Mandrill (comics)
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Mandrill is a fictional character, a mutant supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. His first appearance was in Shanna the She-Devil #4.
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[edit] Character biography
Jerome Beechman was the son of Frederic Beechman, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Before conceiving his son, an explosion breached the facility's nuclear reactor, bombarding Frederic and a cleaning woman with radiation. When Jerome was born a year later, he possessed black skin (despite both of his parents being Caucasian) and tufts of body hair. Jerome was despised by his family because of his freakish appearance, and when he was ten his father drove him out into the New Mexico desert and abandoned him.
While wandering the desert, Jerome encountered Nekra Sinclair, the daughter of the cleaning woman who had been bombarded by radiation in the same accident that had affected Beecham's father. Although her parents were black, she had been born albino white and had developed vampiric features. For six years they lived by theft and scavenging until they were attacked by a lynch mob that thought they were monsters. The hatred triggered by the attack manifested both Beecham's and Sinclair's powers, which the two used to kill some of their attackers and escape the rest.
Now possessing a more monkey-like appearance, Beecham took the name of Mandrill. Traveling to Africa, the two plotted to overthrow three nations through a cult of personality powered by the Mandrill's pheromonal control over women and create a utopia free of the values that had led them to be rejected when they were young. This effort was thwarted by Shanna the She-Devil. The two eventually escaped, kidnapping Shanna's father in the process, and eventually killing him.
For their next similar plot, they used the Mandrill's powers to raise Black Spectre, a cult of black women committed to overthrowing America. They were defeated on the White House lawn by Daredevil, the Black Widow, and Shanna. Though Nekra was captured, Mandrill escaped the authorities.
Mandrill then raised yet another army of women, called Fem-Force (unrelated to AC Comics' Femforce). He also recruited the Mutant Force and attacked an air force base in Colorado. This adventure was brought to an end by the Defenders and Mutant Force was captured. Mandrill then led Fem-Force against the Indian Point Energy Center, where his parents were now employed. The Defenders again swung into action against him, but in the end Mandrill was defeated when he was shot by his own mother. Surviving, he escaped with the aid of some Fem-Force members.
Mandrill's next appearance was when he tried to get revenge on the Grim Reaper for killing Nekra, but was instead apparently slain himself.
Mandrill survived yet again and was later incarcerated in New York's experimental "Ant-Hill" prison, where all prisoners were reduced in size thanks to Hank Pym's Pym particles. An escape attempt was thwarted by She-Hulk. He then was incarcerated on the Raft, where he escaped during New Avengers #1 to join Crossfire's mind-controlling team of villains in Spider-Man: Breakout. He was recently captured by Spider-Man in the pages of Marvel's February romance specials [1]; Mandrill is one of the comparative few mutants who have retained their powers in the wake of Marvel's Decimation event.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
The Mandrill exudes pheromones that give him domination over women, and he has superhuman strength and agility comparable to that of a great ape.
[edit] Trivia
Mandrill has made no secret of his misogyny, and has often taken sexual advantage of his slaves. In the pages of Daredevil, it was alluded that he had made the Black Widow one of his many conquests. (see first illus)
