Mento: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Steve Dayton

First Appearance: My Greatest Adventure #91 (November, 1964)

Powers: Telepathy, Telekinesis, Lie Detection, Memory Manipulation, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, and Thought Projection

Affiliation: Doom Patrol, Seven Soldiers of Victory

Did You Know? Mento is married to Elasti-Girl and the two adopted Beast Boy, Garfield Logan.

A Little History

The creation of Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, Mento first appeared in 1964 on the pages of My Greatest Adventure #91.

A wealthy man who sought nothing more than to win the heart of Rita Farr, Steve Dayton transformed himself into the superhero, Mento. To become a superhero he commissioned the devolvement of a helmet that would give him psionic abilities. To prevent just anyone from using the helmet, he had it custom made to only fit his head. He did all of this because he thought that Rita wouldn’t reciprocate his feelings unless he was a superhero like her.

His plan worked and the two ended up marrying and adopting a son together. 

Following the death of his wife, Dayton becomes involved in searching for her killers. While traumatic, the death of his wife has far-reaching ramifications that at this time, did not begin to surface.

Eventually, Steve is recruited by John Constantine for a battle that takes place in Hell. With the help of Zatara, Sargon the Sorcerer and others, he and Constantine are able to fend off the dark demons. This battle did not come without a cost. Both Zatara and Sargon the Sorcerer are left severely burnt and Mento insane. This battle is partially to blame for Mento’s insanity. Also around this time, Steve develops a tumor on his brain.

Now in a wheelchair and insane, he forms the group Hybrid and begins to lash out on his son. He does this because he blames him for the death of his wife. After various encounters between Hybrid and his sons new team, the Teen Titans, his Hybrid teammates rise up against him. As a result, they and their once enemies, the Teen Titans join forces and begin to cure all that ails him. They are successful and at the end, throw away his helmet thereby disposing him of what brings him the most problems. 

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