BRAIN-CHILD

Real Name: Arnold Sutton

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-712/"Earth-S") human mutant

Occupation: Student; former scientist and would-be world conqueror

Group Membership: Formerly the United States government of Earth-712

Affiliations: (As unwitting pawns) Squadron Supreme (American Eagle/James Dore Jr., Hawkeye/Wyatt McDonald, Hyperion/"Mark Milton," Lady Lark/Linda Lewis, Nighthawk/Kyle Richmond, Dr. Spectrum/Joseph Ledger, Tom Thumb/Thomas Thompson, Whizzer/Stanley Stewart)

Enemies: Avengers (Goliath/Clint Barton, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Vision/"Victor Shade"), Squadron Supreme

Known Relatives: Harold Sutton (father), Mrs. Sutton (mother)

Aliases: "Dennis the Menace" (as called by Goliath)

Base of Operations: The Dark Tower on an island off the West Coast of the USA, Earth-712

First Appearance: (BTS) Avengers I#85 (February, 1971); (actual appearance) Avengers I#86 (March, 1971)

Powers/Abilities: Brain-Child possessed an enlarged cranium and superhuman intellect, granting him advanced reasoning, mathematical abilities, etc., along with total recall. He was capable of constructing advanced weaponry and other forms of technology. He could also sense the brain-waves of others, which warned him of their approach.

In addition, he could form various creatures and machinery from his mind, and animate them. Whether he was forming illusions, or whether he was actually generating (or summoning) solid matter or energy forms is unclear (and moot), but his creations vanished when he was not able to concentrate on them. His entire base, the Dark Tower, and all that was in it, was created by his mind.

Brain-Child's powers were later removed, making him a normal ten-year-old boy at that time. It remains to be seen whether he or his abilities will ever return.

Height: 4' 6" (by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Brown; (as Brain-Child) none

History:
(Avengers I#86 (fb)) - Arnold Sutton was the son of a married couple who had been exposed to excessive amounts of radiation under unrevealed circumstances.

   Within a year after his birth, Arnold's superhuman intellect was already present, and he was able to understand advanced texts far beyond an infant's level of comprehension, although his parents assumed he was only pretending to read.

   By age four, Arnold began experimenting in advanced chemistry, and he developed the formula for a true universal solvent.

   As Arnold aged, his intellect continued to grow, and soon his brain and skull began to expand as well; but his grotesque appearance did not help his limited social abilities, and other people regarded him as a hideous freak.

   By age nine, Arnold was working for the U.S. military as a rocket scientist, and he developed an advanced anti-ballistic missile--it was the military who gave him his nickname of "Brain-Child".

   As he approached the age of ten, Arnold decided to segregate himself from humanity. He agreed to continue to develop rocketry for America, but only if they would grant him a deserted island off the west coast from which to work.
However, his seclusion at his Dark Tower base did not assuage the bitterness he felt towards humanity, which utilized his mind, but shunned him as a person.

(Avengers I#85 (fb) - BTS) - Brain-Child developed the rocket Brain-Child One under the false pretense that it was a harmless solar probe that would orbit the sun and gather invaluable scientific data--he even duped members of the Squadron Supreme into assisting with its launch. But in actuality, the rocket was designed to cause a super-nova; as a "gift" to himself, the suicidal Brain-Child planned to have the rocket launched on his tenth birthday (see comments), to bring about the utter annihilation of every living thing on Earth, including himself.

(Avengers I#85 (ff)) - Following an adventure in Arkon's extradimensional realm of Polemachus, Thor transported himself and his fellow Avengers back home; but four members of the team--Goliath (Clint Barton), Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and the Vision--were somehow shunted to Earth-S, two weeks into that world's future (see comments), where they found the planet being destroyed by an over-active sun. Using her hex power, the Scarlet Witch managed to return them to their correct time-frame, although they remained on Earth-S (they did not initially realize they were on an alternate world).

(Avengers I#85) - As the four displaced Avengers entered what they believed to be Avengers Mansion, they soon learned that it was actually the headquarters of the Squadron Supreme, and got into a skirmish with some of the members of that group (American Eagle, Hawkeye, Lady Lark, Nighthawk, Tom Thumb).

(Avengers I#86) - The quartet of Avengers convinced Nighthawk of what they had seen of his world's upcoming destruction. Using one of the Squadron's aircrafts, Nighthawk and the four Avengers flew to the Brain-Child One launch site and stopped the remaining Squadron members--Dr. Spectrum, Hyperion, and Whizzer--from launching the rocket.

   The four Avengers and four Squadron members then flew to the Dark Tower to investigate further. Brain-Child was more than happy to admit his actions, and attacked the teams with his base's defenses. However, Goliath managed to make it through the barrage and formed a giant makeshift bow from some wreckage, then used the invulnerable Hyperion as an "arrow" to knock Brain-Child off his throne.

   With his mind exhausted from the continual use of his power and the shock of his defeat, Brain-Child was reduced to the intellectual and emotional level of a normal child--he collapsed to the ground, crying for his mommy, as the entire Dark Tower fortress faded away. Dr. Spectrum then used his power prism to remove Brain-Child's advanced intellect and memories of his actions, returning him to the form of a normal boy. The Squadron Supreme vowed to make certain young Arnold Sutton would have a better life this time around.

   Afterward, the four displaced Avengers were returned home to Earth-616 via the combined efforts of Iron Man and Thor using the Interdimensional Scanner.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema.

The title of the story in Avengers I#86--"Brain-Child to the Dark Tower Came...!"--was adapted from the title of the 1855 poem by Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, which itself was adapted from a line from William Shakespeare's King Lear.

Brain-Child's 10th birthday was given as two weeks prior to January 4, 1971--although the year is topical, the month and date could still be correct.

When the four Avengers appeared in Earth-712's potential apocalyptic future, Quicksilver noticed a newspaper dated January 4, 1971, a couple of weeks in their relative future--Goliath also commented that for them, the month was still December. Also, when that world was being destroyed by the intense heat of the super-nova, the four Avengers appeared as immaterial wraiths, which explains how they were able to survive unharmed.

I wonder what ever happened to Arnold Sutton--taking Marvel's sliding time-scale into account, he's probably a teenager/young adult by now.

And it was never explained why the four Avengers just happened to appear on Earth-712--maybe Professor Imam conjured them there to save the world because all the other Squadron members had initially been duped into helping Brain-Child.--Ron Fredricks

This was one of the Avengers' earliest adventures with alternate Earths (but not the first! see below). The Vision pondered whether they might not have returned to their own world, but instead returned to another Earth, virtually identical to their own...and how would they ever know?

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Brain-Child (Arnold Sutton) has no known connection to:

The Dark Tower has no known connection to:

Brain-Child's humanoid has no known connections to:

Brain-Child One

A rocket designed by Brain-Child, it would allegedly orbit and study the sun; but in reality, it was structured of a metal of his own design that would have triggered a chain reaction within the sun, turning it into a super-nova.

Its launch was to be initiated while under the protection of the Squadron Supreme, but the Scarlet Witch stopped it with her hex power.

In one alternate reality of two weeks in the future, it had been launched, and did result in the destruction of that counterpart of Earth-S.

--Avengers I#85 (Avengers I#85-86

Dark Tower

On Earth-712, it was located on a small deserted island off the west coast of the USA. Appearing to be a large metallic dome, it was so named for Robert Browning's poem (see comments); but this entire structure was generated by the power of Brain-Child's mind.

It contained computerized equipment, monitors, and various weapons that all functioned as if real.

Brain-Child used various defenses to protect his base from an attack by the combined forces of the Avengers and the Squadron Supreme. Quicksilver and the Whizzer had to contend with animated boulders that flew at them, then they were trapped by a super-adhesive that oozed from the walls of a corridor.

The Scarlet Witch and Nighthawk were confronted by a monstrous super-strong humanoid with hypnotic eyes.

The Vision and Dr. Spectrum had to battle a giant amoeba that could self-duplicate when segmented; it could also adapt to counter opponents' powers.

Goliath and Hyperion had to overcome electrically-charged steel cables--when they managed to defeat Brain-Child himself, the mutant boy's concentration was disrupted, which caused the Dark Tower and everything within it to vanish.

--Avengers I#86

images: (without ads)
Avengers I#86, p9, pan3 (main image - Brain-Child)
Avengers I#86, p8, pan1 (headshot - Brain-Child)
Avengers I#86, p8, pan3 (in flashback, Brain-Child, rejected by public)
Avengers I#86, p19, pan7 (Brain-Child, returned to normal)
Avengers I#86, p19, pan8 (Arnold Sutton, held up by Hyperion; Avengers and Squadron Supreme [background])
Avengers I#85, p14, pan1-2 (Dr. Spectrum, Hyperion, and Whizzer by Brain-Child One rocket)
Avengers I#86, p7, pan3 (Brain-Child One rocket)
Avengers I#86, p10, pan5 (Dark Tower on island; Avengers and Squadron Supreme [foreground])
Avengers I#86, p11, pan2 (Dark Tower; Squadron Supreme airship [foreground])
Avengers I#86, p15, pan5 (humanoid grabs Nighthawk)
Avengers I#86, p15, pan7 (humanoid uses hypnotic eyes on Scarlet Witch)
Avengers I#86, p16, pan4 (giant amoeba attacks Vision)
Avengers I#86, p16, pan7 (giant amoeba splits into two)

Appearances:
Avengers I#85 (February, 1971) - Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Mike Stevens (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
Avengers I#86 (March, 1971) - Roy Thomas (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Shel Leferman (letters), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 09/24/2002
Last updated: 07/10/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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