MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 654: THE BRAIN

(Green Mask v1 003, 1940)

Despite the fact that when he shows up the Green Mask shouts his name in shocked surprise like they're old enemies, the Brain is not in fact the main antagonist of the story he appears in, which is concerned with a fellow named Dudley Carstairs who has made some bad business decisions and has decided that his best option going forward is to kill his niece and steal her large diamond. During the course of Carstairs' schemes an agent of the Brain witnesses his crimes and informs his boss and so our poor villain here is relegated to the status of second act twist.

Even though the Brain manages to steal the diamond and send the Green Mask, Domino and both Carstairs adrift in a dirigible fitted with a time bomb his time with the gem is limited, as the Green Mask has to escape and throw him off of his own plane in time to prevent Dudley from attempting to kill his niece again. Sorry, the Brain!

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 534: THE BRAIN

(Fantastic Comics 001, 1939)

We open on Space Smith and his girlfriend Dianna (sometimes Diana) having a trans-Lunar space-date ruined by Martian Imp Men and I am immediately struck with the dilemma engendered by nearly all Fletcher Hanks stories: follow through on my impulses and post most if not all panels or be judicious for the sake of space and readability? I went with the latter but it hurt.

So in lieu of my posting every panel that features the great/horrible Martian Imp Men let's just pause and appreciate how great they are.

Space Smith and Dianna awaken in the laboratory of the great Martian scientist Skomah and learn that they have been kidnapped by Skomah's 7th son, also called Skomah, aka the Brain, aka the Central Brain aka the Great Martian Central Brain.

Really appreciate the detail that the Brain's head is so big that it has to be held up with two special robot arms.

Like a lot of big head smart guys, the Brain is convinced that it is his destiny to rule all of creation and is planning to start with Earth. He's also a huge creep in the same was as a lot of those guys and a lot of super-villains in general, in the "capture a woman and declare that she will be your queen" way.

Luckily for Dianna, a guy with a head so big he is literally bolted to the ground is not the hardest guy to get away from, even if he has a bunch of D&D 5e kobolds working for him. She and Space Smith get away incredibly easily, in fact, and spend the next few issues trying to get back to Mars to put a permanent end to Skomah the 7th (they never do actually get there. Perhaps they just lost interest when it became clear that the Brain was all talk. Or Fletcher Hanks just forgot).

BONUS MAN-EATING MARTIAN MOSQUITO

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 274: THE BRAIN

(Marvel Mystery Comics v1 018, 1941)

The Brain is your classic nerd gang boss, of the common subvariety that are almost clever enough to succeed but get in their own way. His core plan this ish is solid as far as supercrime goes: rob an Army payroll and frame the Human Torch for it via the use of what is essentially one of those suits that stuntmen wear in order to set themselves on fire (which as an aside kind of makes me reconsider just how upsetting the Human Torch would be to see). He even has a decent plan to get rid of the Torch is he manages to figure out whodunnit.

The Brain's real failing lies in underestimating Toro, the Torch's teen sidekick and avid shirt avoider. While the Human Torch is afforded an entire elaborate deathtrap of his own, the Brain's entire plan to deal with Toro is to assume that he can take him in a fight.

And he can't! It's not even close! Toro is basically exactly as powerful as the Human Torch, plus he's a teen boy, a notoriously wily bunch! This is frankly embarrassing for the Brain.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 112: THE CRIME LORD/ THE BRAIN

(More Fun Comics 062, 1940) 

An early iteration of the classic tale of a brain that is freed of its cranium and becomes both powerful and EVIL, originally just a man named Dexter with a skeletal system and all the organs, he then became a mysterious shadowy figure named the Crime Lord as he directed his minions toward an eventual takeover of the US.

Upon being freed from his bell jar, the Crime Lord became the rapidly-expanding Brain, who similarly grew his ambitions: no longer interested in conquest on a national level, he was now going to expand to fill the entire universe. And he might have gotten away with it if the Spectre hadn't shown up to shrivel him away to nothingness.

Bonus: the Spectre eating a bullet to save FDR.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 007: THE BRAIN

 (More Fun 020, 1937)

Another common sub-type of masked criminal, the guy who runs his own pirate fleet. Other than being the first example of this on the list, a real snoozer. Taken out by Sandra of the Secret Service.