The Hero of the Beach! How does one go from a little Mac to a muscle man? How does one learn to master the muscle mystery? What is a weird flex? What is reality? Flex Mentallo lives these things and more. What does that even mean? Let’s find out!
Flex Mentallo wasn’t always the symbol of muscular masculinity that he is now, he wasn’t even named Flex, it was Mac. He was just a wimp of a guy wanting to have a good time at the beach with his best gal. Sadly, too many of those who have power, abuse it. Some strong stranger would kick sand into many a face at the beach. When Mac spoke up to the cruel kicker, he was easily defeated and humiliated. It would take a strange man, with a TV for part of his face, offering strength beyond measure at the cost of a stamp and filling out a simple form. What arrived in the mail would be a book on how to become the pinnacle of strength. Soon, Mac had become a powerhouse of muscle and more as he would soon find out.
Back at the beach, the sinister sand-kicker would return to pester Mac and his gal, but this time, Mac was ready. Not only was Mac strong enough to stop anymore kicks, he was able to flex in such a way to draw on some reality altering power. A golden aura emblazoned above him, signifying Mac’s new role as THE HERO OF THE BEACH. This energy surge coursed through all around him and knocked the bully far away. Realizing he had to use his powers for good, Mac would leave his old life behind, change his name to Flex Mentallo, the Man of Muscle Mystery, and begin a new life of crime fighting.
Flex would find other heroes to join in the pursuit of justice, they’re team would often deal with strange situations that centered around the color green. Flex would even find love in Dolores Watson, the two would eventually marry. Many a strange adventure was had for Flex and his masked hero friends. Then one day, a reporter had uncovered a big truth while investigating a string of murders, something to do with the Pentagon. Flex was let in on the conspiracy and found himself obsessed with stopping it. He would flex the Pentagon into a circle, stopping their bizarre plan by nullifying the power the shape was somehow giving them.
This obsession would drive Dolores from him, it would warp the lives of his power neighbors as he would attempt to flex the Pentagon’s shape. To no avail, he would try and sneak into the Pentagon to stop their connection, he would be caught by the very people he was trying to stop, the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and trapped in the other dimensional Tearoom of Despair where Flex would lose his powers and his memories, his last flex allowed him to return to Earth but he would struggle to find a life with no identity or strength. He would wander, homeless for years until Danny the Street picked him up to give him a home on their street.
It would take watching the Doom Patrol battle the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. in front of him for his memories to begin to return. He would join up with the Doom Patrol to help them, but still was lacking in his Muscle Mystery. Flex would be briefly reunited with Dolores only for her to be destroyed by the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. then kidnap Flex and bring him to the Pentagon to reveal their nightmarish conspiracy to him, the Ant Farm, a machine to take over the universe. The machine was powered by a psychic named Grant Morrison, I mean, Wallace Sage, not sure how I got those two mixed up. This psychic was revealed to have created Flex, his heroic friends, and all of Flex’s adventures when he was a kid. His powers allowed him to bring Flex into the real world, the trauma of all the events the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. had put poor Wallace through finally caught up with him and he died in Flex’s arms. This tragedy and surrealism of his existence allowed the Muscle Mystery to flow within Flex once more, he would finally flex the Pentagon into a circle, shutting down the Ant Farm and the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. for good.
Now fully powered up again, Flex would begin fighting crime once more. He would begin to find evidence that he might not have been the only one of Wallace’s heroic characters to crossover into the real world. Not only that, but Wallace may have somehow lived again but in a parallel world. Flex would unravel the mystery that Wallace was behind this all, trying to subvert what he thought was a childish need for heroes. Flex would prove to him that there nothing bad with something childish, like hope. Flex may have saved all realities without needing to flex a single muscle of mystery.
There you have it! Flex Mentallo is one of the stranger heroes to come out of the 1990s. Based on the old Charles Atlas comic ads to make the customer buff, he became the very kind of hero he was advertising in. Flex Mentallo has appeared on the small screen in the Doom Patrol television show. Where and when will Flex flex next? We’ll have to wait and see. Until then, see you next time!
Suggested Reading
Doom Patrol #36
Flex Mentallo
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
