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| As a result of the New 52 in 2011, the entire line of DC characters was relaunched, incorporating properties belonging to the company's imprints: Wildstorm, Milestone, and Vertigo. As such, elements of this character's history have been altered in some way from the previous incarnation. For a complete list of all versions of this character, see our disambiguation page. |
You're a part of this team—this family. You won't be alone. 
Mento (real name Steve Dayton) is a member of the Doom Patrol and the adoptive father of Beast Boy.
History
Early Life
The world's third-richest man,[1] he was the billionaire[2] head of Dayton Industries, through which he invented and patented Promethium, a metal with the property of absorbing and generating energy,[3] and was the proprietor of other businesses such as the DreamLand theme park. With a helmet that granted him psychic powers, Dayton took on the identity of "Mento" and joined the superhero team the Doom Patrol. Eventually, he married his teammate Rita Farr and with her, adopted the orphaned metahuman Garfield Logan.[1]
When Farr was seemingly killed in action, however, Dayton grew distant from his son, leaving his upbringing to servants such as Breuer, to whom Dayton was often cruel and abusive. Turning his attention to financial matters,[1] he dedicated his wealth to seeking retribution against the Doom Patrol's supposed killers.[4] Dayton's mental state deteriorated significantly from his use of the Mento helmet, turning him against Logan and his allies the Teen Titans.[1] Dayton's mind sustained further trauma from his participation in a seance that claimed the life of magician Giovanni Zatara,[5] and his son was ultimately able to convince him to cease his use of the helmet, though not to destroy it or give it up to the authorities.[6]
DC Rebirth
At some point, Dayton was kidnapped by Amanda Waller and put on her Task Force XI, a "Suicide Squad" of telepaths made to combat Brainiac.[7]
On the occasion of Logan's birthday, Dayton gave him a car and closed the DreamLand park to hold a private party for his son and the Titans, inciting protests by other would-be patrons who had already purchased tickets. When his yacht was subsequently set on fire while he was aboard, he was rescued by the Titans and suspected the protesters to be responsible, though it and later violence at Dayton Industries headquarters were in fact orchestrated by a new Mento[1]—Breuer, using Dayton's helmet to exact revenge for his poor treatment by his employer, joined by the rest of his staff as the Madmen. Framing Dayton for his crimes, Breuer planted plastic explosive on his person, erasing his memory to conceal his actions, but was defeated by the Titans before he could detonate the bomb. Reclaiming his helmet, Dayton trapped Breuer's mind in a fantasy in which the two men's roles were reversed.[6] The Titans took possession of the helmet, keeping it in their trophy room on the planet Mars.[8]
Dawn of DC
A remorseful Dayton eventually rebuilt his relationship with his son, commemorating with him the anniversary of the Doom Patrol's sacrifice.[4] He returned to the Mento identity and the Patrol, operating from the power-amplifying "Think Tank" in their headquarters the Shelter.[9] Heavily restricted in his use of his abilities, Mento reached out with his mind to identify and inform the Patrol of any metahumans in crisis,[10] such as future rescues Degenerate[11] and Starbro.[12] He discovered the infiltrator Velvet within the Shelter,[9] and was deceived by Brian McClane of Metagen Inc. into sending Niles Caulder and the Patrol into a trap in New Poplar, Illinois.[10]
Mento later warned his team of the Brotherhood of Evil's attack on their headquarters, and reported an intrusion at the grave of Dorothy Spinner, their true target.[13] Though he was reluctant to use the full extent of his powers, Mento was convinced by his teammate Negative Man to intervene as the Doom Patrol were overwhelmed by the Brotherhood. Mentally shutting down the diversionary attackers, he cut off the imagination of the Eternal Flame—a gestalt of Brotherhood leader General Immortus and the all-powerful egregore the Candlemaker, extracted from Spinner's mind—leaving him vulnerable to defeat by the Patrol's new ally the Quiz. Erasing the rest of the Brotherhood's memories of the Shelter, Mento had their teammate Warp teleport them away.[14]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Transportation
- Rita (Dayton's yacht)[1]
Notes
- Mento was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, first appearing in Doom Patrol #91. However, Mento first appeared as part of Prime Earth continuity in Justice League Dark #12 by Jeff Lemire and Mikel Janin.
Related
- 24 Appearances of Steven Dayton (Prime Earth)
- 4 Images featuring Steven Dayton (Prime Earth)
- 1 Quotations by or about Steven Dayton (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Steven Dayton (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Titans: Burning Rage #4
- ↑ Batman/Superman: World's Finest #14
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Deathstroke (Volume 4) #31
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 DC's Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun #1
- ↑ Knight Terrors: Zatanna #1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Titans: Burning Rage #6
- ↑ Justice League: No Justice #1
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Titans (Volume 4) #5
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Unstoppable Doom Patrol #2
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Unstoppable Doom Patrol #5
- ↑ Unstoppable Doom Patrol #1
- ↑ Unstoppable Doom Patrol #3
- ↑ Unstoppable Doom Patrol #6
- ↑ Unstoppable Doom Patrol #7
  Doom Patrol member |
 This character has been primarily an enemy of the Teen Titans, the Titans, or any of the other various Titans incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Titans Villains" category. |
 Suicide Squad member |