Once it comes to evil and sadistic villains, DC has made a significant contribution. The list continues on and on, whether it is psychopathic serial killers or annoying objectives to destroy society. In the DC world, ‘Prometheus’ is one such scary and merciless adversary.
This villain, who was born without superpowers, had defeated countless superheroes, including the Justice League. The most well-known version of Prometheus was initially published in February 1998 in Grant Morrison and Arnie Jorgensen’s New Year’s Evil: Prometheus. He was the son of two vicious and psychopathic criminals, and after their deaths, he set his sights on bringing down the Justice League.
He wore a helmet that allowed him to download all of his opponent’s actions, similar to Marvel’s TaskMaster. Prometheus, on the other hand, becomes more of a dark reflection of Batman as we learn more about him. Both lost their parents when they were children, and both embarked on a trip to train, gaining combat skills that are comparable to superpowers in and of themselves, and committing their lives to a single objective.
Because both have a comparable gradient of willpower, Prometheus is more like a ‘what if Batman was born to criminals’ scenario. With that out of the way, let us look into Prometheus’ roots and see why he is a darker version of Batman.
SADISTIC ORIGIN OF PROMETHEUS
The boy who became Prometheus was reared by two hippy-criminal parents who stole and killed indiscriminately. When the little kid inquired why the cops were continuously after them, his father replied that they were trying to bring them to justice, giving the impression to the youngster that justice was a real location. They were finally ambushed by the cops and killed down right in front of his eyes. The shock caused his hair to become bright white.
Later, on their graves, he vowed an oath, devoting his life to dismantling the legal system, similar to how Batman devoted his life to bringing justice. He discovered various significant sums of money that his parents had amassed over the years and, on his sixteenth birthday he blackmailed the local mafia lord into giving him even more money.
He utilized these riches to support his training all across the world, where he trained to maim, assassinate, fight, and speak a dozen different languages. Around this time, he confronted the cop who had shot his parents. Following that, he attended numerous top institutions while associating with the social elite to acquire their secrets.
He journeyed to India in search of the famous city of Shamballa, and just before he gave up hope, he discovered it and spent many months studying with the monks who lived there. He quickly became a favorite of their commander, who revealed their greatest secret to him: the city was constructed on the ancient remnants of an extraterrestrial spaceship.
The leader then gave him a key, which he subsequently called ‘The Cosmic Key,’ which unlocked a portal to ‘The Ghost Zone.’ He had inherited his father’s talent for technology, which he quickly discovered to be quite valuable. He returned to the United States and began planning. He began developing several astonishing pieces of technology, such as devices that could directly interact with the human nervous system and a nightstick that, despite its low weight, could shatter an iron anvil.
PROMETHEUS IN VARIOUS STORY ARCS
Prometheus began planning to blow up the Congress, maybe the White House, but after watching the Justice League of America in action, he had a better idea. Since ‘justice’ murdered his parents, he vowed to demolish the Justice League and, eventually, all that they stood for. He sought the ideal moment to strike.
When the JLA advertised a competition for any citizen to be a ‘League for a Day,’ Prometheus attacked the winner, a young man, who called himself ‘Retro,’ downloaded what Retro knew, seizing his suit, dragged him to the Ghost-Zone, and dissolved him in cold blood. Prometheus, now disguised as Retro, was whisked up to the Watchtower with over a hundred members of the media to document the re-formation of a new JLA and the introduction of numerous new members.
Once they were sufficiently separated, ‘Retro’ uploaded a virus into Steel’s armor, gaining control of it. Exposing himself as Prometheus, he announced, “I’m coming to kill the Justice League!” He then told Steel to walk as far away as he could and then hurl his hammer as far as he could.
Prometheus instantly downloaded 30 of the world’s finest martial artists into his brain, including Batman, and activated a distracting light pattern on his headgear to distract Batman while they fought in combat. Prometheus then enters the trophy room, where Superman and Wonder Woman is guiding the reporters to the Martian-technology shuttle bays.
Prometheus appears to be in a state of panic as he says that Steel’s hammer will slam into an outer wall of the Watchtower at any moment, producing an explosive decompression that will kill everyone in the tower but Superman. So, in order to save all those lives, he wants Superman to execute himself live on television. His plans failed as he got defeated by the Justice League and was prisoned in Arkham.
He immediately broke free. Later, he is shown as a member of Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang. He is able to infiltrate the Watchtower by using a White Martian spaceship that was abandoned in Hyperspace after the Martian invasion of Earth. When Oracle declines his promise to restore his legs, he almost kills her.
He returns to the Watchtower to fight Batman once again, who downloads a motor neuron illness into Prometheus’ helmet, giving him all of Professor Stephen Hawking’s physical capabilities and powers. When Batman finds them again, he is able to activate his cosmic key and escape into the Ghost-Zone with Huntress.
He dismisses her on the spot, citing the League’s policy against hiring serial murderers. The Martian Manhunter and Batman discuss what to do with him. Martian Manhunter imprisons his consciousness, making him brain-dead, out of fear that he may become a menace again. Prometheus is imprisoned at Blackgate.
Because Martian Manhunter and Prometheus had a psychic link, whatever happened to him would harm him as well. After the killing of the Martian Manhunter, Prometheus’ mind is restored to his body. He escapes from prison and retreats to one of his hideouts. Prometheus then launches a massive attack on the Justice League. He releases a worldwide crime wave to divert their attention away from the need for technology for unexplained motives.
He gets defeated again by the superheroes and is taken into interrogation. He soon discloses that he has placed devices in the homes of all JLA members. While it is intended to throw the city out of time, it instead causes significant damage.
Lian Harper was dead, and Star City was nearly entirely destroyed. Prometheus informs them that the only way he can provide them with the codes to prevent the detonation of the remainder of their cities is if they release him. Green Arrow indicated that they had to after much back-and-forth. Back in the Ghost Zone, Prometheus mulls over how he may have made his plan work. An irate Green Arrow appears and shoots him in the head, killing him, only to respond, “Justice”.
PROMETHEUS BECAME A JOKE?
After defeating the Justice League in his first appearance, Prometheus became a parody, but DC resurrected the villain in an iconic Green Arrow tale. The Justice League has fought many deadly opponents throughout the years, but Prometheus is one of the few villains who has single-handedly defeated the DC Universe’s greatest super-team. While his initial attack on the squad was a huge success, the scary villain endured a string of humiliating failures that almost made him the laughingstock of the DC Universe.
Despite this, Prometheus reappeared as a fearsome enemy in one of the most notorious Justice League adventures of all time. Prometheus was originally successful in bringing down the Justice League on his own with his recorded data, but Catwoman, who had joined the squad independently, was able to prevent him with a well-placed snap of her bullwhip.
A few years later, Prometheus’ rematch with the squad ended equally wrong for the formidable villain when Batman was able to override Prometheus’ helmet with new software, paralyzing him. While the real Prometheus was recovering, a substitute villain called Chad Graham took his place; Graham had been Prometheus’ hidden pupil.
Initially introduced as the same villain that had opposed the Justice League, this figure was created as a completely inept imitation of the antagonist. Graham is contacted by Hush after being soundly defeated by Green Arrow, but he rejects him due to his embarrassing ineffectiveness, therefore turning this once-dominant villain to a recurring gag.
WHAT MAKES PROMETHEUS SO DANGEROUS?
Despite his lack of abilities, Prometheus has been shown to be a formidable foe. He has over 1,000 master plans for escaping any circumstance and/or defeating any meta-human. In terms of planning, he is one of the sharpest men on the globe, rivaling Lex Luthor and Batman, with master’s degrees in Physics, Biology, Algebra, Technology, English, History, and Religion.
He is a superb strategist, capable of devising all kinds of strategies to overcome any obstacle and devising counter-measures to ensure their success. He is proficient in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian, and he is also familiar with Human Sign Language. Prometheus discovered an old intelligent starship while searching for the gate to Shambala. He spent some time with Tibetan monks before being escorted to the center of Shamballa by an elderly Lama.
The Cosmic Key to a new abode was then given to him. Prometheus refers to it as the Ghost Zone, Martians refer to it as the Still Zone, and Kryptonians refer to it as the Phantom Zone. Prometheus may enter a world of oblivion that defies physical rules by using his Cosmic Key.
He constructed a Crooked home within it. He may also use the key as an energy weapon, causing Molecular disintegration with a special type of negative energy, as he did with the JLA contest winner, Retro. He has also been shown to be capable of instilling terror in people, like Batman does, and manipulating them in the process.
This ability was demonstrated when the vast majority of supervillains were forced, out of terror, to assist him in carrying out his scheme. Prometheus wielded a high-tech nightstick in his initial suit, which let him unleash superhuman assaults, shatter steel, and was meant to overcome insulated electrical systems.
It was also fire-resistant and could sustain a direct hit from Superman himself. His electronic helmet is linked to his central nervous system and allows him to download whatever he wants immediately into his head. Allowing him to learn numerous new talents, such as understanding the fighting styles of the 30 best martial artists in less than 5 seconds, mastering gymnastic postures, getting the knowledge and skills of a surgeon, and recording the movements of others into his suit to predict their next move. His helmet lights flash in order to mesmerize or confuse opponents.
Such non-Earth technology may also allow Barbara Gordon to utilize her legs, which he lured her with when they first met. Even without his helmet, Prometheus is a superb and dangerous hand-to-hand combatant, defeating Batman and Lady Shiva in a matter of seconds. He is also a strategic genius, with an IQ of 213. He has been proven to be able to utilize almost any object as a weapon, even throwing CDs and pencils with deadly precision, rivaling Green Arrow.
He employs “Neural Chaff,” which can disrupt an opponent’s attention. Prometheus’ second suit included light-weight body armor interwoven with neural relays that may enhance his fearsome combat abilities. He modified his gauntlets to shoot a variety of projectiles such as bullets, chemical and poison darts, and even phosphorous darts.
His suit was also coated with small nanobots, which could infect the brain of a metahuman in close touch and transmit electronic pulses into the brain, causing the person to lose entire control of their powers for 5 minutes. Using mental warfare against his adversaries appears to be a tool as vital in his armory as his world-class physical ability. Prometheus’ scandalous and plain vicious plot against Midnighter is maybe the best illustration of this.
Matt Dell, who has recently broken up with his long-term lover, easily seduces Midnighter, and the two begin a committed romantic connection. In true Promethean form, however, he not only downloaded all of Midnighter’s talents and flaws into his head. He’s also been posing as Matt Dell the entire time, which has sent Midnighter into a spiral. Prometheus is notorious for his intricate storylines, and this one is his most weird and horrific to date.
Prometheus intends to transfer important JLA members’ hometowns through time and space to unknown locales using a mix of teleportation devices, the sun, and the JLA’s satellite. However, when the devices fail and Star City is the first to suffer heavy losses, Roy and Speedy’s daughter are among the dead.
Prometheus, disguised as Freddy Freeman, carefully awaits the ideal opportunity to smite his adversaries. While video chatting with Speedy and their young daughter, Liam, he gains the upper hand on Red Arrow. Later, Supergirl and Congorilla see an injured Roy wandering down the corridor. It is a watershed event for the character, one that will have long-term ramifications for the hero. Since his imprisonment, Chad Graham has been impersonating Prometheus.
When Prometheus flees Black Gate after recovering his memories, his first mission is to find Graham and restore his mantle and reputation. When he finds him, he brutally beats him, tortures him, and sets him on fire. That’s one way to look at things. Prometheus rots at Black Gate Penitentiary in the Faces of Evil one-shot, his mind turned to a puddle by Batman and Martian Manhunter. When J’onn J’onzz is killed by Libra during Final Crisis, his psychic control on the villain is broken, and Prometheus awakens with his memories completely restored and his hate greater than ever.
He brutally beats the guard with a brick, steals his clothes, and walks out the front door. He pledges vengeance on those who had imprisoned him and, in an ironic twist, pursues retribution on the impostor who took up his mantle and sullied his reputation. This definitive portrayal of the character, which debuted in New Year’s Evil: Prometheus, provides us our first insight into the villain’s callousness.
TERRIFYING VERSIONS OF PROMETHEUS IN VARIOUS FORMS OF MEDIA
In live-action media based in the Arrowverse, two versions of Prometheus appear, with Michael Dorn supplying his disguised voice. The first version, played by Josh Segarra, appears in Season 5 of the television series Arrow. The Earth-1 version is introduced as the “Throwing Star Killer,” which attacks apparently random victims and draws the notice of the Green Arrow. Prometheus is eventually discovered to be “Adrian Chase”. The second appearance is in the Arrowverse crossover “Crisis on Earth-X.”
This variant is Tommy Merlyn’s Earth-X counterpart. Prometheus, as yet nameless, debuts in the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS editions of Justice League Heroes. In Batman Arkham Asylum, has his wanted poster displayed in the Guard Room of the Penitentiary as a solved puzzle that unlocks the character bio. Prometheus, created by Simon Morrison, is a playable character in the “DC TV Super-Villains” DLC pack for Lego DC Super-Villains.