The Big Brain

In the 1960s, Copernicus Oliver was touted on television quiz shows as “The Smartest Boy in the World”, and amassed a small fortune in winnings and endorsements before his fame waned after he failed to answer a single question correctly during Beatles Day on the show Q and A. His fame faded and he became another footnote in the history of the Golden Age of Television.
Embarrassed, Oliver escaped the public eye, buying a sailboat called Friendly and setting out to sail around the world. Desperate to avoid England, Oliver set a course that took him across the Atlantic and then directly down the coast of Africa. Sailing was smooth until the Friendly was suddenly caught up in a storm that wrecked the boat on a rocky shore. Before he could be rescued, Oliver contracted a rare tropical disease that caused his brain to swell, putting him into a coma for three months.
When Oliver awakened, he found himself at home in a hospital—and smarter than ever! Discovering he was also still in the grips of a fatal disease, Oliver turned his intelligence to finding a cure. Facing failure after six months of fevered research, Oliver instead attempted to accelerate the course of the disease, in hopes that he could unlock more of the power of his brain. Injecting himself with an experimental formula, Oliver screamed as his brain swelled against the confines of his skull. A thousand voices crowded into his mind, and he pushed back with a single command: “QUIET!”
As everyone in the hospital paused at the voice they heard in their head, Copernicus Oliver died... and the Big Brain was born. Discovering that he could now speak to and command the minds of others, the Big Brain directed doctors to keep him alive and to remove the top of his skull to allow his brain to grow. Once that was accomplished, he needed a place to stay since the hospital and his old home were of no use to him. In order to build it, he’d need money... much more than he currently had. The Big Brain searched through the minds of the city until he found a criminal planning a bank robbery. The Big Brain helped him improve his plan in return for some of the proceeds from the robbery—the same deal the Brain would strike with dozens of other criminals as he assembled his new organization: F.O.E.. Initially, the Big Brain needed the money for himself, but over the years he’s come to enjoy the challenge of bringing villains together for missions and the power he has over a small army of super-beings.
F.O.E.’s members assume the giant, disembodied brain that issues them orders is merely a projection disguising their leader’s true nature. Little do they suspect that the Big Brain’s actual appearance isn’t far off: a gigantic brain atop a nearly atrophied human body hidden away in a secret, secured location far away, projecting his will around the world!

Physical Description

Special abilities

The Big Brain is one of the most—if not the most—powerful telepaths in the world, with the ability to project his consciousness anywhere on Earth, communicate with and mentally control others, inflict debilitating mental attacks, and read minds. However, physically, he’s a paraplegic with a brain so large and deformed his body is incapable of supporting it and his atrophied body has been bedridden for decades. If his body is found and threatened, he may be able to defend it by surrounding it with his mental projection, but if that’s not possible, he is defenseless.

Mental characteristics

Morality & Philosophy

The Big Brain is a thinker and a planner. Almost all other aspects of his personality have been left by the wayside over the years. He cares little for companionship and has little interest in the “animal” concerns of the physical world. He keeps his body alive because without it he will perish. The one thing he enjoys in life is feeling superior, which he prefers to achieve by outsmarting others. He abhors violence and only involves himself in combat when all other avenues have been exhausted. He prefers to let his underlings handle any violent confrontations, while he remains behind the scenes to direct their activities.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Formerly, the Big Brain was allied with the other members of the Chamber. He never trusted them, of course, but he is disappointed the group disintegrated due to petty jealousies and newfound “morals.” The Big Brain’s only other allies are those who work for him: the members of F.O.E. and the Professor as well as the mentally-dominated Iron Matron. Beyond them, his contact with the rest of humanity is limited… just the way he likes it.
The other former members of the Chamber make the Big Brains list of enemies, simply because they’re ambitious and they know too much about him and his operation. Outside of that, the Big Brain has few enemies because so few know who he is, what he does, and how to find him. Anyone who thwarts too many of his plans definitely makes his list of enemies.