Fred had the following powers and limitations:

1. Strength: Fred has having the ability to move large vehicles, including cars, trains, and ships.
2. Leaping: Fred could leap an eighth of a mile or over that of a tall building.
3. Super Speed: Fred could run faster than an express train.
4. Invulnerability: Fred's skin could not be pierced by anything short of a large artillery shell.

Fred knew the secrets of illusion, hypnosis and astral projection.

He can psionically cause other people to see, hear, touch, smell, and/or taste things that don't exist. For example, he can seem to make a solid wall appear in an empty space. He can also cause people to see, hear, touch, smell, and/or taste real things in ways that they would not do naturally. For example, he can make himself look and sound like a different person, or look and feel like a wall, or even seem invisible. Since his power only affects the mind, his illusions cannot be recorded on film or tape or by other means. However, his power works so strongly on the mind that even if his victim or victims know they are being subjected to an illusion, they will still react to the illusion as if it were reality unless they can rid themselves of all suspicions that it is indeed reality. Hence, if Fred creates the illusion of a wall, most people, even if they know it is an illusion, will still be unable to walk through it. Invariably Mastermind's illusions are so realistic that most people are unable to help having the feeling, at least subconsciously, that they are not illusions but reality.

• Limited Memory Manipulation: Fred can use his illusions to re-write the memories of impressionable minds such as children. This process is often flawed however.
• Psychosomatic Symptoms: Fred's illusions are also so convincing that he can cause people to die by giving them an illusion that they have been killed (for instance, he once killed someone by giving them the illusion that they had drowned in water. The illusion was so realistic that, even though there was no water, the victim ceased breathing and died).

By simply making eye contact with an enemy he can implant a hypnotic suggestion leading to short-term mind control.

Illusions that appear solid and can even be recorded and detected by machinery, still he must be able to see the target area. The illusions can imitate any power. the controller can see through the eyes of his creation. The characteristics of these images are as they are in “reality”. Only one Solid Image can be in existence at one time.