PROTEUS

Real Name: Kevin MacTaggert

Identity/Class: Extradimensional/alternate reality (Earth-58163/"House of M") human mutant, UK citizen (Scottish)

Occupation: Adventurer;
   former serial killer

Group Membership: Exiles (Blink/Clarice Ferguson-295, Cat/Catherine Pryde-79596, Gambit/Remy-6706, Longshot-Mojoverse/616, Morph/Kevin Sydney-1081, Mystiq/Raphael-Raven Darkholme-797, Nocturne/Talia Wagner-2182, Power Princess/Zarda Shelton-712, Psylocke/Betsy Braddock-616, Valeria Richards-1720, Rogue/Anna Raven-1009, Sabretooth/Victor Creed-295, Sage-616, Spider-Man/Miguel O'Hara-5200, Thunderbird/John Proudstar-1100);
   formerly Super Guardians-552 (Blink/Clarice Ferguson-295, Longshot-Mojoverse/616, Manta-522, Power Princess/Zarda Shelton-712, "Ronan the Accuser"-552, Sabretooth/Victor Creed-295, Sasquatch/Heather Hudson-3470, Spider-Man/Miguel O'Hara-5200, "Super-Skrull"-552)

Affiliations: "All-Wolverine" Exiles (Albert-5211, Elsie-Dee-5211, Colonel Logan-811, James Howlett-1880, Weapon X-520, zombie Wolverine-6195), Alpha Flight-3470 (Aurora, "Box," Guardians/James Hudson, Marrina, Northstar, "Puck," Shaman, Snowbird), Corps (Albion/Bran Bardic-70518, Captain Albion/Katherine Huggen-523, Captain U.K./Linda McQuillan-238, Justicer Bull/Cassandra Bull-23238, Maid Britannia/Guinevere Wren-8406, others), Daughters of the Dragon-81114 (Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, others), "Doctor Doom"-33629, Domenic-8396, Excalibur-616 (Captain Britain/Brian Braddock, Dazzler/Alison Blaire, Pete Wisdom), Exiles-33629 (Blink/Clarice Ferguson, Magnus Lehnsherr, Mimic/Calvin Rankin, Morph/Kevin Sidney, Nocturne/Talia Wagner, Thunderbird/John Proudstar), Free Earth-1720 (Callisto, Elektra Natchios, Nick Fury, Reed Richards), Galactus-552, Kay (Rip-616/Counter-Earth), Marysal-8396, Nerimani-81114,  Lilandra Nerimani-552, O (Rip-616/Counter-Earth), "Octokingpin"-33629, Opal Luna Saturnyne-9, "Purple Pooka"-33629, Rick Jones-5200, Roma, Sons of Iron-81114 (Colyn, others), Time Breakers, unidentified British Queen-80827, Jordan D. White-1218, Wrecking Crew-33629 ("Bulldozer," "Piledriver," "Thunderball," "Wrecker");
   formerly Jordan Boone-6375 (unwilling and coerced confederate), Four Fantastics-187319 (Doctor Doom/Victor von Doom, Hulk/Robert Bruce Banner, Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Sue Storm), Manta-552, Moira MacTaggert-58163, Reed Richards-187319, Squadron Supreme-712 (Amphibian/Kingsley Rice, Doctor Spectrum/Joe Ledger, Hyperion/"Mark Milton," Nighthawk/Neil Richmond, Power Princess/Zarda Shelton, Skymax the Skrullian Skymaster/Sk'ym'x, Whizzer/Stanley Stewart), Young Allies-616/Counter-Earth (Bucky/Rikki Barnes, Jolt/Hallie Takahama, Kid Colt/Elric Whitemane, Toro/Benito Serrano);
   offered deals by Alchemax (Tyler Stone, others), Doom (Victor von Doom), Stark-Fujikawa, Pixel Corp (Eduardo De Vargas, others) (all Earth-6375)

Enemies: Black Baron Dormammu (Fatine-83112), Blood Skull (Johann Schmidt-83112), Blunderbuss-58163, Jordon Boone-6375, Brother Mutant-127 (an amalgam of Magneto, Mesmero, Quicksilver, Scarlet Warlock and Wolverine, all Earth-127), Brother Mutant's Wolverine army (Mean-5311, Patch-181, "Snikt the Clown," others including possibly Wolverine-74135), Chernobog-3470, Doom (Victor von Doom-83112), Exiles (Beak/Barnell Bohusk-616, Mimic/Calvin Rankin-12), Fury-238, Gold Goblin (Norman Osborn-83112), Hellfire Club-27538 ("Donald Pierce," Emma "Frost," "Harry Leland," Sebastian "Shaw"), Hulk (John Eisenhart-6375), Madeline "Debbie the Duck" Felix-58163, Four Fantastics-187319 (Doctor Doom/Victor von Doom, Hulk/Robert Bruce Banner, Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Sue Storm), Officer Fred-58163, Grandmaster-1851, Havok-80827, Hydra-1720 (Captain America, the Hand, Madame Hydra/Sue Storm, Slaymaster, Wolverine/Logan), Iron Man (Anthony Stark-2020), Justice (John Tensen-15371), Detective Chief Inspector Roger Llewellyn-58163, Mad Maker-83112, Maestro (Bruce Banner-5200), Maestro's guards, Merlyn, Moira MacTaggert-58163, Mad Jim Jaspers-616, Mad Jim Jaspers' Furies, Magneta (Erika Lensherr-83112), Officer Marty-58163, Mutant X Joint Taskforce-58163, Lilandra Nerimani-81114, Nightmask (Keith Remsen-15781), Barbara Petrovic-15781, Bobby Petrovic-15781, Laurie Petrovic-15781, Purge-80827, Ridley-6375, Royal Avengers-1009 (American Boy, Lord Iron, Saracen), Angel Salvadore-58163, Serpent Society-27537 ("Anaconda," "Bushmaster," "Cobra," "Copperhead," "Cottonmouth," "Death Adder," Diamondback, "Rattler"), She-Hulk (Jessica Walters-187319), Shi'ar Death Commandos-81114 (Black Cloak/Charles Xavier, Colony/Samantha Summers, Devo/Scott Summers, Flaw, Hypernova/Moira Kinross, Krait/Warren Worthington, Offset, Shell, Warshot/Alex Summers), Soviet Super Soldiers-3470 (Crimson Dynamo, Darkstar, Red Guardian, Ursa Major, Vanguard), Silver Surfer-552, Sinister Six-27536 ("Doctor Octopus," Electro, "Kraven," Mysterio, "Sandman," "Vulture"), Specialists-6375, Squadron Supreme-712 (Amphibian/Kingsley Rice, Doctor Spectrum/Joe Ledger, Hyperion/"Mark Milton," Nighthawk/Neil Richmond, Power Princess/Zarda Shelton, Skymax the Skrullian Skymaster/Sk'ym'x, Whizzer/Stanley Stewart), Star Brand (Kenneth O'Connell-15781), Stark-Fujikawa corporation-6375, unidentified spike-face mutant-58163, Venger-8396, Young Allies-616/Counter-Earth (Bucky/Rikki Barnes, Jolt/Hallie Takahama, Kid Colt/Elric Whitemane, Toro/Benito Serrano);
   formerly Exiles (Blink/Clarice Ferguson-295, Longshot-Mojoverse/616, Morph/Kevin Sydney-1081, Power Princess/Zarda Shelton-712, Sabretooth/Victor Creed-295, Sasquatch/Heather Hudson-3470, Spider-Man/Miguel O'Hara-5200), Exiles-33629 (Blink/Clarice Ferguson, Magnus Lehnsherr, Mimic/Calvin Rankin, Morph/Kevin Sidney, Nocturne/Talia Wagner, Thunderbird/John Proudstar), Reed Richards-187319

Known Relatives: (all Earth-58163) Moira Kinross MacTaggert (mother, deceased), Joseph MacTaggert (father);
   other relatives ASSumed from 616 counterpart: Lord Kinross (grandfather, presumably deceased), Alasdhair Kinross (ancestor), Queen Elizabeth “Lilibet” Alexandra Mary Windsor II (distant relative, presumably deceased), other distant relatives via Queen Elizabeth II

Aliases: "Bubble-Body" (Cat's nickname for Morph), Crimson Pirate, Morph, Mutant X, Kevin Sydney

Base of Operations: Panoptichron;
   formerly Muir Island, Scotland, Earth-58163

First Appearance: Exiles II#69 (November 2005)

 

Powers/Abilities: Proteus is a psionic energy being requiring human hosts to sustain himself, his power increasing with each new victim. The eyes of possessed victims turn instantly white, with no visible sclera and tiny pin prick pupils (only noticeable when seeing his face extremely close; otherwise his eyes look pure white), and Proteus burns out any host body he is in, making it increasingly desiccated and corpse-like, with each new form lasting a variable and unpredictable amount of time. The original host's mind remains within the body, but is locked away; in the rare instances that Proteus departs the body before it is completely destroyed, the original host's mind may regain consciousness and resume control, though without healing abilities or immediate medical care they are still likely to die from their injuries. While in possession of someone he has access to their powers and memories, and he retains the stolen knowledge when he moves to subsequent hosts; he presumably also retains any mental skills they had (languages, scientific knowledge, etc.) but he does not retain past hosts' powers. He also feels the emotions of those he possesses, which can influence his behavior to varying degrees; after stealing Mimic's body, he found unexpectedly that Mimic's love for Blink remained strong enough to influence his behavior for several subsequent hosts thereafter.

   He can only possess people within a limited range of him, which his mother estimated to be about ten feet, and cannot do so if their body contains even a relatively small amount of internal metal; it is also possible to force him out of a host body by shooting it non-fatally, so long as the bullet remains lodged in the host and do not pass through them. Even touching items made of metal is anathema to him; to handle an anti-Hulk gun on Earth-9200 he had to wrap it in cloth. Despite his vulnerability to metal, he can transform it with his reality-warping abilities, as he demonstrated when he changed Mimic, then using Colossus' power to turn into living metal, back into vulnerable flesh; this also means that he could render metal projectiles less dangerous to him, so long as he spots them with enough time to act. Presumably if someone tried to prevent him taking them as host by implanting metal in their bodies, as the Exiles did, Proteus could transform it into something else so he could still possess them; however, given that things he transforms revert to their prior state when he loses concentration, possessing such a host would be akin to implanting himself with a time bomb that might go off at any second. While in Morph's body, its unusual structure apparently insulated him against metal, and he was able to handle it without difficulty.

   If he were unable to attain a new host it is unrevealed whether he would die or whether he could continue to animate what amounted to a nearly-skeletal corpse until a new host availed itself; however, since he survived for a lengthy period, perhaps years, in isolation on Muir Island in his mother's custody, and she was presumably not providing him a string of victims, it does seem that while he might starve if denied life energies to feed off, he would not starve to death. Assuming he and his 616 counterpart have entirely matching powers, it seems that Proteus originally did not need to steal others' bodies to survive. 616 Proteus currently does not body switch, instead retaining the same host form while draining small amounts of life force from hundreds of willing volunteers, and it seems that both 616 and HoM Proteus survived in what we are led to believe were their original bodies while imprisoned for years on Muir Island. Thus it appears that Proteus could have remained indefinitely in the body he was born in had he been permitted to vampirically drain the life energies of others, and it was only after being denied external food sources that his body drained itself, ultimately forcing his spirit to take over new hosts once his original body became untenable. This supposition is corroborated by the fact that Proteus knew what his own adult body looked like before it began wasting away, despite having possessed his powers and thus his need to feed many years prior to reaching adulthood.

   Since he feeds off people's life forces he can detect these energies and "taste" them at some distance, enabling him to detect those that are unusual - for example, beings with superhuman powers or who originate from another reality - via their "flavor," though he cannot discern via said flavor what the unusual factor is (e.g. he can't figure out their powers from this), only that the difference exists. It is unrevealed how far away he can sense the energies, but he was able to "taste" the Exiles while they were on a city street and he was in a skyscraper, and he could detect people approaching and determine how many were present through a wall.

   He can survive without a host body for at least several minutes, during which time he appears as a being of humanoid energy; this form can be touched and injured by metal, including beings made of, or coated with, said substance, as metal disrupts his energy fields; while merged with Morph, this weakness apparently receded. 

   He is invisible to telepathic scans and most detection devices, though he has a distinctive and powerful energy signature that can be tracked by those who know what to look for. He can warp reality in a large but limited area around himself with a thought, affecting organic and inorganic matter and energy with equal ease. At one point he transformed an entire skyscraper, a larger region than he seemed to normally be able to manipulate; however, this was during the final moments of the "House of M" reality warp caused by the Scarlet Witch, and it may be that this existing reality instability somehow made it easier for him to increase his normal range.

   Proteus is somewhat telepathic, enabling him to detect people's worst fears, which he would then manifest using his reality warping powers. He was also able to send his consciousness through the portal in the Tallus device the Exiles used into their Panoptichron base and access its computers, allowing him to hack and download the Panoptichron's database of alternate realities; with that knowledge, Proteus was able to target specific interdimensional frequencies so that he could thereafter teleport to alternate realities of his choosing. When he transports himself between realities, his body appears to swirls like liquid as it materializes or disappears. He could also block the Panoptichron's ability to monitor whatever region of a given reality he was in, so that they could not observe him.

   Powers he gained while possessing past hosts include:

    While a member of the Super Guardians of Reality-552, he had the use of a Flight Ring that allowed him to fly, provided a life support force field in space, and thought-casting (to permit communication in a vacuum, where sound couldn't carry).

 

Height: (original body) 5'10! (by estimation); (energy form) variable; (host bodies) variable
 Weight: (original body) unrevealed; (energy form) none; (host bodies) variable 
Eyes: (original body) brown; (energy form) none; (host bodies) white
Hair: (original body) Red; (energy form) none; (host bodies) variable

 

History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z HC#9) - Born in Dundee, Scotland on...

(Exiles II#70 (fb)) - Earth-58163, a world dominated by the powerful House of M (Magneto) and mutantkind in general (see comments), Kevin MacTaggert possessed powers to alter reality but which also increasingly began feeding on the energies of his own body, slowly killing him and leaving him hungering to feed off the lifeforce of others (see comments).

(Exiles II#72 (fb) - BTS) - Presumably because of this, he had a lonely life, later recalling that girls were never interested in him, though whether this was because of his personality or because his powers had negatively impacted his appearance is unclear, though he seemed to believe it was the latter.

(Exiles II#79 (fb) - BTS) - At some point he watched Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome.

(Exiles II#70 (fb)) - To save his life and cure him his mother, the non-mutant Scottish geneticist Moira MacTaggert, locked him away in isolation in her research center on the isolated Muir Island off the Scottish coast, and she began searching for a way to isolate and neutralize the mutant gene within him. However, seeking a way to undo mutation drew the ire of King Magneto, who sent Sentinel robots to destroy the facility. Both Moira and Kevin separately escaped, with Moira becoming the most wanted Sapien (normal human) in the world.

(Pulse: House of M#1 (fb) - BTS) - Kevin made his way to Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, and for several months he remained there. Though his powers had destroyed his original body, he survived as a being of psionic energy, moving his essence from one stolen body to the next, leaving behind a trail of mummified corpses which the authorities concluded were victims of a serial killer they dubbed Mutant X, whom they believed possessed a flesh-wasting mutant ability.

(Exiles II#76 (fb) - BTS) - Each new host came loaded with memories and feelings, the latter the more difficult to handle, but Kevin soon learned to cope with these.

(Exiles II#80 (fb) - BTS) - Most bodies began wasting away the moment they were possessed, and even though this might not display itself visibly for some time, Kevin could feel this from the moment he took over the body.

(Pulse: House of M#1 (fb) - BTS) - Possibly because they were more durable hosts, Kevin exclusively restricted himself to feeding off mutants (far more numerous on 58163 than in most other realities), and Interpol formed the Mutant X Joint Task Force to hunt him. Despite being on Interpol's Most Wanted list and having her features programmed into the active recognition systems of European Sentinel patrols Moira continued to elude capture while likewise trying to catch her errant son,...

(Exiles II#70 (fb) - BTS) - tracking him using a detection device built to track his distinctive energy signature.

 

(Pulse: House of M#1 (fb) - BTS) - Presumably as a result of her thus being sighted in the vicinity of Kevin's victims, the Task Force began pursuing the theory that perhaps she was Mutant X, the deaths caused not by a mutant power but by the cure she had been developing. As the manhunt stepped up Scotland Yard's liaison to the Joint Task Force, Detective Chief Inspector Roger Llewellyn, relayed this theory to the press so the public might assist with the pursuit.

 

(Exiles II#70 (fb) - BTS) - Kevin eventually left Scotland and made his way to New York City, with Moira continuing to follow him.

 

(Exiles II#69 (fb) - BTS) - For several weeks Kevin left a trail of desiccated corpses across Manhattan, but the police continued to deny press speculation that it might be the work of the infamous Mutant X serial killer; eventually though they were forced to admit that they were, and papers such as the Daily Bugle informed the public of the dangers.

 

(Exiles II#69) - Wearing the body of a horn-faced mutant, Kevin stalked the Genome nightclub in Manhattan scouting for his next body. By 12:47a.m. he had chosen his new victim, the insect-winged model Angel Salvadore, as the thought of becoming a super-model amused him, and for the next couple of hours he watched her from a distance until she left the club at 2:52a.m., by which time his latest form was already starting to display drying skin. As he followed her out he passed by the club's bouncer, a large mutant named Blunderbuss, who was reading the Daily Bugle to pass the time. Blunderbuss called out a friendly warning to both clubbers to be careful as the street weren't safe these days, and the visibly dehydrated Kevin nonchalantly agreed in his noticeable Scottish accent. As Kevin headed off after Angel, Blunderbuss read the Bugle's report about the Scottish killer leaving desiccated corpses and realization struck him as he recalled that desiccated meant dried out. Pursuing Angel into a quiet alleyway, Kevin began to close on his prey when Blunderbuss leapt down in front of him, informing the killer that he had chosen the wrong girl to target. Identifying Kevin as Mutant X, Blunderbuss transformed his arms into two massive guns; unimpressed, Kevin simply stood looking at Blunderbuss until the bouncer blasted him in in the face. However Kevin turned the massive blasts from each arm-cannon into a cloud of butterflies just before the energy reached him. Having drained his spike-faced host body almost to a corpse, Kevin then transferred himself to the unfortunate Blunderbuss' body.

(Exiles II#69 - BTS) - Despite his massive bulk, Blunderbuss' body began burning out almost immediately, so Kevin headed to Angel's uptown apartment (presumably learning the location from his host's memories), and broke in to wait for her.

(Exiles II#69) - Mere minutes after having stolen Blunderbuss' body but with it already showing visible signs of mummifying, Kevin confronted Angel as she entered her apartment. With his drying face hidden in the shadows at first she mistook Kevin for his host body, and when Kevin stated that he needed her she assumed Blunderbuss was making a pass and gently rebuffed him, but then Kevin move forward so she could see him more clearly and informed her that Blunderbuss was gone, and in a minute she would be too.

(Exiles II#69 - BTS) - Kevin abandoned Blunderbuss' body and possessed Angel. He picked up from her memories that she had been approached outside the apartment building by a bird-faced mutant, Beak, who claimed to have children with her despite Angel recalling no such relationship.

(Exiles II#69) - Wearing Angel's form, Kevin looked out the apartment window and spotted Beak talking to a group of other mutants (the Exiles - Blink, Mimic, Morph, Sabretooth) across the street, and sensed even from that distance something special about the way their energies tasted that intrigued him, so he determined to learn their secret.

 

(Exiles II#70) - In Angel's body, Kevin watched Beak, who was moping near Wall Street, unaware Moira was also in the vicinity, tracking him. Spotting his observer, Beak slipped away from his friends to try to talk to "Angel," providing "her" the opportunity to snatch Beak and fly off with him. Though the Exiles now spotted "Angel" carrying Beak, they were surreptitiously approached by Moira who warned them that attempting to pursue without knowing who they were dealing with would likely end in Beak's death.

   While Moira was explaining about her son to the Exiles, "Angel" returned to the apartment with Beak and began to question him about why their energies felt so unusual. Realizing he was still confused, thinking "she" was Angel, the kidnapper identified "herself" as Mutant X, and, as the terrified Beak spotted Blunderbuss' mummified corpse, Mutant X made it clear that while he was reluctant to give up Angel's "shell" since it was lasting so well, if Beak refused to talk then Mutant X could simply take over his body and extract what he wanted from his memories that way.

(Exiles II#71 (fb) - BTS) - Beak explained that the Exiles were travelers who went from one alternate Earth to another, reshaping events as they went along in an attempt to save these Earths from destruction, with one of their team, Heather Hudson, coordinating things from their interdimensional base, the Panoptichron (a.k.a. the Crystal Palace). Wanting to draw the Exiles to him, Mutant X...

(Exiles II#70) - unleashed his reality warping ability, transforming the skyscraper into a Daliesque nightmare, terrifying the inhabitants. A few minutes later the remaining Exiles and Moira burst onto the roof, where they were greeted by the sight of Beak wrapped up by a distorted water tower and Mutant X in Angels' now rapidly deteriorating body. 

  

(Exiles II#71) - Mutant X revealed what he had learned about the Exiles from Beak and asked where he could sign up to join the Exiles in reality-hopping. As the Exiles and Moira held back, trying to figure out how to handle the threat before them, Mutant X declared it was fate that had led them and his mother to meet and so cross paths with him simultaneously. Noticing Sabretooth was whispering at the bejeweled vambrace adorning his arm, Mutant X unleashed his reality warp on the newcomers, distorting their forms like funhouse mirror images and causing Sabretooth's right arm to extrude across to him. Examining the vambrace, Mutant X noted that despite it looking at first glance like metal it was more like a hole in time, and realized that it was a device (the Tallus) that the Exiles used to communicate with Heather back at their base. Glancing into the Tallus, Mutant X said hello to Heather, then extended his energies through the portal, part of his spirit thus invading the Panoptichron's computers, manifesting itself there as a giant head extruding out of Heather's viewscreen. Alerted that Mutant X's mind had begun rapidly downloading the Panoptichron's databases on alternate realities, Heather quickly shut the system down, ejecting Mutant X back to his host body on Earth-58163.

(Exiles II#72 (fb) - BTS) - However, he had managed to download information on roughly 1000 alternate Earths from the Reality Index.

(Exiles II#71) - Declaring Heather's action, Mutant X turned his attention back to the Exiles, rooting into their minds to learn their greatest fears and transforming reality around them to manifest these. He taunted Morph with the zombie of Sunfire, a slain teammate Morph had unrequited feelings for, then haunted Sabretooth with a sea of corpses of victims he had slain while in the service of the evil Apocalypse, before moving on to de-age Blink and confront her with her childhood tormentor Sinister.

   Seeking to protect Blink and mistakenly thinking that "Sinister" was a disguised Mutant X, Blink's lover Mimic shot "Sinister" with an optic blast, but Mutant X had altered Sabretooth's appearance to manifest Sinister. Letting the injured Sabretooth revert to his normal appearance, Mutant X turned his attention to Mimic, warning him that he could not trust his eyes or instincts, and taunted the insecure Mimic by making him slowly melt into a hideous blob while watching a vision of Blink rejecting him in favor of Sabretooth. With his attention focused on his current victim, Mutant X failed to notice his mother quietly draw a gun until she shot his host body in the shoulder. In agony because the bullet's metal was anathema to him, he lost concentration and reality reverted to normal, restoring the Exiles. With the metal lodged in Angels' body continuing to burn him, Mutant X's energy form exited his host, angrily exclaiming that he had been forced to abandon the body before he had finished with it, and he advanced on Moira, intent on stealing her form. As he lunged for her and began to enter her, she turned her gun on herself and fired a fatal shot into her own head. As Moira's corpse fell at Mutant X's feet, Blink angrily threw an energy dagger at him, but he turned it to fish, and announced his intention to take her body, eager to access her teleportation powers. Before he could reach her he was grabbed from behind by Mimic, who had transformed himself into living metal (duplicating the X-Man Colossus' powers) and was now extruding metal claws (like Wolverine); knowing from reading Mimic's memories that the hero had vowed to himself not to kill again, Mutant X made Mimic hesitate using a fake appeal for mercy, giving himself time to warp reality and turn Mimic from metal back into flesh. Before Mimic could rally, Mutant X swiftly invaded his body, turning the unfortunate Exile into his new host. Taunting the remaining Exiles by telling them Mimic was now dead, Mutant X attacked quickly overwhelming Sabretooth with the combination of powers Mimic had copied, and blasting Morph when he pulled the now unconscious Sabretooth to safety. To save them both, Blink teleported the pair away, then demanded that Mutant X free Mimic or she would kill him. Laughing at her threat, Mutant X informed her that now that he knew of the realities beyond his own one he saw no reason to limit himself to just this one when there was so much more out there to see, to do, and to kill, and he warped himself away to another reality...

(Exiles II#72 (fb) - BTS) - as he had realized that no matter how fun he had been having stealing bodies and leading the authorities a merry chase, eventually they would have cornered him. Tired of taking bodies that burned out and left him looking like a walking corpse, Kevin desired a host that might last, and the information he had purloined from the Panoptichron suggested the Kenneth O'Connell of Earth-15731's Pittsburgh might fulfill this requirement, as he possessed a seemingly unlimited power called the Star Brand. As he transited the void, Kevin tried to home in on the largest concentration of paranormal power on that Earth, reasoning that it should be the Star Brand.

(Exiles II#72) - However, because the Clinic, a location in Earth-15731's Wisconsin, was doing research on dozens of individual paranormals, their combined energies proved larger than the singular Star Brand, drawing Kevin slightly off course. The journey between realities had proved more difficult than he had anticipated, Kevin appeared with a flash of light in mid-air outside the Clinic, and as he began to fall to the ground he was caught mid-air by an Antibody, a solid shadow form generated by local paranormal Randy O'Brien. Despite Randy and his friends being in the middle of attempting to escape the Clinic, they paused to check if the new arrival was uninjured. Kevin inquired as to what direction Pittsburgh was in, but before they could tell him the Clinic's security spotted the escapees and hit them with a spotlight. Uninterested in getting involved in this local dispute, Kevin swiftly flew away (using the power of Northstar's superspeed flight, an ability Mimic had duplicated), unaware that mere moments later the pursuing Exiles (minus Beak, who had been left behind on Earth-58163 with the recovering Angel) materialized where he had just left. Identifying Kevin by the codename Proteus, an identity his Earth-616 counterpart had used but which Kevin had yet to employ, the Exiles ascertained from O'Brien and his fellow Clinic escapees where Kevin was heading.

   As he flew to Pittsburgh Kevin found himself constantly fighting the urge to transform into metal, despite it being deadly to him, but he resisted the feeling, not realizing yet that this was Mimic's psyche trying to force him out. Reaching O'Connell's home Kevin broke in to wait for him, and to pass the time he amused himself by looking through his target's belongings. Noting from O'Connell's photographs that he seemed to be a ladies' man (with two current girlfriends), Kevin thought about how girls had never been attracted to him, except for Blink, whose love for him had been pure...and then Kevin recoiled, realizing that was Mimic's thought rather than his own. As Kevin struggled to push down Mimic's dogged internal resistance, he heard someone entering the house, refocusing him towards preparing to ambush his target. However, the man who entered the room was not O'Connell, but Justice, a paranormal vigilante who had come intending to kill O'Connell. He incinerated Kevin's host body with an energy blast, but because of the regenerative powers Mimic had duplicated prior to being possessed Kevin's stolen body survived, albeit badly burned, and he retaliated with an optic blast that Justice easily blocked with an energy shield.

(Exiles II#73) - As Kevin continued his attacks using only Mimic's abilities, Justice expertly blocked or dodged each strike, and within moments Kevin collapsed, with Justice, able to see people's auras, noting that his opponent's was fading, his lifeforce spent. However, when Justice dropped his shields in order to administer the coup de grāce, Kevin rallied and his energies lunged from Mimic's devastated body into his foe. Having claimed a new host, he looked down at Mimic's remains, telling the slain man that he would have lasted longer as a host if he hadn't resisted so hard. He spent the next couple of minutes acclimating and checking out his new body, but was interrupted by the arrival of two police officers, Fred and Marty, investigating reports of a domestic disturbance. Kevin amused himself tormenting the pair, transforming the house so it seemed to come demonically alive and attack them, and tricking Marty into fatally shooting his partner...

(Exiles II#73 - BTS) - before finishing him off too. Deciding that he was unlikely to catch O'Connell off guard now in this location after this disturbance, he checked his target's address book and found O'Connell's girlfriend Debbie Felix entry. Leaving the address book open on her name so O'Connell would see it and come to rescue Debbie, Kevin headed to her apartment and broke in to wait for her.

(Exiles II#73) - Debbie returned home soon after his arrival, and Kevin confronted her, taking delight in scaring her by threatening to debone her while he waited for O'Connell to arrive. Before he could do so, Blink teleported in, as the Exiles had reached O'Connell first and been with him when he found the address book; though burning with rage because she now knew that Mimic was dead, Blink focused on rescuing the innocent Debbie and teleported away with Kevin's hostage, realizing that rushing in to tackle Kevin without a plan in place would end badly.

 

(Exiles II#74 (fb) - BTS) - Having lost his first choice of hostage, Kevin headed over to O'Connell's other girlfriend, Barbara Petrovic, and took her and her two small children, Laurie and Bobby, prisoner, unaware that the Exiles were using the Panoptichron's database to identify and recruit local paranormals who they hoped could help capture him.

 

(Exiles II#74) - Making it clear to Barbara that he would kill the children if anyone disobeyed him, Kevin waited for O'Connell to arrive, and soon sensed two individuals approaching the door. Anticipating an attack, he blasted through the door the moment one of the arrivals knocked, but saw through the ruined door that no one was outside, and was caught off guard as Blink teleported into the room, accompanied by Lenore Fenzl, one of the paranormals he had encountered outside the Clinic. Fenzl swiftly removed the mask that covered her face, unleashing the sleep-inducing bio-energy her skin always emitted. For a few seconds Kevin struggled to remain awake, then he collapsed into unconsciousness. The Exiles carried him to an upstairs room, so their other new ally, Nightmask (Keith Remsen), could use his paranormal power to enter dreams to try and permanently subdue Kevin's consciousness.

 

   In his dreamscape Keven imagined himself in his original body residing in a nightmarish version of his mother's Muir Island Research Centre, where he was holding his mother captive. As he was about to use a chainsaw to slice up his restrained mother Nightmask appeared. Pointing out that Kevin had reimagined the lab as a chamber of horrors, Remsen used his ability to control the dream realm to change their location into Kevin's old cell. Kevin tried to warp his way out, but Remsen's powers blocked him, though Remsen claimed it was because Kevin knew he really belonged locked away and ushered the confused killer to his cell's cot, then tried to send Kevin's dream self into a sleep that would presumably lock him away forever. However Kevin suddenly revealed he had not fallen for Remsen's deception, and plunged his hand into Remsen's dream self's chest while asking if dying in the dream would mean dying in the real world too.

 

   Waking in the real world, Kevin taunted the Exiles that Remsen had almost had him, then unleashed the full force of his reality-warping powers on them, blending the Exiles present into a single twisted body. Emerging from the wreckage of Barbara's house he spotted O'Connell and Fenzl waiting outside, and offered to restore the Exiles and leave Barbara alone if O'Connell surrendered his body to him. Instead O'Connell flew at him like a rocket, but despite exceeding the speed of sound he was no match for Kevin's reality warping, which transformed him into floating globules of fleshy matter before he reached his target; when Fenzl removed her mask to sedate him again, Kevin raised up the ground around her and buried her alive, then informed the dismembered O'Connell that he still intended to claim the man's body as soon as he put it back together. Having watched events unfold from the Panoptichron, Hudson teleported in the Exiles' back-up, their newly recruited teammate Longshot. Incredibly agile and generating a probability-altering field of good luck, all around the new arrival a bubble of reality reappeared as Kevin's reality warp failed in his vicinity, including restoring the transformed Exiles to normality. Leaping forward, he hurled his main weapons, steel throwing blades, at Kevin, striking Kevin multiple times. In agony, Kevin's reality warp collapsed completely, restoring O'Connell and freeing Lenzl. As Longshot closed to finish him off Kevin vowed to get revenge and teleported himself away across realities.

 

(Exiles II#75) - Traversing the inter-reality void heading to Earth-928 and the advanced era of 2099A.D., Kevin was snagged en route by 928's Jordan Boone, a scientist working for the Alchemax corporation, who was testing an experimental dimensional portal, the Virtual Unreality Device. To intimidate Boone into assisting him, Kevin killed Boone's assistant Ridley.

(Exiles II#76 (fb) - BTS) - He explained that he wanted "technical help" to stabilize him so he didn't need to keep switching bodies, but in the meantime...

(Exiles II#75 (fb) - BTS) - he needed a strong new "shell" that would last longer than the already fading Justice. Forcing Boone to check Alchemax's database, he identified this era's Hulk as the ideal candidate, in town to attend a corporate meeting in his human identity of John Eisenhart. Taking Boone with him, Kevin headed off to ambush his new target. Within an hour of their departure, the aftermath of his visit Boone's fellow employee and rival Miguel O'Hara was brought in to figure out what had happened in Boone's lab, and he discovered the database intrusion. Secretly this era's Spider-Man, he headed out to get to Eisenhart first, but was intercepted by the newly arrived Exiles on the way, and swiftly agreed to work with them to stop Proteus.

  

(Exiles II#75) - Boone and Kevin found the Hulk in the Stark-Fujikawa building, where he had just assumed his superpowered form to fight some of that organizations' minions. Believing that the Hulk's durable form would last for weeks, Kevin possessed it, leaving behind the burned out remains of Justice mere seconds before the Exiles arrived. His new body's thick hide proved too dense for Longshot's blades this time, and, after pausing to inform Blink that he retained memories from Mimic of being intimate with her, he unleashed his reality-warping powers on the Stark-Fujikawa headquarters.

  

(Exiles II#76) - Blocking Blink's teleportation powers Kevin ejected all the other Exiles from the building so he could talk to her alone, admitting that he seemed to have retained some of Mimic's feelings for her, making him unable to stop thinking of her. Understandably seeing him only as the monster who had murdered Mimic, she rejected him, but he persisted. Irritated by the sensations of the lifeforces of the rest of the large building's residents, he ejected everyone else bar Boone, who he introduced to Blink as his local guide. When Boone asked who Blink was, Kevin identified her as someone he had done a terrible wrong to by stealing her boyfriend's body, admitting that while new hosts always came loaded with memories and feelings, he had not been prepared for how deeply Mimic had cared for her. The feelings had been preying on him, growing instead of receding despite the changes in host bodies, and since this was the closest Kevin had ever come to being in a real relationship he no longer wanted to fight. Ignoring the look of horror in her face as he confessed this, he asked if they could just talk.

   Noticing the sky outside filling up with news and police vehicles, Boone suggested they should leave before someone attacked, but Kevin confidently predicted that would be futile for anyone who tried. Even as he said this, Longshot smashed in through the window and grabbed Blink. His probability field again cancelled out the reality-warp around him, enabling Blink to teleport both of them away, despite the enraged Kevin's attempt to stop them. Moments later Specialists (assassins) from Stark-Fujikawa arrived on hover-bikes to attack, but Kevin ripped through them with ease using the Hulk's brute strength, handy substitutes to vent his anger on. While he was distracted the cowering Boone was surreptitiously approached by Spider-Man, who had snuck in to rescue him. However Kevin finished his opponents too quickly and spotted them. Grabbing Spider-Man, Kevin unmasked him, and since flying cameras from various world powers and corporations had followed the Specialists into the room, this inadvertently revealed the hero's secret identity to them too.

   Boone and Miguel's employer, Alchemax CEO Tyler Stone, projected a hologrammatic headshot from his company's camera and tried to broker a deal to have Kevin work for him, and once Boone explained what Kevin was looking for, Stone promised his scientists would cure Kevin of his need to change bodies in return for studying how he could alter reality. Other corporate heads - Pixel Corp's Eduardo De Vargas and Stark-Fujikawa's unidentified CEO - swiftly chimed in with counter-offers, as did Latveria despot Victor von Doom, but Spider-Man interrupted, warning Kevin that they would betray any deal and find a way to control him, keeping him as a lab rat forever. Turning to Boone, Kevin asked him if this was true; Boone began to deny it, staying loyal to his employers, until Spider-Man pointed out that Kevin's ability to dimension jump without equipment would render Boone's Virtual Unreality project obsolete. Boone immediately recanted, admitting to Kevin that Spider-Man's warning was accurate. Sighing, Kevin decided it had been a mistake to come to this timeline, though at least he had acquired a durable new shell that would last him for a while. Deciding to let Spider-Man live because of his help, Kevin thanked him and teleported away to another reality. Feeling himself responsible for whoever Kevin might hurt next, and no longer safe on his own world now that everyone knew his true identity, Spider-Man joined the Exiles as they set off in pursuit.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z HC#9) - These radical changes to the route Earth-928's should have taken - Spider-Man's unmasking and both his and the Hulk's departure from their world - diverged it into a new reality, Earth-6375.

(Exiles II#77 - (fb) - BTS) - Wanting to get the Exiles off his tail, Kevin searched through Mimic's memories and learned that they had previously allied with the extremely powerful Hyperion of Earth-712, but that said hero had been wary of their goal to "fix" realities and only left them to continue their missions because he trusted Beak and felt he could keep them honest.

(Exiles II#77) - Arriving on Earth-712 Kevin came to the aid of Hyperion's team, the Squadron Supreme, as they battled forces of the Global Directorate world dictatorship.

(Exiles II#78 (fb) - BTS) -His intervention was observed remotely by the Global Directorate, who were frustrated that they could not identify him from their databases.

(Exiles II#77) - Once he helped them win their battle, he informed them that he had been advised to seek Hyperion's help by Beak, a "mutual friend," claiming that the Exiles had thrown Beak out, and then turned on Kevin and began hunting him when he tried to stop them. Just as he finished spinning his fabrication, the Exiles materialized. Hyperion tried momentarily to sort things out by talking, but the Exiles, painfully aware they could not risk giving Kevin time to use his powers, immediately attacked. Taking this as confirmation of Kevin's story, the Squadron blocked the attack and battle erupted between the two teams. Elated at how well his ruse had worked, Kevin leapt into the air and reality-hopped away, leaving the two groups to fight it out.

(Exiles II#79 (fb) - BTS) - Kevin materialized on Earth-5200, a world devastated by recent nuclear war, and encountered by chance Rick Jones; experienced with dealing with superhumans, Jones was unperturbed about meeting a reality-hopping "Hulk," instead seeing him as an opportunity to try and eliminate the Maestro, the dictator who ruled what was left of humanity.

(Exiles II#79) - Jones explained to Kevin that the Maestro had once been his friend the Hulk (Bruce Banner), but that he had absorbed immense amounts of radiation that had increased his strength almost beyond measure while also driving him insane. Other heroes who had survived the initial holocaust had tried to stop him only to be slain themselves, but Jones hoped another Hulk might succeed where others had failed. Enjoying his current body but aware that even it would wear out in time, Kevin theorized that since the Maestro drew power from the radioactive world around him, that energy might sustain the Maestro's body indefinitely even after being possessed; as an added bonus, taking his form would provide Kevin with an instant kingdom to rule. Aware that even his new friend would need help if he were to have a chance of defeating Maestro, Jones took Kevin to his hidden bunker and gave him an energy gun that the mutant Forge had been working on before the Maestro's soldiers caught him, though Kevin had to wrap the metal weapon in cloth so he could hold it. Since the survivors had learned to get out the Maestro's way if they saw him, a simple cloak over the new "Hulk's" shoulders disguised Kevin enough to walk unchallenged through the streets of Maestro's city, Dystopia.

   Meanwhile the Exiles, who had cleared things up peacefully with the Squadron Supreme and added a new member, the Squadron's Power Princess, to their ranks, had detected Kevin's arrival on Earth-5200. Anticipating he might seek to "upgrade to the deluxe model" Hulk, they approached the Maestro while Kevin was in Jones' bunker and forewarned him. To lure Kevin in, the Maestro instructed his citadel's guards not to try and strop Kevin, though the intruder assumed it was simply his minimal disguise. Entering Maestro's throne room, Kevin removed the cloak, but was shocked when Maestro revealed he knew who Kevin was, calling him by the name the Exiles used, Proteus. To Proteus' further surprise, the Exiles revealed their presence, with Kevin visibly dismayed to see both Power Princess and the Maestro were working with his tenacious pursuers. Shaking this momentary shock off, Proteus blasted Maestro with Forge's gun, stunning him, and when Blink teleported the weapon away he clapped his hands, generating a sonic boom that knocked them all down. Leaping over to where the Maestro seemingly lay wounded, Proteus tried to transfer into the despot, but found himself repelled by painful metal within his target. "Maestro's" face melted, revealing he was really the shapeshifting Exile Morph even as Proteus' energies were forced to return to Eisenhart's Hulk body. Before he could rally, Spider-Man webbed over Proteus' face, and he stumbled back blinded, bringing a wall down on himself and stunning him. Unfortunately for his foes, he collapsed near the recovering Maestro; as the despot rose to his feet surrounded by clouds of stirred up dust, the Exiles mistook him for Proteus and Power Princess wounded him with one of Longshot's throwing knives. Always ruled by rage, Maestro ignored the vulnerable prone figure of Proteus in front of him and turned towards the Exiles, angrily informing them their alliance was over.

(Exiles II#80) - Proteus woke to see Maestro battling the Exiles; whether because of his recent exertions or because he had briefly abandoned the form, his Hulk form had begun to deteriorate, so he hung back letting his different enemies weaken one another until Maestro struck down Blink. Driven by Mimic's love for her, Proteus tackled Maestro to save her life. Aware of Proteus' vulnerability to metal and wearing metal vambraces that ran the length of his arms, Maestro struck Proteus with his elbow, but Proteus dodged the next strike and slipped behind Maestro. Aware Maestro would recover swiftly even from devastating injuries, Proteus snapped Maestro's neck, then used his reality warping powers to remove the vambraces, intending to possess Maestro before the tyrant could regenerate; Maestro's guard tried to stop him, but proved only momentary distractions that Proteus crushed with the reality-warped citadel walls. The only Exiles still standing, Longshot and Morph now intervened, with Longshot interposing himself between Maestro and Proteus and Morph bulking his body up to smash the villain. His Hulk strength mostly depleted and stolen form now rapidly wasting away, Proteus used his reality warping to twist Morph's body, but Longshot leapt onto Proteus, his close proximity again cancelling out the reality warping. Proteus again exited his dying host, this time intending to possess Longshot, but found himself again repelled by a metal implant in his target's skull. As he retreated back to Eisenhart's form again, Morph charged him, but ran straight into Proteus' fist. Though massively weaker than he had been, Proteus' punch still had enough power to make the fluid form of the shapeshifting Morph distort, sending the metal implant he had been holding in his head flying loose. Realizing Morph was no longer protected, Proteus swiftly possessed him.

   Immediately Proteus sensed that Morph's malleable body seemed to be able to cope with his presence better than any prior host, and so was not wasting away; additionally, Morph's shapeshifting power meant he could look however he wanted, even permitting him to regain the appearance of his original body if he wanted, and with this power he could prey on whoever he wanted with minimal risk of being caught. Longshot immediately threw a barrage of knives hoping to drive Proteus out of Morph, but Proteus shapeshifted holes in himself to avoid them, called out to Maestro that it was his lucky day as he wouldn't need the tyrant's body after all, and reality-jumped.

(New Exiles Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - Due to Morph's intangible physiognomy when Proteus swept through Morph's body he shut down Morph's mind rather than consuming it.

(Exiles II#81 - BTS) - Realizing that Proteus not being able to burn out Morph's body provided them an opening to defeat him, Blink sent Power Princess and Spider-Man to the Squadron Supreme's Earth-712, where they procured some of the Behavior Modification technology the Squadron had years earlier created to change criminals' personalities...

(Exiles II#82 (fb) - BTS) - which Spider-Man modified into a small coronet. The device was then set so that if Proteus donned it, the B-Mod technology would program him to only access Morph's memories...

(Exiles II#89 (fb) - BTS) - and made out of flexeramics and plastic so it would not trigger Proteus' metal allergy, which would prevent him donning it.

(Exiles II#81) - Proteus tried to warp back to his home reality, though since Reality-58163 had been merged with Reality-616 when he departed and no longer was, he instead arrived in Reality-616; he was further diverted by Heather Hudson, who used her equipment in the Panoptichron to confuse his sense of direction so that he arrived on the wrong side of the Sun, on the Counter-Earth another reality-warper, Franklin Richards, had previously created. Arriving atop the Statue of Liberty's torch, Proteus found that New York City was underwater, with only the tops of skyscrapers not submerged. Using Morph's powers he grew a dolphin-like tail and began exploring underwater, only to be swiftly attacked by Atlantean soldiers. He rapidly slaughtered them, sparing the last long enough to demand the reason they had assaulted him, and learned that they had been plotting to fire a missile from below the surface, intended to destroy the flying city of Attilan, home of surface dweller refugees who had been lured to the area by Atlantis' ruler Queen Dorma with false promises of an alliance. Certain the Exiles would still be chasing him, Proteus blocked the Panoptichron's ability to observe his actions and approached the refugees' leaders, the Young Allies, and informed them of the attack he had averted as a way of winning their trust.

   The Young Allies explained to Proteus about the artificial origins of their world, and he in turn asked them for help against his enemies. When the first two Exiles, Sabretooth and Longshot, showed up seeking to locate where he was hiding among the locals, Proteus lured them into an ambush and the Young Allies attacked. Just as the Young Ally Jolt electrocuted Longshot unconscious the other Exiles teleported in (with Blink carrying the unnoticed coronet), but with the only Exile he feared taken down Proteus dropped his benign mask and let his true nature show. As he gloatingly tortured the Exiles with his reality-warping power and promised to end them, the Young Allies realized they had assisted the wrong side. Before Proteus could slay the Exiles however two giant entities, O and Kay, manifested above him. Declaring themselves the faces of Order and Chaos who watched Counter-Earth to judge its fate, they informed Proteus that his arrival had tipped the cosmic balance, and though he protested that he was busy they snatched him and vanished.

(Exiles II#82) - O and Kay teleported themselves and Proteus to an Atlantean armory full of nuclear missiles, and explained that after judging Counter-Earth they had decided it was not part of the natural order, and the arrival of Proteus had brought them to the final decision that it had to be destroyed. Already delighted at the suggestion of planetary genocide, Proteus was further pleased to learn that O and Kay, viewing themselves only as judges, wanted him to carry out the sentence. Their discussion was interrupted as Queen Dorma and her guard retinue entered the room, just in time to hear Proteus mention that he had earlier taken a similar missile from the Atlanteans targeting Attilan. Angrily blaming him for ruining her first strike, she informed him that soon any surviving surface dwellers would pledge their lives to her crown. Proteus agreed, but added that she wouldn't be the one wearing it, and unleashed his reality warping powers on Atlantis...

(Exiles II#82 (fb) - BTS) - triggering a tsunami detected hundreds of miles away in Attilan as Proteus made the ocean floor rise so that Atlantis emerged above the waves. To prevent the water-breathing Atlanteans escaping into the ocean, he bound them all partway within the city walls, securing rather than crushing them so that their deaths would be by slow suffocation. Proteus then prepared for about an hour to unleash the missiles and face off against the Exiles once more.

(Exiles II#82) - Proteus permitted the Panoptichron to locate him again, and the Exiles and Young Allies teleported to Atlantis to find a scene of genocide. Coming out wearing Dorma's crown to greet them, Proteus switched between Morph and Mimic's appearances, and tried to tell Blink that her friends were not truly dead, instead living on inside him, once more making an appeal in his own twisted way for her affections. Then he launched Dorma's nuclear arsenal, stating with a grin that he had promised to send the dead Atlantean queen's regards to the surface world. While two of the Young Allies raced after the missiles and began shooting them down, Blink angrily kicked Proteus, knocking the crown from his head, and as she dodged his return attack she covertly teleported the B-Mod coronet into the crown. Proteus meanwhile dodged Longshot's blades again and brought a chunk of the city down on the probability-manipulator, then hideously warped everyone elses' bodies. Gloating that he would remember them fondly, he paused before killing them to put his crown back on, and as soon as he did so the B-Mod kicked in and he froze in place, his body reverting to Blink's appearance. Without Proteus' power keeping Atlantis afloat the city began to rapidly sink, so Blink teleported them all back to Attilan, including the frozen and insensate Proteus. Sabretooth wanted to kill the villain while he was trapped, but before he could do so Proteus began moving again, clearly thinking he was Morph and confused because he was wearing a crown and the last thing he could remember was being in the middle of a fight with Proteus and Maestro. As he decided he must have gotten really drunk and forgotten recent events, Blink explained to Sabretooth that Proteus genuinely believed himself to be Morph, and would continue to do so as long as he remained trapped within Morph's decay-proof form; killing his host body would only release Proteus once more.

(New Exiles Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - Unexpectedly and unknown to the Exiles, this also created an environment where Morph’s mind could slowly reassert itself.

(Exiles II#82) - After using the Panoptichron's technology to harmlessly take down the remaining missiles the Exiles returned to the Panoptichron, where old and new members alike agreed to stick around and return to saving realities. One by one the team members stacked hands as they made the pledge to the others...with Proteus doing so last of all, oblivious to the disconcerted glances his new teammates were giving him.

(Exiles II#83) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus helped the other Exiles send the remains of deceased former members back to their own realities, so their loved ones could gain some closer and give them proper funerals. Noticing that Power Princess kept referring to Morph in the past tense around Proteus, Heather sent him on an errand with Spider-Man so she could remind Power Princess that they could not afford to give "Morph" any reason to doubt who he was. Proteus meanwhile tried to get to know Spider-Man better, but their discussion was interrupted when the Iron Man of Earth-2020, whom the Exiles had been holding prisoner, broke free rather than be sent back to his own reality. He swiftly gained the upper hand against the Exiles thanks to his powerful armor, until Longshot threw a blade into the helmet's open eye hole, giving Proteus the opportunity to hit the armor's hidden reset button. In the aftermath, Power Princess expressed surprise that "Morph" had beaten their foe.

(Exiles II#84 (fb) - BTS) - Believing himself Morph...and wearing Longshot's appearance, Proteus spied on Power Princess while she was bathing, but she spotted him and angrily attacked.

(Exiles II#84) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus dodged Power Princess' initial strikes until she landed a blow with her shield that sliced open his abdomen, just as Heather and the real Longshot walked in. Luckily Morph's physiology rendered such a wound harmless, and he reverted to Morph's appearance. After berating them for their bad behavior Heather teleported away to visit her native reality, Earth-3470, prompting "Morph" to opine that he wished he could do the same, but Longshot stated that would not be a good idea. When Proteus asked why, Power Princess hastily made the excuse that Heather wanted some of the team to always remain at the Panoptichron to keep an eye of the potentially untrustworthy Time-Breakers who ran the place. As a result when an emergency involving the Soviet Super-Soldiers arose on Heather's Earth-3470, Proteus remained at the Panoptichron with Longshot to oversee the mission while the other Exiles headed to the reality to help. Monitoring events, when it became clear the others needed back-up, Proteus had the Time-Breakers teleport him in, but he arrived in the middle of the hostile Soviets, but the others arrived in time to distract them. Moments later the Time-Breakers tricked Longshot into following, and after the Soviets were defeated the Time-Breakers teleported the Tallus away from the Exiles and informed them they were being fired and replaced, leaving the shocked team stranded on Earth-3470.

(Exiles II#85) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus and the other Exiles hung out with Earth-3470's Alpha Flight in their Department H base, and were informed  that they had received government clearance and were welcome to join the team. Proteus jokingly pointed out that Power Princess was not Canadian, but was instead a le... Before he could complete the word, Spider-Man webbed his mouth shut. Moments later the base's alarms went off, but the intruders proved to be two variant Wolverines, who revealed they were the remaining members of a new Exiles team, sent to ask for their help after the Time-Breakers had been reluctantly forced to admit they had screwed up.

(Exiles II#86) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus accompanied the Exiles to Earth-127 to stop Brother Mutant, who had already enslaved an army of alternate Wolverines the Time-Breakers had sent prior to them. As the team hid in a House of Mmmmmmmmmm eaterie to discuss strategy, Proteus helped himself to free drinks guzzled straight from the soda fountain. When the team went after Brother Mutant, he attempted to drop a fleet of buses on them, and the Exiles scattered, with Proteus missing out on the subsequent battle that ended with Brother Mutant's demise.

(Exiles II#87) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus accompanied the Exiles to Reality-552, where Earth had been reduced to space debris, on a mission to save Galactus, Restorer of Worlds from his rogue herald the Silver Surfer. Able to do little (with only Morph's power set to access) in outer space, Proteus watched as Blink bought them time by teleporting Silver Surfer away from the wounded Galactus, who then transported them aboard his worldship. There they were approached by Manta, last survivor of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard unit sent to stop the Surfer, and were towed to the Shi'ar Imperial Center, invited to join the ranks of the Imperial Guard in the hope of stopping the Surfer. 

(Exiles II#88) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus and the other Exiles accepted Lilandra's invitation and joined her new "Super Guardians" in orbit around the world that was the Shi'ar Imperial Center, waiting for Silver Surfer's arrival. When he did, the rogue herald cut a bloody swathe through their ranks, with the Exiles among only a tiny number who survived more than a few seconds. Still limited to believing he could only use Morph's powers, Proteus added little to the conflict, apart from trying to wake Power Princess up after she was stunned; ultimately the battle was won by Sabretooth, whom the ailing Galactus had enhanced with the Power Cosmic, and Longshot, who used his luck powers to impale the Surfer on his own board.

(Exiles Annual I#1 (fb) - BTS) -  Seeking revenge for the Exiles, in their earliest iteration, having unwittingly disrupted one of his bets, the Grandmaster of Reality-1851 figured that discovering the existence of a seemingly identical group of Exiles would be be the ideal bait to lure his trap. On Earth-33629 he found counterparts of all those Exiles existing on a single world. Knowing his counterpart in that reality would be territorial, Grandmaster-1851 struck a deal with Grandmaster-33629, gaining permission to operate temporarily in Reality-33629 so long as he didn't break Grandmaster-336298's toys (e.g. kill any residents of that reality). With his permission to play sorted out, he posed as the Time Broker to assemble his local Exiles team and arranged crisis for them to fight and simultaneously draw the other Exiles' attention.

 

(Exiles Annual I#1) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus and the other Exiles were informed by Heather that she had discovered what appeared to be the original Exiles members operating on Earth-33629. Traveling there to investigate, they were swiftly confronted by the local Exiles and "Time Broker"; Proteus battled 33629's Morph, but was defeated, as were the other interdimensional Exiles, but while locked up they managed to arouse the local Exiles' suspicions about the "Time Broker." Discovering their leader's true identity, the local Exiles released their captives and confronted Grandmaster-1851, who petulantly slew them all with a single blast of Power Primordial (see comments). Enraged at the deal being broken, 33629's Grandmaster summoned his fellow Elders of the Universe and restored the slain so they could beat him into submission. After doing so, the interdimensional Exiles, including Proteus, returned home.

 

(Exiles II#89) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus helped the Exiles battle the Sinister Six of Earth-27536 at Coney Island, and rescued the kidnapped J. Jonah Jameson, but Blink was badly injured during the fight. Upon the group's return to the Panoptichron Heather placed Blink in the infirmary and had a quiet word with Spider-Man, as she was worried about Proteus, having finally realized that he seemed immune to metals now after recalling that he had donned Dorma's metal crown back on Counter-Earth. She shared her concerns that Proteus' greatest weakness seemed to be ameliorated while inside Morph's body, which would prove a problem should his memories ever return, and asked Spider-Man to keep a close eye on him for any warning signs of this happening. However, on Earth-27537 when the Exiles battled the Serpent Society, Spider-Man was bitten and poisoned, and when the villains gained a visible upper hand against all the rest of his teammates, "Morph" suddenly displayed uncharacteristic (for Morph, but not Proteus) anger and defeated them singlehandedly by turning his fingers into gigantic pythonesque snakes that snared the entire villain team.

 

   The Exiles next battle was on Earth-27538 against the Hellfire Club, where, despite their temporarily depleted numbers, the Exiles were prevailing. When the telepath Emma Frost tried to flee, "Morph" blocked her way, so she hit him with a psychic probe, seeking to learn who her attackers were. Inside his head she noticed that he had something powerful inside locked away, and curiously tried to discover what. Realizing the imminent danger they were all in, Longshot swiftly stunned her with a throwing knife, and rushed to check on "Morph," asking the stunned man to speak to him. The befuddled "Morph" responded to the query by asking Longshot "what do you want me to say?"...in Proteus' Scottish accent. The Exiles hastily returned with him to the Panoptichron, and though it seemed Emma had been stopped before she unwittingly undid Proteus' brainwashing, Heather reapplied the B-Mod device just to be safe. While he was out, the others discussed the situation; admitting she was making his treatment up as she went along, Heather suggested they might need to re-condition him on a regular basis, or that it might be safer to stick him in the Panoptichron's stasis wall, permanently locked away.

 

(Exiles II#90) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus remained asleep in Morph's quarters within the Panoptichron, undergoing B-Mod reinforcement, while Heather ran a simulation using the Panoptichron's computers, which were capable of predicting the futures of various realities with extreme accuracy, suggesting that if Proteus' mind ever broke free he would slaughter the entire team and go on to decimate countless realities across the multiverse. As a result, he was absent when Power Princess departed to return to her responsibilities in her home reality, and remained sleeping as the other Exiles headed out on a mission to Earth-1720, since Blink had decided not to risk taking him along, was still enjoying his enforced slumber when Sabretooth returned battered and bruised to inform Heather that the others had been captured, and snoozed through Heather bringing Earth-616's Psylocke to the Panoptichron as a new recruit, only for the new arrival to mistake Sabretooth for his 616 villainous counterpart and immediately attack him.

(Exiles II#91) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus remained asleep in Morph's quarters as Psylocke and Sabretooth battled, their fight shaking the entire building so violently that it knocked the furniture over in Morph's room, and falling books landed on Proteus' head, breaking the B-Mod device and waking him. Venturing out his room, "Morph" interrupted the duel by becoming immensely fat and dropping on Psylocke; she dislodged him using her telekinesis, so he transformed into a black and white James Bond, which proved unintentionally amusing and broke the tension. With the fight halted they exchanged introductions and explained the situation, and Psylocke agreed to help them rescue their teammates. Sabretooth, Psylocke and "Morph" were transported to a devastated Manhattan on Earth-1720, a world taken over by Hydra. Spotting a Hand patrol nearby led by Captain America, the trio were approached by this world's Elektra, who teleported them to the location of the Free Earth resistance, led by Reed Richards. However, unknown to Psylocke or "Morph," Heather informed Sabretooth via the Tallus that they needed to kill Richards, because otherwise the Panoptichron predicted Reality-1720 would be imminently erased 

(Exiles II#92) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus joined Psylocke watching Sabretooth battle Hydra's Captain America; when it seemed like Sabretooth was going to lose, "Morph" wanted to come to his aid, but Psylocke stopped him, confident that Sabretooth would prevail, which ultimately proved the case. With their foe down, Psylocke pressed Sabretooth to reveal what they needed to do to save Earth-1720, as she correctly suspected he was keeping the information to himself. To "Morph's" shock, Sabretooth revealed they were expected to kill Reed Richards to save that reality. When he added that Heather's simulations showed that he wouldn't be able to carry out the assassination successfully, "Morph" grimly offered to try, seemingly accepting the unfortunate necessity of the deed, but Psylocke told him she would undertake the task. Before they could continue the discussion they were suddenly attacked by their missing teammates, now brainwashed Hydra thralls

(Exiles II#93 (fb) - BTS) - except for Longshot, who was faking, having resisted conditioning through his probability powers.

(Exiles II#92) - To dodge Blink's attack, "Morph" stretched his body like silly putty, and as Hydra's Hand ninjas surrounded the Exiles, Psylocke grabbed the still fluid "Morph" and swung his body, which extended whiplike to knock the ninjas over. "Morph" then went for Longshot, initially evading his blows which struck nearby Hand agents instead, until eventually Longshot managed to grab him and began hurling him around, knocking out even more of the ninjas. Thrown into yet more ninjas, "Morph" was attacked by Spider-Man, who was then drawn away to battle Psylocke, but Sabretooth told her to make a break for it to complete the mission while he and "Morph" continued the fight. As "Morph" pulled himself up and asked the nearby Sabretooth what their next move was, they were greeted by the Hydra assassin Slaymaster, who promised to make this the last battle of their lives.

(Exiles II#93) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus battled the ninjas while Sabretooth tackled Slaymaster, until the assassin finally impaled the Exile and to the watching "Morph's" horror prepared to finish him. However Sabretooth was faking, luring Slaymaster close enough to slash him. Despite getting a few good blows in, Sabretooth went down a second time when Slaymaster slashed his throat, and "Morph" came to his rescue, adopting a form halfway between the Thing and Sasquatch to attack Slaymaster. However, even in this form he was no match for the master assassin, who swiftly subdued him and returned to maiming Sabretooth faster than his regenerative powers could heal him. At this point Longshot revealed his true loyalties to protect Sabretooth, while "Morph" pulled himself back up. Slaymaster scoffed that "Morph" could barely stand, but the battered and bruised Morph casually reshaped himself back to his uninjured form. Longshot and "Morph" then coordinated their attacks in an attempt to defeat Slaymaster, but even together he defeated them. Before he could finish any of them  off, Heather sent a warning through the Tallus that Reality-1720 was going to be destroyed and they had half an hour to evacuate. Realizing he had not time to waste killing his fallen foes if he wanted to find a way out of his reality, Slaymaster angrily departed. As the Exiles pulled themselves back to their feet "Morph" reminded the others that they needed to retrieve the absent Psylocke before they departed. 

(Exiles II#94) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus accompanied Longshot to Richards' hideout, arriving just after Hydra's Wolverine had stabbed Psylocke. Angrily "Morph" took on the Juggernaut's appearance and punched the villains flying, then blocked Madame Hydra's retaliatory strike from hitting the wounded Psylocke using his own body. Warned by Slaymaster about what he had overheard, Madame Hydra activated a device that Richards had been working on, transporting her and her two minions across realities, moments before Reality-1720 vanished, seemingly destroyed. However, a short while later it reappeared, with the restored Exiles shocked to find themselves alive. Reed explained that upon learning from Psylocke that he was expected to somehow end his reality, he had figured out a way to do so, but only temporarily, using the threat to trick Madame Hydra into fleeing and thus freeing his world. Believed dead by Heather and the Time Breakers back at the Panoptichron, the Exiles took a few weeks to heal.

(Exiles II#95) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus returned to the Panoptichron with the Exiles, but found it empty, as Heather had returned to her home reality, believing them dead as from her perspective they had been gone six months. "Morph" accompanied Blink to Earth-3470 to let Heather know they were alive, and found her visibly pregnant. After wishing her well, the pair returned to the Panoptichron without her, to find the others had restored the shut down systems, which had alerted them to another crisis to handle. With the team back in action, they headed to Earth-187319, where they were greeted soon after arriving by Victor von Doom's Four Fantastics, who wanted to establish whether they were friends or foes.

(Exiles II#96) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus and the other Exiles attempted to help the Fantastics capture two seeming criminals, Reed Richards and the She-Hulk, but while they got the latter, the former escaped with Blink as his prisoner. Afterwards Doom invited them to stay with him until their friend could be rescued. Noticing children among the crowd that had watched the battle, "Morph" suspected his appearance might have frightened them, so he transformed his face in an amusing manner in an attempt to make them laugh; however the children reacted with no emotion whatsoever, perturbing him. Later, at Doom's Manhattan skyscraper the Exiles settled in; both Sabretooth and Spider-Man accepted the offer of formal clothing for the evening, but the empathic Longshot turned it down, saying it felt somehow wrong to him, while "Morph" declined since he didn't actually need to wear clothes, proving his point by shapeshifting to make it look like he was in the formal outfit they had offered. At the event Doom had laid on to welcome them both Spider-Man and Sabretooth seemed overly at ease, with the latter even hitting on Doom's girlfriend, Sue Storm, despite "Morph" trying to convince him not to. Having failed to dissuade Sabretooth, "Morph" noticed that Longshot had slipped away.

(Exiles II#97 (fb) - BTS) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus followed Longshot, who had headed up to the roof, and followed his teammate as he moved across the city's rooftops. He admitted to himself that this world did not feel right somehow, but had initially chalked that up to being because it was another reality, but as he tailed his teammate he decided that if the empathic Longshot was disquieted, something more serious was wrong, and if that lead Longshot into trouble, "Morph" intended to have his back.

(Exiles II#97) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus followed Longshot into Central Park, and finally asked his friend if there was anything he could do to help. Longshot informed him that the people of Earth-187319 felt hollow, utterly lacking in any passion, and though "Morph" argued that if the people of this reality were at peace because of that, maybe it wasn't the Exiles' place to try and change things, Longshot insisted they needed to do something before they became like the residents and then spread this lack of feeling across the multiverse. As he said this, Blink appeared beside them, telling them they had to move fast as there was much to do; when "Morph" asked her what to do about Spider-Man and Sabretooth, both still back at Doom's, she told him it was too dangerous to risk extracting them while they were so close to Doom.

   Blink transported the pair to Richards' underground lair, where he and other humans hiding from Doom lived. Reed explained that Doom had taken over the world, initially seeming benevolent as he ended wars, hunger and disease, but then dissenters began quietly dying, disappearing or mysteriously choosing to work for him, such as the Four Fantastics. This revelation was suddenly disrupted by the violent arrival of She-Hulk, now under Doom's influence; when she began hurting the humans Reed had been sheltering, "Morph" tried to stop her, but was tackled by the Hulk. As the pair exchanged blows, the Human Torch also attacked, slaughtering the defenseless underground dwellers without hesitation. Though the trio of Exiles swiftly gained the upper hand, Blink ordered a tactical retreat, and teleported away with "Morph," Longshot and Reed, the latter now the only surviving undergrounder.

(Exiles II#98 (fb) - BTS) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus listened as Reed explained how Doom had programmed everyone to follow him unthinkingly, stripping them of their emotions and independent thought. He explained that it was impossible to restore them, so the only way to free them and to stop Doom spreading beyond Earth-187319 was to kill everyone on the planet, a conclusion that the empathic Longshot reluctantly confirmed.

(Exiles II#98) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus, Blink and Longshot watched from a hidden vantage point as the Four Fantastics hunted them, now accompanied by Sabretooth and Spider-Man, who were falling under Doom's subtle mind-controlling influence. When an opportunity presented itself, the trio of Exiles attacked; Spider-Man and Sabretooth both hesitated to join the fight, not yet fully under Doom's sway and remembering that the other Exiles were their friends. Meanwhile, having learned about other realities by studying Sabretooth' Tallus, in Doom's skyscraper the dictator intended to take over the Panoptichron and spread his influence across the multiverse, but Reed took advantage of the Four's absence to breach his command center and attack him, and tricked Doom into transmitting an instruction to die when he attempted to activate his interdimensional transit. The Exiles battle with the Fantastics ended abruptly as the Fantastics simply willed themselves to die. Saddened, the Exiles initiated the teleport back to the Panoptichron, but mid-transit Earth-187319 exploded, scattering them across the multiverse.

(Exiles II#99) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus found himself on Earth-1009 in the city of New Tokyo. When he witnessed a lone woman thief, Rogue, being attacked by a group of men, the Royal Avengers, he decided to intervene on her side, his timely assistance allowing them to escape together. Initially introducing himself as the Crimson Pirate (because he was playing the swashbuckler), he subsequently told her he was Kevin Sydney (Morph's real name), and the pair hid out together until the Exiles located him. Rogue accompanied him back to the Panoptichron, but when "Morph" accompanied Psylocke and Sabretooth to retrieve Spider-Man from Earth-6375 they discovered he had decided to retire and make a new life there. The group returned to the Panoptichron, having picked up two other new recruits in "Morph's" absence, Shadowcat and Mystiq, as well as having regained a former member, Thunderbird, who had revived after spending months healing in the Panoptichron's crystalline structure..

(X-Men: Die by the Sword#1 - BTS) - With Thunderbird eager to be reunited with his girlfriend, former Exile Nocturne, who was now on Earth-616, Psylocke took the opportunity to accompany him there, since it was her native reality and she wanted to visit her brother, Captain Britain. However, shortly after they met up, the group suffered a surprise attack from Rouge Morte and her operatives; taking Captain Britain off guard, she severely wounded him, and boasted to her downed foe that the rest of the interdimensional Corps he belonged to would follow.

(X-Men: Die by the Sword#2) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus was present when Thunderbird and Psylocke teleported into the Panoptichron with the wounded Captain Britain, as well as the rest of his Excalibur teammates, including Nocturne. Overjoyed at seeing a long-lost teammate (of Morph's, rather than his), "Morph" greeted her warmly. While Captain Britain was rushed to the medical bay, the two teams exchanged introductions, with one of Excalibur, Dazzler, being surprised to see Longshot, since he was her long-missing husband; unfortunately, his memory had been wiped before he joined the Exiles, so he no longer remembered her. After Captain Britain was stabilized he asked Psylocke to check on Otherworld, base of the Corps, and the two teams discovered it was under attack by the immensely powerful reality-warper Mad Jim Jaspers and an army of his hero-killing Furies. 

(X-Men: Die by the Sword#3) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus, Blink, Sabretooth and Thunderbird teleported into the middle of the battle between Jaspers and the defending Corps, arriving just in time to prevent Jaspers slaying the Corps' commander Saturnyne. Thanks to their experience fighting (ironically) Proteus, the team knew that their best bet fighting a reality-warper entailed rapid hit and run attacks that didn't give him any opportunity to focus his powers on them, so they took turns coming at their foe from all sides.

(X-Men: Die by the Sword#4) - Believing himself Morph...As Jaspers started to gain the upper hand, "Morph" began instinctively fighting more like Proteus, a detail that did not go unnoticed by Blink or Sabretooth. Jaspers soon knocked out both Thunderbird and Sabretooth, then he grabbed Blink and "Morph" with one hand apiece. As he had already done with many of the Corps to create his Fury army, Jaspers turned his reality warping power on "Morph" to remold him the same way; initially this seemed to work as "Morph" became a Fury, but whether because of consciously using Morph's shapeshifting powers or instinctively accessing Proteus' own reality warping ability, Jaspers' transformation had failed, and "Morph" was only faking. The moment Jaspers released his newly made Fury, Morph began changing back and tried to strike Jaspers from behind. Unfortunately, Jaspers had not been deceived, and grabbed "Morph" once again, but before he could try again Jaspers was smashed to the ground by the newly arrived Corpsmen Albion. The recovering Exiles watched as the pair battled, then witnessed with horror as Jaspers, clearly unwillingly, transformed into the original Fury, a lethal killing machine much deadlier than any of the new Furies he had made from the Corps. As they wondered what to do, they were joined by a now healed Captain Britain, who told them they would have to fight and win.

(X-Men: Die by the Sword#5) - Believing himself Morph...Working in concert Captain Britain, Albion and Blink destroyed the Fury, ending the battle. However, "Morph" spotted another potential problem, the magician Merlyn (then temporarily insane), who had hoped to use the chaos to regain control of Otherworld from his daughter Roma. Confronted by the surviving heroes, he elected to flee rather than fight. With Roma having taken a seemingly fatal blow during the conflict, "Morph" and the other Exiles respectfully stayed long enough to attend her very hasty funeral, then returned to the Panoptichron, with Longshot electing to return to Earth-616 with Dazzler while Excalibur's Sage joined the Exiles.

(Exiles II#100) - Believing himself Morph...The Exiles relaxed at the seaside beach inside the Panoptichron and enjoyed a barbecue together. Noticing that Blink seemed distracted, "Morph" deduced that she still missed Mimic, and informed her that he did too, but that life had to go on. Having apparently come to think of him as really being Morph, Blink replied "if only it were that simple" and to his surprise kissed him briefly on the lips. After eating and sundown the group sat stargazing, though when "Morph" mentioned how beautiful the stars looked Psylocke corrected him, informing him that "stars" were actually entire realities, and that they were looking at a visual representation of the Omniverse.

   Later the group gathered in the briefing room, and Blink announced that she, Thunderbird and Nocturne were going on sabbatical to figure out where their lives were going. "Morph" was saddened to hear "his" old friends were leaving, but Blink reassured him that the team would go on.

(Exiles II#100) - After quietly asking Sabretooth to watch "Morph," Blink spoke to...

(Exiles II#100) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus, declining his offer to go with her, and instead asked him to make sure Sabretooth was okay in her absence.

(New Exiles#1) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus convinced Cat to take a break from monitoring duty and place some one-on-one football with him. Sage soon asked to join them, and when Cat refused (as she mistrusted Sage), "Morph" overruled her, reminding Cat they were all on the same team. However, to his disquiet, the game swiftly devolved into a grudge match between the two women.

   Later Sabretooth briefed the group on their next mission, but to "Morph's" annoyance he sidelined "Morph," Cat and Sage, explaining to the fuming "Morph" that he didn't trust Sage yet, and that he needed Morph to stay behind to keep her and Cat out of trouble. Still unhappy with Sabretooth's leadership, "Morph" responded to his instructions to teleport the other Exiles on their mission in a passive-aggressive manner, transforming his "clothes" into a Star Trek uniform and informing Sabretooth that the "Transporter's ready, 'Captain.'"

(New Exiles#2) - Believing himself Morph...While stuck at the Panoptichron playing nursemaid, "Morph" took some time to introduce the team members to readers on Earth-1218, where the Exiles adventures were being chronicled in comic books and the team were believed to be merely fictional characters.

(New Exiles#5) - Believing himself Morph...From a balcony Proteus and Cat watched, the former with concern, as Sage appeared to battle foes only she could see, unaware that this was literally true, as the dying Roma had transferred her memories into Sage's mind, leaving her unbalanced and seeing phantoms. Later, while "Morph" was with Cat in the Panoptichron;s observation room, a portal opened that sucked them and soon after Sage through to Earth-8396, where they witnessed a group of warriors attacking a dragon and its blond human companion. Deciding to come to the aid of the underdogs, the three Exiles drove off the warriors and introduced themselves to the man (Domenic) and dragon (Marysal). Domenic explained that he was royalty and had been expected to slay a dragon as a rite of passage, but instead they had fallen in love, prompting his mother, Queen Erin, to send soldiers to "rescue" him. With no way to return to the Panoptichron, the trio accompanied Domenic and Marysal back to the dragon's cave. Once there Sage and "Morph" tried to decide how to proceed, but their discussion was paused when Cat surprised them by suddenly and unintentionally manifesting phantom-like images of her alternate reality selves, then transformed into one of them. A panicked Cat turned to Sage for comfort, but she had her own problems, as she suddenly lost control of her telepathic abilities, a side effect of Roma's actions. As both situations calmed down, "Morph" stated that he believed everything that was happening was doing so for a purpose, and vowed that while they were trapped on this world they would do what they could to make things better.

(New Exiles#6) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus kept Marysal company while the others headed off to try and calm the situation with Domenic's parents, but the pair were attacked by Venger, a mercenary hired by Queen Erin. Taking flight, Marysal carried "Morph" aloft with her as she fled, but Venger had come prepared, and pursued in a fighter plane. As they neared the palace Marysal managed to bring down Venger's vehicle but crashed herself. Tackling Venger in an attempt to protect her, "Morph" was swiftly overpowered, but Venger was ultimately driven off by Sage and teleported away. Welcome guests, the three Exiles stayed at the palace while everyone recovered from their injuries. After a few days of luxurious living, the trio were suddenly teleported back to the Panoptichron by Sabretooth, who had finally managed to locate where they had vanished to.

(New Exiles#7 (fb)) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus listened as Cat briefed the team on their next mission, to prevent war breaking out between Imperial France and the British Empire on Earth-80827.

(New Exiles#7) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus accompanied Sage, Psylocke and new teammate Gambit to the British capital, New York City, though Psylocke soon abruptly departed, having sensed the murder of her counterpart on this world. Confused by her unexplained exit, the remaining Exiles had little time to worry about it as an assassin, Havok, blew up the nearby Royal Palace. Racing to the site to assist any survivors, they found the Queen, who had avoided serious injury thanks to one of her bodyguards blocking most of the blast from hitting her using his own body. Unfortunately Havok was also alive, so as he tried to explode again "Morph" engulfed him like a giant blanket to soak up the explosion, then released him so Gambit and Sage could knock the assassin out. As soon as guards turned up to take the Queen to safety, "Morph" took charge of his fellow Exiles, sending Gambit off on patrol in case this was the precursor for a full invasion, and instructing Sage to try and establish contact with the other Exiles, both the errant Psylocke and Rogue and Mystiq, who had been sent to protect the Queen's son, Prince Jeffrey.

(New Exiles#8) - Believing himself Morph...As French warships literally flew into the air and seas around New York City, "Morph" instructed Sage to get the Queen to safety. 

(New Exiles#9) - Believing himself Morph...With French troops moving through Manhattan's streets, Sage and "Morph" used ambush tactics to bring patrols down and protect the Queen, who informed them that they need only evade the French forces long enough to give the Atlanteans time to intervene. However, when the French navy threatened to slaughter civilians, the Queen instructed her protectors that she would have to hand her self over. 

(New Exiles#10) - Believing himself Morph...Sage and an unconscious Proteus were locked in the hold of the French flagship, watched over by the telepathic French interrogator Purge. Sensing something contradictory about "Morph's" mind, he considered peeling it apart, but decided to take apart Sage's brain first; this proved an error, as her fractured psyche unleashed a violent alternate personality, Diana Fox, and the resultant conflict between them knocked both unconscious. Still insensate himself, "Morph" remained oblivious during this battle, and only awoke later to find that the Exiles and their British allies Force X had prevailed and ended the invasion, freeing him, Sage and the Queen. In the aftermath of the battle, he noticed that Rogue seemed troubled by something, but when he asked if there was anything he could do, she ignored him.

(New Exiles#13 (fb) - BTS) - Believing himself Morph...Seeking an excuse to start a conversation with Rogue and get her to open up, "Morph" recalled that her clothes had been damaged during the last mission, so he went shopping for new outfits for her.

(New Exiles#13) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus showed the new outfits he had purchased to Rogue, who queried how he would know what would look good on her. Transforming into her lookalike, he assured her the new clothes would fit, adding that if she disliked the styles they could always get more. Soon after "Morph" brought Rogue to the briefing room to show off her new look to the others, but Sabretooth informed them they had more serious problems to deal with. Another reality was at major crisis point and might destabilize hundreds of others if not saved, so he put "Morph" in charge of the team being sent to repair things, as he had to urgently hunt for the errant Cat.

(New Exiles Annual#1) - Believing himself Morph...Proteus led Psylocke, Gambit, Mystiq and Rogue to Earth-83112, where Manhattan had just been devastated by five people the insane Mad Maker had transformed into superhumans for the sake of spreading chaos. Within moments of arriving they saved some people from demons created by the Black Baron Dormammu, and were surprised to discover one of them was Valeria Richards from Earth-1720, who revealed she had come reality-hopping in the hopes of finding them. The next morning the team engaged the Maker's minions in battle, during which the Blood Skull sliced "Morph" through the abdomen with his claws. In pain but not seriously injured thanks to his unusual physiology, he wondered whether it was time to recognize he was something far more than human as he swatted Blood Skull away. The Exiles had begun to prevail when the Maker personally intervened, stunning them with an energy blast and teleporting them to his lunar base to examine them. His powers geared to drawing out the worst in people to create monsters, he probed them all, and as Psylocke and Valeria tried to fight back, they distracted the Maker so that he failed to notice he had inadvertently unleashed Proteus once more.

   No longer believing himself Morph, he watched uncaring as the Maker turned Valeria evil, but when the Maker turned to do the same to the others, intending to have them slay Psylocke, he found himself leaping into action against his will to render them unconscious, and realized that Morph's personality was also active inside him and had seized control of his body. Morph and Proteus argued with one another as he turned to fight the Maker directly, but the Maker proved too much for Morph to handle. With his host slowly being crushed, Proteus offered to help, and when Morph accepted he gained a sudden massive strength boost that allowed him to physically overpower the Maker. Then Proteus truly took over, turning his reality warping power on the suddenly frightened and outmatched Maker. Shrinking the giant Maker down in size as he grew to massive proportions, Proteus commented that he had always frightened people, starting with his mother, then, glancing at the unconscious Exiles, modified his statement, noting that they had always accepted him. Proteus then caught himself, realizing this was Morph's thought, not his.

   Morph's mind confronted Proteus, explaining that he was not alone inside their head, body or soul. Being inside his mind, Morph knew that part of Proteus was unhappy with the friendless life of murder her had been living, and yearned for something better. Confused, Proteus asked why Morph's mind wasn't dead, and Morph explained that it must have something to do with his intangible physiognomy which had meant when Proteus swept through Morph's body he had shut down Morph's mind rather than consuming it. Thus, when the Exiles had reprogrammed him, it created an environment where Morph could reassert himself. Proteus asked if Morph planned to now evict him from their body, but Morph insisted they were now part of one another, and would not be whole if they separated. Instead he offered Proteus a second chance, sharing their body together as one being, giving each of them a second chance. Hesitantly, Proteus agreed and the two merged their psyches, an action that only the slowly recovering Psylocke witnessed.

   As the merger finished the Exiles were teleported back to Manhattan (presumably by Proteus). Seeing Morph sitting beside a shrunken and unconscious Maker, Psylocke hesitantly approached, but he reassured her that he was fine, and reading his body language she concluded that Morph was the dominant personality in the new gestalt. Later, with Manhattan undergoing reconstruction, the Exiles chastised the teenage Valeria for going reality hopping without telling her father, but Valeria insisted she wanted to join them. Psylocke asked how she would handle things if they encountered Valeria's mother, Madame Hydra, and when Valeria declared that her mother was a monster who had held her prisoner in a cage, Morph compared this to how "his" mother had held him prisoner on Muir Island, then told her that despite that she did not want to be involved with her mother's fate, or it would haunt her forever. Finally convincing her to go home, Morph accepted a hug from Valeria, who noted he somehow looked different, unaware that it was because he now displayed some of Proteus' casual confidence. She noted that whatever the difference was, she liked it, and he agreed that he did too. After saying their farewells, the Exiles departed.

(New Exiles#14) - Merged with Morph, Morph dominant...The Exiles went to Earth-81114, a world humans shared with a saurian race, and there saved Nerimani, fugitive heir of the Shi'ar throne, from Shi'ar Death Commandos pursuing her. Encountering Earth-81114's defenders, the Sons of Iron and Daughters of the Dragon, the Exiles warned them of the imminent Shi'ar threat,

(New Exiles#15) - Merged with Morph, Morph dominant...Additional Shi'ar Death Commandos attacked the Sons of Iron's base, blowing it up. While the other Exiles protected who they could from the explosion, Morph rescued Nerimani. As the Death Commandos moved in for the kill, Morph tackled Colony, who could split into myriad voracious bugs, while the other Exiles took down the rest of the assassins. However, once the Death Commandos were down, Nerimani's sister, the Empress Lilandra, moved in to handle the problem personally, and when Morph tried to stop her, Lilandra easily bested him despite his metamorphic powers.

(New Exiles#16) - Merged with Morph, Morph dominant...While the other Exiles battled Lilandra's ally, their old foe Madame Hydra, Morph recovered and took on Lilandra again. Prepared this time for her martial arts skills, this time he utilized his shapeshifting powers to make it harder for her to hit anywhere vital, getting in several blows before she managed to turn the tide back in her favor. However, his example had inspired Nerimani, and she came to Morph's aid, tackling her sister.

(New Exiles#17) - Merged with Morph, Morph dominant...With the last of Lilandra's forces defeated, the Shi'ar Empress was surrounded by her enemies, including Morph, and forced to surrender.

(New Exiles#18) - Merged with Morph, Morph dominant...In the aftermath Morph accompanied Nerimani to the office of the Earth President so she could broker peace with Earth as the new Shi'ar Empress. Later, as the Exiles prepared to depart, Morph, showing not a little of Proteus' attitude, informed them that he intended to stay for a while to help Nerimani consolidate her rule and stabilize the Shi'ar.

(New Exiles#18 (fb) - BTS) - Merged with Morph, Morph dominant...Morph and Nerimani tried to pursue a relationship for a time, but eventually their conflicting responsibilities forced them apart, as he felt he couldn't stay and she couldn't abandon her imperial duties and leave her reality to be with him.

(New Exiles#18) - Merged with Morph, Morph dominant...Morph returned to the Panoptichron and the Exiles, which by now included Valeria Richards.

(Exiles III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Eventually the Exiles discovered that anyone who stayed too long in the Panoptichron was fated to be drawn into stasis within its crystalline walls, to become part of the collective consciousness within, when former Exiles who had left the team reappeared trapped within. Morph's teammates were also mostly absorbed, but Morph gained a reprieve: Because Proteus was sharing his body, the Panoptichron absorbed him first, splitting up their gestalt.

(Exiles III#6) - Proteus remained trapped within the Panoptichron's crystal walls alongside many other former Exiles.

Comments: Created by Tony Bedard, Paul Pelletier and Rick Magyar, based on the character created by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin.

   A quick clarification on Exiles volume numbers: While many sites identify the reality-hopping Exiles as debuting in Exiles volume 1 (Exiles I), they actually did so in Exiles volume 2, since there was a Malibu Exiles series that predates it, and since Malibu was bought up by Marvel the Malibu Exiles are technically volume 1. So for this entry, any Exiles II are the issues of the series that started in 2005, and Exiles III are the one that started (and concluded) in 2009. There shouldn't be any Exiles I issues mentioned above (and if they are, it's a typo). Oh, and to make life even more fun, the Malibu Exiles series was followed by a Malibu All-New Exiles, which included Marvel characters because it was published after Marvel bought Malibu; don't confuse that All-New Exiles title that featured the Ultraverse Exiles members with the New Exiles title that featured the reality-hopping Marvel Exiles whose members are mostly X-Men related. Though of course since the acquisition the Ultraverse Exiles ARE Marvel Exiles and do include some reality-hopping members who were X-Men related. And now my head hurts.

   Some might query why House of M is designated Earth-58163? Wasn't it just a modified version of the main Marvel Earth, Earth-616? The answer is "yes and no." It was a modified 616, but experience has shown us that in other such cases (Age of Apocalypse, for example), such altered realities remain in existence even after 616 is reverted; furthermore, other stories showing examples of realities springing from modified 616 have revealed that these frequently, perhaps always, come from whatever caused the modification merging 616 with another reality. Simply put, if you want to transform 616 into a world dominated by Nazis or mutants (to use two examples that have happened), it's apparently easier to latch onto a reality elsewhere in the multiverse that already has those desired features and overlay it on top of 616. As further evidence of this, if HoM was just modified 616, then HoM Proteus should be modified 616 Proteus. However, after HoM Proteus went off into the multiverse and got himself trapped in the Crystal Palace we saw 616 Proteus get resurrected by the events of Necrosha, something that shouldn't have happened if he was alive elsewhere. Any remaining doubt that House of M was its own distinct reality should be dismissed by the fact that the Exiles comic started noting that Proteus originated from Earth-58163 (rather than 616 or HoM) as of Exiles II#90's recap page; interestingly, by the time of New Exiles the recap pages had begun calling him Kevin Sydney rather than Kevin MacTaggert, and listing Morph's Earth, 1081, rather than Proteus', 58163, perhaps a subtle hint that the real Morph's mind was gradually regaining consciousness.

   ASSuming the dream self Proteus manifested in Exiles II#74 was a rough match for his real body prior to it being eaten from within by his powers, we can get a reasonable estimate of his height and weight by comparing him to Nightmask, whose official height and weight are known. That's also the only time we see his original eye color.

   It's worth mentioning that while Kevin was originally Mutant X, and only became named Proteus because the Exiles started calling him that after learning it was what his 616 counterpart went by. Kevin presumably knew they were calling him this from the moment he possessed Mimic and gained access to his memories, but nobody called him that to his face until the Maestro, and even after this Kevin continued to introduce himself as Kevin MacTaggert. He didn't use the name Proteus himself until New Exiles Annual#1, effectively the final time we hear Proteus speaking.

   Though he continues trying to dodge Longshot's blades after possessing Morph, Proteus' allergy to metal vanished and he sometimes seemed to forget about it even before he has his memory wiped; notably, he dons Dorma's metallic crown without any hesitation. I ASSume that he only dodged Longshot's blades out of habit (and because being stabbed might still hurt, even without an allergy to the knives' material).

   In the enemies, affiliations and group memberships, characters whose names are in quotes were unnamed in the comic; I've mostly used their 616 counterpart names got simplicity, as they were likely to using these or similar names, but it's not guaranteed. Where appearances of alternate reality counterparts make it clear who they are based off of, but are sufficiently changed to the point where the 616 codenames would seem unlikely, the name in quotes is a "best guess" at an appropriate equivalent codename - thus "Octokingpin" is a mix of Doc Ock and the Kingpin, while "Purple Pooka" is a purple version of the Green Goblin (or maybe I should have gone with Grape Goblin).

   Presumably when Grandmaster-1851 slew Proteus with the Power Primordial, it killed his energy form, not just his host body, or else the demise would have freed Proteus.

    This profile was completed 08/01/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Proteus is an alternate reality counterpart of:

but has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z HC#9 Proteus (Earth-58163 entry), itself modified artwork taken from New Exiles Annual#1, p25, pan1 (main image)
Exiles II#80, p20, pan2 (Kevin MacTaggert's original appearance - as recalled by Kevin years after the fact and recreated using Morph's powers, so it might not be entirely accurate)
Exiles II#70, p9, pan3 (original (?) body, desiccated in Muir Island confinement)
Exiles II#69, p16, pan4 (nightclub body)
Exiles II#69, p18, pan1 (having almost burned out the nightclub body)
Exiles II#69, p20, pan4 (in Blunderbuss' body)
Exiles II#70, p22, pan1 (in Angel Salvadore's body)
Exiles II#71, p5, pan3-4 (extending himself into the Panoptichron)
Exiles II#72, p20, pan4 (in Mimic's body)
Exiles II#73, p5, pan3-4 (transferring from Mimic to Justice)
Exiles II#74, p7, pan3 (in Justice's body)
Exiles II#74, p14, pan2 (in dreamscape in approximation of original (?) body, with Nightmask)
Exiles II#75, p18, pan4 (warping reality)
Exiles II#74, p21, pan6 (in Justice's body, teleporting between realities)
Exiles II#75, p21, pan1 (in Hulk 2099's body)
Exiles II#80, p6, pan4 (Morph recalling Proteus' hosts)
Exiles II#80, p21, pan2 (in Morph's body, shapeshifting to dodge Longshot's knives)
Exiles II#82, p18, pan1-5 (undergoing behavior modification)
Exiles II#82, p22, pan5 (joining the Exiles, much to their disconcertment)
Exiles II#88, p7, pan4 (Proteus as Morph as Space Ghost. "I know who I am. I'm the dude playing a dude disguised as another dude!")
Exiles II#89, p18, pan4-5 (Emma Frost detects Proteus within Morph)
Exiles II#89, p19, pan5 (Proteus' accent slips out of "Morph")
Exiles II#90, p1, pan1 (Heather Hudson's simulation of Proteus awakened inside Morph)
Exiles II#97, p5, pan1 (imitating Doom's formal outfits)
Exiles II#99, p15, pan5 (Crimson Pirate outfit)
X-Men: Die by the Sword#4, p13, pan5 (not really a Fury, attacking Jaspers)
New Exiles Annual#1, p18, pan5-6 (Proteus' personality emerges)
New Exiles Annual#1, p22, pan4-5 (Morph accepts Proteus' help against the Maker)
New Exiles Annual#1, p25, pan1 (Morph confronts Proteus)
New Exiles Annual#1, p26, pan4 (Proteus and Morph merge)
New Exiles Annual#1, p29, pan2 (Valeria notices the change in the newly merged Morph/Proteus)

Appearances:
Exiles II#69-74 (September 2005-February 2006) - Tony Bedard (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Rick Magyar (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Exiles II#75-78 (March 2006-May 2006) - Tony Bedard (writer), Jim Calafiore (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Exiles II#79-80 (June 2006-July 2006) - Tony Bedard (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Rick Magyar (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Exiles II#81-82 (July 2006-August 2006) - Tony Bedard (writer), Jim Calafiore (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Exiles II#83 (August 2006) - Tony Bedard (writer), Casey Jones (pencils), Vince Russell (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Exiles II#84 (September 2006) - Tony Bedard (writer), Jim Calafiore (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Exiles II#85-88 (October 2006-January 2007) - Tony Bedard (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Rick Magyar (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Exiles Annual#1 (2007) - >Tony Bedard (writer), Tom Raney, Mike Norton, Tim Smith, David Nakayama (pencils), Scott Hanna, Gary Martin, Norman Lee, Tim Smith, Terry Pallott (inks), Sean Ryan, Nathan Cosby, Mark Paniccia (editors)
Exiles II#89 (February 2007) - Tony Bedard (writer), Jim Calafiore (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Exiles II#90-92 (March 2007-May 2007) - Chris Claremont (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Rick Magyar (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Exiles II#93 (June 2007) - Chris Claremont (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Gary Martin (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Exiles II#94 (July 2007) - Chris Claremont (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Rick Magyar, Gary Martin (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Exiles II#95-96 (August 2007-September 2007) - Chris Claremont (writer), Clayton Henry (pencils), Norman Lee (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Exiles II#97 (October 2007) - Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Scott (pencils), Norman Lee (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Exiles II#98 (November 2007) - Chris Claremont (writer), Ronan Cliquet (pencils), Amilton Santos (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Exiles II#99 (December 2007) - Chris Claremont (writer), Clayton Henry (pencils), Norman Lee (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Exiles II#100 (February 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men: Die By the Sword#1-2 (December 2007) - Chris Claremont (writer), Juan Santacruz (pencils), Raul Fernandez (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men: Die By the Sword#3 (January 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), Juan Santacruz, CAFU (pencils), Raul Fernandez, Andrew Pepoy, Norberto Fernandez (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men: Die By the Sword#4 (February 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), CAFU (pencils), Norberto Fernandez (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
X-Men: Die By the Sword#5 (February 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), Juan Santacruz (pencils), Raul Fernandez (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
New Exiles#1-2 (March-April 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
New Exiles#5 (July 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), Roberto Castro (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
New Exiles#6 (July 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), Roberto Castro (pencils), Scott Hanna, Gary Martin (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
New Exiles#7-10 (August2008-October 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Vincent Cifuentes (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
New Exiles#13 (December 2008) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Vincent Cifuentes (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
New Exiles Annual#1 (2009) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tom Grummett (pencils), Vincent Cifuentes (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
New Exiles#14-18 (January 2009-April 2009) - Chris Claremont (writer), Tim Seeley (art), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Exiles III#6 (November 2009) - Jeff Parker (writer), Salva Espin (art), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First Posted: 09/04/2021
Last updated: 09/01/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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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!
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