Origin
Mastermind Excello was born Earl Everett, as the son of a wealthy scientist whom worked alongside many of the most brilliant minds of the 1940’s, including Albert Einstein. The money that his father made through his science projects also provided Earl with an unseeming amount of cash. He tried to spend all this money with gambling, but usually won more then he could spent. It seemed that Earl could somehow ‘see’ what cards would lie down before him before it happened. During the beginning days of World War II, Earl’s father was asked to sell an invention of him, iradiated bullets, to the Allied forces in England. This would cause the person whom was shot to die of radiation poisoning, even if it was not a killing shot. Earl and his father soon met with the Allies in England and demonstrated the bullets. There was however a spy inside the building whom grabbed the gun and aimed it at Earl’s father to kill him, the only person whom knew how to produce the bullets. Earl however stept in the way and was shot in the head instead. The spy was quickly killed after the first shot was fired, but Earl seemed to lie lifeless on the floor. However, by luck (or fate), Earl survived the bullet wound. Surgeons managed to take out most of the bullet. Some pieces however remained which would, sooner or later, cause his death. But for now, Earl was alive and well. The accident even managed to empower Earl’s strange sences. He somehow saw and heard things that had not yet happened. When he was able to stop a few Nazi spies on the ship that he and his father were on to return to America, Earl found his calling. He became known as the World War II superhero Mastermind Excello.
Creation
Mastermind Excello was created by Arnold Hicks and first appeared in Mystic Comics issue 2 (1940). He was only a minor character until he was reinvented by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston in the pages of The Twelve.
Major Story Arcs
The Twelve
During World War II, every Allied superpower, sidekick or costume adventurer descended upon Berlin when the Germans were on the brink of defeat. Mastermind Excello and eleven other costume individuals which included Phantom Reporter, Rockman, Fiery Mask, the Witness, Black Widow, Electro, Dynamic Man, Mister E, Captain Wonder, Blue Blade and Laughing Mask went into the headquarters of the SS and discovered a secret, underground chamber. The heroes were trapped in the chamber and Electro shut down when the signal that controlled him could not penetrate that far beneath the ground. The rest of the Twelve were gassed by German scientists and placed inside freezing tubes to be studied and dissected at a later date. However, certain parts of Berlin were seized by the Russians and most of the scientist were either killed or placed in prison camps. The Twelve would lay dormant in suspended animation until they were discovered sixty plus years later and awaken in our current, modern time.
For every hero, now collectively better known as The Twelve, it was a mayor adjustment to wake up ‘in the future’, more then 60 year after they where frozen. Most of the heroes stayed inside a mansion that had been payed for by the US government. For Earl, it was even worse, feeling and hearing every soundwave of phone calles, plains, internet an more. This made Earl decide to leave the house and find a place for himself, sheltered from these sound waves, so he had time to focus his powers once more. This was because Earl found out through his visions that something huge was brewing, and his fellow superheroes had something to do with it. He helped his friend Phantom Reporter with cryptic messages, trying to help him reveal what would happen.
A Murderer Revealed
It was however not soon after that a disturbing phone call came in; Mastermind Excello’s teammate Blue Blade had been killed, and it seemed that the lifeless robot Electro, part of The Twelve, was to blame for it. Eventually, Phantom Reporter brought the remaining Twelve members together to expose the murderer. He revealed that Electro’s control helmet revealed to him that Electro had been searching for contact while the Twelve slept. It had made contact with the synthetic brain of Dynamic Man . This enabled Dynamic Man to control Electro. Richard revealed that Dynamic Man was actually an android and used Electro to murder several people he disliked, including Blue Blade. Dynamic Man snapped and destroyed the mansion the Twelve were staying in. Mastermind Excello, Fiery Mask, Phantom Reporter, and Captain Wonder started a search for Dynamic Man. Earl however told his fellow superheroes that one of them would not return of this fight alive. He could however not tell who this could be. Eventually, the team found Dynamic Man at the lab of his creator Professor Goettler. During the ensuing battle Earl used his mental powers to temporarily paralyze Dynamic Man. Fiery Mask was killed while he tried to rescue his friend Captain Wonder. His neck was snapped, but Jack was able to pass his powers to Phantom Reporter before he died. Phantom Reporter used his new powers to incinerate Dynamic Man and unluckily permantly scarred Captain Wonder in the process.
A Change of Pace
After their confrontation with Dynamic Man, most members of the Twelve went their own way. Mastermind Exello stayed inside a U.S. Army base with Phantom Repoter and Laughing Mask for some time, until he too decided to leave. Nothing was heard from him again untill after a few months when Phantom Reporter was the last to leave the U.S. Base and found out that a new house was offered to him thanks to EXC Enterprise. It turned out that Earl had bought a huge comapny and renamed it. He offered Phantom Reporter and Black Widow a place in his company EXC Enterprises as heroes to fight crime.
Powers & Abilities
Mastermind Excello has superhuman strength and great mental powers.