Who Is the Caterpillar in Shazam? Mister Mind Explained
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now in theaters. Like it usually goes with sequels, they expand the story of the characters we’ve met in the previous movie. Still, they also add a new set of questions that might or might not be answered in the next movie. Despite the situation with dying DCEU, Fury of the Gods’ mid-credit and post-credit scenes teased us with what we might potentially see in the future regarding the movie’s titular character. One of the characters that were featured in the movie’s post-credit scene is the caterpillar, who we’ve also seen in the post-credit scene of the original Shazam movie. So, who is the Caterpillar, and what can that character mean for Shazam’s future on the big screen?
The caterpillar featured in post-credit scenes of the original Shazam movie and its sequel, Fury of the Gods, is a DC character known as Mister Mind. Created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics, the character first appeared in 1943 until his story arc ended in 1945. But, in 1973, the character was reintroduced by DC Comics, and he’s been appearing in their comic books ever since. Known as one of Shazam’s greatest enemies, Mister Mind is a two-inch caterpillar from the planet of Venus. Despite his small size, Mister Mind uses his genius-level intellect and abilities of telepathy, telekinesis, and hypnotism to be one of Shazam’s most formidable opponents.
The situation with Shazam is pretty interesting, considering we know what changes were made in the hierarchy of Warner Bros. and DC Studios. James Gunn and Peter Safran are now in charge of creating a reboot to the DCEU, officially called DCU, and it’s known how many DCEU actors and characters will survive that transition between those cinematic universes. The catch is that these teases showed us something that can theoretically mean a lot in future movies featuring Shazam. Still, it can also mean absolutely nothing since Shazam’s future on the big screen is under question mark with everything going on at DC Studios. But if Mister Mind is still in the game to be the main villain in some of the future DC movies, let’s learn about him as much as possible.
Who is Mister Mind? What is his story?
The character of Shazam was originally introduced as Captain Marvel by Fawcett Comics in 1940. The character was created by Bill Parker and C. C. Beck, and Mister Mind was also one of their creations. Following the lawsuit with DC Comics, Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, and DC Comics acquired the rights to the character in 1973. DC Comics revived the character with his current name — Shazam! Mister Mind was also reintroduced the same year.
Mister Mind was originally introduced in 1943. He’s a two-inch alien worm with a little talkbox around his neck to amplify his voice. He used his intellect and powers of telepathy to recruit his allies into the Monster Society of Evil. This organization consisted of every major enemy then-Captain Marvel had ever faced. Mister Mind was eventually captured and executed for his crimes, concluding The Monster Society of Evil storyline in 1945.
Following the reintroduction of the character in DC Comics in 1973, it was explained that Mister Mind had survived his execution and hid while Captain Marvel was stuck in suspended animation for 20 years (which is how the character’s absence was explained after Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel comics in 1953). Since then, Mister Mind has regularly appeared as one of the most-known enemies of Shazam.
Who is Mister Mind in DCEU? Will he return?
Mister Mind first appeared in DCEU in the post-credit scene of the original Shazam movie. The character was created using computer-generated imagery and voiced by the movie’s director David F. Sandberg. Mister Mind was initially imprisoned at the Rock of Eternity but escaped during Dr. Sivana’s attack. In the post-credit scene, Mister Mind visits imprisoned Sivana and proposes an alliance. Mister Mind and Dr. Sivana have a long history of working together in the comics. So everyone thought Mister Mind would appear in the sequel along with Sivana.
But, Mister Mind and Dr. Sivana didn’t return in the sequel, at least not until the post-credit scene where Mister Mind visited Sivana again after two years after his last visitation. Sivana is frustrated that Mister Mind has proposed an alliance, but he still didn’t tell him anything about this plan of his. Mister Mind says to Sivana that he will need to be more patient since a caterpillar can’t really walk fast to do everything that is necessary for the start of the plan. Sivana answers that he’s already 57 years old and isn’t sure how long he can wait in the cell. Mister Mind tells him that the plan will be put into action soon, but he needs to do one more thing. After that, Mister Mind leaves Sivana alone in the cell again.
Mister Mind and Dr. Sivana have a long history of partnerships in DC Comics, so working together would make plenty of sense for them in some future Shazam-related projects. However, given everything that is going on with DCEU ending this year and DCU taking over in 2025 with a new set of projects, characters, and some actors, it’s hard to say if Zachary Levi will get a chance to play Shazam again. We certainly hope so, and if Shazam 3 ever happens, there’s a chance that we could see that partnership between Sivana and Mister Mind that was teased in two previous Shazam movies.
