Monsieur Mallah

Monsieur Mallah is a fictional character, a superintelligent anthropomorphic gorilla supervillain in the DC Comics Universe. He is the loyal servant of and, in time, the romantic partner to the Brain.

Monsieur Mallah
Monsieur Mallah with the Brain, from the cover to Outsiders #37.
Art by Daniel Acuña.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceDoom Patrol v.1 #86
(March 1964)
Created byArnold Drake (writer)
Bruno Premiani (artist)
In-story information
SpeciesEnhanced Gorilla
Team affiliationsBrotherhood of Evil
Injustice League
PartnershipsThe Brain
Notable aliasesAbu Hallam
AbilitiesSuperhuman strength, speed, agility and reflexes
Genius-level intellect
Use of guns

Publication history

Monsieur Mallah first appeared in Doom Patrol #86 (March 1964) and was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani.[1]

Fictional character biography

Origins

A scientist experiments on a captured gorilla, raising its I.Q. to the genius-level of 178. He names the gorilla Monsieur Mallah and educates him for almost a decade before making him his personal assistant.

Ten years ago, I took a superior ape—stronger than any human... more agile than the best athlete! Through secret teaching methods and shock treatments, I gave it an I.Q. of 178! Genius status!

The Brain, explaining Mallah's origin in Doom Patrol #86

The scientist's colleague, Niles Caulder grows jealous of his work and arranges for the scientist to get caught in an explosion, which destroys the scientist's body. Only the brain survives, and Caulder plans on putting his brain in a robot body.

Mallah rescues the scientist, taking his brain and transferring it to a computer network that keeps it functioning. Now known simply as the Brain, the scientist and Mallah gather together the criminal organization known as the Brotherhood of Evil in hopes of conquering the world and getting revenge on Caulder.[2]

Art from Doom Patrol #34, by Richard Case.

Caulder, now known as the Chief, through a series of other accidents that he manipulated, forms the superhero group known as the Doom Patrol. Setting out to destroy the Chief's 'pets', the Brain, Mallah, and their Brotherhood become enemies with the Patrol. Their criminal activities also put them into opposition with the Teen Titans.

Romance

During Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, Mallah has the Brain placed in one of Robotman's bodies. In his new body, the Brain confesses to Mallah that he's in love with him. Mallah reveals that he feels the same way, and the two kiss. However, Robotman's body had developed sentience and vowed never to be enslaved by a brain again; when Mallah placed his lover in the body, he triggered a self-destruct mechanism, which explodes as they kiss.

The two later resurface (the Brain back to floating in a jar). It is uncertain how that happened.

Recently, the Brotherhood has been raiding genetic research facilities, their plan being to unlock the secrets of cloning in order to create a new body for the Brain, so he and Monsieur Mallah "can finally be happily ever after". The Brain is ultimately able to clone a new body for himself, but after a short while it begins to break down, so he has Mallah rip off his head so he could put his brain back into another jar.

In the Salvation Run storyline, the Brain and Monsieur Mallah appear amongst the villains that were sent to the planet Cygnus 4019. The Brain and Mallah arrive at Joker's camp, and Mallah asks Gorilla Grodd to speak with him away from the others. Mallah proposes to Grodd that as fellow gorillas, the natural kings of the jungle, they should team up and, through their combined might, rule the entire place by themselves. Grodd laughs at Mallah for considering himself, an "absurd science experiment", comparable to "a proud child of Gorilla City".[3] Mallah strikes Grodd and calls him a beast, causing Grodd to fly into a rage and try to kill him. Although Mallah also has a gun and shoots Grodd several times, Grodd still has the upper hand, and is about to kill Mallah when the Brain interjects, pleading for Mallah's life. Thinking better of it, Grodd picks the Brain up and beats Mallah to death with the Brain, smashing the Brain's protective hull in the process and killing him as well. Before breathing his last breath, Monsieur Mallah says he dies happy taking solace in that he and the Brain will finally be able to be together forever.[4]

The New 52

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Brain and Monsieur Mallah first appear assisting Gorilla Grodd in taking over the remains of Central City at the time when The Black had taken over most of the world. They end up capturing Animal Man and the heroes that are with him. Animal Man's group is saved by Frankenstein and his Patchwork Army who defeat most of the gorillas as a few of them are allowed to escape in order to tell the tale of their defeat.[5]

Powers and abilities

Monsieur Mallah has superhuman strength, speed, agility and reflexes, and a genius-level intelligence. He usually carries a machine gun, or any other firearms.

Other versions

Smallville

In Smallville season 11, Monsieur Mallah appears (with the Brain on his back) and robs the Musée du Louvre. They are both taken down by Superman and Impulse. In this version, Brain and Mallah are revealed to be lovers. [6]

In other media

Television
  • Monsieur Mallah (alongside Brain and the Brotherhood of Evil) appeared in the Teen Titans animated series voiced by Glenn Shadix. As his name suggests, Mallah possesses a faux French accent, which complements the apparent Russian accent Madame Rouge seems to possess, the weary and worn-out voice of General Immortus, and the metallic, emotionless voice of the Brain. Mento claims that Mallah's strength "is only matched by his intelligence", and although he is smart enough to know not to continue fighting a losing battle and understands how to use technology (including weapons, tanks, and computers), he seems to prefer direct confrontation over tactical prowess, as he tends to be rather over-reliant on his own brute strength to accomplish the majority of his objectives (though one could make the argument that most of his objectives are simplistic enough to only require strength and confrontation), and is somewhat irritable and overconfident, traits that eventually prove his undoing. Whenever free time is on his hands, Mallah often spends his time playing chess with the Brain, as well as commenting on the actions and decisions the Brain makes during each game. Due to the nature of the show, no reference is made to Mallah's sexuality, and his relationship with the Brain appears to be purely platonic respect for the other's intellect. During the "Hide and Seek" episode, Mallah was sent (mostly likely by the Brain) to capture Timmy, Melvin, and Teather, three superpowered infants that have apparently caught the Brain's interest, and spends the majority of the episode's duration chasing them and fighting Raven, who was assigned by Robin to "babysit" them, eventually facing defeat at the hands of the infants' bear-resembling 'guardian', Bobby, much to the surprise of both Mallah and Raven herself, the latter initially believing the actions cause by (then-invisible) Bobby earlier were a result of psychic tendencies on the part of Melvin. He participates briefly during the final battle in "Titans Together"; impressed by the "enthusiasm" of Beast Boy, Pantha, Herald, Mas, and Jericho as they fight off the horde of Brotherhood-aligned supervillains, Mallah requests the Brain to allow him to "crush" the small group of Titans, but was denied, the Brain (correctly) predicting that the other villains would've been enough to subdue the heroes. After the remaining Titans arrive in time to collectively combat the Brotherhood of Evil, Mallah instead requests for them (Brain and himself) to "take their leave", to which the Brain calmly mocks Mallah for his 'cowardice', as well as ordering him to "put an end to this nonsense", leaps down onto the arena, 'swats' away Gnarrk and Cyborg as they charge at him, and is once again confronted by Bobby, which Mallah presumably spends the majority of the battle's duration fighting. After realizing they have lost the battle, Mallah is seen accompanying the Brain as he attempts to leave the base, but are almost immediately stopped by Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, Speedy, Bumblebee, Aqualad, and Tramm. Desperate and annoyed, the Brain detaches his skull jar from the rest of his robotic form, which Mallah promptly grabs and leaps onto several scaffolds, all the while dodging the energy blasts from the other Titans, with Robin and Beast Boy giving chase. As the bomb stored inside the Brain's jar form is activated and eventually thrown out into space by Herald, Starfire, and Cyborg, and as the Brain's skull jar is retrieved by Robin after being knocked out of Mallah's hands, the gorilla attacks Beast Boy in a rage, is thrown out of the scaffold onto a row of frozen criminals, and is ultimately flash-frozen on-screen by Más y Menos.
  • Monsieur Mallah appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Gorillas in Our Midst" voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Monsieur Mallah, Gorilla Grodd and Gorilla Boss form a secret alliance called G.A.S.P. (short for Gorillas and Apes Seizing Power) and replace Gotham City's population with gorillas. He is defeated by B'wana Beast, Vixen, and Batman. In "The Last Patrol", Monsieur Mallah assists the Brain in trying to kill Niles Caulder but is stopped by Batman. Mallah and other Doom Patrol villains show up in General Zahl's boat, but is defeated by Batman.
  • Monsieur Mallah appears in the Young Justice episode "Alpha Male" with his vocal effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker. He and Brain were behind a plot to use mind-control collars on India's wildlife, which he had enhanced into enlarged monsters using Kobra Venom. Monsieur Mallah used a special trap to capture Captain Marvel so that Brain can do a brain transfer on him. While Brain attempted this, Monsieur Mallah assisted the mind-controlled animals into attacking the Team. Although Monsieur Mallah was defeated by the Team, he and Brain ended up getting away. In "Misplaced", Monsieur Mallah was present with Brain during his meeting with the other members of The Light (Project Cadmus' Board of Directors) even when Riddler and Sportsmaster bring them an organism that they stole from S.T.A.R. Labs which they plan to bring "into the Light". He has been seen alongside the Brain in "Insecurity" when he was working with Klarion the Witch Boy and Professor Ivo into weaponizing the Starro-Tech. In "Auld Acquaintance", Monsieur Mallah helped Ra's al Ghul, Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, and Ocean Master raid Cadmus Labs of its valuables where Monsieur Mallah took Match's pod. In "Summit", Monsieur Mallah accompanied Brain to the caves of Santa Prisca where the Light is having a summit with the Reach. During the three-way fight between the Team, the Light, and the Reach, Monsieur Mallah was defeated by Beast Boy who knocked him out in the form of a rhinoceros. In the third season, he is currently a member of the Suicide Squad.
  • Monsieur Mallah appears in DC Nation Shorts "Doom Patrol", voiced by David Kaye.
  • Monsieur Mallah appears in the Teen Titans Go! in several episodes.
  • Monsieur Mallah was mentioned by Eric Morden in Doom Patrol, referred to as a gorilla that speaks French.

Video games
gollark: Lots of programs seem to require the horribleness of cmake or those weird `configure` scripts.
gollark: If you don't you'll probably die of random chance eventually anywya.
gollark: Yes, just save system state often, have offsite backups of things which will turn on if the main one goes down, and have batteries.
gollark: Mostly human, some disguised emus.
gollark: Apparently there's been a horrible security issue, fun! https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/15/solar_winds_update/

References
  1. Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  2. Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 180. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  3. Salvation Run #3
  4. Salvation Run #4
  5. Animal Man Vol. 2 #15
  6. Smallville Season 11 #9
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