Proteus's History
Kevin MacTaggert is the son of mutant expert Moira MacTaggert, and politician Joe MacTaggert. Like his mother, the boy is a mutant with the ability to warp realities. These powers burn out his body, leaving him in need of new host bodies to sustain himself. Kevin's only known weaknesses are metal and his need for fresh host bodies. Due to the unstable nature of his powers, Moira confined Kevin to a maximum security cell inside her mutant research facility located on Muir Island.
During a battle between Magneto and the X-Men, the facility's security was compromised and Kevin's cell was damaged. This caused what remained of his body to burn out and required him to look for a new host. When a man came to destroy Moira's laboratory, Kevin possessed him and hid until he could escape the island. He later tried to possess Phoenix and Polaris, but both attempts failed. Kevin managed to escape the island in one of Multiple Man's duplicate bodies and began a quest to find and possess his father's body.
Even with the timely intervention of the X-Men, Kevin still managed to possess the body of his father, Joe, leaving a trail of discarded host bodies in his wake. During the battle, however, Joe's body also burned out leaving Kevin (now calling himself Proteus) vulnerable in his energy form. The X-Man Colossus used his metal form to slay the boy. His energies were disrupted and scattered all over Scotland. All thought Kevin to be dead.
Sometime later, a woman by the name of Erika Benson (also known as Harness) was hired by AIM to use her son, Gilbert Benson whom she called Piecemeal, to collect the energies of Proteus for their own use. Gilbert had the ability to absorb the energies that were once Proteus, and his mother intended to collect it all. Her mission was almost thwarted by the X-Force, New Warriors as well as Moira MacTaggert and a number of her mutants from Muir Island. Their intervention failed, and Gilbert's body exploded, resulting in a fusion entity that was both Gilbert Benson and Kevin MacTaggert.
This new Proteus used his powers to reshape Edinburgh, Scotland to his own whim. The arrival of X-Factor brought a philosophical tone to the battle, as the heroes questioned the ethics of killing Proteus or trying to help them. In the end, Proteus realized that reality was not compatible with him and "killed" himself.
Kevin was not dead, due to his body being a lattice of energy. He had only entered a low-energy resting state, making him both dead and alive at the same time. He survived M-Day. When Selene and Eli Bard used the trans-mode virus to resurrect the dead, a piece of Proteus was carried with them, creating a link he could use to restore himself. Using the mutant Destiny he distorted her visions to lure Blindfold to Muir Island. Turning her into a psychic magnet, she collected up his fragments. Getting the final piece from Destiny, Blindfold became Proteus' new host. He proceeded to attack the X-Men with his newly expanded powers, such as possessing Blindfold, Destiny, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Husk, and Trance, turning the iron in Magneto's blood into lead, and knocking out Colossus while destroying the Blackbird's cockpit. As he was about to kill Rogue, Magneto launched both himself and Proteus into orbit.
With prolonged proximity to Proteus, Magneto was able to analyze his energy matrix while simultaneously using his electromagnetic powers to shield himself from Proteus' possession. After enough study, Magneto was able to change the part of Proteus that allowed him to possess Blindfold, and kick him out of her body. Unstable, Proteus dissipated. Magneto, however, warned that Proteus would be back.
Proteus was found drifting in the Astral Plane by the Shadow King and became his new source of power, being used in an endless battle between the entity and Xavier, who had been forced to partake in this following his death at the hands of Cyclops. In the battle's final moments, Proteus was spread as a psychic infection on London by the Shadow King, and was unwittingly reconstituted by Xavier (now inhabiting Fantomex's body and calling himself X) once he had dealt with the Shadow King with the help of his X-Men.
X and Psylocke confronted Proteus telepathically, and Kevin attempted to convince the mutant heroes that he had no evil intentions and simply wanted freedom, and that he was willing to let bygones be bygones, but would defend himself if threatened. When X reacted poorly, Proteus trapped him and Psylocke in a "reality storm" that painfully merged them together before fleeing. Proteus traveled to the Scottish village of Fetters Hill, in order to carry out an experiment as part of his plan to merge the real world with the Astral Plane. He granted the citizens of the town the ability to make real whatever they wished. The village quickly fell into chaos, and it became a gestalt of the villagers' mindscapes. When the X-Men tried to confront Proteus, he made Fetters Hill erupt, launching seeds into many cities of the world with the objective to transform them as well. As the damage he caused to reality was being reversed by Psylocke and X, Proteus was seemingly destroyed by Bishop and Rogue, who converted Kevin's energy and absorbed it, respectively, until he exploded.
Proteus was somehow brought back to life on the mutant nation of Krakoa and provided with a steady supply of braindead Xavier clones as host bodies. He became a member of The Five, a group of mutants capable of combining their powers to resurrect dead mutants. He and the rest of The Five were considered something sacred to be treasured by the other mutants on the island.
Because Proteus' powers lead to the destruction of his own body, The Five keep a backup Xavier body prepared for Proteus to inhabit after he burned out his current one. Depending on the frequency with which he used his powers, a body normally lasted one week, or even a single day during periods of excessive power use.
Xavier tasked The Five with resurrecting Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Husk, Archangel, Penance, Mystique, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler who died stopping the creation of Nimrod. The Five had previously resurrected other long deceased mutants, such as Banshee, and Sophie and Esme Cuckoo.
With the possibility of mutants being reported dead without proper proof, X-Factor was created to investigate any reported dead or missing mutants to ensure that the Five did not resurrect already living mutants thus allowing multiple instances of the same mutant to live at the same time.
Proteus (with the rest of the Five) was tasked with bringing Rictor and Rockslide back to life after their demise then they were betrayed by the Summoner. However, since Rockslide died in Otherworld, his backup was corrupted and he was resurrected broken. The same thing happened with Gorgon when he was resurrected after he died in battle against the White Sword in Otherworld. All resurrections were temporarily halted until a resolution was determined.
During Knull's attack on Krakoa using Kid Cable as a host, the Five were hidden in the Hatchery to ensure the survival of the mutant race. "Protocol V" was activated by Commander Brand for Mentallo to bring them to Shi'ar space so they could repopulate the mutant (and human) race a safe distance away. However, the Knullified Kid Cable was defeated and they stayed on Krakoa.
During the Hellfire Gala, Proteus was called away with other Omega Level mutants to terraform Mars in order for it to be suitable for the living island Arakko to merge with and for it's citizens to claim as their new home.
