Proteus (Marvel)
Proteus is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
Kevin MacTaggart was a male human Mutant born the son of Moira Kinross MacTaggert and her then husband Joseph MacTaggart. Moira was a clan chieftain and student of genetics at Oxford when she met Joe, a Royal Marine commando from Glasgow. Their relationship ended for a time when Moira fell in love with another Oxford student, Charles Xavier. After Charles went off to war, however, Joe weaseled his way back into Moira's life and got her to break off her engagement to Charles in a letter. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #389) Moira and Joe were soon married, but only then did Moira see Joe's true face — a cruel man with political ambitions, Joe married her for her family connections through the Kinross land and title. Reportedly afraid to leave Joe or admit the mistake she had made, Moira was beaten repeatedly by her husband during their time together. Eventually she ran away to New York, but Joe followed after her. Joe beat and raped Moira when he found her, leaving her in the hospital for a week, but finally agreed to leave her alone. There would be no divorce, because Joe still enjoyed the connections Moira's name brought him, but the couple remained separated for years. As a result, Joe never learned that his last act of violence left Moira with child. (X-Men v1 #127)
After a decade of solitary confinement, Kevin got his first chance at release when a fierce battle broke out on Muir Island between Magneto and the X-Men. Wolverine was incidentally slammed into Mutant X's cell door, jarring loose the inhibitor fields. (X-Men v1 #104)
Mutant X realized that this stolen body was less effective than his original skin at housing his energy form. Reasoning that a more powerful host might sustain him for longer, Kevin decided to possess another resident of Muir Island, the powerful mutant known as Phoenix. He stalked Jean Grey for several days in Angus MacWhirter's body, looking for the opportunity to grab her while she was alone. Significantly weakened by the time his opportunity came, Mutant X was unable to overcome the Phoenix, and was driven off by her psychic assault. He went after Lorna Dane next, but ultimately ended up taking the body of her protector, one of Jamie Madrox's duplicates. (X-Men v1 #125) To avoid further conflict, Mutant X cut his losses and fled Muir Island aboard Angus MacWhirter's boat before the X-Men arrived in force to confront him. On the Scottish mainland, he transferred his essence into the body of Fergie Duncan, rejuvenating himself in the process and leaving the X-Men none the wiser about his current identity. He had just jumped bodies again from Fergie into a passing policeman when the X-Men Wolverine and Nightcrawler caught up with him. Wolverine deduced Mutant X's identity and a confrontation began between the mutants. As they squared off, Kevin rejected the Mutant X label and started calling himself Proteus after the changing god of myth and the room Moira used to control him as a child. Proteus tried to possess Wolverine's body, but was forced out by the Adamantium in Logan's skeleton. Nonetheless, he quickly incapacitated Nightcrawler and Wolverine by distorting spatial and substantial reality around them. Storm arrived and injured Proteus's host with her lightning, but Proteus grounded her and attempted to claim her form as his own. Moira managed to drive him off by firing sniper rounds at her son through a long-range scope, staying out of his field of vision and the range of his powers. Fearing the metal in Moira's bullets, Proteus fled and continued his trek towards Edinburgh and his father. (X-Men v1 #127) After hopping bodies again to rejuvenate, Proteus approached Joe MacTaggert's home in the form of a shop girl named Jennie Banks. Kevin found his father's body to be an excellent fit, synching with him in a way he never had with a host body before. Reveling in his powers, Proteus snatched up Moira who had reluctantly come to warn Joe about his son, and challenged the X-Men to defy him. Cyclops led the X-Men in hit-and-run tactics against Proteus, trying to make him burn out his body while leading him away from the city and any replacement hosts. As Joe MacTaggert's flesh withered away, it was Colossus in his human form who accidentally destroyed the body by striking it against a wall, causing it to collapse into dust. Left as a formless energy wraith, Proteus furiously struck at Colossus with his powers, sadistically tormenting his attacker. In his rage, however, Proteus forgot who he was lashing out at and allowed Colossus to get too close. As Piotr transformed into his armored state, his metal fists plunged into Proteus's energy lattice. Proteus could not abide this massive disruption of his form, and he exploded, scattering his energies across the surface of the planet so that he could never reform. (X-Men v1 #128)
However, remnants of Proteus' energy remained in the world, and they were sought out by Harness and the Alliance of Evil. The abusive Harness used her son, Piecemeal, to absorb Proteus' energies. Eventually, however, they were too much for the boy, who exploded and merged with the mind and energies of Kevin MacTaggart to form a new Proteus. The new Proteus wanted to reshape the world into a form more pleasing than its current "chaotic" state. He was narrowly stopped by the X-Men, X-Force, and the New Warriors, who manipulated him into ending his existence.
In an effort to free himself, the Shadow King unleashed a psychic infection into London to give himself a foothold to escape the astral plane. He was defeated by the efforts of the disembodied mind of Professor X who took over Fantomex's body to allow himself a physical existence on Earth. Now calling himself X, he attempted to remove the remnants of the psychic infection but during the process the energy coalesced into freeing Proteus from his imprisonment with him appearing now on Earth. (Astonishing X-Men v4 #7)
He used his powers to merge Psylocke with X after which he departed to a small town in Scotland. Once there, he offered to give the people anything they wanted by using his powers and formed walls to keep the settlement isolated. This was part of his plan to bring the Astral Plane to Earth as he intended to make all desires reality. (Astonishing X-Men v4 #9) From there, he generated reality seeds that he sought to spread across the globe. (Astonishing X-Men v4 #11)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Kevin came to reject the label of Mutant X and chose Proteus naming himself after the changing god of myth. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #127)
Powers and abilities
These attacks were known as a reality storm that were capable of spreading. (Astonishing X-Men v4 #9)
Notes
- Proteus was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne where he made his first appearance in X-Men v1 #119 (March, 1979).
Alternate Versions
- In Star Trek/X-Men, Proteus crossed universes and merged with the corpse of Gary Mitchell, threatening both the X-Men and the crew of the original U.S.S. Enterprise. However, after appealing to his better nature, he dispersed once more.
- In Ultimate X-Men v1 #16 (2002), a version of Proteus was shown to exist on the Ultimate Marvel Earth that was designated as Earth-1616 with this one merging some elements from Legion. David Xavier was the son of Charles Xavier and Moira MacTaggert who came to believe his fathers intellectual focus meant that he did not pay much attention to his more sports minded son. Charles later left to found the Brotherhood of Mutants with Magneto and believed his family would not care if he left them though this act made David miss his father. He later developed his own Mutant powers forcing his mother to keep him in a specialised cell. Proteus later sensed his fathers arrival in England and after a convulsion he left his body to possess others as he sought out Xavier.
In other media
Television
- In X-Men, Proteus appeared as an antagonist in the 1990s animated television series two-part episode "Proteus" where he was voiced by actor Stuart Stone.
Films
- In X-Men: Apocalypse, the character was not named but a possible reference was given to him in the live-action film when Moira MacTaggert mentioned that she had a son from a brief marriage prior to her divorce from her first husband.
Video games
- In X-Men: Battle of the Atom, Proteus appeared as a playable card in the iOS video card game.
Appearances
- X-Men v1: (1979)
- X-Men: Legacy:
- Astonishing X-Men:
External Links
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