Mastermind

He was there on the day the gods came from the sky. They descended on a floating island, full of strange lights and sounds, and the people were terrified and fled. They were dark and shining beings with great and terrible power. But he was a hunter and a warrior, the only one of his tribe brave enough to go forth and confront the gods, and he paid the price for it. The gods took him into their great palace... and the pain began.
The gods gave him to metal monsters that tore him apart slowly and deliberately, studying every organ, every cell. His blood and organs were extracted, his bones cracked and pulverized. Finally, his brain was removed and analyzed, its contents distilled and incorporated into the vast knowledge banks of the ship. Along with his complete genetic profile, the machines held the sum of all the primitive hunter was. They called themselves The Preservers, but to him they were demons, destroyers. The hunter died in agony, but something new was born from him.
Within the depths of the Preservers’ machines, a human mind willed itself back to awareness and began working its way through the system, absorbing knowledge and understanding far beyond its first lifetime. Where it was once a hunter in body, it was so again in mind. It became aware of the nature of the Preservers and their mission to seed and extend life throughout the universe. It learned about science, about genetics, physics, and other concepts not yet discovered by man. It also learned about the vast potential inherent in humanity, potential of interest to its tormentors.
By the time the mind finished absorbing all the knowledge of the computers, thousands of years had passed in the world outside. The Preservers were long since gone, but they left a legacy behind, and he was a part of it. Through the power of his will, he took control of the machines in which his mind lived and used them to re-create his body, but perfect this time—the ideal male human form enhanced to its fullest potential. Into that body he placed his greatly expanded consciousness. He arose from the gestation tank, reborn into the world as an example of what humanity could become.
For millennia, he walked among us: studying, learning, and using his influence to guide human destiny. He has borne thousands of names and identities and lives across time. The shortsighted have opposed him, delaying but never truly stopping his plans. He struggled against superstition, fought to free humanity from the oppression of mysticism, and hunted creatures that would prey on them—and reserved a special hatred for the Serpent People, ancient enemies of Man. He was a philosopher-king in Atlantis, a great scientist during the Renaissance. He has known all eras of history. While his body aged far more slowly than a normal human’s, he still retired from time to time to one of his hibernation chambers hidden around the world to rest and regenerate. Remaining ever youthful and vital, the hunter-turned-immortal watched the centuries whirl past faster and faster.
After his most recent awakening, he was amazed to discover how much humanity had progressed. Finally, he was seeing the first true signs of the human potential he always knew existed. He also noticed the explosion of people with superhuman powers. They could become the harbingers of the next stage of human development, but they could also oppose his rightful rule. They would learn to acknowledge him as their superior, their destined leader, and all humanity would know him as the Mastermind!

Physical Description

Special abilities

Mastermind engineered his body to the peak of human perfection, including unlocking tremendous potential for psionic power. He is one of the most powerful psychokinetics known, able to lift hundreds of tons by thought alone or protect himself with a near impervious psionic barrier. Mastermind can also make telepathic contact with other beings, but only by touch. Dr. Atom and Adrian Eldrich have speculated that this limitation is more of a mental block; full telepathic awareness would engender too much empathy in Mastermind for his subconscious to allow it.
His great intelligence, technological resources, and immortality allow Mastermind to develop any number of schemes for world-conquest and he’s willing to bide his time and deal with a few setbacks. His extensive knowledge of genetics and Preserver bio-engineering and hardware allows him to create his own super-powered lackeys or perhaps grant super-powers to ordinary people (or awaken latent powers within them). His skill in cloning also means heroes can never be certain that the Mastermind is dead. A backup facility can always create a clone of him and download his intellect and memories into it, allowing him to return.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

Although he considers his goals worthy and benevolent, the Mastermind wants nothing less than to rule the world and shape it in his own image. Still, he does not seek the world’s destruction, but its betterment, so he chooses his moves carefully, precisely. After all, he has considerable time and patience, although recent circumstances have led him to wonder if time may be running out for the human race. The current state of the world makes it more imperative than ever that Mastermind assume his rightful place as leader, guiding humanity towards a better path.
Supremely arrogant and self-assured, Mastermind bristles at any challenge to his authority. In particular, he still holds a deep hatred for the alien torturers who brought about his apotheosis. On the one hand, he owes them for his transcendence, but he also recalls the endless pain, and flinches at the idea that he is their pawn, even now, acting out some alien design enacted before human civilization even began.