PROTONPROTON
Real Name: Geldoff (first or last name
unrevealed-see comments)
Identity/Class: Human mutant (see comments)
Occupation: Initiative trainee
Group Membership: The Initiative (Annex/Alex Ellis, Ant-Man/Eric O'Grady, Batwing/Jimmy Santini, Crusader/Z'reg,
Diamondback/Rachel Leighton, Dragon Lord/Tako Shamara, Gargoyle/Isaac Christians, Geiger/Delilah
Dearborn, Gorilla Girl/Fanhbullah Eddy, Hellcat/Patsy Walker, Melee, Prodigy/Ritchie Gillmore, Red 9/Wallace Jackson, Stature/Cassie Lang, Stingray/Walt Newell, Sunstreak/Andrea Rourke)
Affiliations: Bengal
(Duc no Tranh), Constrictor (Frank Schlichting), Gauntlet (Joseph
Green), Henry Peter Gyrich, the Initiative (Ant-Man/Eric
O'Grady, Batwing/Jimmy Santini, Crusader/Z'reg, Diamondback/Rachel
Leighton, Dragon Lord/Tako
Shamara, Gargoyle/Isaac Christians, Geiger/Delilah Dearborn, Gorilla
Girl/Fanhbullah Eddy, Hellcat/Patsy Walker, Melee, Prodigy/Ritchie
Gillmore, Red 9/Wallace Jackson,
Stature/Cassie Lang, Stingray/Walt Newell, Sunstreak/Andrea Rourke),
Phyllis Shamara, Taskmaster, Triathlon (Delroy Garrett, Jr.), Trauma
(Terrence Ward), Yellowjacket (Criti Noll), the Young Avengers
(Hawkeye/Kate Bishop, Patriot/Eli Bradley, Speed/Tommy Shephard,
Vision/Jonas, Wiccan/Billy Kaplan)
Enemies: KIA (Michael Van Patrick clone), Skrulls (K'rtem, others)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Camp Hammond, Stamford, Connecticut, USA
First Appearance: (as Geldoff): Avengers: The Initiative I#8
(February, 2008);
(as Proton): Avengers: The Initiative I#9 (March, 2008)
Powers/Abilities: Proton could generate and project explosive balls of energy.
Height: 5'11" (see comments)
Weight: 145 lbs. (see comments)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
History: (Avengers: The Initiative I#8 (fb)) -
Geldoff was one of the many new recruits brought into the Fifty-State
Initiative program that was trained by the Initiative's newest drill
instructor, Taskmaster. Going down the new roster of recruits,
Taskmaster announced Geldoff's name then asked if he had gotten tired
of organizing Live Aid concerts before moving onto the other recruits.
When Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady) began making jokes to Taskmaster about the
previous Ant-Man, Scott Lang, Initiative recruit and Scott Lang's
daughter Stature got angry and grew to giant size to attack O'Grady,
prompting Geldoff and the other Initiative recruits to run for cover.
When "Yellowjacket" (actually Skrull imposter Criti Noll) got involved
in Stature and Ant-Man's fight, Geldoff stood next to the other newest
Initiative recruits and watched as Taskmaster took down all three
giants by hitting their Achilles tendons with his shield.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#9 (fb)) - Geldoff trained with the other newest Initiative recruits against Taskmaster, who easily hit Geldoff with his shield while simultaneously kicking Ant-Man in the head. As Geldoff recovered alongside the other recruits, Crusader chose not to fight Taskmaster, who praised Crusader for using his brain. Taskmaster then ran Geldoff and the other new recruits in a combat simulation program, where they battled robots. Shortly after Taskmaster cranked up the difficulty of the training simulation, the escaped MVP clone known as KIA burst through the wall of the training area. Geiger quickly asked Geldoff if KIA's rampage was part of their training program but Geldoff admitted he had no idea and reminded Geiger to call him Proton while they were training. Ant-Man quickly announced that the room was for beating things up and suggested all the recruits beat up KIA since he had come into the room. Easily defeating Proton and the other new recruits, even killing Dragon Lord, KIA departed to go after "Yellowjacket."
(Avengers: The Initiative I#12) - Proton accompanied
Taskmaster and the other newer Initiative recruits to the home of his
fellow recruit, Dragon Lord, where Taskmaster and Triathlon presented
Dragon Lord's wife with the deceased Initiative recruit's ashes. While
there, Proton witnessed Dragon Lord's son promise to follow in his
father's footsteps.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#14) - When 3-D Man arrived at Camp Hammond to alert the Initiative about the alien Skrulls' secret invasion, Initiative recruit Crusader, secretly an heroic Skrull, used his Freedom Ring to alter the perceptions of 3-D Man's Skrull-detecting glasses, causing them to reverse. Unable to tell what was what, 3-D Man mistakenly saw Proton, who thought 3-D Man looked a little green, and numerous other Initiative personnel and recruits as Skrulls.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#15/Secret Invasion#3) -
3-D Man continued to see Proton, who charged up an energy ball, and the
other Initiative recruits and personnel as Skrulls before he took a
Quinjet and got off-base, mistakenly thinking everyone at Camp Hammond
had been replaced by the shapeshifting Skrulls. Shortly after, the
Skrulls secretly invading the world began their first salvo by
unleashing an alien virus that disabled all worldwide Starktech,
prompting Proton and other recruits to follow drill instructor
Gauntlet, asking if the tech malfunctions were part of a drill or not. Gauntlet
reluctantly informed them all that Starktech had went down and Camp
Hammond was unable to contact S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark or anyone else.
(Secret Invasion#3) - Upon hearing this, Proton declared his
suspicions that the events were indeed not a drill but Gauntlet told
Proton to listen carefully.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#15/Secret Invasion#3) - Before Gauntlet could say anything, "Yellowjacket" (a disguised Skrull himself) arrived and claimed the Avengers were missing and that the Initiative was needed to help stop the invading aliens. Upon hearing "Yellowjacket"'s claims, Gauntlet ordered Proton and the other recruits to gear and prepare for an attack. Proton soon found himself in the heart of New York's Times Square, where he teamed with other heroes against the invading Skrulls.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#16/Secret Invasion#3) - After the Initiative recruits and several other heroes including the Young Avengers were defeated by the Super-Skrulls in Times Square, Proton was surrounded by Skrulls.
(Secret Invasion#3) - Proton begged for his life.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#16/Secret Invasion#3) - Despite begging, Proton was executed by the Super-Skrulls.
(Avengers: The Initiative I#16) - Proton's death was
witnessed by the heroic Crusader, who was secretly a Skrull himself who
had allied with Earth.
Comments: Created by Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage and Stefano Caselli.
It should be noted that Proton's Earth-1610
counterpart, Geldoff, appeared before Proton-616 did, in Ultimate
Spider-Man I#40 (2003).
It was unclear if Geldoff was Proton's first or last name.
Proton's height and weight were taken from his Earth-1610 counterpart. Earth-616's Proton's stats were presumably the same.
It was never revealed how Earth-616's Proton obtained
his superhuman powers but his Earth-1610 counterpart was a mutant who
had been born with powers due to experimentation on him while in the
womb. While online sources have said that Proton-616 was not a mutant,
nothing has been said in-story, leading me to conclude that until we
know more, one can only assume that Proton-616 may also be a mutant.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Proton has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Avengers: The Initiative I#12, p5, pan1 (Proton, main image)
Avengers: The Initiative I#9, p13, pan4 (Proton, headshot)
Avengers: The Initiative I#16, p12, pan2 (Proton's death)
Appearances:
Avengers: The Initiative I#8 (February, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N.
Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#9 (March, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#12 (June, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage (writers), Steve Uy (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#14 (August, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N.
Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Secret Invasion#3 (August, 2008) - Brian Michael Bendis (writer),
Leinil Francis Yu (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#15 (September, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos
N. Gage (writers), Harvey Tolibao (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: The Initiative I#16 (October, 2008) - Dan Slott, Christos N.
Gage (writers), Stefano Caselli (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 04/18/2018
Last updated: 04/23/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!