Protege

Character History

Protégé was a cosmic entity and the child-like ruler of the Universal Church of Truth in the 31st century of Earth-691. He had a Skrull playmate, Replica, and an advisor, Jiltrin, and a matriarch, Aleta (who later became a Starhawk). Protégé was the by-product of generations of genetic engineering, selective breeding and eugenics, as well as uncountable amounts of chemicals, drugs, and magical treatments stolen from the planets that the Universal Church conquered, all in the attempt to recreate their god: the Magus.

Protege was later captured by the Beyonder, along with Malevolence, who had become his new matriarch. The Beyonder captured them just for amusement's sake.

Mephisto broke them out and Protege battled the Beyonder, copying his powers instantly. As he grew in power, the Living Tribunal and Eternity became concerned with his potential to upset the multiverse if he continued to take powers on this scale. The Beyonder, seeing that he could not defeat him directly, left. Malevolence and Mephisto stayed and tried to influence Protege for their own uses. They began by planning a take-over of the Beyonder's Beyond-realm. However, the Beyonder transported the Guardians of the Galaxy to the Beyond-realm and they all battled.

The Living Tribunal intervened and brought Protege and the Beyonder to him for a trial, judged by the Tribunal, Eternity, the Hawk God, and the Celestial, Scathan the Approver. Protege and the Beyonder attacked them, but to no avail.

During the trial, Protege continued to duplicate all the powers he saw on display from the cosmic beings there, until he reached a high level of omnipotence and declared himself the new One-Above-All, demanding that the others supplicate themselves to him.

More characters appeared during all of this, and Protege, Mephisto, and Malevolence battled the Guardians and the Hawk God. Finally, Scathan, officially not approving of the proceedings, blasted Protege and locked him in an energy muzzle, preventing him seeing and copying any new powers. The Living Tribunal then created an Eternal Hourglass and trapped Protege inside, where he was absorbed by cosmic time. The Tribunal then absorbed the Hourglass into himself, destroying the being completely.

Powers

Protege was able to copy any powers he saw manifested in front of him simply by looking at them being used. This ability seemed to have no limit, and he was able to copy much of the power of some of the great cosmic beings of the multiverse, including the Beyonder, the Living Tribunal, the Hawk God, Eternity, and Scathan the Approver. However, he was still able to be bound and defeated by the combined powers of Scathan and the Tribunal.

One limit on this ability was that he could not copy powers until he saw them being used. For instance, when the Beyonder held him in a crystal prison, Protege was not able to copy the Beyonder's powers to break out, even though the Beyonder was nearby, because the Beyonder was not using his powers. Later, when the Beyonder used his powers to fight Protege, Protege was then easily able to copy them. Eternity stated that Protégé has the potential for infinite omnipotence no matter how much he mimics powers, making him a significant enough threat for the stronger beings of the cosmological circle to remove.