MINDFUL ONE

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Dark Dimension) creature

Occupation: Adjunct professor, Chef, dormitory resident;
    former servant

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Ancient One (Yao), the Avengers (Captain America/Sam Wilson, Hercules/Heracles, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Thor/Jane Foster, Vision/"Victor Shade," Wasp/Nadia), Baron Mordo (Karl Mordo), Bror, Brother Voodoo (Jericho Drumm), Luke Cage, Clea, Demon Rider (Kushala), Doc Magus (of Earth-982), Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange), "floating eyeball sorcerer," "four-armed man sorcerer," "glowing eye man in red sorcerer," Daimon Hellstrom, Howard the Duck, Joao, Krugarr (of Earth-691), Magik (Illyana Rasputin), "man in pronged hat sorcerer," Margali of the Winding Way, Merlin, Mindless Ones, Nico Minoru, "Moloid sorcerer" (of Earth-13729), Sir Isaac Newton, Nina the Conjuror, "pink flying creature sorcerer," Professor Imam (of Earth-712), "purple-robed man in pointy hat sorcerer," "rocky monster sorcerer," Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Shaman (Michael Twoyoungmen), Zelma Stanton, Strange (of Earth-928), Strange Academy (German Aguilar, Alvi Brorson, Iric Brorson, Emily Bright, Dessy, Doyle Dormammu, Guslaug, Zoe Laveau, Shaylee Moonpeddle, Calvin Morse, Toth), "two-headed man in blue sorcerer," Volstagg the Voluminous, "white hair sorceress," Wiccan (Billy Kaplan of Earth-13729), "woman in red cape sorceress," Wong, Zhered-Na;

Enemies: The Author of the Word of God, "beast men of the Forgotten," Doctor Doom (Valeria of Earth-13927), the Forgotten, the Knights of Never;
formerly The Avengers (Captain America/Sam Wilson, Hercules/Heracles, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Thor/Jane Foster, Vision/"Victor Shade," Wasp/Nadia), wandering spirits

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Mindful"

Base of Operations: Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, New York City, New York, USA;
formerly the Dark Dimension

First Appearance: Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#1 (December, 2016)

Powers/Abilities: The Mindful One had a body composed of dense physical matter, granting it superhuman strength and durability. Its eye could project destructive energy beams. Due to the nature of its bodily composition, the Mindful One could store objects within the matter that made up its body, such as storing a key within its finger, storing a shield device within its arm or storing a book within its chest. It also once stored a cannon capable of firing angry dogs.

When damaged, the Mindful One could regrow missing body parts, and in some cases, the broken off body part could form a small simulacra of Mindful itself that could carry out basic orders.

Mindful could also sense beings by smell.

Height: 7'
Weight: 900 lbs.
Eyes: Green (originally orange)
Hair: None

History: (Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Sir Isaac Newton used his scientific laboratory to bring Mindful One to life under his control and began using the unidentified Mindless One to handle any heavy lifting. When Newton was recruited by Camelot sorcerer Merlin to aid in the battle against the mystic gestalt Forgotten, Newton brought along his subservient Mindless One.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#1) - When Merlin arrived with a new recruit, the present-day Dr. Strange, Newton's Mindless One was battling the "beast men of the Forgotten" alongside Newton himself and other Sorcerers Supreme recruited by Merlin. Upon seeing the Mindless One, Dr. Strange dubbed him the Mindful One when the Mindless Ones spoke and suggested Newton let him know when the Mindful One was done "barking." Once the "beast men" had been defeated, the Mindful One helped clean up the battlefield by gathering the lifeless "beast men" and noticed Merlin giving Nina the Conjuror an old key for safekeeping. The Mindful One then returned to Newton's side.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#2) - After the gestalt Forgotten being erupted from the ground and seemingly killed Merlin, bringing with it more "beast men," the Mindful One came to Isaac Newton's defense, blasting the Forgotten's hand. It then followed by grabbing two of the "beast men" and placing one of them in a headlock. The Mindful One subsequently watched as Demon Rider held off the Forgotten while the other Sorcerers Supreme retrieved the injured Yao and was then enveloped by Wiccan's teleportational cloak. Deposited on a nearby beach along with the Sorcerers Supreme and several of the "beast men," the Mindful One watched as the beach's sand entrapped the Sorcerers Supreme. After the Sorcerers Supreme were completely drawn under the sand, the Mindful One stood and remarked "Alone. Sad." Ultimately deciding to reach into the sands, where the Spirits of the Unholy were plaguing the Sorcerers Supreme, the Mindful One pulled each of the Sorcerers Supreme to safety, repeating "Alone. Bad." as he did so. Once safe, Nina the Conjuror asked why the Mindful One was not trapped along with the sorcerers and Sir Isaac Newton explained that the sand trap was meant for souls and the Mindful One had no soul. Demon Rider assured the Mindful One, however, remarking that she could feel its soul and that she was grateful for it, prompting Mindful One to call Demon Rider "nice." Mindful One then watched as Dr. Strange asked Yao about his tattoo, which was a map Yao had yet to follow. Sir Isaac Newton soon realized they were close to Merlin's castle and decided to venture there to obtain more magic to use against the Forgotten and as he traveled, the Mindful One uprooted trees to create a path for Newton and the other sorcerers to follow.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#3) - The Mindful One accompanied Sir Isaac Newton and the other Sorcerers Supreme into Merlin's castle, where they found a locked door to Merlin's study. Once there, Sir Newton asked the Mindful One to present the key that Merlin had given Newton and Mindful revealed the key that had been stored within its dense matter form and unlocked the door. As the Sorcerers went inside to search for magic and weapons to use against the Forgotten, Mindful witnessed Nina tear a page from one of Merlin's books and soon regrouped with the Sorcerers as pursuing spirits attacked them. Mindful One was forced to duck for cover when the Forgotten, having tracked Sir Isaac Newton's magic, arrived and attacked the Sorcerers. During the scuffle against the Forgotten, Sir Isaac Newton secretly met with the Mindful One and gave it an item, commending Mindful One on proving that it was not as slow moving as it was thinking and ordering the Mindful One to hide the item. Following the battle with the Forgotten, the Mindful One remained by Sir Isaac Newton's side as the Sorcerers Supreme of the Forgotten's gestalt nature.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#4) - Mindful One accompanied Sir Isaac Newton and the Sorcerers Supreme into the Forgotten's former prison, where they hoped to learn more about the Forgotten, and Mindful expressed fear for its allies as they ventured inside. Kushala, Demon Rider, comforted Mindful and Mindful admitted that it wasn't used to being shown kindness.  The Forgotten soon appeared and revealed its origins after speaking magic words from the Word of God book. Mindful One was unaffected by the spell and quickly checked on the incapacitated Newton, who remarked on the Forgotten's words and informed the Mindful One that it was time to make their move. Newton then magically separated the Forgotten's gestalt form into its component beings and retrieved the Word of God from one of the beings, preparing to make himself a god using the book and forcing the Sorcerers Supreme to fight against Newton as Mindful One watched. When Demon Rider attacked Newton, Newton ordered the Mindful One to retrieve a sphere from its body, which Newton used to absorb Demon Rider's Spirit of Vengeance into himself.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#7) - When the Sorcerers Supreme freed themselves from a dimensional trap set by Sir Isaac Newton, they returned to present-day New York, where Newton was absorbing power from the Word of God book while the Mindful One and an army of Dark Dimension Mindless Ones were battling the Avengers. The Sorcerers jumped in to aid the Avengers and Yao magically disintegrated one of the Mindless Ones, prompting Demon Rider to warn Yao to be careful, as one of the Mindless Ones could be their friend, the Mindful One. When Yao asked who cared, Demon Rider replied that she did and soon demanded to know what Newton had done to Mindful. Unfortunately, Demon Rider proved unable to cast a proper spell due to the present day's weak magic and Newton prepared to kill Demon Rider but the Mindful One intervened, admitting that it had no choice in hurting others and promising that it would never hurt Demon Rider. Mindful then punched out another Mindless One and Demon Rider asked Mindful what Newton wanted and Mindful informed her that Newton sought something underground. Mindful One was later protected from destruction by Demon Rider when the Author of the Word of God tome emerged from underground.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#8) - As the Author of the Word began destroying Sir Isaac Newton's Mindless Ones and announcing his plans to reacquire the Word of God tome, the Mindful One helped the injured Newton to his feet. Realizing that the Author needed the Word of God book, Newton ordered the Mindful One to protect the book at all costs before jumping into battle against the Author. While Newton and Dr. Strange fought the Author, Mindful One gathered up the injured Sorcerers Supreme and Avengers then plunged his fist into the ground, breaking it off at the arm. From the arm emerged a device that generated an energy shield around the injured and Mindful One explained that it was keeping everyone safe and admitted its happiness that Kushala was still alive. The Mindful One then held the shield as long as possible until Dr. Strange was flung into it, shattering the shield. The recovered Avengers then re-joined the battle against the Author while Mindful regrew its broken arm and Nina, Joao, Luke Cage, Howard the Duck and Yao arrived on the scene to assist in the battle. Demon Rider based herself atop Mindful One's form as she renewed battle against the Author as well and Mindful blocked attacks meant for Kushala until Newton, having become one of the Forgotten due to his usage of words from the Word of God, ordered Mindful to give him the Word of God. When Mindful One refused, claiming that the book was safe and Newton was not, Newton blew Mindful into pieces and forcibly took the Word of God back, returning it to the Author. Before the Author could use the tome, however, Earth-13729's Wiccan utilized his Mark of Sorrow to teleport everyone with magic properties, including the crumbled remains of Mindful One, to the Author's dimension.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#9) - After destroying the Author and returning to Earth, Wiccan used his magic to restore the Mindful One from the crumbled remains and Kushala hugged Mindful, happy to see it alive. Mindful hugged Kushala back, commenting that regardless of whether it was truly alive, it was happy to see Kushala again.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#10) - Mindful One remained by Kushala's side as the other Sorcerers Supreme tended to the collapsed Wiccan of Earth-13729. It later accompanied the Sorcerers Supreme as they traveled to Earth-13729 to seek a cure for Wiccan's Mark of Sorrow and soon found itself in Hell alongside the Sorcerers.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#11) - Mindful One and the Sorcerers Supreme were downed by Earth-13729's Dr. Doom, who ruled Hell, and placed each of them in a mental Hell of their own making. Able to communicate despite being trapped in a Hell of its own mind, Mindful checked on Kushala before Sir Isaac Newton ordered Mindful to find the vault and break the source of their mental anguish. Breaking off its own finger, which transformed into a tiny simulacra of Mindful itself, the Mindful One ordered the simulacra to find the vault and break the source before being tackled by one of Dr. Doom's demons. Having a semblance of Mindful's personality, the simulacra soon located Dr. Doom's vault and found several Earth-13729 sorcerers trapped within by some sort of orb. Realizing that the orb must be the source of the Sorcerers' anguish, the Mindful simulacra headbutted the orb, shattering it and freeing the sorcerers. The simulacra then learned that Dr. Doom had tempted each of those sorcerers to her Hell realm in an effort to convert them into her own personal army and the simulacra informed the now-freed sorcerers that Doom was hurting its friends before leading the sorcerers outside. With the orb destroyed, Earth-13729's Wiccan was freed of his Mark of Sorrow and fought back against Dr. Doom as the now-freed sorcerers joined in the fight. During the battle, Dr. Doom demanded to know how Mindful One was able to resist her magic and Mindful informed Doom that it had no soul capable of being twisted by Doom as it reabsorbed the simulacra back into itself. Following Doom's defeat, Mindful One watched as Kushala reabsorbed her Spirit of Vengeance, preferring to handle the burden in an effort to protect the world. Mindful then commented to Kushala that she never had to carry the burden alone. Mindful then accompanied most of the other Sorcerers Supreme as they used Dr. Doom's Time Platform to return to Earth-616's present day and Mindful waved goodbye to Wiccan as he stayed behind in his home reality of 13729. After returning Sir Isaac Newton to the prison of his own time period along the way, Mindful One emerged from the Time Platform with Dr. Strange, Kushala and Yao on the Beaches of Nevermore in Yao's time period, where Merlin (from an earlier time period) greeted them and suggested they finish up their mission.

(Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#12) - The Mindful One remained with Kushala and Dr. Strange as Merlin explained that the Sorcerers still needed to assure that Yao fulfilled his destiny to become the Ancient One. As Merlin got into the specifics of time travel and past and future incarnations of people, Mindful admitted its confusion and Dr. Strange agreed with Mindful's comments, neither noticing Yao sneaking off into the woods in search of immortality. Once Merlin had finished his speech about Yao's destiny and protection, Mindful noticed Yao was missing and accompanied Strange and Kushala into the woods, where they found Yao under siege by the beast-like Knights of Never. After the Sorcerers rescued Yao, Mindful and the others agreed to accompany Yao during his Trials of the Worthy to help fulfill his destiny, only to find themselves stopped when they came across a mystic shield preventing Yao's access to a cave. Mindful and the others were then met by the returning Merlin, who had assembled a slew of past and present sorcerers from various realities to assist Yao in fulfilling his destiny. As the sorcerers greeted each other, Mindful One accused Merlin of being a different Merlin and Merlin agreed that he was indeed different than his future counterpart that had recruited the Sorcerers against the Forgotten. Revealing that he had not assembled the then-assembled sorcerers against the Forgotten because each of the Sorcerers Supreme he had brought against the Forgotten had their own destinies to fulfill, Merlin then opened a door within the Mindful One's body in which was kept the last burnt piece of the Word of God tome and revealed that they would need all of the assembled magic together together to pierce the mystic shield. As the magicians from numerous time periods and realities combined their magic, Mindful One closed the door in its chest and the mystic shield was soon broken, paving the way for Yao to enter the cave. Before Yao did so, however, Dr. Strange revealed that assembled magicians were to be Yao's legacy and all of the sorcerers present, as well as the Mindful One, bowed to Yao as their master. Merlin then activated the Earth-13729 Time Platform to send the assembled sorcerers home and revealed to Kushala and the Mindful One that their destinies were not yet completed and that their fates had yet to be determined, suggesting Kushala and Mindful One live wisely. Merlin then returned Dr. Strange to the modern era alongside Kushala and the Mindful One. Dr. Strange then got pulled away to stop a new threat and promised Mindful and Kushala that he would give them a proper tour of his Sanctum Sanctorum when he returned, assuring them that they were welcome to stay as long as they liked and that no key was needed to those with magic. Mindful One questioned whether that included it and Dr. Strange replied that it especially included Mindful.

(Doctor Strange III#381/2) - Mindful One dusted Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum as Dr. Strange and Kushala battled invading creatures in the Sanctum's library.

(Strange Academy I#1) - After Dr. Strange founded the Strange Academy to train young mystics, Mindful One was employed as a dormitory resident and personal chef for the students. When Brother Voodoo assembled the students to go over their upcoming training, he summoned Mindful, Zelma Stanton, the Ancient One and several guest instructors and introduced them to the students. The introductions were interrupted when a portal opened and a battle between Dr. Strange and a Throzil erupted onto the school grounds. Following the battle, Mindful watched as Dr. Strange gave the final words of encouragement to the new students, warning the students to try not to die.

(Strange Academy I#2) - Mindful One was making food for Strange Academy when student Calvin Morse came up and commended Mindful on his choice to make breakfast burritos. Mindful replied that it was his pleasure and told Calvin to have a good day (referring to Calvin only as "student"). Later functioning as an adjunct professor of sorts, Mindful One assisted fellow adjunct professor Wong in teaching a Sanctum Economics course at Strange Academy, in which Mindful provided easy-to-learn recipes for rejuvenating mystical skills and assisted the students in learning how to balance a checkbook.

(Strange Academy I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Mindful taught student Shaylee Moonpeddle some recipes.

(Strange Academy I#3 - BTS) - Following a class with the Ancient One, Shaylee Moonpeddle informed her fellow students how Mindful One had taught her how to make cacio e pepe, a pasta dish. Mindful later contributed recipes for his beignets, gumbo and breakfast burritos to the Strange Academy cookbook.

(Strange Academy I#6 (fb) - BTS) - When ten Strange Academy students went missing, Brother Voodoo consulted with Mindful One gathered information on the missing children, informing Brother Voodoo that Calvin Morse never returned from a night of door tag.

(Strange Academy I#6 - BTS) - As Brother Voodoo searched outside the Strange Academy grounds for the children, he informed the adjunct professors of the information Mindful One had earlier gathered.

(Strange Academy I#10) - Mindful One, dressed in a Strange Academy varsity jacket, accompanied Zelma Stanton and the Strange Academy students on a field trip to Asgard.

Comments: Created by Robbie Thompson, Javier Rodriguez and Alvaro Lopez.

Mindful One appeared on the cover of Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#5 but does not appear anywhere in the actual issue. In a flashback, we do see Sir Isaac Newton remarking to Dr. Strange about the possibility of acquiring an assistant...

Some online sources list the Mindful One as appearing in Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#6 but it is nowhere to be seen in that issue.

In regards to Mindful One being the product of Sir Isaac Newton's laboratory dabbling, eagle-eyed reader Chris Jarocha-Ernst suggested the following: "Given that this is a BTS event, I think it more likely that Newton, having seen the Mindless Ones in an encounter with Dormammu, decided to model some sort of golem after them. At least one such encounter was shown in DS&SS#5 as occuring prior to the main story, where Newton later thinks an assistant of his own might be helpful. In DS&SS#1, Newton describes the Mindful One as "my latest dabbling from the laboratory," suggesting he created, not modified, Mindful -- although that is not conclusive proof; his dabbling could mean "turning a mindless creature mindful," as you (this profile) suggest.

However, what I think is more conclusive is that Mindful's abilities are so different from the Mindless Ones'. He's shown no use of a force ray from his eye-slit, and no Mindless One has ever shown the ability to reform their bodies' substances. (In fact, I don't think Dark Dimension Mindless Ones are made of stone at all. They seem simply to have a stone-like outer shell).

Given that Merlin took Newton from prison, I'm guessing that Mindful was not freshly created but had stood immobile in Newton's laboratory since he was arrested, and when Merlin freed him, Newton returned to the laboratory to pick up his armor, his staff, and Mindful -- where he gave Mindful secret orders, the results of which were shown in the DS&SS series.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Mindful One has no known connections to:

• any other "Mindless One" creature or "Mindful" characters

images: (without ads)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#3, p16, pan1 (Mindful One running, main image)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#9, p14, pan5 (Mindful One's remains, headshot image)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#3, p14, pan1 (Mindful firing angry dog from a cannon)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#7, p10, pan1 (Mindful rescuing Demon Rider)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#11, p6-7, pan7 (Mindful creating simulacra from broken finger)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#11, p11-12, pan4 (Mindful reabsorbing simulacra)
Doctor Strange III#381, p23, splash page (Mindful dusting)
Strange Academy I#1, p25, pan3 (Mindful in tuxedo)
Strange Academy I#10, p1, pan1 (Mindful in Strange Academy varsity jacket)

Appearances:
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#1 (December, 2016) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#2 (January, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#3 (February, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#4 (March, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#7 (June, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez, Guillermo Ortego (inks), Darren Shan (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#8 (July, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez (inks), Darren Shan (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#9 (August, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez (inks), Darren Shan (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#10 (September, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Nathan Stockman (art), Darren Shan (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#11 (October, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Nathan Stockman (art), Darren Shan (editor)
Doctor Strange & the Sorcerers Supreme I#12 (November, 2017) - Robbie Thompson (writer), Nathan Stockman (art), Darren Shan (editor)
Doctor Strange III#381 (January, 2018) - second story - Robbie Thompson (writer), Niko Henrichon (art), Darren Shan (editor)
Strange Academy I#1 (May, 2020) - Skottie Young (writer), Humberto Ramos (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Strange Academy I#2 (September, 2020) - Skottie Young (writer), Humberto Ramos (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Strange Academy I#3 (November, 2020) - Skottie Young (writer), Humberto Ramos (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Strange Academy I#6 (February, 2021) - Skottie Young (writer), Humberto Ramos (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Strange Academy I#10 (July, 2021) - Skottie Young (writer), Humberto Ramos (art), Nick Lowe (editor)

First Posted: 08/28/2018
Last updated: 05/09/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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