Friday, August 9, 2013

Hurt Feelings


Can YOU


Name This Marvel Villain??



Why don't we let his soon-to-be victim identify our mystery villain for us:




Psycho-Man, perhaps the smallest super-villain there is this side of Hyperion, since he menaces Earth from "Sub-Atomica" or the "microverse"--a comic book way of describing the worlds existing on a scale smaller than an atom. And while his intentions are clear enough, he's really after Earth because his race faces the problem of overpopulation:



As we've seen with our hapless victim above, Psycho-Man uses technology that can magnify and thus control others' emotional states. His initial incursion into our world involved constructing a machine that would blanket all of Earth at once with his rays (probably something similar to Dr. Doom's emotion charger), but his plan was foiled by the Inhumans and two of the Fantastic Four. Of course, it's that bulky mobile control device he carries around that's such a kick to see in operation--gee, P-M, do you think those button labels are LARGE ENOUGH? Way to tip off your foes there. Just three buttons--you can't memorize their positions and corresponding functions?

At times, though, Psycho-Man has been known to personally mix it up with his opponents, wearing multi-purpose armor depending on what situation he's facing. And very formidable armor, at that:




Psycho-Man went a little too far, though, when he used his power to twist the Invisible Girl's feelings and make her turn against her family. Confiscating his primary weapon, she decided to exact a little justice that perhaps bordered on revenge:



We never did find out the details of Sue's "punishment" of Psycho-Man. When she reported back to her teammates, she simply concluded the matter and invited no questions:



Tsk, tsk--never say never, Sue. Psycho-Man did indeed return to menace anew; in fact, I'm surprised we haven't seen more such agents from his world, since it seems clear his actions were sanctioned by his superiors. (Though there was--I am not making this up--Psycho-Woman, his daughter, making an appearance in a later FF annual. I suggest we save that one for another time.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I might have met this Psycho-Woman.

Anonymous said...

I've always liked Psycho-Man and I guess it would make sense to pit him against other characters from the "microverse", like Hyperion (eh) or the Micronauts (yeesh), but what I found interesting is that in his second round with the F.F., he didn't use any psychological warfare at all...he just came out as a big cosmic bruiser with a lotta robots and weapons at his disposal. That whole storyline didn't make much sense, (they came there to retrieve the Surfer, they stayed to defeat Psycho-man, then they let him go so they could check up on the Surfer) but at least we got to see the Thing clobber somebody in grand style.

Comicsfan said...

Yes, the ending to that encounter mystified me, as well. Reed made such a sticking point about how important it was to stay and end Psycho-Man's threat once and for all--yet at the end of the story, he's telling Psycho-Man how important it is to set aside their fight so that they can get back and deal with Galactus. They also need Psycho-Man unhurt because apparently he's their only means of returning to their ship, and thus returning home. In effect, they're back to status quo with Psycho-Man, their delay in his world accomplishing nothing. Johnny tells Reed they've won--but only in defeating Psycho-Man in a battle, which they could have engaged in at any other time.