Prometheus

Origin

The child who became Prometheus was raised by two hippy-criminal parents who stole and murdered indiscriminately. When the young boy asked why the police were always chasing them, his father responded that they were ‘trying to bring them to justice’; making the child think that ‘justice’ was a actual place. They were eventually ambushed by the police and gunned down before his very eyes. His hair turned stark white from the shock. He later swore an oath on their graves, dedicating his life to destroying the system of the law.

He found several large stashes of money that his parents had acquired over the years and upon his sixteenth birthday blackmailed the local crime boss into giving him even more money. He used these funds to finance his training all over the world; he learned to maim, assassinate, and fight, and speak a dozen different languages. About this time he took the police officer that gunned his parents down. Afterwards, he attended several prestigious universities, while he associated with the social elite to learn their secrets. He traveled to India in search of the legendary city of Shamballa (considered to be the source of all evil by many cultures), and just before he gave up hope, he found it, he studied with the monks who lived there for several months. He soon became a favorite of their leader who showed him their biggest secret: The city was built upon the ancient remains of an alien spaceship. It was then that the leader gave him a key that he soon dubbed ‘The Cosmic Key’, which opened a door to ‘The Ghost Zone’ A.K.A.: Limbo, the Phantom Zone, Hyperspace…etc.

He had inherited his father’s knack with technology which soon became very useful. He returned to the U.S. and began preparing. He began inventing many miraculous pieces of technology including hardware which could interface directly with the human nervous system, and a nightstick that could shatter an iron anvil despite its light weight.

Major Story Arcs

Strength in Numbers

For more information see: JLA: Strength in Numbers

He began formulating a plan to blow up Congress, perhaps the White House, then upon seeing the Justice League Of America, in action, he got a better idea. Since ‘justice’ killed his parents, he would destroy the Justice League and soon everything they stood for.

He waited for the perfect time to strike. Then, the JLA announced that they would hold a competition for a civilian to be a ‘Leaguer for a Day’, Prometheus ambushed the winner (a young man calling himself ‘Retro’), downloaded everything Retro knew; brought him to the Ghost-Zone and disintegrated him in cold blood, taking his costume.

Prometheus (now disguised as Retro) was teleported up to the Watchtower along with over one hundred members of the media (including Lois Lane and Martian Manhunter disguised as Clark Kent), who were to cover the re-formation of a new JLA, along with the introduction of several new members. Batman monitored everything in from the Monitor Womb, explaining that he can’t find anything wrong with Retro. The new JLA was quickly introduced, and a question and answer session commenced. ‘Retro’ feigned an upset stomach from going through the teleporter; Steel escorted him to the bathroom.

Once they were far enough away ‘Retro’ uploaded a virus into Steel’s armor, taking control of it; revealing himself to be Prometheus, he declared that: “I’m here to destroy the Justice League!” He then ordered Steel to walk far away and then to throw his hammer as far as he can.

Jonn immediately realized something was wrong and went looking for Steel and Retro after informing Superman and Wonder Woman ( Hippolyta ). He instead found Prometheus downloading the blueprints of the Watchtower directly into his brain. Jonn ordered Prometheus to stand down and surrender. Prometheus responded by shooting Jonn with a phosphorous dart, and then as his powers were weakened, he shot him with a toxic dart that broke down chemical bonds, rendering Jonn the most powerful puddle of goo alive.

Having lost their telepathic communication, the JLA went on high alert, as Prometheus set fire to garden which was responsible for most of the breathable air on the Watchtower and disabled the teleporters. Prometheus quickly dispatched Zauriel to the Ghost-Zone, and hypnotized Huntress before knocking her out. Batman then confronted Prometheus.

Prometheus quickly downloaded 30 of the worlds greatest martial artists into his brain (Batman being one of them), and set up a disorienting light pattern on his helmet to distract Batman as they engaged each other.

Flash and Kyle Rayner began their search and found that main power was going offline, GL noted that he was having trouble concentrating as his construct flashlight began to discorporate. Prometheus is heard explaining that GL is having trouble concentrating because of an invention of his called the “Neural Chaff”, which disorders conscious thought, making his power ring useless. However it does not work on Flash’s high frequency brain, so Prometheus goes on to explain that he has been planting motion sensitive bombs since he arrived, so that if Flash should go one iota above normal speed, every one of them will explode. He then dropped the unconscious form of Batman and declares “Five down, who wants to be number six?” However, noting that Flash and GL are no longer a threat to him, Prometheus shoots them out of spite and walks away, leaving them for dead.

Batman quickly recovers and is able to remove the bullet from GL; Flash’s speed suit absorbed the kinetic force of his bullet.

Prometheus then breaks into the trophy room, where Superman and Wonder Woman are escorting the one hundred members of the media to the Martian-technology shuttle bays. The media personal seem to be close to panic as Prometheus explains that any minute now Steel’s hammer will come crashing through an exterior wall of the Watchtower, causing an explosive decompression, which will kill everyone in the tower, (unknown to him Plastic Man has already intercepted Steel) except Superman. So, to save all those lives, he wants Superman to kill himself live on television; only then will he allow all the civilians to escape.

It is then that the only unforeseen variable makes her move. Catwoman, formerly disguised as Cat Grant, went along to see if she could steal a few things from the Watchtower; decides that she doesn’t want to see so many people die, and whips Prometheus in the crotch with her bullwhip. Steel appears and takes control of Prometheus’ technology.

Prometheus decides to chalk this one up to experience and explains to Flash that he was lying about the bombs, then teleports back to the Ghost-Zone, where he finds a very angry Zaurel, who he is forced to quickly teleport back to the Watchtower. He was then put in Arkham.

World War III

For more information see: JLA: World War III

Biding his time, he soon broke out. He is later seen as part of Lex Luthor‘s Injustice Gang. He is able to breach the Watchtower through a White Martian spaceship left in Hyperspace from the Martian invasion of Earth. He nearly kills Oracle when she refuses his offer to restore her legs. He returns to the Watchtower again to challenge Batman again, who uploads a motor neuron disease into Prometheus’ helmet giving him all the physical skills and abilities of Professor Stephen Hawking. He is able to activate his cosmic key to escape into the Ghost-Zone with Huntress, who is preparing to shoot a quite helpless Prometheus in the head at point-blank range with a cross-bow bolt when Batman finds them again. He fires her on the spot, citing that they don’t allow killers in the League. Martian Manhunter and Batman converse on what to do with him. Worrying that he will become a threat again, Martian Manhunter imprisons his mind, rendering him brain-dead. Prometheus is taken into Blackgate Prison.

JLA/Avengers

A Prometheus impostor (Chad Graham) is next seen attacking Captain America in the JLA/Avengers crossover, but Cap defeats him. After that, he is nearly killed by Green Arrow in Star City and is nursed back to health by Hush. For a while he works as Hush’s bodyguard. He protects Hush from Black Mask during War Games. He is later abandoned for his part in the murder of Poison Ivy. Prometheus (Graham) was kidnapped by Talia and the Society shortly thereafter.

During Infinite Crisis, Prometheus (Graham) shot Peacemaker in the back, presumably killing him.

One Year Later, Prometheus (Graham) kidnapped the Crime Doctor and (a seemingly reformed) Lady Shiva challenged him. He knocked her out in less than three seconds. He then fought Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, and Black Canary to a draw until the Crime Doctor’s suicide removed their reason for fighting. Prometheus (Graham) then departed without further issue.

Return of Prometheus/Cry for Justice

Due to Martian Manhunter sharing a mental connection with him, anything that happened to him would affect Prometheus as well. After the Martian Manhunter’s death, Prometheus’ mind is returned to his body. He breaks out of prison, receding to one of his hideouts. He then finds out about the impostor and plans how to find him. After working out for a few days (his muscles had atrophied due to his time in prison) he soon confronts the impostor Prometheus, Chad Graham, who Prometheus had intended to raise as a sidekick. Graham had been fighting the Blood Pack, when Prometheus intervenes. He rips off Gunfire‘s arms, leaving him for dead. He grabs Graham and teleports away to the Ghost Zone. Anima, who had been trying to follow him, is cut in half. Back at his house hidden in the Ghost Zone, Prometheus then tells the impostor how much of a disappointment he is and to everything Prometheus stands for, ending the conversation by burning Graham alive, and taking back his equipment. Argus is left in an alley, trying to keep the injured Gunfire alive.

Prometheus then initiates a huge plan against the Justice League. He unleashes a global crime wave to distract the them in order to obtain technology needed for unknown reasons. After teleporting into the satellite in the guise of Freddy Freeman, along with Atom, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Supergirl, he proceeds to the control room, where Red Arrow finds him and a battle ensues. Due to his superior training, Prometheus wins, ending the fight by tearing off Roy Harper’s arm with an acidic knife and is soon confronted by the rest of the League. He defeats every single member of the League, including Zatanna, Red Tornado, Star-Man, Black Canary, Flash, Congorilla, Firestorm, Green Lantern, Starfire, Animal Man, Donna Troy, Green Arrow, Doctor Lite II, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Guardian and is about to proceed to the next level when the unseen variable of a revived Donna Troy subdues him and is about to kill him when she stops herself. While being interrogated by the League, he soon reveals that he has set up devices in all of the JLA members’ home cities. While meant to send the city out of time, it actually is highly damaging. Star City was almost completely destroyed, and Lian Harper was killed. Prometheus tells them the only way he will give them the codes to stop the detonation of the rest of their cities is if they let him free. After much debate against each other, Green Arrow explained that they had to.

Back in the Ghost Zone, Prometheus ponders how he could have made his plan succeed. An enraged Green Arrow shows up and shoots him in the head, killing him, simply replying; Justice.

New 52

Prometheus has recently become an antagonist for Midnighter. He could be perceived to be part of a short list for Midnighter’s rogues gallery.

Skills and Equipment

Though not having superpowers, Prometheus has appeared to be a deadly opponent without them. He has created more than 1,000 master plans to escape any situation and/or defeat any meta-human.

He is one of the smartest men on the planet rivaling Lex Luthor and Batman in planning, having master degrees in Physics, Biology, Algebra, Technology, English, History, and Religion.

He is a brilliant strategist, able to form all kinds of plans to overcome anything and has created counter-measures for them to succeed.

He is fluent in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and knows the Human Sign-Language

While looking for the entrance to Shamballa (a kingdom buried beneath Mongolia) Prometheus found an ancient sentient spaceship. He lived with the Tibetan monks for a while and was later led to the heart of Shamballa by an aged Lama. He was then granted the Cosmic Key to a new home.

Prometheus calls it the Ghost Zone, Martians refer to it as the Still Zone, Kryptonians know this inter-dimensional void as the Phantom Zone. Using his Cosmic Key, Prometheus can gain access to a realm of nothingness that defies physical laws. Within it, he built a Crooked house. He can also use the key as an energy weapon, using a unique form of negative energy which causes Molecular disintegration, as he did with the JLA contest winner; retro.

He has also seen to be able to instill fear in others, as Batman does, and to manipulate them in doing so. This ability was seen when a large majority of supervillains were forced out of fear to help him in succeeding with his plan.

In his first costume, Prometheus carried a high-tech nightstick that allows him to deliver superhuman attacks, it can shatter steel and was designed to override shielded electronic systems. It was also fire-proof and could withstand a direct blow from even Superman. His computerized helmet is linked to his central nervous system and can download anything he wants directly into his brain. Allowing him to gain many learned skills, like knowing the fighting skills of the 30 greatest martial artists in less than 5 seconds, learning gymnastic positions, gaining the knowledge and skills of a surgeon, and record the moves of others into his suit to predict their next move. His helmet lights strobe to hypnotize or disorient opponents. Such technology not from Earth could also allow Barbara Gordon’s (Oracle) the use of her legs, a fact he tempted her with when they met.

Even without his helmet, Prometheus is a very skilled and very lethal hand-to-hand combatant, being able to defeat Batman and Lady Shiva in a tiny amount of time and is also known to be a strategic genius, possessing an IQ of 213. He has been shown to be able to use virtually anything as a weapon, being shown to throw CDs and pencils with deadly precision, rivaling Green Arrow. He uses a “Neural Chaff” that can affect an opponent’s concentration.

Prometheus’ second costume had light-weight body armor, which is interlaced with synaptic relays that could augment his formidable fighting prowess. He upgraded his gauntlets to fire various projectiles including bullets, chemical and poison, and even phosphorous darts. His costume was also covered in microscopic nanobites, which could infect the brain of a metahuman (such as Atom,when he shrunk size to disable his suit) in direct contact and send electronic pulses in the brain to allow the individual to lose complete control of their powers for 5 minutes, enough to subdue them. Prometheus also claims to have developed plans to defeat every (DC) superhero/supervillain.

However, as events have proven, when unplanned events happen, he can be caught by surprise.

Characteristics

• Real Name: Unknown
• Occupation: Hero-Hunter
• Base: The Ghost Zone, Gotham
• Height: 6′ 1″Weight: 280 lbs
• Eyes: Blue
• Hair: White (formerly Brown)

Other Media

Prometheus appears in the Nintendo DS version of Justice League Heroes as a minion of Brainiac. He puts mind control devices on Batman and is defeated by Wonder Woman and Flash.

He is set to appear in DC Universe Online.

Prometheus has a cameo in Batman Arkham Asylum, While Prometheus does not physically appear, you can see his photo on a Wanted poster issued by Gotham City Police Department.

He has another cameo in Batman Arkham City, with a warrant on his psychological health test, with him passing. Also an old newspaper says “Boy Watches Criminal Parents Die!” and “Criminal Couple Gunned Down!”

Prometheus will appear in The Season of Infamy DLC for Batman Arkham Knight.

Arrowverse:

In the 5th season of Arrow Prometheus appeared as the main antagonist and was played by actor Josh Segarra and voiced by Micheal Dorn.