Mammoth
29 years ago - Baran Flinders & his twin Selinda Flinders are born in Australia.
25 years ago - 4-year-old Baran & his twin Selinda Flinders are subjected to experimental radiation by Dr. Helga Jace for H.I.V.E.
10 years ago - 19-year-old Baran & his twin Selinda Flinders battle the Teen Titans with H.I.V.E. They join Doctor Light's Fearsome Five and battle the Titans again before they are imprisoned.
9 years ago - 20-year-old Baran & his twin Selinda Flinders are freed from prison by Psimon when he reforms the Fearsome Five. They battle Superman & the Teen Titans.
8 years ago - 21-year-old Baran & his twin Selinda Flinders retreat to the Australian outback after the fall of the Fearsome Five, working as low-level hijackers.
3 years ago - 26-year-old Baran & his twin Selinda Flinders are recruited into the new Fearsome Five by Doctor Sivana. They are defeated by the Outsiders.
This was a weird timeline to create, because it's actually two timelines. Mammoth's entire role is as a member of the Fearsome Five, but even within that, he and his sister Shimmer effectively wind up as two sides of a dual character. There isn't a lot to say about them, they're kind of one-note villains, but often that's exactly what you need to put up against the heroes. Mammoth is a great, well-executed character archetype with built-in ties to other baddies, and that makes him a great tool for telling stories.
Mammoth's Comic HistoryMammoth appeared for the first time, along with most of the Fearsome Five, in 1981's The New Teen Titans #3. With the exception of Doctor Light, none of the members of the team were really designed to break new ground character-wise. Everyone was essentially a particular archetype given form... a group of threats all bundled together to present a pretty capable challenge for the Titans to battle for an issue before they inevitably win and move on to more challenging enemies.
Mammoth is the big scary muscle guy... the cornerstone of any team of superpowered people, evil or not. That basically constitutes his entire personality, although they did give him a childlike relationship with his twin sister, which gives him a role to play. He disappeared from most stories once the Fearsome Five broke up, but returned (now with 200% more beard) when they were reunited by Dr. Sivana. |
Our Mammoth StoryThere isn't a lot of story HERE; Mammoth doesn't really drive a lot of narrative. Mostly, he just follows along with whatever the Fearsome Five, and more importantly his sister, are doing. The fact that Shimmer was actually killed off for a good chunk of time (something like ten years?), means that he was also out of use for the same time, and the world continued to turn, so he's not really someone we need to put a lot of work into . His role is just as the muscle for the team that often squares off with the classic Teen Titans.
What we can do, of course, is just do a little work on his backstory. Rather than making Mammoth & Shimmer generic metahumans, we can actually give them their powers thanks to Helga Jace, because she has early ties with H.I.V.E., and thanks to the animated Teen Titans series, so does the Fearsome Five. Also, we're taking a cue from the twins in-continuity period of attempted retirement and have them return to Australia for a time and work as low level hijackers. I especially like that because it just seems to work with these two, whose whole deal is that they have a lot of power but very limited ambition. It's what makes them such great members of a team like the Fearsome Five; where they're all meant to be more powerful together. |