]

Reception

Accolades

  • In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Lady Mastermind 74th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.[30]
  • In 2019,
    CBR.com ranked Lady Mastermind 8th in their "X-Men: The 10 Most Powerful Female Villains" list[31] and 8th in their "10 Daughters Of Marvel Supervillains That Are More Dangerous Than Their Parents" list.[32]
  • In 2020,
    CBR.com ranked Lady Mastermind 10th in their "X-Men: 10 Most Powerful Members of the Sisterhood of Mutants" list.[33]
  • In 2020, Scary Mommy included Lady Mastermind in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list.[34]
  • In 2022,
    CBR.com ranked Lady Mastermind 10th in their "10 Best Marvel Legacy Villains" list.[35]

Other versions

Age of X

In the Age of X reality, Regan is present when Magneto creates Fortress X.[36]

X-Men: The End

In the future depicted in X-Men: The End, both Martinique and Regan fell prey to Mister Sinister and he turned them to stone. Using their bodies, he created a device that would ensnare people in an illusion should they get too close. When the X-Men came to attack Sinister, the Ladies Mastermind caught them in an illusion that played out their heart’s desire. Thanks to a telepathic nudge from Jean Grey, Wolverine broke free of the illusion and destroyed the statues, ending Regan’s torture.[37]

References

  1. ^ England, Matthew (2020-04-19). "10 Marvel Villains You Didn't Know Were Parents". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  2. ^ Bellissimo, Sabrina (2021-09-28). "5 Characters Who Should Make Up The MCU Brotherhood Of Mutants (& Who Should Play Them)". Game Rant. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  3. ^ a b c The Uncanny X-Men #508
  4. ^ X-Treme X-Men #6
  5. ^ X-Treme X-Men #7
  6. '^ 'X-Treme X-Men #9
  7. ^ X-Men #188
  8. ^ X-Men #197-199
  9. ^ X-Men #200
  10. ^ X-Men #201
  11. ^ X-Men: Messiah Complex (2007)
  12. ^ X-Men #205 (2008)
  13. ^ X-Factor vol. 3 #27 (2008)
  14. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #509
  15. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #510
  16. ^ The Uncanny X-Men #511
  17. ^ X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #2-4
  18. ^ All-New X-Men #9
  19. ^ All-New X-Men #13 (June 26, 2013)
  20. ^ a b All-New X-Men #14 (July 17, 2013)
  21. ^ All-New X-Men #14
  22. ^ Amazing X-Men) vol. 2 #13
  23. ^ All-New X-Men vol. 2 Annual #1
  24. ^ House of X #5
  25. ^ Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler (March 2020)
  26. ^ Empyre: X-Men #2. Marvel Comics.
  27. ^ Empyre: X-Men #4. Marvel Comics.
  28. ^ A. Tramountanas, George (2009-04-08). "X-Position: Mike Carey". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  29. ^ a b Cates, Trevor (2007-03-20). "Mike Carey on X-Men #200 and beyond". Uncanny X-Men.net. Archived from the original on 2013-11-07. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  30. ^ June 09, Darren Franich Updated; EDT, 2022 at 12:31 PM. "Let's rank every X-Man ever". EW.com. Retrieved 2022-11-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ Murray, Kirsten (2019-11-18). "X-Men: The 10 Most Powerful Female Villains, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  32. ^ White, Chris (2019-09-30). "10 Daughters Of Marvel Supervillains That Are More Dangerous Than Their Parents". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  33. ^ Allan, Scoot (2020-09-14). "X-Men: 10 Most Powerful Members of the Sisterhood of Mutants, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  34. ^ "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic". Scary Mommy. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  35. ^ Harth, David (2022-02-09). "The 10 Best Marvel Legacy Villains, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  36. ^ Age of X: Alpha
  37. ^ X-Men: The End vol. 2 #5

External links