Monsieur Mallah

Monsieur Mallah

Monsieur Mallah with the Brain, from the cover to Outsiders #37.
Art by Daniel Acuña.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Doom Patrol #86 (May 1964)
Created by Arnold Drake (writer)
Bruno Premiani (artist)
In-story information
Species Enhanced Gorilla
Team affiliations Brotherhood of Evil
Injustice League
Partnerships The Brain
Notable aliases Abu Hallam
Abilities Superhuman strength, speed, agility and reflexes
Genius-level intellect
Use of guns

Monsieur Mallah is a fictional character, a superintelligent anthropomorphic gorilla supervillain in the DC Comics Universe and the criminal and romantic partner of the Brain.

Publication history

Monsieur Mallah first appeared in Doom Patrol #86 and was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani.

Fictional character biography

Origins

As a scientist, the man who would one day become known as the Brain performed experiments on animals to raise their intelligence. One of these was on a captured gorilla, raising its I.Q. to the genius-level of 178. He named the gorilla Monsieur Mallah and educated him for almost a decade before making him his personal assistant.

Ten years ago, I took a superior apestronger than any human... more agile than the best athlete! Through secret teaching methods and shock treatments, I gave it an I.Q. of 178! Genius status!
The Brain, explaining Mallah's origin in Doom Patrol #86

The scientist's colleague, Niles Caulder grew jealous of his work and arranged for the scientist to get caught in an explosion, which destroyed the scientist's body. Only the brain survived, and Caulder planned on putting his brain in a robot body.

Mallah rescued the scientist, taking his brain and transferring it to a computer network that kept it functioning. Now known simply as the Brain, the scientist and Mallah gathered together the criminal organization known as the Brotherhood of Evil in hopes of conquering the world and getting revenge on Caulder.

Art from Doom Patrol #34, by Richard Case.

Caulder, now known as the Chief, through a series of other accidents that he manipulated, would form the superhero group known as the Doom Patrol. Setting out to destroy the Chief's 'pets', the Brain, Mallah, and their Brotherhood became enemies with the Patrol. Their criminal activities would also put them into opposition with the Teen Titans.

Romance

During Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, Mallah had the Brain placed in one of Robotman's bodies. In his new body, the Brain confessed to Mallah he was in love with him. Mallah revealed he felt the same way, and the two kissed. However, Robotman's body had developed sentience and vowed never to be enslaved by a brain again; when Mallah placed his lover in the body, he triggered a self-destruct mechanism, which exploded as they kissed.

The two would later resurface (the Brain back to floating in a jar). It is uncertain how.

Recently, the Brotherhood have been raiding genetic research facilities; their plan being to unlock the secrets of cloning in order to create a new body for the Brain, so he and Monsieur Mallah "can finally be happily ever after". The Brain was ultimately able to clone a new body for himself, but after a short while it began to break down, so he had Mallah rip off his head so he could put his brain back into another jar.

In the Salvation Run storyline, the Brain and Monsieur Mallah appear amongst the villains that were sent to the planet Cygnus 4019. The Brain and Mallah arrive at Joker's camp, and Mallah asks Gorilla Grodd to speak with him away from the others. Mallah proposes to Grodd that as fellow gorillas, the natural kings of the jungle, they should team up and, through their combined might, rule the entire place by themselves. Grodd laughs at Mallah for considering himself, an "absurd science experiment", comparable to "a proud child of Gorilla City".[1] Mallah strikes Grodd and calls him a beast, causing Grodd to fly into a rage and try to kill him. Although Mallah also has a gun and shoots Grodd several times, Grodd still has the upper hand, and is about to kill Mallah when the Brain interjects, pleading for Mallah's life. Thinking better of it, Grodd picks the Brain up and beats Mallah to death with the Brain, smashing the Brain's protective hull in the process and killing him as well. Before breathing his last breath, Monsieur Mallah says he dies happy taking solace in that he and the Brain will finally be able to be together forever.[2]

The New 52

In The New 52, Brain and Monsieur Mallah have assisted Gorilla Grodd in taking over the remains of Central City at the time when The Black had taken over most of the world. They end up capturing Animal Man and the heroes that are with him. Animal Man's group is saved by Frankenstein and his Patchwork Army who defeat most of the gorillas as a few of them are allowed to escape in order to tell the tale of their defeat.[3]

Powers and abilities

Monsieur Mallah has superhuman strength, speed, agility and reflexes, and a genius-level intelligence. He usually carries a machine gun, or any other firearms.

Other versions

Smallville

In Smallville season 11, Monsieur Mallah appears (with the Brain on his back) and robs the Musée du Louvre. They are both taken down by Superman and Impulse. In this version, Brain and Mallah are revealed to be lovers. [4]

In other media

Television

Video Game

References

  1. Salvation Run #3
  2. Salvation Run #4
  3. Animal Man Vol. 2 #15
  4. Smallville Season 11 #9

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.