PROTEUS

 

PROTEUS

Real Name: Kevin MacTaggert

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #125, September 1979

Powers: Proteus is an omega-level mutant able to manipulate and alter reality in any way he can imagine via psionic influence exerted over fundamental forces and principles. His power was limited by line-of-sight and could only affect matter within his visual range. He most commonly used his ability to ripple space and matter around him, like objects seen through swirling water. This can be extremely disorienting and even maddening to living beings. He can dramatically restructure matter and energy, such as turning a rifle into a snake or Cyclops's optic blast into a harmless spray of flowers. This effect could also animate non-living matter, turning buildings into anthropomorphic constructs or making objects seemingly come to life and attack people. He could make solid structures crumble to the ground or explode violently. Proteus could also manipulate gravity in order to levitate and fly or increase the weight of other people and objects.

Proteus also possesses telepathic abilities that enable him to read minds and attack at psychic levels. He could use his telepathy to communicate telepathically or erect mental shields to block other telepaths. Proteus could also absorb information from people or computer systems by touching them, and cross dimensional barriers at will.

In his natural form, he existed in a vulnerable, but dangerous state of pure psionic energy. Originally, he could take possession of human bodies to contain his vast energies and could possess anyone within a few feet of his position. Possession gave Proteus access to all his victim's memories and emotions. His energies would eventually “burn out” his host bodies (as he did with his own natural body), killing them in the process. His energies quickly ate away at their physical frame, causing them to shrivel like a used up husk until the body could sustain him no more and he needed to find another.

His energy form had a natural aversion to metal, making it the only thing that could block his powers or possession, and disperse his energy state. Upon his first resurrection, Proteus had bonded with the energy-absorbing mutant known as Piecemeal, effectively removing his weakness to metal and need for host bodies, until he committed suicide and returned to discorporation. He was resurrected again under the House of M reality with all his classic weaknesses, but later escaped Wanda's reordering of the universe by traveling to another dimension. During the Exiles' hunt for Proteus, he possessed Angel of House of M, Mimic of the Exiles, Justice of the New Universe, and Hulk of 2099 in turn, assimilating portions of their psyches in the process. The Exiles ultimately caged him when he found a non-degrading host body in the Exile known as Morph, and the Exiles used the Behavior Modification machine from Earth-S to reprogram him to believe himself to actually be Morph. His return to the 616 Universe during the events of Necrosha left him with the ability possess multiple host bodies at once.