Prometheus (DC Comics)

For the Marvel Comics character, see Prometheus (Marvel Comics).

Prometheus
Prometheus from New Year's Evil: Prometheus (February 1998) Art by Arnie Jorgensen.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(Unnamed version) New Year's Evil: Prometheus #1 (February 1998) (Curt Calhoun) Blue Beetle #3 (August 1986) (Chad Graham) Batman: Gotham Knights #52 (June 2004)
Created by	(Unnamed version) Grant Morrison Arnie Jorgensen (Curt Calhoun) Len Wein Paris Cullins (Chad Graham) A.J. Lieberman
In-story information
Alter ego	Curt Calhoun Chad Graham
Team affiliations	(Unnamed version) The Society Injustice Gang (Curt Calhoun) Hybrid (Chad Graham) The Society
Notable aliases	(Unnamed version) Retro, Shazam, Matt Dell
Abilities	Genius-level intellect Peak human physical and mental conditioning Highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist Expert in the use of various weapons Cybernetic implants, helmet and armor further augment physical attributes

Prometheus is a name used by multiple fictional supervillains appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Grant Morrison (writer) and Arnie Jorgensen (pencils), the most recognized version made his first appearance in New Year's Evil: Prometheus (February 1998). Commonly as an adversary of the Justice League, Prometheus would serve as an enemy of the superheroes Batman, Green Arrow and Midnighter.

In 2009, Prometheus was ranked as IGN's 80th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. Michael Dorn provides the Prometheus's voice on The CW's live-action TV series Arrow, while Josh Segarra portrays the character.

Publication history

Curt Calhoun debuted in Blue Beetle #3 (Aug. 1986). A new version of Prometheus debuted in New Year's Evil: Prometheus (Feb. 1998) and returned in JLA #16–17 (March–April 1998) and #36–41 (Dec. 1999 – May 2000). The character was then impersonated for a time by Chad Graham, but returned in Faces of Evil: Prometheus #1 (March 2009). Prometheus starred as the villain in the limited series Justice League: Cry for Justice #1–7 (Sept. 2009 – April 2010), and was killed at the conclusion of the story.

Writer Mike Conroy noted "...with his technologically advanced armor and weapons arsenal, which can download the fighting techniques of the world's top martial artists...he (Prometheus) turned out to be a formidable foe, as the JLA found out".

Fictional character biography

Unnamed version

The most well-known version is the unnamed son of two hippie criminals who committed murder and theft. He traveled across the United States with them until they were cornered by local law enforcement and were gunned down after opening fire on the surrounding police. This causes his hair to turn white from the traumatic experience, vowing to "annihilate the forces of justice" in order to get revenge for his slain parents.

Using his parents' hidden caches of money, the son travels the world and develops his skills, being an underground pit-fighter in Brazil, a mercenary in Africa, and joining terrorist groups in the Middle East. After avenging his parents' deaths by murdering the police officer who shot them, he locates the Himalayan city of Shambhala, inhabited by a sect of monks that worshiped the concept of evil. Prometheus discovers the monastery has been built on an alien spaceship, and the leader of the sect was one of the creatures from the vessel. He kills the alien and obtains the "Ghost Key", which opens a portal to the "Ghost Zone", a hyperspace void that allows interstellar travel.

Prometheus builds a house in the void as his headquarters, which is warped by the dimensional effects to become "crooked". He relates his origin to a young man who has won a competition to be part of the JLA for a day with the alias Retro. Prometheus kills Retro, and copies the young man's mannerisms courtesy of his advanced helmet, intending to masquerade as Retro to gain access to the JLA Watchtower.

Initially, the plan appears to be successful, with Prometheus infecting Steel's armour with a virus, hitting the Martian Manhunter with a dart containing a toxin that destabilises his ability to control his shape, knocks out Huntress, traps Zauriel in the Ghost Zone, beats Batman senseless using downloaded skills, uses a neural chaff to disrupt Green Lantern's will and informs Flash that the tower is rigged with bombs that will detonate if he moves too fast. While trying to force Superman to kill himself so that Prometheus will allow civilians to leave, on the grounds that Superman was too powerful for him to devise a means of killing, Prometheus was caught off guard by the anti-hero Catwoman, allowing the heroes time to recover. Steel infects Prometheus's systems with a virus. Admitting he lied about the bombs, Prometheus escapes to the Ghost Zone before he can be captured.

Prometheus appears briefly during an encounter between the JLA and alternate universe superhero team, the Avengers, and skirmishes with Captain America while using Batman's skills, but Captain America easily defeats him.

Prometheus returns as a member of Lex Luthor's second Injustice Gang. During the confusion caused by the arrival of the weapon Mageddon, Prometheus is able to use a White Martian space vessel abandoned in the Ghost Zone to infiltrate the Justice League Watchtower and attack team aide Oracle. Oracle escapes, with Prometheus' helmet damaged in the process. The villain retrieves his original helmet (lost during the first battle with the JLA) and battles Batman once again. Prometheus is neutralized when Batman sabotages his helmet, overriding the information on the disc Prometheus uses to upload his combat skills and replacing the data with the physical skills and coordination of Professor Stephen Hawking. Batman prevents fellow member Huntress from killing Prometheus, before firing the woman from the JLA. Batman and Martian Manhunter take Prometheus into custody and arrange to reduce Prometheus' brain to a mentally disabled state in order to permanently end his threat, reasoning that his skills and training mean that no jail could hold him under conventional circumstances. Upon Martian Manhunter's death at Libra's hands, Prometheus' mind was restored and he began tracking down Chad Graham, resulting in him killing his would-be protege and maiming/murdering members of the Blood Pack super-hero team.

Cry for Justice

A spate of superhero deaths (Freedom Beast, Gloss and Tasmanian Devil) and attacks on others (Barry Allen, Batwoman and Crimson Avenger) is revealed to be the work of the true Prometheus. The villain impersonates Freddy Freeman, and gains access to the JLA satellite, which in turn allows Prometheus to place teleportation devices in the home cities of various heroes which will "strand" the city in various places in the past and future, as revenge for the years that he spent with his mind damaged. Prometheus also maims Roy Harper after realizing his foe is not Freddy Freeman. While defeating the JLA and the Teen Titans by files on them, Prometheus is captured by Donna Troy and beaten brutally, until being is stopped by Shade. The villain offers to reveal the location of the devices in exchange for his release, after his devices malfunction and begin destroying the cities. With Star City suffering massive casualties (including Roy Harper's daughter), Prometheus' ultimatum is met and he returns to his lair, but is murdered by Green Arrow shooting an arrow through the villain's head.

The New 52

Prometheus shows up to torment Midnighter using stolen technology from the God Garden that he sells to various individuals around the world. In addition, he has got hold of the Gardener's secret files on Midnighter's true identity and origin. When confronted by Midnighter, Prometheus uses God Garden technology to block Midnighter's tactical computer, eliminating the edge Midnighter has in analyzing an opponent's fighting techniques. Prometheus also reveals that he has downloaded all of Midnighter's own skills into his brain to use against his enemy.

Pretending to be an ordinary man, he uses the alias Matt Dell to seduce and have a romantic relationship with Midnighter to achieve their goals.

Curt Calhoun

The original version, Curt Calhoun, debuted in Blue Beetle #3 (Aug. 1986), followed by appearances in issues #4 (Sept. 1986); #6 (Nov. 1986); #8–9 (Jan.–Feb. 1987) and #11–13 (April–June 1987). Calhoun is a small-time criminal working for supervillain Doctor Alchemy and is hired to steal a quantity of the metal promethium from KORD Inc., an organization owned by Ted Kord. Although successful, both Calhoun and Dr. Alchemy are captured by the Blue Beetle. On release from prison, Calhoun aids the Blue Beetle against the Calculator and is offered a position as a foreman at KORD Inc. by Kord. While saving Kord from an industrial accident, Calhoun is covered with metals laced with promethium. En route to the hospital, Calhoun's ambulance is attacked by members of the supervillain Hybrid team. The leader Mento transformed the metal covering Calhoun into a permanent metallic shell. Assuming the "Prometheus" alias, the reluctant Calhoun fights alongside Hybrid in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat the New Teen Titans. Although Mento eventually directs Hybrid against the Titans once again, they rebel and Mento is apparently cured of his insanity by Titan member Raven. Calhoun is never seen again, until the superhero JSA team learn that Hybrid died in the gladiatorial games staged by villainess Roulette. The original version possesses a metal epidermis, which confers superior strength and durability. Calhoun is also capable of raising the temperature of his armored form to several hundred degrees Celsius.

Chad Graham

The third version, Chad Graham, debuted in Batman: Gotham Knights #52 (June 2004), being part of the "Pushback" storyline from issues #50–55 (April–Sept. 2004). The villain reappeared in Batman: Gotham Knights #66 (Aug. 2005); Villains United #1–6 (July–Sept. 2005); Infinite Crisis #1–7 (Dec. 2005 – June 2006); Birds of Prey #94 (June–Aug. 2006); Teen Titans vol. 3, #51–54 (Nov. 2007 – Feb. 2008) and Final Crisis #1–7 (July 2008 – March 2009). He was not established as being a different character from the second version until that same issue. After Prometheus went into a mentally disabled state, an impostor took the mantle: Graham had been taken in by Prometheus to serve as an evil sidekick years earlier, but Graham proved too impulsive and ended up leaving Prometheus (under unknown circumstances) only to return years later to assume the Prometheus identity once the original went missing. The villain appears in Star City, battling the Green Arrow and local law enforcement. Almost killed by Green Arrow, Graham is saved by Hush. Hush forms an alliance with the impostor but abandons him due to his apparent incompetence. Talia al Ghul leads the evil Cobra Cult in search of Prometheus in a bid to secure his Ghost Key. Graham, poisoned by one of the villainess Poison Ivy's creations, is saved once again by Hush. Graham is then recruited to join another version of the Secret Society of Super Villains (which numbered in the hundreds) as Prometheus and participates in a massive attack by the Society on Metropolis. During the battle, Graham kills the hero Peacemaker. Graham also has an encounter with the superheroine Birds of Prey group, and defeats the mercenary Lady Shiva in seconds. The villain eventually falls under the alien Starro's control, and is used as a foot soldier but is defeated by an alternate future version of Robin and freed once Starro is defeated. Graham is later murdered when the true Prometheus regains himself, expressing contempt for Graham's impersonation but still satisfied that the damage Graham had done to Prometheus' reputation would lead to the heroes underestimating the villain in the future. The third version relies on the use of two pistols, although he also possesses his mentor's helmet and artificial skills, giving him the training to defeat even Lady Shiva in a matter of seconds.

Powers and abilities

Prometheus possesses no superhuman abilities, but has undergone intense physical and mental training and utilizes an extensive range of equipment and technology like the hero Batman. Common tools include body armor, gauntlets that fire various projectiles, a side-handle baton with several technological features, and a helmet that in addition to emitting strobe lighting capable of disorientation and hypnotism, can download the knowledge and physical skills of others directly into his brain via a compact disc, his default disc including the skills of thirty of the world's greatest martial artists. Where Prometheus obtains this information is not known, but his combat skills include the duplicated abilities of Batman and Lady Shiva, although it is unclear how much combat training he would possess if he had to fight without the helmet. The 'battlesuit'/helmet combination is also equipped with an artificial Intelligence that can rapidly calculate and deploy a variety of strategies and countermeasures that have allowed Prometheus at various times to incapacitate entire groups of the Justice League singlehandedly and simultaneously.

Finally, the unnamed version possesses the "Ghost Key" which allows the villain to teleport himself and other objects and persons to and from a dimension called the "Ghost Zone". It can also be used to inflict total molecular disintegration on a target, but Prometheus only employed this function once, when he eliminated the unsuspecting Retro. The helmet can be hacked by external sources, but Batman had to study the helmet for a month to learn how to hack it in that manner, and it is unclear if this would allow him to hack other versions of the helmet.

Other versions

JLA/Avengers

Prometheus is seen among the enthralled villains defending Krona's stronghold in issue #4. He is seen being seized by Green Lantern. Later, he confronts Captain America, having downloaded Batman's fighting skills. However, using his shield, Captain America defeats Prometheus.

Smallville: Lantern

Prometheus is featured in Smallville Season 11, a comic book continuation of the TV series.

Power Rangers/Justice League

When Lord Zedd and Brainiac form an alliance to steal the Power Rangers' Power Coins and attack their world, the League permit the Rangers to access their archives to provide them with equipment and resources to battle their enemies' forces until they can regain their powers, with Billy Cranston using Prometheus's helmet and armour.

In other media

Television

Josh Segarra as Prometheus in Arrow.

Two heavily adapted versions of Prometheus appear on The CW's live-action Arrowverse; Michael Dorn provides the character's scrambled voice when masked. Neither depiction is based on any version from the comics.

• The Earth-1 depiction appears in The CW's live-action TV series Arrow as season five's main antagonist. Serving as a dark mirror arch-nemesis to Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, the character is eventually revealed to be Simon Morrison (Josh Segarra).
• A parallel-universe equivalent appears in the four-part crossover event "Crisis on Earth-X" and is revealed to be the Earth-X doppelgänger of Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell).

Video games

• The unnamed version of Prometheus appears in the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of Justice League Heroes.
• The unnamed version of Prometheus is mentioned in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Batman scanning a wanted poster featuring Prometheus in the Penitentiary's Guard Room will serve as an answer to one of the Riddler's riddles and will unlock Prometheus's profile.
• The unnamed version of Prometheus is mentioned in Batman: Arkham City. He's referenced in several newspapers detailing two criminals being gunned down in an alley while their son (Prometheus) watches. There's also a psych report which regards Prometheus's release approval from Arkham Island on the GCPD forensics lab's wall.

External links

• Prometheus (Curt Calhoun) at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Prometheus (Morrison) at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Prometheus (Curt Calhoun) at the DCU Guide
• Prometheus (Morrison) at the DCU Guide