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| “ | You're with Soldier Boy. You're trying to f-cking kill me. Leave me alone! I'm not bothering anyone. I'm just trying to get away from all the f-cking voices. I'm just trying to get away from all the f-cking voices. I'm just trying to get away from all the f-cking voices! | „ |
| ~ Mindstorm to Hughie Campbell. |
| “ | I've been inside his head. That guy's a piece of shit. | „ |
| ~ Mindstorm to Hughie on waking Billy Butcher. |
Daniel, also known as Mindstorm, is a supporting antagonist in Season 3 of the 2019 Amazon adaptation of The Boys.
He is a telepathic supe, was a member of Vought's superhero team Payback, and suffered from habitual abuse from his team leader, Soldier Boy. During Operation Charly, he participated in betraying Soldier Boy to the Russians and later became a recluse due to sensory overload. In 2022, he was confronted and killed by Soldier Boy, who returned to kill his former teammates for their betrayal.
He was portrayed by Ryan Blakely.
Biography[]
Background[]
Not much is known about Dan's past, but he was born with the ability to read an individual's mind due to being injected with Compound V. Into adulthood, Dan became a superhero known as Mindstorm and became a member of Vought's superhero team, Payback, alongside Soldier Boy, Black Noir, Crimson Countess, Gunpowder, Swatto, and the TNT Twins. During his time on the team, Dan and his teammates were habitually abused by Soldier Boy, and excluding Gunpowder, all grew to resent him. Mindstorm additionally began to suffer from bipolar disorder at some point and was later prescribed lithium to treat his disorder.
Operation Charly[]
Having had enough of Soldier Boy's abuse, Black Noir met with Vought to get rid of his team leader, and they agreed to his request since they had already made his replacement. Noir informed Mindstorm, Crimson Countess, and the TNT Twins of his plan to betray Soldier Boy to the Russians but didn't inform Gunpowder due to his loyalty to his partner. In Nicaragua, Payback were sent to assist the CIA in their illegal drug trade to fight against the Soviets. The Russians and Sandinistas attacked the camp, and due to Gunpowder's recklessness, they were able to confront Soldier Boy. During the battle, Mindstorm used his abilities to distract Soldier Boy long enough for Countess to knock him out with gas, allowing the Russians to capture him.
Following the operation, Countess covered their betrayal of their case officer, Grace Mallory, by saying that he was instead captured and killed by the Russians. Vought then covered the incident by telling the public that he sacrificed himself to stop a nuclear meltdown in the states and went on with replacing him as America's superhero with Homelander. At some point, the team disbanded and went their separate ways, with Mindstorm remaining with Vought and becoming a performer at their casino in Las Vegas by performing magic tricks. Around this point, Mindstorm started to suffer from sensory overload due to hearing everyone's thoughts, and he often secluded himself to clear his mind. During one walkabout in California, he encountered a motorcycle gang that attempted to kill him, but he used his powers to entrap them in endless nightmares, resulting in the gang dying of dehydration.
Mindstorm continued to perform for several years on his television show, but it was later canceled when one contestant injured themselves. Presumably, after this, Mindstorm suffered from a breakdown due to his sensory overload and retreated into the woods to seclude himself from people's minds. Dan became a paranoid recluse within his cabin, but would leave to get his prescriptions and necessary needs to survive.
Season Three[]
In 2022, Mindstorm continued to seclude himself from society, but he became a target for Soldier Boy's vengeance due to his betrayal back in eighty-four. Working with Billy Butcher and Hughie Campbell, the three were able to locate Mindstorm by cross-referencing his sightings when getting his prescriptions. Due to his telepathic powers, he was able to know they were coming and set a trap for them to be incapacitated. He then used his powers to entrap Butcher into a nightmare before returning to his cabin to hide, and he brainwashed a priest and nun to attack Soldier Boy and Hughie during their hunt. The plan would backfire, as Soldier Boy deduced Mindstorm's intentions and killed the priest and nun before continuing his search.
Inside his cabin, Mindstorm hid as Soldier Boy entered, but he was caught and teleported back to Butcher's body by Hughie. Campbell explained that he wanted him to awaken Billy from his nightmare, but Mindstorm was initially hesitant due to Hughie being affiliated with Soldier Boy and knowing that Butcher was a monster. When Campbell offered to teleport him away from Soldier Boy, Mindstorm agreed and freed Butcher from the nightmare, but he was immediately attacked by Soldier Boy. Pinned to the ground, Mindstorm tells Soldier Boy that it was Black Noir's idea and eventually tells his former leader that Vought gave Noir the green light since they replaced him with his son. Shocked and angered by the information, Soldier Boy proceeded to bash Mindstorm's skull in repeatedly with his shield before leaving the area.
Personality[]
Like some supes, he found his powers to be more of a burden than gift, as he was inundated with the thoughts of everyone near him; while he could self-filter for a while, even doing a Vegas show, ultimately the deluge of minds made him retreat into solitude in the wilderness. While he may have suffered paranoia anyway, after Payback's betrayal of Soldier Boy, he would purchase a dozen separate cabins all over the country in an attempt to obfuscate his location out of fear of suffering Soldier Boy's vengeance.
Presumably he also suffered abuse, like the other members of Payback. When some of the Boys are at the Legend's place, Soldier Boy makes an offhand remark about Mindstorm being "crazy," which the Legend corrected as only bipolar disorder; thus, it can be inferred, that Soldier Boy's bullying of Mindstorm was orbited around insults against his mental illness. While Mindstorm's voluntary isolation may have been largely fueled by paranoia and avoiding the noise of people's thoughts, it may have also been out of self-loathing he felt from his bipolar, exaggerated by Soldier Boy's derision and taunts.
He was in ways an average supe, in that he held a disregard for human life, as shown when he hypnotised a priest and a nun to protect himself from Soldier Boy, knowing that they would most definitely get killed by the vengeful ex-team leader. Which also revealed him to be a hypocrite, since he initially refused Hughie's plea to undo the nightmare memory trance he trapped Butcher in due to arguing that Butcher was a "piece of shit." However, he wasn't irrational, since Hughie's V24 teleportation powers were able to convince him to undo the spell, then be spirited away.
When caught by Soldier Boy, he was identical to the other Payback members, as he pleaded for his life, then honestly revealed the truth of his knowledge of events; since he was a mind-reader he perhaps already knew that he was going to be killed, so quickly gave up information, just to end his terror and suffering.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- He is the show's adaptation of Mind-Droid from the comics, in this adaptation being a villainous parody of Professor X from Marvel comics rather than Vision.
