Professor Mortum

Professor Mortum
Current Form Pre-Mutation Human Turbo Trap Mode Turbo Scorpion Mode Mortum's current form; robot zombie Mortum shortly before the transformation completes Mortum's human form Mortum as a centipede Mortum's final form; a scorpion/ crab
Information
Gender	Male
Alias	Mortum Master Mortum (by his nephew and his other assistant) Souless Monster (by his own nephew)
Species	Human (formerly) Robot zombie (currently)
Status	Unknown
Occupation	TBA
Age	Unknown
Homeworld	Earth
Interests	Rule Earth by himself Reinvent humanity
Weapons	Teleportation and bombs(formely) Brainwaves absorption and Turbo Modes
Family	unnamed nephew
Allies	Robot zombies army
Enemies	Max Steel C.Y.T.R.O. La Fiera Tempestra Jim McGrath Molly McGrath Kat Ryan Jefferson Smith N-Tek Agents Soldiers
Background Information
First Appearance	Max Steel: Team Turbo
Last Appearance	Max Steel: Team Turbo Fusion-Tek
Voiced By	Scott McNeil

Professor Mortum is the main antagonist of both Team Turbo and Team Turbo Fusion-Tek. Mortum is a megalomaniacal and cruel villain who wanted the revolutionary Connect-Tek, created by Jim McGrath, in order to evolve humanity while becoming a god in the process. Eventually, Mortum is ultimately connected with the Connect-Tek and the device gets embedded on his skull, replacing his brain and at the same time converting him into a robot zombie. Mortum is voiced by Scott McNeil and debuted in Team Turbo.

History

Early Life

Mortum was originally a famous scientist who worked alongside with his unnamed cousin is the top labs of the world. He was a brilliant inventor and a true genius, but he found out that there was a limitation to his genius: his own mortality, or in other words, the simple fact that he was a human.

Mortum became unstable and obsessed with evolving past humanity's flaws to surpass this weak point. During an undetermined amount of time, he built an armor who gave him many different powers. He eventually heard about the Connect-Tek and its ability of responding to a human mind. Mortum went after the device, knowing that with it, he could create the perfect human body that he always wanted. He wanted to directly connect the Connect-Tek to his brain (which ironically happened to him after he mutated into a robot zombie) to become virtually immortal and create almost everything that he could ever think of.

Animated Films

Max Steel: Team Turbo

Prior to the events of Max Steel: Team Turbo, Mortum managed to attack the Daedelus Platform. While the N-Tek Agents were trying to escape from the damaged ship, Mortum suddenly appeared and said that he would be their villain for their morning. After Jim commands the others attack him, Mortum projects a shield around his body and then discharges a strong wave of energy that knocks down most of the agents. Jim gets up and activates his Connect-Tek sword and attacks Mortum. He runs on Jim's direction and easily surpasses his moves and take down him. While he was observing Jim lying on the ground, Jefferson Smith tries to defeat the villain by hitting with a screwdriver but he violently threw him at the wall. Jim later gets up and attacks Mortum with his sword but he manages to stop the attack and breaks the blade of the sword. He then says he wants the Connect-Tek, otherwise, he would take away the lives of all the other N-Tek Agents. Jim says that they would rather die than give it to him, which makes Mortum angry and ultimately decided to teleport more than a hundred agents from the ship.

Mortum making the deal with the villains

Mortum later teleported to his hideout where his assistants were waiting him and put the N-Tek Agents into torturing chambers. There, he contacted Toxzon, Extroyer and The Elementors, and in a persuasive way, managed to convince them to work for him and get the Connec-tek in exchange for N-Tek's secrets, yet they were reluctant at first. Shortly after, the villains went on a rampage on the whole Copper Canyon to steal the technology on the facilities. Mortum appeared a few times when talking with the villains, like when Extroyer didn't found the Connect-Tek on the World 31, or when Max went to the Ice Cube and Mortum comanded the villains to follow him.

Eventually, the device was stolen multiple times by Mortum's allies and Max's Team, so he decided to get the device by himself when Toxzon stole it, and managed to switch it with a realistic hologram. After Max and his Team managed to defeat the villains, Mortum appeared and Max realized that the Connect-Tek was just a realistic hologram made by him to trick his team. While Max's Team was heading to Mortum's hideout, he was analyzing the Connect-Tek and saying that even though Jim created the Connect-Tek, he didn't had the vision, he didn't knew what he could do with it. Suddenly, Max's Team appeared and Mortum decides to implant bombs on Kat Ryan, Jim and Molly and ultimately manages to escape by teleporting himself and the Connect-Tek, but seconds before, Max attacked him with his sword in a desperate attempt of defeating him but only damaged the device.

Mortum mutating into a robot zombie

While Max managed to save the life of his friends and family, Mortum teleported to a desert where his assistants were waiting. They say they were worried about Mortum, but he ignores and says that he underestimated Max's skills of inspiring other people. After he shown the Connect-Tek, one of his assistants says that the device was leaking, which makes Mortum angry and realize that it was damaged while he was escaping. The device starts to overload and a wave of energy emerge while Mortum's body was completely destroyed.  The Connect-Tek eventually merged with Mortum's skull and became his brain, altering his personality and powers.

Max Steel: Team Turbo Fusion-Tek

Mortum wakes up

After weeks or months, Mortum's body was completely buried in the ground. Suddenly, the Connect-Tek started to glow and he merged from the ground and saw a couple who apparently were lost. Mortum slowly walked to them and when they saw him, he launched his hands at them and transformed them into robot zombies, at the same time absorbing their brainwaves. Afterwards, he went to a mountain and saw Copper Canyon and yelled "More!".

Mortum improving the Connect-Tek

Mortum later went to his hideout and there he transformed everyone on his way into robot zombies. While his assistants were worried of what was attacking the base, Mortum suddenly destroyed the door and revealed to be alive after the accident. Mortum's nephew stayed very surprised since he thought that Mortum perished. The villain ignored and asked for their help, but they weren't able to understand. His nephew suggested that he either use a pen and paper or maybe try to mimic movements, but Mortum got angry and transformed his other assistant into a robot zombie. After he absorbed the brainwaves, he said that he was feeling much alive than ever. He then looked to himself at the mirror and said the Connect-Tek had both destroyed and remade him. He said that the more brain energy he consumed, the stronger he becomes, but the stronger he gets, the more brain energy he needs to consume, while at the same time also repairing the Connect-Tek. After he revealed his goals of creating an army that would spread over Copper Canyon and the world, he then demanded his zombie soldiers to bring him more brains.

C.Y.T.R.O. releases his energy ray and "kills" Mortum

Meanwhile, the robot zombies were slowly appearing and Max and his team where trying to contain and defeat them. After they managed to defeat some of them, they stopped and opened their mouth and sent the brainwaves directly to Mortum. Max realised that it could be only going to one place and decided to go after the brain energy. Meanwhile, Mortum was enjoying all the brainwaves that he was eating. After he finished it, he said that it was time for dessert and ran towards his nephew and started to absorb his brainwaves, until Max and his team appeared and Tempestra used her lash to attack Mortum. La Fiera attacks Mortum multiple times and C.Y.T.R.O. uses his energy ray to finish off Mortum. Shortly after, Max asks what's going to Mortum's nephew what was that thing, and he explains Mortum's history: how he went insane and wanted the Connect-Tek for his own gain and how he mutated into a robot zombie.

Mortum after reuniting himself and transforming into Turbo Trap Mode.

After he explained his story, Steel stated that Mortum's body was entirely made out of the Connect-Tek and this would cause a lot of problems. Shortly after, Mortum reunites himself and transforms into his Turbo Trap form, at the same time maniacally laughing and stating that he couldn't be destroyed. He then states that he is an undead, immortal and finally yells his own name. While Mortum's nephew runs away, La Fiera confidently says that if they defeated Mortum before, they will just have to do it again and and runs towards him and dismember the villain. Mortum recreates his lost members and says he couldn't destroy the unliving and teases Alex saying that he couldn't wait to feast on his towering intellect after he said Mortum wasn't the same man as before. Shortly after, Mortum attacks Alex and Max but they manages to dodge him. Tempestra launches a lightning spear on Mortum but he dodges and hides himself in the shadow and laughs. Shortly after he emerges and captures Rayne and defeats her. C.Y.T.R.O. goes after her but he only finds Mortum, who manages to defeat him

Mortum about to capture Steel

and fix him in the ground with a spider projectile. Max and Alex tried to take down Mortum, but both were eventually defeated. After they returned to their base mode, Mortum started to absorb their brain energy until Steel manages to activate the brain shield and ultimately stops the villain. After Mortum saw Steel, he captured him and destroyed the base with Max, Alex, Rayne and C.Y.T.R.O. there and escapes.

Mortum later goes to a mountain with his robot zombie army and sees Copper Canyon's forces trying to save the city.

Abilities

• Superhuman Strength: Mortum is considerably stronger than an average person. This was seen when Mortum easily destroyed the blade of the Connect-Tek Sword of Jim McGrath into pieces by just pressing the blade.
• Superhuman Durability: Mortum cannot be easily taken down and can resist many attacks with the shield that is projected on his body when he is hit by something or someone.
• Brainwaves Absorption/Hands Projectiles: Mortum can release his hands, which are capable of absorbing the brainwaves of the humans, transforming them into robot zombies just like him.
• Regeneration: If Mortum is destroyed, he can recreate himself into different forms. For example, when he was destroyed by C.Y.T.R.O., he recreated himself and transformed into Turbo Trap Mode.
• Base Creation: He could easily create a base by releasing his insect-like arms on the ground. The base had a similar feel to his old base.
• Teleportation (formerly): With this ability, Mortum can teleport himself or specific objetcs into any location that he pleases to go. Also, this is used as a strategy to escape. With his teleportation, it has been proven that he can teleport from a very long distance. He only cannot teleport himself, but also people that are around him.
• Shield Generation (formerly): Mortum can activate a shield that protect his whole body. He unwittingly projects this shield if he is hit by someone or something.
• Transdimensional Energy Generation (formerly): Mortum can use a portion of this energy to teleport himself or other people around him and also attack. He can launch white rays and produce strong discharges of this energy, capable of knocking down many N-Tek Agents.
• Levitation (formerly): By simply raising his arms, Mortum can levitate someone or something with his transdimensional energy.

Arsenal

• Advanced Technology: Mortum counts with advanced technology on his base and technology.
• Connect-Tek: In the end of Max Steel: Team Turbo, Mortum successfully steals the Connect-Tek once for all of N-Tek's hands, but it turns out that the device was damaged and ultimately explodes on him, completely destroying his structure and replacing his own brain.
• Turbo Modes: After Mortum was infused with the Connect-Tek device, he got the ability of recreating his whole structure into different Turbo Modes. Unlike Max's and his team's modes, Mortum's modes have a macabre tone to them.
• Connect-Tek Suit: Mortum's body is completely made out of the Connect-Tek.
• Robot Zombies: Mortum originally utilized an army of hive-minded robot zombies. They were able to absorb the brainwaves of other humans and also feed Mortum.
• Bombs (formerly): Mortum possesses black floating bombs with white spheres that, when activated, are attached to the chest of the person through three suckers. They were presumably fed by Mortum's transdimensional energy.
• Black Suit (formerly): Mortum used a black suit that covered his whole body with the exception of his head. The suit provided superhuman strength, speed and durability, teleportation, levitation and a shield generator, all powered by interdimensional energy. Eventually, the armor was completely destroyed after Mortum's mutation.

Skills

• Genius Intellect: Mortum was described as a brilliant and very intelligent scientist before going insane. He was even capable of dismembering Steel and didn't damaged him at all in the process.
• Expert Tactician: Mortum proved to be a real threat by managing to destroy and crash the Daedelus Platform (none of the villains managed to destroy the ship, with the exception of Toxzon and his virus, that almost made the ship crash in A Germ of an Idea) only with his skills and technology. Also, he is one of the few (or perhaps the only) character(s) that knows about the secret bases of N-Tek spread around the world, which offers quite an advantage to him, thus making Mortum a very unpredictable villain.
  • Top Secret Information: Mortum knows everything about Max's Team Turbo, such as their fighting styles. Additionally, he also knows about Max's secret identity and refers to him as only McGrath.
• Technology Expert: Mortum possesses a vast knowledge about technology. He was even capable of hacking N-Tek's system only with his skills.
• Skilled Fighter (formerly): Mortum could surpass Jim McGrath's moves with ease.

Weaknessess

• Mortum needs brainwaves in order to stay strong or think well.
• Damaged Armor: Mortum's robot zombie form is heavily damaged which sometimes makes him say things too fast or stutter to the point that no one was able to understand him. He can be easily destroyed (or even crumbled) by a simple energy ray, but due to his body being made out of the Connect-Tek, he can quickly recover himself and recreate his whole structure into practically endless forms.
• Brain Bank: Mortum's ultimate weak point. Previously, he wasn't able to contain all the brainwaves that he absorbed, so he decided to create a device that would help him. When Mortum captured Steel, he analyzed his T.U.R.B.O. Energy Bank and created his own version capable of storing endless quantities of brain energy. In his last form (or Turbo Scorpion Mode), Mortum's brain bank is connected to the Connect-Tek and has the shape of an arachnid animal (resembling his Turbo Trap Mode). When the device was destroyed, Mortum started to glow until he was destroyed.

Etymology

In latin, "Mortum" means "dead", which refers to his appearance, considering that he has very pale skin and black circles around his eyes, which is commonly seen in deceased corpses and skeletons. Besides, Mortum constantly refers to death in some of his speeches (like when Max and his Team Turbo went to his base to rescue the N-Tek Agents and Mortum said that he would only see them in the after-life) and also the chamber that he used to torture the N-Tek Agents were similar to coffins.

In his mutated form, it is revealed that Mortum died in the process and converted itself into an undead, which makes an allusion to his name.

Appearance

In his human form, Mortum was a man of average height and his clothes had the influence of Gothic style, possessing only dark colors, like black and grey. Mortum had black slicked back hair, very pale skin, blue eyes with black circles around his eye (making him look like a deceased corpse, thus making an allusion to his name) and an armor that completely covers his body with the exception of his head and a part of his neck. His armor is completely black with many white points around it and various shades of dark and light grey. He used a separated part similar to a coat on his shoulders that also had the same colors as the armor of the villain. When Mortum was hit by someone or something, a white glowing shield was generated around his body, partially covering his armor and head.

In his mutated form, Mortum's armor is completely remade of many black pieces of deformed, dirty and irregular poligons, with some having white or silver borders. Mortum retains the same height as before but he is much skinnier than before. Mortum doesn't have a brain anymore, and only have the Connect-Tek incrusted on his head, where his brain should be, he also have a giant blue poligon on the center of his forehead, which glows when he absorb brainwaves. His face have older features, his skin is bright green, he has silver eyes with glowing blue pupils and he has black markings on his mouth (similar to actual teeths from a skull) and forehead. He have a metallic jaw fixed on his skull with eight teeths. His metallic jaw sometimes bounces and abnormally opens when he is absorbing brain energy. His skull is apparently made out of metal.

Personality

"Ugh, why do you all resist? Look around this world. What do you see? People living in conflict, in chaos! I offer the better way: strength through unity. Strength through order. Mindless, obdients, to one ultimate overlord! I offer my way to the entire world!"

Prior to the series' events, Mortum was described as a incredibly smart and brilliant scientist. Mortum was obsessed in surpassing his weak point, which would be his own mortality. He considered it to be nothing more than a limitation for his intellect. He was also a perfectionist.

When Mortum made its debut on the series, he was shown to be calm, threatening, ambitious and treacherous. Mortum is a megalomaniac with a thirst for power and completely obsessed with reinventing humanity itself while becoming a god in the process. He was extremely manipulative, respectful and persuasive to the point of convincing the villains to make a deal with him, which at first, they were reluctant to do so. He considered himself to be a man that gets what he wants and once stated that he had a deep hatred for heroes.

After he infused with the Connect-Tek, Mortum went downright insane but still retains some of the original traces of his personality, such as evolving humanity and himself. However, his plans are more centered in absorbing the brainwaves than evolving humanity. Like other portrayals of zombies, Mortum wants brains and seems to think better when he absorbs more brainwaves. Mortum wants now to transform everyone on Earth into his own puppets, since he wants to make sure other humans (or zombies) obey him no matter what, which denotes that he is extremely authoritarian and manipulative. He is also shown to have a extensive vocabulary.

Quotes

• "This device has both destroyed me and remade me. You see, the more brain energy I consume, the stronger I get! However, the stronger I get, the more brain energy I need to consume. More than I could ever hope to get for myself ... but, for a few minor adjustments, my new techno zombotic form will allow me to extend my reach. Not only, when I consume brains. I will transform humanity! From person to person, brain to brain! My horde will spread among the population into one single mind. Now my puppets ... BRING ME MY BRAINS!" - Team Turbo Fusion-Tek
• "What a feast ... Who knew the human mind would taste so good? And now my brain is once again brimming with brilliance, it's time for dessert." - Team Turbo Fusion Tek
• "A new day rises. A new day Mortum. Human empathy. Human individuality. These are the flaws that let humanity doom itself! Now they will be only Mortum!" - Team Turbo Fusion Tek

Gallery

Professor Mortum's gallery can be seen here.

Trivia

• Originally, Mortum would only appear in the Team Turbo Fusion-Tek as a nameless character known as Robot Zombie. Mortum debuts in Team Turbo and eventually is mutated into half robot and zombie, as originally planned. It is possible that this was a strategy in order to protect the villain's name.
• He is voiced by Scott McNeil, who also voiced Elementor, Bio-Constrictor and other minor characters in the movies of the classic Max Steel. He also voiced Klean Kal in the new series.
• He is one of the few characters that knows about N-Tek's secret bases and the only who knows about the secrets of each member of Team Turbo, such as their figthing styles and powers.
• Mortum is the rebooted version of L'Étranger, a french mercenary in the classic series. L'Étranger was the first enemy that Max ever fought against, while in the reboot, Mortum is the first new enemy that Max, now older, fights against. It is unknown if the crew made this on purpose or not. Despite L'Étranger had a very minor role in the 2000 series (he appeared in 3 episodes and supposedly died in his last appearance, even though he was the only villain who wasn't captured by N-Tek), he returns as one of the most powerful enemies of Max, mainly because of his intelligence and powers.
  • In his human form, when Mortum was hit by someone or something, a white armor would be generated around his body. A white mask would be create on his face, which is incredibly similar to L'Étranger's mask. Parallely, L'Étranger was half cyborg and human while Mortum is half robot and zombie.
• He is the first villain whose mutation was caused by Maxwell McGrath.
• He is the first villain capable of transforming into Turbo Modes. However, he does not yell "Go Turbo ..." before transforming into his modes, even though that they work in a similar way as Max and his team's modes. He is also the third character in the show (the first being Extroyer and the second La Fiera) who has all of his transformations that are seen on the show based on animals.
• He is the first villain that had powers even before his mutation.
• While Mortum is a reference to L'Étranger from the original series, he bears a resemblance with other characters from other franchises. He is very similar to Eon from the Ben 10 series mainly to their color scheme and Dr. Doom from the Fantastic Four 2015 movie.
• Mortum's flying hands might be a parody of the Thing from The Addams Family.