Mr. Big

The size-shifting Grand Old Man of Villainy

“You’d be on my side if you knew what these people did.”

Mr. Big is an experienced older villain. He’s been at it for a generation, at least. He’s potentially very dangerous, but not malicious. He’ll do things like grow to 20 meters in height and tool around town, just to recreate music videos like the Rolling Stones song “Love is Strong” or Tube and Berger’s “Straight Ahead”. He commits his share of robberies and assaults, but he goes out of his way to avoid hurting innocent people.

What really motivates him is anti-government sentiment. He distrusts law enforcement and state power, from national agencies down to beat cops. He tells stories of breaking his villain friends out of CIA black sites. He’ll be show restraint around vigilantes, anti-heroes, and other independent sorts. He saves his fury for heroes who work with the Establishment.

Aside from changing his own size, from giant to almost-invisible speck, Mr. Big can shrink inanimate objects, reducing their weight and size to almost nothing. He keeps a huge variety of items on his person at all times. What people think are tattoos across his bare chest and bulging biceps are shrunken items, from guns to lockpicks all the way up to automobiles and buses. He’s fond of surprising heroes by summoning huge amounts of stuff out of seemingly nowhere.

Mr. Big has been in the business for a long time, and has been known to mentor junior villains. His latest trainee, a pyrokinetic once known by her moniker of “Hot Mess”, has gone to therapy and graduated to the name “Firebrand”.

Playing Mr. Big

Mr. Big is not malicious. His motivation is to live life however he sees fit. He’s something like a movie pirate, sailing the seas in defiance of established authority, stealing to enrich his life rather than his wallet. He’s a good character to use when talking about the gray areas of superheroic worlds, such as villain imprisonment or depowering.

He was inspired by Marvel’s Hank Pym in his Dr. Pym persona, where the character would use shrinking power to carry around an assortment of useful tools.

Plots

Stop Mr. Big from breaking a captive villain out of confinement
Thwart an attack on a government facility
Keep Mr. Big from causing a civil disturbance

Dialogue

“Go Big or Go Home.”
“Anyone with power turns villain sooner or later. Most of them got elected.”
“Hey - it’s over. Let’s all chill out and go home.”

Comic Book Panels

Mr. Big grabs hold of a miniaturized item from among his “tattoos”, revealing it as a weapon, tool, or vehicle. This could also be a steel wall, pile of rocks, or some other barrier.

Mr. Big alternates between ordinary human and inches-high heights in order to dodge attacks, escape bonds such as handcuffs, or get through difficult terrain such as a collapsed building.

Suddenly, several of Mr. Big’s allies and students appear on the scene - dropping in from the air, materializing, and so on according to their individual powers. Mr. Big just smirks.

Variations

Motivation

As he is, Mr. Big doesn’t have big world-conquering ambitions. He just wants to be free to do his thing. He could be even more laid-back, acting more as a mentor for younger villains than an active bad guy himself.
It’s possible that Mr. Big goes on a crusade against big government interfering with villains. He can break his allies out of jail as fast as the heroes put them there, causing a never-ending stream of headaches.

Allies

Mr. Big has racked up a lot of favors over the years, and can bring in older villains to help him with something. He might be even more important than that, having ties to most major villains in the setting.
Instead of more capable mature villains, he might have a squad of young trainees he’s equipping to become the new generation of bad guys.