PROFESSOR PROMETHEUS

Real Name: Phillip Prometheus

Identity/Class: Human cyborg/technology-user

Occupation: Scientist;
    former megalomaniac

Group Membership: Human Engineering Life Laboratories (H.E.L.L.);
    formerly Adelphi Crew, N.A.S.A. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Starlab crew

Affiliations:
    formerly Baron Karza (mind-merged and controlled his form) and his Dog Soldiers, Ray Coffin, Computrex, Humanoids

Enemies: Captain Universe (Ray Coffin; while Karza had swapped minds and transferred bodies), Ray Coffin, Steve Coffin, Micronauts (Acroyear, Biotron, Bug, Devil, Marionette, Microtron, Nanotron, Arcturus Rann), Muffin, NASA Security;
    presumably Patrick Air Force base military

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Toymaster;
    "Half-Face" (taunting nickname from Bug)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Mackelroy Army Base, Arizona;
    formerly the Human Engineering Life Laboratories (H.E.L.L.), Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida;
    formerly the Microverse;
    formerly Starlab space station

First Appearance: (First name mentioned; unseen, on phone call) Micronauts I#3 (March, 1979);
    (seen and fully identified) Micronauts I#4 (April, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: Phillip Prometheus is a genius inventor, with expertise in fields as diverse as aerospace engineering, computer programming, and quantum physics.

    As a cyborg, he was more durable than normal and was minimally affected by blasts designed to stun a person. His metal parts could withstand greater forces than his organic parts, and they demonstrated some degree of superhuman strength (such as enhanced gripping strength), but specific abilities and limitations are unrevealed, beyond the fact that a fall down an elevator shaft (of uncertain height) could fatally injure his organic components.

    As a reanimated (corpse) cyborg, he was even less affected by conventional assaults, but he could nonetheless feel pain from assaults to his fragile, decaying organic parts due to his cybernetic connections to the flesh.

    He designed the Prometheus Pit, which served as a portal from Earth's universe to the Microverse dimension, breaching the Spacewall that generally blocked such transport; even Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, proved unable to breach the Spacewall.

    He designed a control ray that allowed him to control toys (specifically action figures) implanted with computer chips of his design, and he could further modify the ray to design people on which the figures were designed. The models for such toys were pained by the use of the ray to control the toys themselves.

    He also designed the Ultimo virus, which could infect and transform others and was rapidly spread on contact.

    He was somewhat mentally stable, often interested in the science behind things without caring about the consequences to himself or others.

Height: Unrevealed (perhaps 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 250 lbs. as a cyborg, and 150 lbs. as normal human)
Eyes: (Organic, right) brown; (bionic) metallic
Hair: White/gray (bald on top) with white beard and moustache (hair presumably black or brown in youth); after his organic tissue necrosed, he had little to no hair remaining

History: 
(Micronauts I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Phillip Prometheus was co-pilot on the first Adelphi mission. 

(Micronauts I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus then flew solo aboard the orbiting Starlab space station.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus designed Starlab's medical systems. 

(Micronauts I#4 (fb) - BTS) - There was some kind of accident on Starlab.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - The rest of Prometheus' crew, who were outside Starlab, were killed by cosmic radiation. 

(Micronauts I#5 (fb)) - Inside the ship, Prometheus was near death, but Starlab's medical systems replaced his damaged organs with jury-rigged bionics, saving his life.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus was driven insane by the experience, and he soon perceived himself as more than a mere man.

(Micronauts Annual#2 (fb) - BTS) - "By devious machinations," Prometheus kept his transformation secret. 

(Micronauts I#4 (fb) - BTS) - When Prometheus came back, he was made an administrator; he did not fly on further missions.

(Micronauts I#4 (fb) - BTS / Micronauts I#15 (fb) - BTS) <A "few months" before the main story> - Professor Phillip Prometheus established and worked out of the Human Engineering Life Laboratories; it was not until after it was named that someone realized its acronym was H.E.L.L.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Dead specimens of Microverse life (including at least one Acroyear warrior, although no names of beings or races were known on Earth at the time) were deliver to HELL from all over the world. 

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus analyses of the dead "sub-aliens" showed that they were a perfect synthesis of man and machine, bionic beyond anything known to terrestrial science. Prometheus felt a need to know their origins.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus reasoned that these "sub-aliens" had died due to some barrier between Earth and their microscopic universe.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS / Micronauts I#15 (fb) - BTS) - Having learned of the existence of such a microverse, and hoping to contact its natives, Prometheus built a portal connecting Earth's realm and this microverse, which he dubbed the Prometheus Pit.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus created robotic servants he dubbed Humanoids. 

(Micronauts I#3 - BTS) - After Steve Coffin encountered the Micronauts and other natives of the Microverse, his father, former astronaut Ray Coffin called Phillip Prometheus for guidance. When Ray noted that this was an alien encounter, Prometheus agreed to meet Ray and Steve at the Kennedy Space Center.

(Micronauts I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus produced computer printouts and formalin-preserved specimens of Microverse life he had discovered.

(Micronauts I#5 - BTS) - Tracking Bug's brainwaves, the Micronauts entered the HELL institute as well.

(Micronauts I#5) - As Prometheus explained his experiences with the corpses of the Microverse natives and speculated on a lethal barrier between the realms, Steve Coffin noted that Commander Rann called it the Spacewall. Upon hearing this, Prometheus grabbed Steve and demanded answers on who Rann was and how Steve knew him. Ray tried to calm Phillip, asking hadn't he already known about the Microverse; after sharing his origins and baring his cybernetic facial components, Prometheus demanded Steve tell him where he could find the sub-aliens on Earth so he could use their technology to transcend the small portion of humanity remaining within him and become like unto a god.

    When Ray tried to stop Prometheus, his agents restrained Ray, in the process revealing themselves to be robotic Humanoids. Bug then made his presence known, dropping down and slashing Prometheus' skin. Prometheus was shocked to see a live sub-alien face to face, but swiftly regained his composure and demanded Bug's surrender, silencing Ray when he insisted he stay away from Steve. Muffin, Steve's dog, then arrived carrying Marionette, and Prometheus was ecstatic to have a second sub-alien; he intended to use them to test the Prometheus Pit. As he spoke, Prometheus activated equipment that began to tilt the floor, forcing Steve, Bug, and Mari toward the Pit. He refused Ray's pleas -- in the name of the man he once was -- to spare Steve, but then Acroyear arrived and began slashing and destroying the Humanoids. Microtron arrived next, extending a limb to stop Steve's progression toward the Pit, after which Commander Rann entered the room.

    The varied forms of these multiple specimens elated Prometheus, and he couldn't wait to monitor their life functions as they descended into the Pit to determine whether the Spacewall could be safely breached. Rann nailed Prometheus with his blaster, but when Prometheus was largely unharmed, Ray -- seeing the monster Prometheus had become and wanting to protect Steve -- tackled Prometheus into the Pit; both men fell in, with Prometheus calling Coffin a fool as they began their fall. 

    Rann could only watch as the pair began to shrink out of visibility into what he presumed to be sub-molecular size. Meanwhile, the Humanoids prepared to carry out Prometheus' last orders, that the sub-aliens be used to test the Pit.

(Micronauts I#6) - As Prometheus and Ray plunged down the Pit and entered the transition zone, Phillip told him they were shrinking and added "There were worlds within worlds." Ray urged Prometheus to snap out of it, but Phillip assured him there was not a way out; they were doomed.

    After they plunged through the shifting subatomic cosmos for what seemed a lifetime, Ray began to glow, and he vanished (summoned by one of the Time Travelers); Phillip pled futilely for Ray not to leave him as he could not stand it there alone. As he continued to fall and shrink, Phillip noted that that the "molecules" in the molecule-like structure of Homeworld's planet were like marbles, but that he seemed to have lost all of his marbles (a euphemism for having gone crazy).

    A pilotless satellite drone a fraction of Prometheus' size recorded his plunge and then streaked off to Homeworld.

(Micronauts I#6 - BTS) - The drone bore the message of the invading alien lifeform to the Shadow Temple. Several hours later, one of the Shadow Priests delivered that message to Baron Karza, who then displatched his fleet of Dog Soldiers and rebel Acroyears to capture the invader.

(Micronauts I#6) - The mentally unstable Prometheus was shocked as relatively tiny spaceships swarmed around him, scanning him and delivering the data back to Karza.

(Micronauts I#6 - BTS) - Receiving the data, Karza reasoned that the Micronauts must have formed an alliance with the giants of another universe. Karza's mind probes revealed Prometheus had met and fought the Micronauts and had been driven mad by the encounter. Sensing an evil within Prometheus not unlike his own, Karza determined he could make use of that evil...

(Micronauts I#7) - As Prometheus was unsure whether to trust his own senses and wondered if the tiny spaceships were imagined, a mobile exploration report identified Prometheus as a semi-bionic human, surrounded by its own atmospheric sheath, which enabled it to breathe. Karza noted that an object passing through the Prometheus Pit from Earth maintained a much larger size in relation to the natives, and he reasoned that by merging his consciousness with a suitable host body, such as the "pitiful mental wreck" Prometheus, he could stalk the Micronauts on Earth as a giant among giants. He instructed his staff to prepare Prometheus for the mind-merge.

(Micronauts I#7 - BTS) - Karza completed the mind-merge, transforming Prometheus' form into a giant duplicate of his own, after which he entered the Prometheus Pit.

(Micronauts Annual#2 (fb) - BTS) - While Karza gained Prometheus' knowledge of Earth, Prometheus gained Karza's knowledge of the Microverse.

(Micronauts I#8 (fb) - BTS) - By Karza's account, he exchanged his molecular structure with Prometheus'.

(Micronauts I#8) - Karza/Prometheus battled the US Air Force, the Micronauts, and Captain Universe (the Uni-Powered Ray Coffin). When the Microverse used the Prometheus Pit to travel back to the Microverse, planning to seal the pit behind them and strand Karza on Earth, Karza reversed the mind-merge, reverting Prometheus back to his own form (allegedly transforming his molecules back to their original form), and sent his mental self back through the Prometheus Pit as well.
    Prometheus was seemingly left quite mad by the process.
    Collapsing, Prometheus was taken away by a pair of Military Police (or base security, or whatever).

(Micronauts Annual#2 (fb)) - Believed to be insane, Prometheus was placed in an institution where he began to re-create the wonders he had seen.

(Micronauts I#15 (fb) - BTS) - SHIELD sealed the Prometheus Pit on Earth's side.

(Micronauts I#15 - BTS) - Per a plan to confront their foe the Psycho-Man in the Microverse and to investigate SHIELD's claims of the Pit having been sealed, the Human Torch (Johnny Storm) traveled to HELL to investigate.

(Micronauts Annual#2 (fb)) - Eventually, Prometheus' doctors determined that he was constructing harmless toys and that he should be released.

(Micronauts Annual#2 (fb)) - With one of his "harmless" prototypes, as well as notebooks full of drawings of alien races and weird, otherworldy machines, Prometheus approached Mr. Karamatsu's toy company, figuring this was the only place his prototypes could be reproduced without arousing suspicion. Only knowing Prometheus as a once famous scientist and astronaut, the company agreed to manufacture a line of "Micronauts" toys upon his designs.

(Micronauts Annual#2 (fb) - BTS) - However, Prometheus intended to use control chips built into the toys -- based on the actual Microverse natives to not only control the toys but to control the actual natives as well -- so small that there purpose was unlikely to be discovered. However, when activated by his control ray, it would bring the toys to life as vast armies, as powerful as their Microverse archetypes.

(Micronauts Annual#2) - As the Toymaster used a hand weapon to activate the Micronaut toys -- including the Acroyear toy -- within Macy's department store, Acroyear suffered severe head pain.

(Micronauts Annual#2 (fb) - BTS) - Acroyear began to lash out, mindlessly threatening his teammates and their Endeavor ship with his energy sword; the Microanuts tracked the energy transmission affecting Acroyear to Macy's. As Acroyear pursued the source of the pain, the Micronauts followed the transmission as well.

    Meanwhile, the Micronauts toys seemingly came to life, attacking customers and other toys alike.

(Micronauts Annual#2) - Toymaster activated the Space Glider, Biotron, and Microtron toys, similarly affecting Commander Rann, Biotron, and Microtron. Bug blasted Toymaster with his rocket-lance, but Toymaster activated other Micronauts toys to assault him.

    After a Baron Karza toy stunned Rann, Acroyear smashed a frisbee into Toymaster's face when he reached for Rann. Acroyear fled when Toymaster attempted to blast him with his ray to gain control over him, and Bug again blasted Toymaster, this time striking his mask and revealing his identity. Prometheus then detailed his recent history before turning his control ray on the Micronauts again.

    As Acroyear, Biotron, Microtron, and Rann writhed in agony, Prometheus tried to adjust his ray to control them; but Bug and Mari took the offensive, and Mari struck Prometheus with Acroyear's sword, causing him to drop his ray. When Prometheus tried to flee, Biotron snagged his foot, slowing him down so Rann could herd him towards Bug, who blasted him with his rocket lance. The blast unexpected knocked Prometheus through a freight elevator door, and his screams were heard the length of the elevator shaft.

(Micronauts Annual#2 - BTS) - It was too dark to see Prometheus strike bottom, and, figuring him relatively harmless with his control ray shattered, the Micronauts chose to flee before the authorities arrived.

    Karamatsu was inspired to make two new Micronauts based on Bug and Marionette, and the Macy's manager asked if he could have them ready by Christmas.

(Micronauts I#43 (fb) - BTS) - Prometheus apparently did perish in the fall.

(Micronauts I#44 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the inactive Prometheus Pit filled with water.

(Micronauts I#44 (fb) - BTS) - Rather than ask Rann for further information on the Microverse, Prometheus suggested they use a fiendish and painful mind-probe involving larges spikes penetrating his brain.

(Micronauts I#44) - With Computrex's blessing, Prometheus prepared to start the mind-probe, but Devil, further maddened by the flames and now scorched black, emerged from the Pit. Despite Computrex's warning, Prometheus could not stop Devil from leaping atop his head again and repeatedly raking and tearing at his flesh, severing the computer-link that tied Prometheus to Computrex.

    Remaining in agony, Prometheus lurged forward and shattered one of Computrex's monitor-screens, damaging the equipment that kept Rann, Microtron, and Nanotron restrained. As the agonized Prometheus continued to stumble towards Computrex' consoles again, Computrex fired a laser beam through Prometheus' chest, driving him back. Extending and joining their arms, Microtron and Nanotron tripped Prometheus so that he fell into the Pit. The large splash heard informed Rann that the Pit was now filled with water and thus inactive.

(Micronauts I#44 (fb) - BTS) - As Devil continued to assault Computrex's equipment, Computrex, too, felt pain and ultimately overloaded and exploded, collapsing HELL's remains.

(War Machine II#7 (fb) - BTS) - Somehow back to life (see comments) and again in charge of HELL, Prometheus developed the Ultimo virus by working on components at Mackelroy Army Base and illegally provided samples to Davis Harmon of Eaglestar International. He was directly responsible for the deaths of 72 test subjects.

(War Machine II#3 (fb), #3-5 - BTS) - Via the actions of Harmon, Prometheus was indirectly responsible for the deaths of 623 people in Makazan, the capitol city of Aquiria.

(War Machine II#7 (fb) - BTS) - On HAMMER's order Ultimo's head was hidden at Mackelroy Army Base in Arizona.

(War Machine II#7) - Aided by American Eagle, War Machine (Jim Rhodes) incapacitated the head. Within the head (or the chamber it was guarding), which War Machine subsequently breached, Prometheus noted that he was impressed, as there was no way, on paper, that Rhodes should have been able to breach the facility (War Machine had encorporated an Ultimo eye removed by American Eagle into his hardware and used it to destroy the head). Unconcerned with the consequences of his actions, Prometheus voiced how he would have to check his calculations. War Machine interrupted, asking where was Ultimo's brain; noting how dangerous Ultimo's brain and programming was, Prometheus stated that he did not have access to the location of Ultimo's brain, and, even if he did, he would not tell Rhodes. As Prometheus continued that someone in Rhodes' current condition (Rhodes was largely bionic/cybernetic at the time) would appreciate the need to study Ultimo, Suzi Endo interrupted, having deciphered the information from the computers. Suzi then sent Bethany Cabe, Jake Oh and War Machine to the three locations were Ultimo's CPU parts were stashed away.

(Heroic Age: Villains#1) - Steve Rogers included Professor Prometheus in his list of villains to look out for.

(Scarlet Witch III#3 - BTS) - At some point Prometheus wrote a paper on Sub-Atomica.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden, and Josef Rubinstein.

    How Prometheus returned from his necrotic corpse state between Micronauts I#44 and War Machine II#7 is unrevealed. 

Perhaps his body was cloned, and his cybernetic memory banks were used to restore his memory and personality?

Perhaps he was restored as an android?

Maybe it was actually a brother or some other imposter?

    Baron Karza and the Dog Soldiers: Enemies or allies? Prometheus gained valuable knowledge from the merger, so I don't think he'd consider them enemies; but there is no evidence that the mind-merge/transfer/whatever was willing.

    In the War Machine, his first name was misspelled "Philip," but it was nonetheless a cool use of an obscure character.

    Heroic Age: Villains#1 refers to all encounters with the Micronauts by the term Enigma Force, which is how they were most recently identified. Presumably this is for legal issues.

    Heroic Age: Villains#1 also confirms Prometheus to be a cyborg, which presumably indicates his most recent appearances reflected that status, presumably with artificial skin as he wore in his first appearance.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Professor Prometheus should be distinguished from:

• Prometheus, Olympian God, son of Titans, allegedly taught man how to make and use fire in past, aided Avengers when they were kidnapped by Zeus @ Avengers I#282
• Prometheus of "Earth-7310", tribal elder of the Wets @ Savage Tales I#2/2
• Prometheus, Pantheon member, drives powerful vehicle, face deformed @ Incredible Hulk II#368
• Prometheus of Earth-93060, Fire People, elephant headed, created wetware that empowered Freex, died, but a mental program of his still exists @ Freex#13
• Prometheus Arctic Research Vessel (Adkins), recovered Iron Man after his injury from battle with Temugin @ Iron Man III#55
• Prometheus Gentech, Inc., genetic research firm run by Tem Borjigin (Mandarin), hired Maya Hansen to work on Extremis, supplied advanced tech to numerous terrorist groups @ Iron Man IV#18
• any professor or other character with a similar name

Acroyear, Baron Karza, a Battle-Cruiser, Biotron, Force Commander, a Hornetroid, a Terraphant, a Kronos, Microtron, a Sharkos, Shaitan, Space Glider (Rann)

images: (without ads)
Micronauts I#4, pg. 12, panel 7 (face with fake skin over cyborg components);
    #5, pg. 7, panel 4 (mostly full body, distant, over Earth's Prometheus Pit entrance);
        pg. 8, panel 1 (Microverse specimens);
        pg. 9, panel 4-5 (rebuilt as cyborg; de-skinned face);
    #6, pg. 7, panel 1 (pitfall);
        last page, panel 1 (surrounded by relatively tiny Microverse ships)
    #8, pg. 16, panel 4 (Karza reverses mind-merge, restoring Prometheus' mind and form on Earth);
Micronauts Annual#2, pg. 3, panel 6 (Toymaster, firing control ray);
        pg. 15, panel 2 (Toymaster, face);
            panel 3 (Toymaster, full);
        pg. 25, panel 1 (cyborg face, close-up);
        2nd to last page, panel 6 (blasted);
        last page, panel 1 (falling down elevator shaft)
Micronauts I#43, 2nd to last page, panel 2 (decaying body reanimated, full);
            panel 3 (decayed face, closeup);
War Machine II#7, pg. 18, panel 1 (face) - image used from Heroic Age: Villains#1, with speech bubble removed;
            panel 2 (most of body, lifted into the air by War Machine)
   

Appearances:
Micronauts I#3-7 (March-July, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Michael Golden (penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Al Milgrom (editor)
Micronauts I#8 (August, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Michael Golden (penciler), Bob McLeod (inker), Al Milgrom (editor)
Micronauts I#15 (March, 1980) - Bill Manto (writer), Howard Chaykin (breakdowns), Al Milgrom (finisher/editor)
Micronauts Annual#2 (1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Rich Buckler (penciler) & Steve Ditko (penciler & inker), Al Milgrom (editor)
Micronauts I#42-43 (June, 1982) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Gil Kane (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Al Milgrom (editor)
Micronauts I#44 (August, 1982) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Gil Kane (penciler), Danny Bulanadi, Carl Potts, & Al Milgrom (inkers), Al Milgrom (editor)
War Machine II#3-5 (April-June, 2009) - Greg Pak (writer), Leonardo Manco (artist), Bill Rosemann (editor)
War Machine II#7 (August, 2009) - Greg Pak (writer), Allan Jefferson, Mahmud Asrar, & RB Silva (pencilers), Nelson Pereira & Jeffrey Huet (inkers), Michael Horwitz (assistant editor), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Heroic Age: Villains#1 (January, 2011) - Michael Hoskin (head writer), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Scarlet Witch III#3 (May, 2023) - Steve Orlando (writer), Sara Pichelli (artist), Alanna Smith (editor)

First Posted: 08/17/2017
Last updated: 05/07/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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