Queer Superhero History: Monsieur Mallah and the Brain

It’s time for another installment of Queer Superhero History, where we look back at queer characters in mainstream superhero comics, in (roughly) chronological order, to see how the landscape of LGBTQ+ rep in the genre has changed over time. Today: Monsieur Mallah and the Brain!

Who would you say is the longest-lasting queer couple in superhero comics? (Pretend I didn’t just spoil the answer in the preceding paragraph.) If you guessed Midnighter and Apollo, you’re close. And there are a number of Marvel couples that flew under the radar for decades before their love dare spoke its name. But if you’re looking for the queer couple that has been explicitly out and explicitly an item for the longest period of time, the winner is…a talking French gorilla and a brain in a jar. And that’s beautiful.

Monsieur Mallah and the Brain debuted in Doom Patrol #86 (March 1964), written by Arnold Drake and drawn by Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol was a weird comic right from the start, about a team of heroes whose powers made them outcasts from society. Led by a rich genius in a wheelchair, they protected a world that hated and feared them. If that sounds familiar, the Doom Patrol actually predates the X-Men by about four months, which is almost certainly just a weird coincidence given the close timing.

In another weird coincidence, in the very same month (January 1964, cover-dated March 1964), the X-Men fought the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for the first time…and the Doom Patrol fought the Brotherhood of Evil (just regular evil, no mutants). The latter Brotherhood was led by the Brain, who is…well, a brain. In a jar. (It’s actually a glass dome full of liquid, but you get it.) And the Brain’s most loyal minion is Monsieur Mallah, a talking gorilla. In later issues, Mallah would develop a pronounced French accent and his signature look, a red beret and a bandolier.

Doom Patrol was canceled in 1973, but the franchise was revived in the late 80s—and was eventually handed over to a young hotshot writer named Grant Morrison. Morrison embraced the original weirdness of the Doom Patrol and pushed it further, incorporating themes of surrealism and Dada. Their scripts were not submitted to the Comics Code Authority, leaving them free to push boundaries and explore aspects of gender and sexuality that the CCA might have forbidden. This included characters like Rebis, a nonbinary or agender being who was created when Larry Trainor, Negative Man, was forcibly merged with both his doctor, Eleanor Poole, and the Negative Spirit, a cosmic entity; and Danny the Street, who is a genderqueer sentient…street.

Naturally a writer like Morrison wasn’t going to not use a brain in a jar and a talking French gorilla. And so in Doom Patrol #34, Mallah and the Brain returned, this time in search of a body for the Brain. Hilariously, they are reintroduced with Mallah pushing Brain in a baby carriage while discussing Plato and Descartes. Because of course they are.

They infiltrate the Doom Patrol’s headquarters at a fortuitous time. One of the original members of the team, Robotman (Cliff Steele), is usually a human brain in a robot body. However at this particular moment in time, he is also a brain in a jar, as he’s getting a new robot body—which has gained sentience and decided it wants no part of Cliff. While Cliff and Brain’s…brains…squabble in their respective jars, Mallah subdues the rebellious robot body and installs Brain inside it.

And then…Brain confesses his feelings. “I love you, Mallah,” he says as Mallah weeps tears of joy. “We mustn’t be ashamed of these feelings…kiss me, Mallah!”

They kiss, or are about to (the art makes it a little hard to tell)...and then the robot body self-destructs. Mallah’s beret goes flying and lands on Cliff’s jar. It’s sublime comedic timing.

Brain and Mallah both manage to survive, apparently (how? don’t worry about it), but they didn’t have another major appearance for another 16 years. Then, in Teen Titans #36 (July 2006), the Titans allied with the Doom Patrol, putting them on a collision course with our star-crossed lovers. Brain is now in a living body, having cloned one from, presumably, his own brain matter. He declares that he and Mallah will triumph, “because love is on our side,” and once again asks Mallah to kiss him—but once again they are thwarted, as the cloning process was imperfect, and Brain’s new body is already crumbling. Mallah removes Brain’s brain, re-jars it, and they escape through the sewers while quoting Nietschze at each other. Because of course they do.

Brain and Mallah continued to appear semi-regularly over the next two years, still searching for a way to be together, until the miniseries Salvation Run, in which Gorilla Grodd beat Mallah to death with Brain’s jar, killing Brain as well. Sigh.

But again, this is comics. DC rebooted their entire universe in 2011, restoring Mallah and the Brain to life, and they’ve continued to make occasional appearances since. They’ve also made the jump to television, appearing in half a dozen animated series over the past 20 years as well as the live action Doom Patrol. Though earlier shows like Teen Titans (2003) didn’t address the precise nature of their relationship, it’s explicitly romantic in Doom Patrol (2019). Almost more shockingly, not only are they a couple in the currently running (and utterly delightful) My Adventures with Superman…they’re good guys. I mean, yes, they’re chaotic mad scientists, but their hearts are in the right places (metaphorically in Brain’s case).

Monsieur Mallah and the Brain’s story could so easily be offensive: They’re obviously a punchline! They’re conflating queerness with being evil! They keep dying! Mallah is literally an animal! Obviously, everyone’s mileage varies here, and some readers may agree with any or all of those objections. But to me, context is everything, and Mallah and the Brain come from such a bizarre context that the over-the-top goofiness of their romance feels part and parcel of that, rather than homophobic. As bananas (sorry, Mallah) as everything about their story is, there’s something about their connection that feels really genuine, or at least genuinely entertaining.

Either way, Mallah and the Brain have been in a committed relationship for 35 years, which is more than any other queer couple in mainstream comics can boast—and also, incidentally, makes this year their coral anniversary. As the Brain himself said, quoting Nietschze, “There is always some madness in love.” What better place for madness than comic books?