Fan Casting Mentallo in Edgar Wright's Astonishing Ant-Man

Mark Flumm grew up idolizing superheroes. After his telepathy manifested as a young teenager, Flumm prepared to become a superhero himself, inspired in large part by Charles Xavier, then known as Professor X, during Xavier's time in the superhero team known as the Shadowguard. Flumm began his superhero career by working as a private investigator in the Chicago, Illinois, area, using his telepathic and psychometric talents and self-defense training to fight crime using the name Mentallo. This meager success drew the attention of an unnamed criminal subversive who found Flumm's heroism "sickening", but thought that Flumm's psychic talents could be useful to his organization. This subversive had his associate Doctor Faustus begin an operation designed to turn Mentallo into a villain. First, Faustus began by planting evidence – some manufactured, but some of it the truth which had been suppressed by the authorities – designed to portray Flumm's heroes in a negative light. Discovering that Flumm could not fully filter out the thoughts of those around him, Faustus then had his agents walk around thinking about how easily those with powers, including the Shadowguard and the Midwest's hero team of the '90s and '00s, the Rust Belters, got away with certain crimes. On top of all that, the only people who approached Flumm's PI office were those seeking to prove their spouses and significant others were cheating on them; these affairs were all secretly arranged by Faustus. Finally, when he felt Mentallo had sufficient doubt and a rising cynicism, Faustus arranged a meeting with Mentallo. Mentallo walked away from that meeting a changed man.