MENTAT
Real Name: Robert Zepheniah
Identity/Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Student
Group Membership: Xavier Institute student body
Affiliations: Xavier Institute student body (Choir/Irina Clayton, Contact/Frida Rivera, Crater/Erik Hallgrimsson, Forearm/Marcus Tucker, Imp/Anders Nobel, Keratin/Dave Finn, Kid Omega/Quentin Quire, Longneck/William Hanover, Pako/Cirlio Crisologo, Polymer/Dana Holmes, Redneck/Vincent Stewart, Spike/Gary Walsh, Stalwart/Adewale Ekoku, Stepford Cuckoos (Celeste, Esme, Mindee, Phoebe, Sophie Cuckoo), Tattoo/Christine Cord, other unidentified students), Special Class (Angel/Angel Salvadore, Basilisk/Mike Columbus, Beak/Barnell Bohusk, Ernst, No-Girl/Martha Johansson), X-Men (Angel/Warren Worthington III, Beast/Henry McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Emma Frost, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phoenix/Jean Grey, Professor X/Charles Xavier, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett, Xorn/Kuan-Yin Xorn), X.S.E. (Bishop, Sage)
Enemies: Cassandra Nova
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center, New York
First Appearance: New X-Men I#124 (May, 2002)
Powers/Abilities: Mentat was a very powerful telepath. Even though he was still learning to control his abilities he was already able to invade the mind of a man in Los Angeles while he himself was in New York.
Height: 5'8" (by approximation)
Weight: 145 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
History:
(New X-Men I#116 - BTS) - After Professor Charles Xavier (secretly Cassandra Nova who had switched minds with her twin brother) came out as a mutant on live TV, the Xavier Institute was opened to the public. Robert was one of the many young teenagers that enrolled at the Xavier Institute. Because of his mutation, he took the codename Mentat.
(New X-Men I#123 - BTS) - The entire student body was present when the Xavier Institute organized an open day for the media in an attempt to improve their public image and alleviate some of the fear and hysteria surrounding mutants. However, the school was attacked by the Shi'ar Imperial Guard/Supersoldiers by orders of Majestrix Lilandra Neramani who had been driven mad by her lover Charles Xavier (actually Cassandra Nova). Xavier had convinced Neramani the X-Men had contracted a virus that would be deadly to all of life in the galaxy and needed to be wiped out.
(New X-Men I#124) - To make sure they survived the confrontation, Beast and Jean hid all the reporters and the students in the school vault, with Jean ordering the students to safeguard the humans. Unfortunately, the Superguardians easily made their way inside.
(New X-Men I#125) - After realizing what was truly going on, the Superguardians vowed to help the X-Men in their attack on Cassandra Nova. Mentat and the other students were taken to the Danger Room for their own safety.
(New X-Men I#126) - Refusing to hide like a common human, Mentat and most of the students decided they wanted to join the fight against Cassandra Nova who at that point had fully manifested herself as a Mummudrai. Nova effortlessly used her psionic abilities to mind control Mentat and the others, sending them to fight Beast and Wolverine. Mentat and the others were eventually freed from Cassandra's control by the Stepford Cuckoos.
(New X-Men I#134) - Mentat was seen walking around campus wearing an African style shirt when news of the murder of mutant fashion designer Jumbo Carnation broke.
(New X-Men I#135 (fb) - BTS) - While in telepathy class, Mentat decided to test the limits of his powers and found he could spend time in Playboy icon Hugh Hefner's head.
(New X-Men I#135) - Class was suddenly interrupted by headmaster Charles Xavier who wished to know if any of his students were on the drug called Kick. He saw the telepathic prodigy Quentin Quire wear a provocative pin-striped outfit and confronted him about it. Quire started an argument he thought it was time young mutants reclaimed some of the offensive imagery produced by the "bigots", much to Mentat's annoyance who asked Quire to shut up and sit down.
(New X-Men I#139 - BTS) - After Esme Cuckoo mind controlled Angel Salvadore into killing Emma Frost with a diamond bullet (that ended up not killing her, though it shattered her diamond form), Sgt. Lucas Bishop and Sage were contacted to investigate Emma's alleged murder.
(New X-Men I#140) - Mentat was one of the students present when Bishop and Sage showed them the diamond bullet used to kill Emma Frost. Because everybody was still considered a potential suspect, the Summer vacation was cancelled until the case was solved. With no viable leads or obvious suspects all students were analyzed and questioned by Sage, including (most likely) Mentat. Bishop and Sage eventually solved the case and identified Esme as Emma's killer. At around the same time, Beast was able to reassemble and restore Emma's shattered diamond form.
Comments: Created by Grant Morrison (writer), Igor Kordey (pencils, inks).
Mentat was most likely one of the many millions mutants who lost their powers when a reality altering spell cast by the Scarlet Witch reduced the number of gene active mutants to a mere 300 worldwide.
When Mentat joined the school, all Xavier Institute students were selected to join special training squads mentored by members of the X-Men. Mentat could have been a part of the Excelsiors (Iceman's squad), the Exemplars (Beast's squad) or the Paladins (Shadowcat's squad), all teams whose rosters have never been established.
Mentat's name and codename have been revealed in the Xavier Institute entry of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z HC#13 (2010).
Inside Info: His name is a nod to fellow Rastafarians Robert "Bob" Marley and poet Benjamin Zepheniah.
--Loki
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mentat has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
New X-Men I#124, p21, pan2 (main image)
New X-Men I#126, p8, pan2 (mutant justice)
New X-Men I#135, p6, pan3 (in telepathy class)
Appearances:
New X-Men I#124 (May, 2002) - Grant Morrison (writer), Igor Kordey (pencils, inks), Mike Powers, Pete Franco (editors)
New X-Men I#125 (June, 2002) - Grant Morrison (writer), Igor Kordey (pencils, inks), Mike Powers, Pete Franco (editors)
New X-Men I#126 (July, 2002) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Mike Powers, Mike Marts, Pete Franco, Mike Raicht (editors)
New X-Men I#134 (January, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Keron Grant (pencils), Norm Rapmund (inks), Mike Marts, Mike Raicht (editors)
New X-Men I#135 (February, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Mike Powers, Mike Marts (editors)
New X-Men I#140 (June, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Phil Jimenez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Mike Marts, Stephanie Moore (editors)
First Posted: 04/29/2016
Last updated: 08/31/2016
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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