Mad Mod
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Mad Mod is a fictional character in the DC Universe. He was until recently an enemy of the superhero team, the Teen Titans.
[edit] Comic Book
One of the first villains ever to menace the Teen Titans, Mad Mod (real name Neil Richards) was a Carnaby Street fashion designer with no actual superpowers of his own. His assumed name is derived from the Mod style popular in England at the time. He used his label as a front to smuggle goods inside his clothing. After being foiled, he later hatched a plot to steal the Queen of England's scepter, but was stopped as well.
In later years, he went straight and reappeared in Teen Titans vol. 2 as an ally of Mr. Jupiter, where he designed the costumes of the new incarnation of the Titans. Mad Mod label "retro" clothing has occasionally been seen in the DCU since.
The term "Mad Mod, Poet God" was used by Peter Milligan for the unrelated DC character Shade the Changing Man. Another unrelated DC character is the "Mad Mod Witch" from The Unexpected, later revealed to be a resident of the Dreaming known as "the Fashion Thing".
[edit] In the animated series
Voiced by: Malcolm McDowell
Mad Mod has no superpowers of his own, but he has a technologically enhanced cane, which he uses to control a variety of machines such as robots and holographic projectors. He can also use his cane to drain the youth from someone, making them old and him young again. He has a British accent and is utterly anglophilic. Moddie, as he often calls himself, tends to view the Titans as rebellious "snots", and claims that they show no respect for their elders. It's likely he's a parody of Malcolm McDowell's portrayal of Alex de Large in the film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange.
In "Mad Mod", his first appearance, he kidnaps the Titans and places them in his "school" (really just one big illusion), where he attempts to teach them to behave. When his attempts to hypnotize them fail, he leads them on a long chase through his ever-changing school. They escape when upon finally reaching him, Robin realizes that the Mad Mod in the room with them is as fake as everything else; he then notices a break in the wall of the room, allowing him to penetrate into the real Mad Mod's control room and knock him out.
In his next appearance, "Revolution", Mad Mod remakes the entire city in the image of old England by using hypno-screens to control the populace and giant illusions to change the look of the entire city to that of merry old London. He also kidnaps Robin and uses his staff to drain his youth, reducing Robin to a decrepit and helpless old man while Mad Mod becomes his young self again. The other Titans are initially prevented from reaching Mad Mod and freeing Robin by various large robots modeled after the Coldstream Guards. Eventually the Titans succeed in knocking the cane out of Mad Mod's hand, which Robin then uses to reverse its aging effects. He then breaks the cane, ending Mad Mod's rule over the city by deactivating his equipment.
Mad Mod later has several small appearances as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil where he is somehow young again. He was last seen fighting in "Titans Together" where he was blown off his feet by Beast Boy in Tyrannosaurus form. He was then flash-frozen with the rest of the Brotherhood.
The character was bizarre, even by the cartoony Titans series' standards. His ability to produce illusions resulted in surreal, 60's styled landscapes, and allowed "Moddie" to appear in several different forms; even appearing stylized in the manner of God as he appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or becoming a rounded, Blue Meanie-esque creature, most likely a nod to the humor of his British heritage. In addition, his mind-control technology, and bizarre hideout settings give him some similarity to the Mad Hatter, though more humorous, and far less dangerous.
The use of specially designed traps and arenas hint at the fact that Mad Mod maybe the counterpart of Marvel's Arcade.
