Prodigy (comics)
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Prodigy is the name used by three fictional characters in the Marvel Universe. The first Prodigy was Spider-Man in disguise, the second has superhuman physical abilities, and the third was a mutant with a superhuman intellect.
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[edit] Prodigy (Peter Parker)
[edit] Fictional character biography
When Spider-Man is accused of murder during the Spider-Man: Identity Crisis storyline, he dons several different costumes to continue saving lives without anyone knowing it is him. One of these, the Prodigy costume, is designed by Mary Jane Watson-Parker. It is padded to make Spider-Man appear bigger, and bulletproof to make it seem as though he is invulnerable. While in this identity, he adopts a confident, archetypical heroic persona, similar to that of the Silver Age Superman or Captain America. When he clears his name, he abandons the identity.
Although the hero called Black Marvel later gives Ritchie Gilmore a duplicate Prodigy costume, Spider-Man remains in possession of the original. It has not been seen since.
[edit] Powers and abilities
In addition to Spider-Man's regular abilities, the Prodigy costume is bulletproof.
[edit] Bibliography
- Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #435
- Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 1 #256-258
[edit] Prodigy (Ritchie Gilmore)
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Ritchie Gilmore is a typical jock, captain of his college wrestling team, and one of the most popular guys in school. But Ritchie wants more from life; he wants to be stronger and more powerful. The Black Marvel gives him the Prodigy costume, and the chance to be something better. The costume had been imbued with power: it gives Ritchie superhuman strength, he can leap so far and high that it appears that he is flying, and his cape even allows him to glide. Black Marvel makes Ritchie the leader of his new team, the Slingers. As Prodigy, Ritchie can finally be the person he always wanted to be and finds that he enjoys the life of a superhero. However, he is cold and unfeeling towards his teammates, not even showing concern when Dusk falls to her death, and isn't even shocked when she comes back to life. Prodigy feels that he should not have to help his team, and that they need to learn how to handle things on their own. Once, he leaves the Slingers in a collapsing tunnel, saying that if they are truly heroes, they would be able to survive. He is just as prone to beat his friends as his enemies. When he feels that Ricochet challenges his authority, he attacks him, and is only prevented from seriously injuring him by Hornet's intervention. Hornet also has to blast Prodigy with his laser "stingers" to keep him from killing a gang member.
Prodigy learns that Black Marvel had made a deal with a demon called Mephisto to give him his costume, and that the demon had collected his "mentor’s” soul as payment. While the other three members of his team go to save Black Marvel, he abandons them. But when Ricochet is confronted with an illusion of his dead mother, Prodigy comes back to snap him out of his trance. Prodigy admits that his heart was filled with hate, and he lets that hatred go, and helps his friends free the Black Marvel's soul. The team disbands, but Prodigy apologizes for his actions before he leaves, and says he needs to check on his grandmother, as he had been missing quite a while.
Prodigy returns[1] standing on a rooftop and openly defies the Super Hero Registration Act. Iron Man soon arrives on the scene along with agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Prodigy declares Iron Man a traitor and then attacks him. Predictably, Prodigy is defeated by Iron Man and apprehended by SHIELD agents. Prodigy succeeds, however, in sending a message to the people of the Marvel Universe. This is considered the first act of Civil War. Prodigy is later shown[2], where he is one of the inmates imprisoned within the Negative Zone Prison Alpha; where he was seen by Peter Parker (during his tour with Iron Man) in regards to the status of those that refused to register. Prodigy is one of the heroes that is freed from his cell when Hulkling, under the guise of Dr. Hank Pym, opens the cells. He joins Captain America's side to fight Iron Man[3].
[edit] Powers and abilities
Prodigy's costume is mystically infused with power, giving him incredible superhuman strength, and he can actually stop a speeding train with his bare hands. He can leap incredible distances and when he jumps, it appears that he is flying. His golden costume is completely bulletproof, and can withstand most physical assaults. His cape functions as a hang glider, and enables him to glide on air currents.
[edit] Bibliography
- Civil War #6
- Civil War: Frontline #2
- Contest of Champions vol. 2 #1-5
- GLA #2
- New Warriors vol. 2 #1
- Slingers #0-8, 10-12
[edit] Prodigy (David Alleyne)
[edit] Fictional character biography
David has the ability to temporarily absorb knowledge (but not superpowers) from anyone in close proximity who is not telepathically shielded. A mental block keeps him from retaining the knowledge once the person has passed a certain distance away from him. David has always been the smart one, but when he was a teenager, the answers just started appearing in his head- so long as he was in the same room as the teacher. He started to figure out that he was a mutant, and that he now had the ability to know anything that the people nearby knew. Feeling this made him a cheater, and knowing the knowledge would fade, David was driven to study even harder. He took college-level courses while finishing high school. But he kept his mutation a secret, until the hate group Purity outted him to his parents and attempted to attack him. David was rescued by the librarian at his school, the former New Mutant Karma, and her former teammate Danielle Moonstar. In the storyline "Too Much Information," David asks Emma Frost to remove the block, ignoring his faculty advisor Danielle Moonstar's warnings. Instead of removing the block, Emma and Dani subject David to a startling vision of a possible future should David go through with the procedure. The following is a brief synopsis of that dream:
Quickly surpassing all the teachers at the school (after all, he knew everything they did simply by passing by them). He leaves the school, telling Josh (aka Elixir) that he would use Josh's healing power to heal every disease known to mankind for free. A few years later, David has gained the knowldege of Stephen Hawking, Tony Stark, Henry Kissinger, and many other prominent geniuses simply by passing near enough to them to gain their knowledge. He announces at a press conference that he has cures for AIDS, cancer and every other known disease. He plans to distribute this cure across the entire country in a matter of weeks. These cures come at a high price, however, as Josh dies during the medical procedure that harvested the tissue needed for the cures from his body.
At this point, David awakes from the illusion and at the urging of Dani and Emma decides to keep the mental block in place, at least until he is mature enough to deal with his increased powers. Prodigy, however, seems destined never to have his mental block removed.
In the wake of the House of M storyline, he has lost his powers. When he and Josh wake up, Josh asks him what's going on, and David replies that he does not know anything. David soon reveals that he has built a "Danger Cave" that allows his teamates to relive former missions of the X-Men so they can train after he leaves, but Cyclops decides that it would be safer for him to remain at the mansion since William Stryker is targeting de-powered mutants as well. When Stryker attacks the mansion he is wounded by one of the Purifierers, who are stopped by the students, but seems to be fine when he joins the New X-Men when they leave to fight Nimrod. He proves useful to the team when he attacks the robot with the weapons brought by X-23. After returning to the mansion, he is invited to stay by Cyclops, which he gladly accepts.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Before losing his powers,(seems powers have retuned) Prodigy had the telepathic ability to absorb and mimic the knowledge and skills from the minds of the people near him.
[edit] Alternate versions
Eighteen years later, David had married former teammate Noriko Ashida (Surge), been elected President of the United States, eliminated poverty, unemployment, and discrimination against mutants, and has nearly created a worldwide government. The only major holdout is China, which h plans to bomb via teleportation. He has declared the Hellions (a rival group of the New Mutants) terrorist threats and blamed them for killing the X-Men (David had killed them by dispatching them to investigate a satellite, which he subsequently caused to explode). The Hellions and New Mutants (including David's wife) stage an assault on the White House. David's security forces kill most of the attackers. In the end, Surge uses her powers to destroy the White House and everyone remaining in it.
