MINDBLAST

Real Name: Danielle Forte

Identity/Class: Human mutant

Occupation: Mercenary

Group Membership: Femme Fatales (Bloodlust/Beatta Dubiel, Knockout/Elizabeth Rawson, Snake Whip/Leeann Foreman (formerly Whiplash) );
   formerly Doom Maidens (Anaconda, Aradnea, Echidna, Scorpia, Shriek, Titania/Mary MacPherran, Zheng Bao Yu/Fah Lo Sue), Superia's Femizons

Affiliations: Chameleon (Dmitri Smerdyakov), Hammerhead, Caroline Le Fay, Mr. Raven, Scorpion (Mac Gargan), Soteira, Superia (Dr. Deidre Wentworth), Tarantula (Luis Alvarez), Stenya Ubacowits, Viper (Ophelia Sarkissian);
   formerly Sapphire Styx

Enemies: Edmund Allen, Avengers (Iron Man/Tony Stark, Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Nova/Sam Alexander, Spider-Man/Miles Morales, Thor/Jane Foster, Vision), Black Cat (Felicia Hardy), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Defenders/Shieldmaidens (Elsa Bloodstone, Clea, Hippolyta, Ren Kimura, Misty Knight, Danielle Moonstar, Nova/Frankie Raye, Annabelle Riggs, Valkyrie), Domino (Neena Thurman), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Jubilee (Jubilation Lee), Kobik, Magneto (Max Eisenhardt), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Paladin, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke (Elizabeth Braddock), Rogue (Anna Marie), S.H.I.E.L.D., Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Star-Lord (Peter Quill), Storm (Ororo Munroe), Unity Squad (Brother Voodoo/Jericho Drumm, Cable/Nathan Summers, Deadpool/"Wade Wilson", Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Rogue/Anna Marie, Synapse), Wardogs of Thanos

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Maria Hill (temporarily)

Base of Operations: Viper's headquarter in Madripoor;
   formerly mobile;
   formerly mobile with the Doom Maidens;
   formerly Femizonia Island

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man I#340 (October, 1990)

Powers/Abilities: She was a mutant with impressive telekinetic and telepathic powers. She could levitate herself and produced tractor beams to move objects weighing up to 500 tons, though she was limited to a single beam at a time. With her telepathic ability she could control at least one person. Her psychic powers were temporarily further enhanced by technology provided to her by Soteira allowing her to cause mass illusions, mental strikes and mind shields strong enough to resist even Psylocke's attacks.

Height: 5'6"
Weight: 129 lbs.
Eyes: Pink
Hair: None









History:
(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#4) - Danielle Forte was born in Las Vegas, Nevada.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#340, [341], 342, 343) - Employed by the Chameleon (who was posing as Dr. Turner), the Femme Fatales attacked the plane of the ambassador of a newly freed Baltic country. They did this in order to make him question his powers, so he would return to Turner for further studies. They destroyed the ambassador's plane, and then caused a major explosion that Spider-Man narrowly escaped (having already saved the ambassador, of course). Spider-Man, chock full of angst (as always), decided to have Turner remove his powers, so that he would no longer risk his life, so he could be with his family. Turner successfully removed his powers.

   Turner then hired the Scorpion and the Tarantula and sent them to draw out the now powerless Spider-Man. Turner and his four female assistants (not to be confused with the Femme Fatales) quickly moved out of Turner's lab/apartment to escape Spider-Man's discovery. The powerless Spider-Man, assisted by the Black Cat, managed to fight off the Scorpion, and tagged him with a Spider-Tracer. Spidey and the Cat, using his old Tracer tracking device, traced the Scorpion (and the Femme Fatales, and Turner) to Turner's new base in the Botanical Gardens. Turner revealed himself to be the Chameleon, and the Black Cat broke in, hoping to cause a distraction so that Spidey could use the machine to regain his powers. The Black Cat accomplished her mission, but took quite a beating in the process. Spidey, back to his old self, rushed in and quickly fought off all seven of the villains, and destroyed the machine to prevent it from ever being used again. The Femme Fatales, and everyone else, escaped capture.

(Captain America I#387-388-BTS, 389-392, [393]) - All four of them were present on the S.S. Superia, and later Femizonia Island, after responding to Superia's invitation to join her army of Femizons. They participated in the initial capture of Captain America and Paladin when the two tried to sneak aboard the ship.

(Marvel Knights Spider-Man#6) - The Femme Fatales attended the auction in which the Venom symbiote was sold.

(Civil War: War Crimes) - Mindblast joined Hammerhead's "villain army" in order to take advantage of the raging superhero Civil War. Before they could begin doing so, however, their headquarters was raided by Iron Man and a small army of SHIELD agents. Mindblast 's fate in the ensuing melee is unknown.

(Fearless Defenders#10 (fb) - BTS) - Hired by Caroline Le Fay Mindblast joined the Doom Maidens (Anaconda, Aradnea, Scorpia, Shriek, Titania, Zheng Bao Yu) and fought the Defenders/Shieldmaidens (Elsa Bloodstone, Clea, Hippolyta, Misty Knight, Danielle Moonstar, Nova/Frankie Raye, Annabelle Riggs, Valkyrie).

(Fearless Defenders#10) - Shriek, Scorpia, Titania and Mindblast of the Doom Maidens took down Wardogs of Thanos to acquire Terrigenesis cocoons from NYC alongside Caroline Le Fay. They also got into a short fight with the Shieldmaidens (Valkyrie, Hippolyta, Misty Knight) and the NuHuman Ren before escaping with several cocoons.

(Fearless Defenders#12) - The Doom Maidens (Anaconda, Aradnea, Echidna, Mindblast, Scorpia, Shriek, Titania, Zheng Bao Yu), Caroline le Fay and Mr. Raven fought the attacking Defenders/Shieldmaidens. During the battle Mindblast's attacks were easily blocked by Ren. Caroline le Fay disappeared, and Shieldmaiden Nova absorbed all her remaining magical energy.

madripoor

(Uncanny X-Men III#23) - After the Phoenix Five had undone the Scarlet Witch's "no more mutants" spell and mutants started to reappear on Earth, Madripoor became somewhat of a mutant utopia. Mindblast, like so many of her kind, traveled to the island state to make a new life for herself.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(All-New, All-Different Avengers#8 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Bloodlust and Mindblast got imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. in Pleasant Hill. Kobik transformed Bloodlust and Mindblast into duplicates of Maria Hill and told them to keep the Avengers away from Pleasant Hill.

(Uncanny Avengers III#7/All-New, All-Different Avengers#7) - Instead both of them posed as Maria Hill, leading individually with the help of Wrecker (for the Unity Squad) and inadvertently the confused Night Phantom (for the Avengers) the Avengers' Unity Squad (Brother Voodoo, Cable, Deadpool, Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Quicksilver, Rogue, Synapse) and the Avengers (Iron Man/Tony Stark, Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Nova/Sam Alexander, Spider-Man/Miles Morales, Thor/Jane Foster, Vision) back to Pleasant Hill. One of them shot from her jet with the Avengers on board at the Unity Squad with the other false Maria Hill on the ground, causing a fight between both teams. Kobik caught both teams, altered them and made them the newest residents of Pleasant Hill.

(All-New, All-Different Avengers#8) - When the villains in Pleasant Hill reverted to their true forms Bloodlust and Mindblast, still in Maria Hill's form, ran to the Avengers team, who had regained their memories as well. They revealed who they actually were and told them how Kobik had transformed them to keep the Avengers away. Before Bloodlust could tell them the reason why Kobik wanted them to be kept away Kobik teleported the two villains away.

(Star-Lord II#2) - Mindblast was in need of money and robbed a bank in New Jersey with a crew of three, but Ms. Marvel and Star-Lord got in her way. During her fight against the two heroes she got distracted by the elderly Edmund Allen. Star-Lord took the opportunity to tackle her and Ms. Marvel then knocked her out. With Mindblast in her grip, Ms. Marvel went after the other robbers that got away during the fight with Mindblast.

(Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Femme Fatales became employees of Madripoor crimelord Viper.

   Soteira provided Mindblast with technology that unlocked psychic abilities far greater than she could ever imagine.

(Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#2 (fb) - BTS) - The Femme Fatales and Viper captured Magneto, who was kept in Viper's dungeon where he remained weakened by Mindblast's psychic powers and Sapphire Styx's life-force drainings.

(Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#1) - Mindblast used her powers to create an illusion in the form of Magneto, who greeted the X-Women Kitty Pryde, Domino, Jubilee, Psylocke, Rogue and Storm in Madripoor. Psylocke believed she couldn't read his mind because of his helmet. The false Magneto set up a meeting with the X-Women at the King's Impresario Restaurant at 10 PM.

   Later at the meeting Psylocke realized too late that the Magneto they were talking to was a mere illusion. Viper's trap sprung and the Femme Fatales attacked the X-Women as soon as Mindblast had revealed herself to be behind the Magneto illusion. Impressed by her powers Psylocke planned to attack Mindblast with her psychic knife, but Sapphire Styx knocked Psylocke out from behind by draining her life-force. Despite Pryde, Jubilee and Domino escaping into the sewers Viper still considered the Femme Fatales' assault a success because they had easily defeated half the team was facing.

(Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#2) - At Viper's headquarter Mindblast telekinetically carried Storm to the dungeon. Mindblast mocked Magneto after which she cuffed Storm to a wall.

(Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#3) - While Mindblast kept playing with Magneto Knockout was just bored because she was not allowed to beat up any of the captured X-Women, who were all going to be delivered to Soteira, except for Psylocke's corpse. Moments after leaving the dungeon Knockout and Mindblast were attacked by Jubilee and Kitty Pryde. When Kitty Pryde fried the technology, enhancing Mindblast's powers, Magneto escaped and ripped apart the dungeon, knocking out Knockout and Mindblast. Seeking revenge Magneto used his powers to bind and choke Mindblast with metal, but Kitty asked him to leave her alive because they needed to stop the rocket first.

(Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#4) - When Magneto tried to finish his deadly attack on Mindblast, Domino and Kitty both warned him not to do it because they would come after him if he became a murderer again. Magneto allowed Mindblast to stay alive.

(M.O.D.O.K. Head Games#2) - Mindblast attended the Criminal Technology Show in Las Vegas, there to bid on new weapons.

Comments: Created by David Michelinie (writer), Erik Larsen (pencils), Randy Emberlin & Mike Machlan (inks).

   Her braincase may have prevented her from using the shower, which is why the rest of the team didn't want to sit by her on the S.S. Superia.
--Snood

   I can never believe characters with the see-through-braincase, like Mindblast, don't get it shattered and have their brains all over the place more often.
--Snood

    Robert McKinney tells me the Femme Fatales are a parody/homage/whatever to DC's Female Furies, of whom there are five. I can see Knockout as Big Barda, Whiplash would be Lashina, and Bloodlust would be Mad Harriet. Mindblast is definitely not Stompa, so that would make her Bernadeth, who used a fahren-knife to barbecue her foes, from the inside out. The analogy kind of falls apart on that one, but the rest definitely fit pretty well.

Profile by Snood & Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Mindblast should not be confused with:

images (without ads)
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#1, p16, pan1 (main)
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#1, p7, pan5 (head shot)
Amazing Spider-Man I#340, p14, pan2 (full body, old)
Amazing Spider-Man I#340, p19, pan2 (powers)
Uncanny X-Men III#23, p5, pan1 (Mindblast, smaller globe)
All-New, All-Different Avengers#8, p9, pan1 (as Maria Hill)
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#2, pan5, pan2 (nearly full body, front)
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#2, pan6, pan3 (from behind)

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#340 (October, 1990) - David Michelinie (writer), Erik Larsen (pencils), Randy Emberlin & Mike Machlan (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#341-343 (November, 1990 - January, 1991) - David Michelinie (writer), Erik Larsen (pencils), Randy Emberlin (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Captain America I#389-392 (August-September, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Rik Levins (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvel Knights Spider-Man#6 (November, 2004) - Mark Millar (writer), Terry Dodson (pencils), Rachel Dodson (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Civil War: War Crimes (February, 2007) - Frank Tieri (writer), Staz Johnson (penciller), Tom Palmer & Robin Riggs (inkers), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Fearless Defenders#10 (December, 2013) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Will Sliney (artist), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Fearless Defenders#12 (February, 2014) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Will Sliney (artist), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Uncanny X-Men III#23 (September, 2014) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Kris Anka (pencils, inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Uncanny Avengers III#7 (May, 2016) - Gerry Duggan (writer), Ryan Stegman (pencils), Mark Morales & Guillermo Ortego (inks), Tom Brevoort with Daniel Ketchum (editors)
All-New, All-Different Avengers#7-8 (May-June, 2016) - Mark Waid (writer), Adam Kubert (artist), Tom Brevoort with Wil Moss (editors)
Star-Lord II#2 (March, 2017) - Chip Zdarsky (writer), Kris Anka (artist), Jordan White (editor)
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#1-3 (July-September, 2018) - Jim Zub (writer), Thony Silas (artist), Jordan D. White & Mark Paniccia (editors)
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor#4 (October, 2018) - Jim Zub (writer), Thony Silas & Leonard Kirk (artists), Jordan D. White & Mark Paniccia (editors)
M.O.D.O.K. Head Games#2 (March, 2021) - Jordan Blum, Patton Oswalt (writers), Scott Hepburn (artist), Annalise Bissa (editor)

First Posted: 11/25/2001 (as sub-profile)
Last updated: 12/01/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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