Doctor Mindbender
From Transformers Wiki
- Doctor Mindbender is a human member of Cobra from the G.I. Joe portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Doctor Mindbender is Cobra's most prolific and despicable scientist. His specialty is the engineering and operation of mind-controlling devices, which should be fairly obvious, and one of his greatest achievements was helping create the Cobra emperor, Serpentor. He is not, however, so good at dressing himself. Often he eschews that formality entirely!
Though it doesn't really come up, he used to be a friendly orthodontist before something went wrong in his brain. Clearly the "good/evil" neurons are right next to the "fashion sense" neurons.
Sometimes his real name is Brian Bender or Armand Singh.
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Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
G.I. Joe and the Transformers
Dr. Mindbender stood with the rest of the higher Cobra chain-of-command as they grew increasingly weary of Cobra Commander's leadership following the Dreadnoks' failure to capture Power Station Alpha. Blood on the Tracks Soon, after his creation, Serpentor, had taken command, Dr. Mindbender watched Power Station Alpha on his monitors. Witnessing it taking off on its own, presumably through remote control, Dr. Mindbender attempted to usurp the radio signal with his electronic helmet. Sure enough, he successfully detoured Power Station Alpha towards Cobra Island, but it was escorted by Dirge. As Dr. Mindbender proposed an alliance, he placed a listening device on the Decepticon. When Dirge returned to Decepticon headquarters, Dr. Mindbender learned through the device that the Decepticons planned to use Power Station Alpha to destroy Earth. Power Struggle
The Decepticons soon came to Cobra Island to further their alliance with Cobra. Dr. Mindbender shook the hand of their leader, Shockwave, though he harbored thoughts of subduing the Decepticons and harvesting them for their technological secrets. Ashes, Ashes... However, the Decepticons turned on them first. Bombshell cornered the Doctor, the Baroness saved his life. Ultimately, Dr. Mindbender turned his services over to G.I. Joe and the Autobots, and used his electronic helmet to maneuver Power Station Alpha into the atmosphere, where it would explode. ...All Fall Down!
Marvel Generation 2 comic
In the event of his own death, Doctor Mindbender left behind a computer disk containing the necessary data to bring him back from the dead through the use of his own cloning technology. Realignments His demise ultimately did come to pass when, in a fit of paranoia, Cobra Commander had him buried alive under a volcano. Later realizing he had made a bit of a hasty decision, Cobra Commander decided to undo his mistake. Goin' South
At the time Megatron was forming his brief alliance with Cobra, Cobra was using the doctor's plan to clone him back to life. After field-testing his own new body, Megatron's sensors detected that Mindbender's heart had restarted. Realignments Mindbender was brought to the Cobra-controlled Milleville, where an accident prematurely woke up Mindbender. Noticing the presence of Megatron, Mindbender decided to put his anger at Cobra Commander on hold to see how things would play out. While allowing his metabolism to recover from his rebirth, Doctor Mindbender was housed in a hospital room next to Scarlett's, who was recovering from a stab wound dispensed by Snake-Eyes. Watching a television set in his room, he was shocked at the appearance of Michael Jackson and that a Democrat was President. He was also mildly disappointed that Cheers had ended, and who can blame him for that? Goin' South
Eventually, Dr. Sidney Biggles-Jones confronted Scarlett, accusing her of faking her defection from G.I. Joe. Mindbender eavesdropped on the exchange with great interest, telling Slice and Dice to prepare themselves to take out Biggles-Jones if the need arose. It didn't, as Megatron shoved his fist into Scarlett's room and abducted the Biggles-Jones. Doctor Mindbender advised his compatriots to take Scarlett into custody nonetheless. They failed, and Scarlett rushed out into the street. Mindbender tried to direct two Alley-Vipers into arresting her, but they didn't fare better than Scarlett's previous opponents. Sucker Punch
G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers
Dr. Mindbender helped reprogram the Transformers to be used as vehicles for Cobra. When Hiss-14 exhibited resistance to Cobra's control, the Doctor took it upon himself to hack the robot's brain. However, the tables were turned when Hiss-14 tried to take over Cobra's computers and Mindbender was forced to shut down Cobra's network. He also possibly helped use Transformer technology in the development of the S.N.A.K.E.s. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #2
When Wheeljack's applied genius broke Cobra's control, Mindbender was almost snapped in two by the Constructicons. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #3 Soundwave saved him in order to use his expertise to help the Decepticons process energon through the SPS Satellite. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #4
After avoiding getting crushed when Optimus came to do battle with Megatron (by cowering under a nearby console) G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #5 Mindbender grudgingly worked together with Mainframe and Wheeljack to use the satellite to destroy several nuclear missiles launched by the United States to contain the Transformer-Cobra menace. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #6
Mindbender was part of a group of Joes and Cobras who were transported to Cybertron in an attempt to steal Teletran 3, but an explosive malfunction led to a catastrophe involving time travel and the mutual destruction of both Earth and Cybertron. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1 In order to save the planets, Mindbender traveled with Barbecue, Spirit, Tomax and Xamot into the future to fix the time stream by bringing Ratchet back to the present.
Unfortunately for them, Ratchet was the lone Autobot warrior in an apocalyptic future in which Decepticons and Cobra reigned. Despite this, Dr. Mindbender and his teammates took Ratchet back with them against his will G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #2 G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #3, and after the time catastrophe was averted, Dr. Mindbender was taken into United States government custody at McMath Maximum Security Correctional Facility. However, alleged agents from the National Security Agency "relocated" Dr. Mindbender to an Arctic headquarters, where he was introduced to Cobra-La and their cult of Unicron. They had special plans for him and his genius... G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #4
When Hawk got ahold of the Matrix of Leadership, he had a vision of Doctor Mindbender, his Cobra-La allies and Unicron. The Art of War #5
Working with Cobra-La, Mindbender was able to activate their long dormant beacon that would summon Unicron to Earth. He later reported to Golobulus that intruders were on the way to the Cobra-La home in the Himalayas, but was certain that the Yeti or Nemesis Enforcer would effectively deal with them. Black Horizon, Part 1 of 2 Upon finding that the Yeti had captured Firewall, Mindbender was surprised that G.I. Joe were recruiting such young members. Shrugging off the girl's insults, he informed her that she was to be sacrificed in the honor of Unicron. Mindbender was present as the sacrifice was prepared, but when G.I. Joe interrupted, he tried to make a run for it. He didn't make it far before being punched out by Joe Colton and captured. Black Horizon, Part 2 of 2
Transformers/G.I. Joe
The director of Cobra's mind-control program, Doctor Mindbender supervised the Baroness's interrogation of captured G.I. Joe agent Nathaniel Faireborn in the Terrordrome. Trenches
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
Under the guise of "Doctor Mindelbinder," Mindbender was part of an elaborate facsimile of a normal American town, where he tried to brainwash Scarlett into thinking that all of her adventures with G.I. Joe and the Transformers were nothing but the product of her deranged mind. Expelled from the Garden Though he was successful in convincing several of her teammates that they had always been normal suburbanites, the subjugation of Scarlett's mind proved to be more challenging. With the help of his Brainwave Scanner, he finally did convince her that she was a simple housewife... or so he believed. After Scarlett roused her teammates from their hypnotic states, she returned to Mindbender's office to assassinate him. The doctor defended himself with a machine-gun, all the while insisting that he had genuinely wanted to help Scarlett find happiness. Scarlett cornered Mindbender at sword-point, and had him reveal the goal of the whole ordeal she had been made to endure; Megatron used the Joes as guinea pigs in an effort to map the commonalities between humans' and Transformers' brains. By doing so, he hoped to find a means to enslave the minds of all sentient beings. Scarlett then strapped Mindbender into his Brainwave Scanner, and after subjecting him to its effects, delivered a fatal stab wound to his chest. Headmasters
Beast Wars: Uprising
At some point in the late 20th or early 21st century, Cobra was defeated. Doctor Brian Bender was among the 731 Cobra scientists and operatives subsumed into U.S. intelligence agencies to help deal with the threat posed by Transformers as part of Operation Staple Gun. In the late 24th century, Rapticon and Ne'll compared him and Archibald Monev to Wernher von Braun. The Inexorable March
2005 IDW continuity
After the fall of Cobra, Armand Singh adopted the new identity of "Dr. Verstal Bender". Dr. Mindbender profile When Optimus Prime annexed Earth, Miles Mayhem tapped Dr. Bender's psychology expertise to help him determine the ideal recruits for Project Spectrum. M.A.S.K.: Revolution
Later, Matt Trakker, wishing to recruit new members to M.A.S.K., broke into a highly-secured facility guarded by Cobra Vipers to see Bender. Trakker knew about Bender's participation in the Project Spectrum recruitment and wanted to see the profiles of the V.E.N.O.M. members to know what personality traits to avoid. Bender showed Matt the profiles, warning him that a war was coming and that Trakker must be prepared for it. He then summoned the Vipers, telling Matt that although he excused it this time, he would not tolerate him trespassing again. The Origin of V.E.N.O.M. Part 1 The Origin of V.E.N.O.M. Part 2
Dr. Mindbender was present at the official reformation of Cobra when the Baroness took on the Cobra Commander mantle. G.I. Joe vol. 5 #9
At some point, Joe Colton recruited Mindbender to his villainous alliance. During the invasion of Cybertron, Mindbender donned the Baron Ironblood costume and led the main attack on Iacon, serving as a decoy while Colton and the rest of the villains took the Talisman to the center of the planet. He was stopped by Scarlett, who unmasked him. The Joes threatened Mindbender, but he refused to divulge Colton's real plan. First Strike #3
Games
Transformers Roleplaying Game
Dr. Mindbender attempted to synthesize the rare materials responsible for operating Cobra's M.A.S.S. Device. However, he wound up tapping into a rift of dimensional energy, which merged him, Lord Zedd, and Shockwave into the nefarious Lord MindWaveZ. After a group of heroes destroyed the Multidimensional Collider and collapsed the Apex, Lord MindWaveZ's individual components were sent back to their home realities. Worlds Collide: Battle for the Multiverse
Notes
- Mindbender has been voiced by Transformers alumni Brian Cummings and Charlie Schlatter.
