Real Name: Prince Peacock

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Microverse) human weapon user

Occupation: Prince

Group Membership: Royal houses of Subzero Zone

Affiliations: Micronauts (Bug, Marionette, Microtron, Prince Pharoid, Arcturus Rann), Queen Fria

Enemies: Cave-bats, Snowbear

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Polaria, Subzero Zone, Homeworld, Microverse

First Appearance: Micronauts I#32 (August, 1981)

Powers/Abilities: Prince Peacock was a normal adult human of the Microverse who was highly skilled at skiing and archery, being able to shoot and ski at the same time, and often did not use stocks to guide his skiing. As a Polarian, he had remarkable tolerance of the icy cold climate and could survive when completely covered by ice and snow, although the limits of this have not been identified. Peacock had long blond hair with blond eyebrows, and wore a pink and purple outfit with highlights that drew on the patterns of a peacock's feathers. His skis were made of vindawood harvested from Tropica and he took great care of them. He stood about 5'10" tall.

History:

(Micronauts I#32 (fb) - BTS) - The second key (of three) of the Enigma Force was held by Queen Fria of Polaria in Subzero Zone. She was too gentle to wield the key to protect Polaria, but could only surrender it upon death. She would transform secretly into the Snowbear. A legend developed that slaying the Snowbear would save the kingdom, although the killer would lose that which he held most dear. Prince Peacock, also of the Royal Court of Polaria, took it upon himself to kill the beast and was willing to sacrifice his own life to achieve this. However, Fria and Peacock were secretly in love with each other, but she would not tell him of her link with the key.

(Micronauts I#32) - Prince Peacock skied the icy slopes of Subzero Zone, hunting for the legendary Snowbear, not realizing that it was the woman he was silently in love with. He chanced upon the Snowbear and brought his bow up to fire, but was temporarily blinded by the sun off the snow. Nevertheless, he aimed for the Snowbear's symbol on its chest and fired. The Time Traveler deflected Peacock's arrow, but it still hit and wounded her. He fired another, but the Time Traveler had constructed shield around the Snowbear to protect her. The Traveler then generated an intense blizzard that froze Peacock where he stood as he witnessed the Snowbear transform into a beautiful woman a short distance away. Some time later, his frozen form was discovered by Marionette, and he was revived by her. They then met up with the other Micronauts (Bug, Microtron, Prince Pharoid, Arcturus Rann) and traveled to Polaria in their astrostation. There they met Queen Fria and Peacock saw Rann holding the first key to the Enigma Force. The Prince asked if the second resembled the sign on the Snowbear, which he drew for them in the snow. They then withdrew to Fria's palace.

    Later, Peacock spoke with the Micronauts of Polaria's plight and how the Snowbear was considered sacrosanct by the people. The Micronauts agreed to accompany Peacock on the next day's hunt and retired for the night. Peacock stayed up and brooded, but was silently watched by Fria. Several hours later, Peacock stealthily left the palace on skis to hunt the Snowbear, but was seen by Rann and Marionette, who pursued him with their fellow Micronauts. Using the astrostation's sensors, they soon found him and trekked after him on foot. The Prince left his skis at the mouth of a cavern as he tracked the Snowbear. The Micronauts followed, but Bug was captured by a cave-bat. The rest emerged at the other side of the natural tunnel, only to see Peacock fire an arrow that sunk into the Snowbear's hide; the arrow was connected to a line of tensile plandanium, which he clung to so as to slow the creature down and hurry its demise. Rann broke the line, but Peacock loosed another arrow that hit the Snowbear, which fell and transformed back into Queen Fria as she died. Too late, Peacock realized the high cost of losing his secret love and he broke his hand-hewn bow in anger and dismay, before passing the key to Rann as he refused to use it to save Polaria. The group then returned back to the palace.

(Micronauts I#33) - Subzero Zone continued to swelter under the increasing heat from Homeworld's twin suns, with the icy tundra turning onto steaming swamps. Peacock watched Polaria's citizens streaming away from the city, and Marionette pleaded with the Prince to escape the rising heat, but he refused, considering that Polarians had become as cold and heartless as their climate. He also decided that, because of his own coldness, he had lost Fria and he did not want to outlive her, so he remained in the castle as it melted away. As the Micronauts journeyed away, Marionette shed a tear for the tragedy, commenting about the waste of Queen Fria and Prince Peacock dying.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo (writer), Pat Broderick (penciler) & Dan Bulanadi (inker).

    I got the impression that Fria and Peacock kept their love secret even from each other...their frozen realm mirroring their frigid hearts...or something like that.

Profile by Grendel Prime

Clarifications:

Prince Peacock has no known connections to:

• Peabody, John - alias of Corruptor @ New Warriors III#6
• Peanuckle - NuPonder, cat owned by Ms. Schave, abducted by Terrax robot for Mad Thinker's Intellectual Robots @ New Warriors III#4
• Peanut - member of Warpies, had peanut-shaped body, used spider-legged mechanical device for limbs, could disrupt the concentration of others @ Excalibur I#62
• Captain Peacock, floorwalker at Grace Bros., co-star of "Are You Being Served?", yet to be seen in the MU
• Gamecock - Gangleader in a rooster outfit with talons @ Captain America I#183
• Any other "Pea-" or "-cock" characters

Cave-bats have no known relation to:

• Cave of the Seven Winds - netherworldly dimension adjacent to Hell, contained a portal to Hell, through which Satana hoped to return home @ Haunt of Horror#2/5
• Cave of Time - Asgard, portal into other time periods @ Thor I#
• Cave Bar - one of several rotating bases for Brethren of the Blue Fist @ Tigra#3
• Any other "Cave" or "bat" characters or creatures

but may be related to:

• Battle-bats - giant bats used as flying steeds by Insectivorids on Kaliklak (Microverse) @ Micronauts I#56

Cave-bats were giant black bats that dwelt in the caves of the frozen mountains on Subzero Zone. The Micronauts (Bug, Marionette, Prince Pharoid, Arcturus Rann) encountered one such creature when they were pursuing Prince Peacock across the frozen tundra and ventured into a cavern. The huge black bat swooped down on them, plucking Bug out of the group with its claws. Bug was able to kill the beast and later presented the carcass to his fellow Micronauts to be skinned to keep him warm. As a species, they are unlikely to have survived as Icezone melted and their habitat disappeared

--Micronauts I#32

images:
Micronauts I#32, p1 (skiing)