Mum-Hotep

Mum-Hotep is a supervillain in the fictional world of Millennium Comics. He is an ancient and powerful sorceror devoted to his own personal power.

Origin and Early History

Mum-Hotep was the foe of the Red Wizards for power in Sumer and Egypt before the rise of modern civilization, but after the sinking of Atlantis. He took as a pupil a young boy with potential for power. He named the boy Lebu. Lebu learned swiftly, but a Red Wizard captured him before he could complete his training. The Red Wizard convinced Lebu that power was best shared among the Red Wizards, rather than concentrated in the hands of Mum-Hotep. Lebu spent time under the Red Wizards, but he learned that the Red Wizards abused their power even as a group and deserted them. Now Mum-Hotep and the Red Wizards were Lebu’s enemies, but Mum-Hotep soon fell beneath the onslaught of Red Wizards. Lebu continued to oppose the Red Wizards, but himself was entombed in what became mistakenly identified as the Pyramid of Cheops.

Modern Age

In the modern age, Lebu passed his silver ring to Oswald Lambert, better known as Captain Silver. During a particular battle, Captain Silver asked the Memory of Lebu contained within the silver ring where he could acquire assistance. The Memory of Lebu informed him of the history of Mum-Hotep. Captain Silver revived Mum-Hotep and together they defeated the band of Red Wizards. Mum-Hotep, however, still desired to conquer the world and unsuccessfully tried to take Captain Silver’s ring. Mum-Hotep then decided to acquire power through other mystical techniques. Mum-Hotep made himself several mystical rings, but his deathly state hindered his effectiveness. He became a foe of Mentor, but refrained from attacking Captain Silver as an individual, since he approved of the destruction of the Red Wizards and occassionally joined Captain Silver in this mission.

Mum-Hotep is one of the few individuals who knows Captain Silver is not Lebu, since the fighting style is different.

Personality, Powers and Goals

Mum-Hotep today, decrepid and a shadow of his former self, is driven by the same lust for power as when he was nearly a demi-god those ages ago. Patience and long-term planning have always been his trademark and that shows even in his refraining from acting against Captain Silver. For that very reason, he is one of the most dangerous foes any Superhero can face.

At his peak, Mum-Hotep could have destroyed whole cities personally. Since being entombed alive for thousands of years, he has become a fraction of what he once was. Regaining his vitality is at the very top of his list of things to do. Without once again being the mage he once was, his ambition of becoming absolute master of the world is many times less likely to succeed. The problem is he needs to sustain himself by drinking the life force of human beings, and the process is not an efficient one. At the current rate, it could be centuries before he is anywhere near his former power level. He is constantly searching for a way to augment the process. Some of his plans involved the draining the superior life force of either Doc Satan or Doc Gabriel, or of draining much of Millennium City at once time, or of summoning then devouring the life of a demon.

Meanwhile, he still has his rings, each of which contain specific types of spells he can work simply by exercising his will. The powers demonstrated from these rings include:

• Controlling fire
• Controlling water
• Hurling lightning bolts
• Hypnosis
• Draining the life force of a living thing (leaving a bizarre dead husk as a result)
• Invisibility
• Levitation

But his greatest single power is the huge amount of occult lore Mum-Hotep has memorized.

In appearance, Mum-Hotep resembles a walking corpse. He wears rich robes of blue and gold, including a gold face mask, to conceal this. The outfit looks vaguely Egyptian. He is a sometimes member of the Coalition of Evil, but generally prefers to work with minions rather than allies. He also favors hidden havens with many secret passages both in and out. One skill that is often useful for such is the training of supernatural beasts, such as hell hounds or even basilisks.