Proteus



X-MEN:The Animated Series

Proteus appeared in Proteus, Part 1 (Episode 49) & Proteus, Part 2 (Episode 50). He is voiced by Stuart Stone

Origin
When Kevin MacTaggert's mutant abilities manifested, his psionic energies burnt out his body. For this reason, Kevin's mother, Moira MacTaggert, placed him in a chamber of her own design to protect himself and others from his powers. During this time Kevin went mad because of his seeming endless suffering, getting a huge resentment against his mother and father. He started calling himself Proteus. After Proteus escaped confinement, he battled the X-Men members Phoenix, Madrox, the Multiple Man, and Polaris. who where at Muir Island at the time; Although he defeated Polaris and the Multiple Man quite easily, Phoenix nearly killed him.

Proteus however managed to possess one of Madrox's clones, and escaped from Muir Island using it, heading towards his father's house in Edinburgh. Using several host bodies in witch he could reside his own persona along the way. Problem was that the energies these host bodies had would soon run out (killing the host), thus Proteus needed more and more host bodies.

Along the way he encountered the X-Men, who were hot on his trail. Using only a fraction of his mutant powers, Proteus was able to easily defeat Storm, Wolverine and Nightcrawler. Eventually he made it to Edinburgh and took over his father's body. While possessing his fathers body, he battled the X-men. However, his powers soon burned out his fathers body, destroying it. Before he could possess another body, Proteus was punched by Colossus who's metal body disrupted his psionic energies and effectively killing him.

Sometime later, a woman by the name of Erika Benson (also known as Harness) was hired by AIM to use her son, Gilbert Benson, to collect the energies of Proteus for their own use. Gilbert had the ability to absorb the energies that were once Proteus, and his mother intended to collect it all. Her mission was almost thwarted by the New Mutants, New Warriors as well as Moira MacTaggert and a number of her mutants from Muir Island. Their intervention failed, and Gilbert's body exploded, resulting in a fusion entity that was both Gilbert Benson and Kevin MacTaggert.

This new Proteus used his powers to reshape Edinburgh, Scotland to his own whim. The inclusion of X-Factor to the battle soon took on a philosophical tone, as the group of heroes questioned the ethics of killing Proteus or trying to help them. In the end, Proteus realized that reality was not compatible with him and "killed" himself.

Power and Abilities
Proteus can generate enormous amounts of psionic force from his energy state that allows him to restructure reality in any manner. He exists as an energy form that can inhabit human bodies to contain his energies, however any body he possesses quickly begins to break down so he constantly needs new host bodies. Metals disrupt his energies, so Proteus cannot possess certain bodies, such as Wolverine's, because his body is full of adamantium. Proteus has shown to be able to possess more than one body, as shown him inhabiting the body's of Trance, Blindfold, Destiny, Psylocke, Nightcrawler, and Husk all at the same time.