Prosilicans (victims of the Watchers; resulted in the Watchers' oaths)

Location/Base of Operations: Planet Prosilicus, possibly the Andromeda galaxy

They initially possessed limited technology, then had nuclear power, and now the few survivors live in squalor in the post-war world.

History:
(Tales of Suspense I#53/3) - Shortly after the race known as the Watchers gained the ability to transform themselves into energy, they decided to travel to other worlds to share their knowledge.

The first planet they attempted this was Prosilcus. The Watchers shared with the Prosilicans the power of nuclear energy, and taught them how to use it improve transportation, save money, and to cure diseases.

However, after the Watchers left, other Prosilicans saw the destructive power of nuclear energy and a war erupted which rapidly reduced their civilization to ruins. When the Watchers returned, the few survivors cursed them as demons for destroying their society.

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7 gives an incorrect file for the Prosilicans. It appears that their file was switched with another, although the picture is correct.
All of the other information in that entry actually refers to the alien race known as the Venturites. Also, that race's name is actually the Venturans, as can be seen in the second panel on the third page of "The Omen."
--Donald Campbell

These events are referred to as the Prosilicus Experiment, and form the basis for the Watchers' Oath of Non-Interference.

The history of how Uatu's race became the Watchers was first revealed in Tales of Suspense I#53 (May, 1964) in that issue's third story, entitled "The Way It Began." A somewhat altered version of that origin appeared in Silver Surfer I#1 (August, 1968) in a co-feature (second story) entitled "The Wonder of the Watchers!" Among the differences between the two stories were:

1. The art was by Gene Colan instead of Larry Lieber.
2. The Prosilicans had skin that was green instead of blue.
3.. The Watchers-to-be were somewhat motivated by seeking glory for themselves instead of simply wishing to help "lesser races."
4.. The war-like Prosilicans, aside from waging an atomic war to conquer their own world, then used their nuclear missiles in an unprovoked pre-emptive attack against a neighboring planet whose inhabitants, although unable to prevent their world from being devastated, did have enough time to retaliate and launch their own nuclear missiles which caused Prosilicus to share their fate.

One thing I'm left to wonder: Which version of this story "really happened" in Reality-616? Were the Prosilicans blue-skinned or green-skinned? Or did some have blue skin while others had green skin? Or maybe the blue race and the green race were actually natives of two different versions of Prosilicus that existed in two separate alternate realities? After all, we know from Original Sin#0 that the reason why Uatu was so obsessed with observing parallel worlds was because he was desperately (and unsuccessfully) searching for at least one in which his father Ikor's decision to help the Prosilicans had not led to tragedy.

Speaking of Original Sin#0, in that issue Nova (Sam Alexander) is allowed to watch a video record of what happened on Prosilicus. However, as best I can tell, this version is not quite identical to either of the two earlier stories so...I don't know what that means.

As mentioned above, the only parts of the quarter-page entry on the Prosilicans that appears in OHotMU I#7 which are correct are the name and the image of that race (at least, as they appeared in the ToS version of their story).

By the way, in his comments on the this race’s profile, Snood mentioned that, until two weeks before he wrote the profile, he had not known what was going on with that entry for the Prosilicans in OHotMU I#7. Personally, until I read Snood's profile I hadn't actually realized how very wrong that OHotMU entry was. In fact, the only thing I had noticed was that it seemed odd that the entry stated that the Prosilicans were now refugees on the planet Parthea even though I had read elsewhere that they were the race who had supposedly eradicated themselves by misusing knowledge that had been given to them by the more advanced race who subsequently became the Watchers.
So, my thanks to Snood for showing me the truth.

images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7, profile (main)
Tales of Suspense I#53/3, p4, pan3 (in front of rocket)
Tales of Suspense I#53/3, p4, pan5 (after war)

Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#53/3 (May, 1964) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script/pencils), Paul Reinman (inks)

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