Phillip Masters (Earth-11584)

History
"'All will become clear in due time my dear. All you need to know is that you are all my children. All under my protection. And all under my control.'"Phillip Masters was a former artist and woodcarver living in the Bronx section of New York City. Growing up on Staten Island, Masters had very few friends as a child due to his extremely introverted nature and would often take solace in creating imaginary characters to act out scenes in his mind, often creating marionettes to give these characters a physical representation. Masters was ridiculed in his youth for his "playing with dolls," but he paid it little mind and soon converted his boyhood obsession into a full-time career. Though he was far from wealthy, he did achieve some degree of success.

At some point, Masters was enlisted by the Inhuman prince Maximus the Mad to build lifelike marionettes for himself. Masters quickly realized that the clay he used to sculpt the marionettes would somehow grant him control over the individuals, though in reality the marionettes were merely for show, as Maximus was really the one who was controlling the minds of the individuals with his own powers. Maximus also controlled the mind of Masters to some degree, using subtle powers of manipulation to foment the antisocial behavior that had plagued Masters in his youth, and began steering him towards a life of crime. Eventually, Masters would "control" several other members of the Inhumans, including their queen, Medusa, and her sister Crystal. These Inhumans were used to go on a bank robbing spree, with Maximus' ultimate aim to be to incite Black Bolt to declare war on the Humans and use the distraction to usurp the throne of Attilan.

However, one such bank robbery was foiled by the newly created Fantastic Four, resulting in Crystal's capture and the early exposure of Maximus' plans. Masters arranged for Crystal to be broken out of jail by Gorgon, another Inhuman, and reestablished "control" over her. He then carved a marionette made to look like Fantastic Four member The Thing, taking control of his mind as well. A fight in Central Park broke out between the Inhumans and the Fantastic Four. At Maximus' behest, Masters frees the control of Crystal, Gorgon and Medusa once the king of Attilan, Black Bolt, shows up to break up the fight, causing the Fantastic Four to be blamed for the damage in Central Park. Masters begins work on a marionette of Black Bolt, thinking that stealing neural interface technology from Tony Stark will increase his powers (in reality, Maximus plans to use it to overcome Black Bolt's mental barriers and to take direct control of his brother), planning on using the Thing to steal the technology. However, their plans are overheard by Crystal, who goes to the Fantastic Four and reveals their evil scheme. The Four sneak out of the Baxter Building and confront Masters, who once again "takes control" of the Thing. However Ben Grimm overcomes the mind control himself, and destroys the marionettes, symbolically breaking Masters' control over himself. Black Bolt shows up shortly thereafter, knocking out Maximus and restoring Masters to his own senses. Ashamed at what he had done, Masters turned himself in and was quickly sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

Powers & Abilities

 * Artistic Abilities: The only true talents that Masters possessed was his strong artistic ability, particularly in the area of sculpting and woodcarving. He could create lifelike marionettes of virtually anyone, which had they been marketed right, could have been considered collector's items.
 * Mind Control Powers: Masters was convinced by Maximus the Mad that the marionettes he made could act as controlling mechanisms to control the actions of the individuals he carved. Masters believed this was due to the special clay that Maximus provided him, when in reality it was Maximus controlling their actions all along.

Weaknesses
Masters was likely suffering from some sort of mental disorder (certainly some kind of social anxiety as a child), and thus was severely antisocial and introverted. This made him a prime target for Maximus' mind control and powers of manipulations. Otherwise, Masters possessed no special abilities that made him any less vulnerable than a normal human being.

Film Details
The Puppetmaster appears in the following films in the Earth-11584 continuity. In all cases he is portrayed by actor Kelsey Grammer.
 * The Fantastic Four (2014)