In the Marvel Universe, mutants are people who are born with a genetic trait known as the X-gene, which gives them superhuman abilities. As a result of their distinctions from the rest of humanity, mutants experience prejudice and persecution, and many X-Men storylines feature societal commentary on prejudice and injustice.
Among other things, the X-Men have fought evil mutants, human bigots, mystical threats, extraterrestrials, and malevolent artificial intelligence. Charles “Professor X” Xavier is a formidable telepath who runs a school for mutant children out of his mansion in Westchester, New York, which also acts as the X-headquarters Men’s in most versions of the team. Some mutants have been good while others have been bad in all of their appearances. Today we will look at Proteus, one of the more nefarious mutants.
Kevin MacTaggert, commonly known as Mutant X, is an American comic book character created by Marvel Comics. He is better known as Proteus. The X-Men are frequently mentioned in relation to the character. Moira MacTaggert, a Scottish genetic researcher, and Joseph MacTaggert, a politician, had a mutant son named Kevin.
Kevin has reality-bending and possession talents, and due to the extreme nature of his abilities, he spent the majority of his childhood in solitary confinement at his mother’s Muir Island research facility. In 1979–80, his effort to flee and find his father became a famous Uncanny X-Men tale, which was later depicted in the X-Men animated series. In 2009, IGN ranked Proteus as the 77th best villain of all time. Let us start with his beginnings.
Proteus Backstory
Mutants have often been misunderstood in the world of X-Men and thus many mutants have gone over to the dark side due to the treatment meted out to them by humans. They have been treated as experiments and showpieces which has led to the build-up of anger and resentment within them. This is the story of a mutant who was treated like a lab rat and the consequences followed. Kevin MacTaggert was the son of Moira MacTaggert, a mutant expert, and Joe MacTaggert, a politician. The boy, like his mother, was a mutant with the capacity to change reality.
Kevin MacTaggert’s psychic energies burned out his body when his mutant abilities appeared, leaving him in the need of new host bodies to keep himself alive. Moira MacTaggert, Kevin’s mother, put him in a chamber of her own creation in Muir Island to protect himself and others from his abilities.
Kevin went insane at this time as a result of his seemingly continuous pain, and he harbored a deep resentment for his mother and father. He began to refer to himself as Proteus, slowly losing his sanity as days went by. Proteus faced the X-Men members Phoenix, Madrox, the Multiple Man, and Polaris, who were at Muir Island at the time, after escaping imprisonment. Although he easily overcame Polaris and the Multiple Man, Phoenix nearly killed him.
Proteus, on the other hand, managed to obtain one of Madrox’s clones and used it to flee Muir Island, headed for his father’s home in Edinburgh. Using a variety of host bodies, he was able to maintain his own ego along the way. The issue was that the energy in these host bodies would quickly deplete, killing the host, therefore Proteus need an increasing number of host bodies.
On his way, he ran into the X-Men, who were pursuing him. Proteus easily defeated Storm, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler with only a portion of his mutant abilities. He eventually arrived in Edinburgh and assumed his father, Joe’s body. He fought the X-men while inhabiting his father’s body. His talents, on the other hand, quickly burned out his father’s body, destroying it. Proteus was hit by Colossus, whose metal body disturbed his telepathic energy and effectively killed him before he could control another host.
However, that was not the end of Proteus as we knew him because he was subsequently reborn. AIM later hired Erika Benson to employ her son, Gilbert Benson, to gather Proteus’ energy for their own use. Gilbert possessed the power to absorb Proteus’ energy, and his mother planned to collect them all. The New Mutants, New Warriors, and Moira MacTaggert, and a handful of her Muir Island mutants nearly defeated her objective. Gilbert’s body exploded after their intervention failed, resulting in a fusion creature that was both Gilbert Benson and Kevin MacTaggert.
Proteus Various Story Arcs
Proteus has appeared in his fair share of marvel storylines and has also played a central role in the turn of events. These are two of his most iconic storylines.
When the Scarlet Witch reconstructed reality into the House of M in the World Tour plotline, she resurrected Proteus. In his pursuit of the perfect host body, Proteus was known as Mutant X, and he killed a lot of people. Proteus encountered the Exiles and became a reoccurring antagonist. He was able to break free from his own reality and began bouncing between dimensions in pursuit of a form that would not burn out. All the while, the Exiles were closing in on him and attempting to stop him. He possessed and murdered a large number of people, including Mimic.
He possessed Morph after killing Mimic. Morph, he discovered, could tolerate his psychic energies endlessly, and he realized that he had found his ideal host. That’s when he started thinking about how to control every realm in the multiverse.
The remainder of the Exiles however hatched a plan to capture Proteus and bring Morph back. Proteus was brainwashed into believing he was Morph by the Exiles, who told him that they had vanquished Proteus and that he (Proteus) was Morph for multiple missions. This allowed the Exiles to keep an eye on him without being concerned. Morph’s real ego eventually reappeared, and he regained control of his own body. Proteus is confined to a little section of himself, yet they agree to “dwell together inside him.”
During the Necrosha plot arc, Kevin MacTaggert reappeared. Proteus emerged inside Selene when she resurrected Destiny. Destiny attempted to contact Rogue, her foster daughter but was instead blindfolded. Blindfold was swiftly taken by Proteus, who used her to persuade a group of X-Men, including Rogue, Trance, Psylocke, Husk, Colossus, Magneto, and Nightcrawler, to travel to Muir Island.
There, he unveiled himself to them and easily defeated them. Proteus got a new talent that allowed him to inhabit multiple characters: Trance, Psylocke, Nightcrawler, Destiny, and Husk. He forced the group to fight Rogue and Magneto while they were under his control via his ability to possess people. Magneto, who was still weak, utilized the last of his strength to propel himself and Proteus, who was at the time in possession of Blindfold, into the upper atmosphere. He had plenty of time to investigate Proteus’ psychic abilities.
Magneto realized he could influence Proteus’ energies, so he disturbed them and made Proteus vanish. Proteus is most certainly not dead, but his energies have dispersed, according to Magneto, who believes he will be able to recombine himself one day. Magneto hoped that by spreading Proteus thin, he could prevent or at least delay his return for a long time. It’s unclear whether Proteus’ energy lasted when Necrosha ceased, which meant that all revived dead were laid to rest once more, but that remained to be seen.
What Makes Proteus So Dangerous?
Proteus was a dangerous mutant from the very beginning, so much so that his own mother had to lock him up and separate him from society. He has numerous mind-boggling powers which allow him to be insanely powerful and overpower other mutants with ease. His battles with major X-Men who are known to be some of the strongest such as Wolverine and Storm are a testament to his strength. The following are his powers and abilities.
Kevin has been categorized as an Omega Level Mutant. An Omega-level mutant is a mutant that possesses the greatest genetic potential for mutant abilities. The term “Class Omega” first appeared in the 1986 issue of Uncanny X-Men #208, but it was left completely undefined aside from the obvious implication that it referred to a high level of power.
He can manipulate energy and matter on an omega level in a small radius around himself with a thought. He can also teleport to any location in the cosmos and switch between different realities in the known multiverse. He also possesses the ability of Molecular Reconstruction, allowing him to alter molecules in whatever way he sees fit. He now mostly employs it to transform inviable Krakoan eggs into viable eggs for the production of mutant husk. Kevin also possessed the power of terrakinesis, since he was able to psionically alter Mars’ surface, removing its radioactivity and making it suitable for further terraforming.
Kevin has the ability to create alternating reality forcefields that appear to vary in strength. However, other reality alterers, like Cosmar, can disrupt or expose these forcefields if he hasn’t invested too much energy in them to keep them in place. Kevin is a psionic energy creature with a somewhat human appearance but no bodily attributes. Despite this, he remains immensely powerful. He also has vast telepathic abilities that allow him to access, control, and traverse the Astral Plane. Surprisingly, telepathic scans and most detection devices miss him. Telekinesis, Energy Projection, Energy Absorption, Energy Manipulation, and Immortality are among his other abilities. Kevin is practically immortal as an energy being.
Possession is one of his most notable abilities. Kevin is reliant on human hosts to survive, and his power grows with each new victim. He has the ability to occupy multiple bodies at the same time. Before he disposes of these bodies, they “burn out” and become nothing more than animated corpses. Kevin also possesses the Power of Augmentation, and he presently inhabits Charles Xavier’s husks, which he utilizes as a host for all of his abilities and potential.
Proteus was resurrected in the mutant nation of Krakoa and given a constant supply of braindead Xavier clones to serve as host bodies. He joined The Five, a group of mutants that can combine their abilities to resurrect deceased mutants. The other mutants on the island saw him and the rest of The Five as sacred and held them in high regard. Professor X’s body has been replicated many times by the Five, which Proteus then controls. The hosts aren’t ideal for someone as powerful as Proteus, but they usually last him a week or so, depending on how often he needs to use his skills.
Proteus possesses little physical strength other than that which he derives from his host bodies, the most recent of which is a Charles Xavier husk. Metal, on the other hand, can disrupt Proteus’ energy fields and cause harm to his host bodies, and the more he utilizes his powers, the quicker he destroys his host bodies. While Proteus may appear to be a godlike figure, he is vulnerable to an all-too-human flaw: bullets. Because of his aversion to metal, he wouldn’t want to offend Wolverine or Colossus.
All of this makes him an extremely dangerous being thus earning him the omega class title in the first place. He is a formidable foe to cross any mutant and is definitely a tough one to defeat.
Insane Versions Of Proteus In Various Forms Of Media
Being an insanely powerful villain, he has been portrayed in multiple different media in many ways. One of his most iconic appearances was when Stuart Stone voiced Proteus in the two-part animated X-Men series episode Proteus. Kevin MacTaggert had his reality-warping and possession abilities, but he could also transform back into his human form, which he didn’t have in the comics. Also, unlike in the comics, when he took over people’s bodies, it did not kill them; instead, it weakened them. Proteus himself was more humanized and less wicked; he was a violent, unstable 17-year-old teenager with a juvenile mentality and a shaky grip on reality, and he even stopped a young guy from being beaten up by a gang of bullies at one point.
With that, we come to the end of this video. Do you think Proteus can take on your favorite heroes? Let us know in the comments below!