Origin
Lady Mastermind (Regan Wyngarde) is the daughter of Jason Wyngarde, also known as Mastermind when he initially controlled and then freed the Phoenix Force. Her half-sister, Martinique Jason is also known as Mastermind. She first appeared during an X-Men mission in Australia, where she killed Lifeguard‘s and Slipstream‘s father. She is far more powerful than her father, because her illusions stay on even if she loses consciousness. In her first mission she worked with the Hellfire Club in an attempt to get revenge on Sage. The plan went awry and Regan ended up in a coma for about a year after one of her illusions was abruptly shattered.
Creation
Regan Wyngarde was created by Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca and first appeared in X-Treme X-Men #6 in December 2001.
Major Story Arcs
X-Men
Lady Mastermind was one of the few mutants to retain her powers following the events of M-Day. She later re-emerged as one of the mutants who had been experimented on by Pandemic, who was trying to discover if mutation could be “caught” like a disease. She was eventually rescued by Rogue‘s team of X-Men and subsequently joined them as a temporary member due to the fact that she had a useful power. The team’s leader, Rogue , also stated that she was only wearing an X-Uniform because when they found her, all she had on was a sheet.
During a brutal battle with the Children of the Vault, Regan proved to be a worthy teammate when she assisted in their defeat. The X-Men then confronted Pandemic, the man who had experimented on Lady Mastermind and several other mutants. He later got a hold on team leader Rogue and infected her with a lethal virus that caused her powers to spin out of control. Later, Lady Mastermind got her revenge against the man who captured her and put his mind into a permanent temporal mind maze.
The X-Men took Rogue to Cable‘s home in Providence to give her treatment. There, Lady Mastermind seeked help from a mental facility for hypnotherapy after noticing a parasitic invasion in her mind. She used her powers to threaten the people who worked there in order to acquire a quick session. Lady Mastermind tried to rid the creature, a mummudrai named Hetacomb, from her mind but ended up unleashing it on Providence. It later infected Mystique and attacked millions of citizens before it was absorbed by Rogue’s virus-enhanced powers.
In the next arc, “Blinded By The Light“, Lady Mastermind joined her teammate Mystique in betraying the X-Men to the Marauders, helping them sneak into Mystique’s old house with her illusion powers to create a sneak attack. When Lady Mastermind attempted to hide the Marauders from X-Force with an illusion, Wolverine sniffed her out and stabbed her in the chest, leaving her for dead.
Sisterhood of Mutants
Although Regan was not killed, she was not seen again until she was recruited by the Red Queen and her Sisterhood of Mutants. Regan agreed to join the group of female villains after the Red Queen promised to resurrect her father. Although Regan held nothing but disdain for her half-sister, Martinique , who had also joined, the two worked together in order to help resurrect Revanche, and later to infiltrate the X-Mansion in San Francisco. One of her assignments was to attack Emma Frost, placing her in an illusion after the Sisterhood invaded the X-Mansion; Emma seemingly freed herself of the psychic illusion and brutally beat Regan leaving her bruised and knocked out. She was then picked up by Spiral after the Red Queen acquired a lock of Jean Grey‘s hair from Wolverine. When the Sisterhood was divided, Regan was left with both Martinique and Psylocke. Once the Red Queen was defeated, Regan was savagely beaten by Emma once more until Spiral teleported her and the remaining Sisterhood members to safety .
Pixie Strikes Back
Regan and her sister Martinique have been shown to be living together in a shared mansion, presumably from their childhood. However, Pixie‘s mother Mrs. Gwynn began making claims that Regan’s father was also Pixie’s, potentially making Pixie a third sister. A few months later, Regan was imprisoned by SHIELD and held in custody for many months.
All New X-Men
Regan has been broken out of prison by Sabretooth and Mystique to join Mystique’s group. So far the team has terrorized the innocent to spoil the attempts of forming a good relationship with the recently re-powered mutant population, and go on massive robbing sprees. Regan has her doubts of trusting Mystique as they have all this money, but Regan doesn’t know the plan. She threatens to leave the group but the plan finally comes out as Mystique meets with Madame Hydra in order to buy Madripoor. The X-Men find out and attack the group during the transaction and Lady Mastermind sees that it is indeed the real Jean Grey with them and thus uses her illusions to attack the young mutant and the rest of the group as well.
All-New, All-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 convinced her to not give up and allow the X-Men to help her. Regan was transported to X-Haven, where the healers managed to stabilize her condition.
Powers and abilities
Lady Mastermind is a mutant who possesses the power to project extremely convincing and realistic illusions into the minds of others. Although similar in nature to the abilities her father had, Regan’s illusions seem much more powerful since they do not dissipate after she has lost consciousness. Also, unlike their father, Regan and her sister possesses limited telepathic abilities, which they use to make their illusions all the more accurate.
Regan’s illusions are hypnotic based and her victims tend to accept them as fact, even if the images and scenarios that are created involve sudden changes to the world around, are inconsistent and/or improbable. An example would be when Rogue, under Lady Mastermind’s control, did not question the sudden existence of a multitude of Vargas‘s, or the random jumps in location and time she was experiencing. As a result, Regan’s illusions can be used as a very effective brainwashing tool.
Regan’s illusion powers are also capable of killing, as her victims’ bodies will respond as if her illusions are real. When Regan 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. Lifeguard’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. Her illusions are also capable of putting her enemies into a permanent coma like state if she telepathically places her victims mind in a maze from which there’s no escape, thus effectively trapping her victims mind in a psychic prison. It was recently shown that her ability to create elaborate illusions, could affect a telepath as strong as Emma Frost . By using her ability to emit a psychic chaff in the mind of Emma, she was able to confuse the telepath by interrupting Emma’s cognition allowing her not to understand what the situation was, also preventing her from fighting back with her psionic powers. However, this was done as Emma was asleep, so it may have been a combination of Regan’s powers and the element of surprise.
She also carries two handguns in the belt of her X-Men uniform.
Status
- Known Relatives: Jason Wyngarde aka Mastermind (father, deceased), Martinique Jason (half-sister).
- Citizenship: U.S. with a criminal record
- Marital Status: Single
- Occupation: Adventurer, former terrorist, Mercenary employed by Sebastian Shaw.
- Education: Unrevealed
- Place of Birth: Unrevealed
Characteristics
- Hair: Blonde
- Eyes: Blue
- Height: 5’10”
- Weight: 133 lbs (60 kg)
- Gender: Female
Alternate Versions
X-Men: The End
Regan, along with Martinique , are known as the Ladies Mastermind. In this reality, they worked together under Mr. Sinister, trapping the X-Men with their powerful illusions.
Other Media
Games
X-men: Battle of the Atom
Lady Mastermind is featured in the mobile card game “X-Men: Battle of the Atom” based on the comic book story with the same name. Her cards are:
- Lady Mastermind
- [Future] Lady Mastermind