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Proteus, Part Two
Comparison By A. Magik, Media By Stu and James Harvey
X-Men often adapted stories from the comic to the screen. But due to the different nature of each medium,
no episode could be directly translated. Presented in the list below is a list of changes from the comics to the
episode. This episode is based on Uncanny X-Men #127 - 128.
Similarities:
 -Both versions have Wolverine in the group.
-Proteus/Kevin, the son of Dr. Moira MacTaggert, and a mutant who possesses people
and manipulates reality, searches for his father, Joseph MacTaggert, a political candidate.
-The final battle with Proteus occurs in Edinburgh.
-Banshee attempts a shot at Proteus (though the means differ in both versions)
Differences:
-The comic book version had Cyclops, Phoenix, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Havok, and Banshee
(depowered due to injuries from a previous battle) alongside Wolverine. The cartoon only has Beast and
Rogue with Wolverine.
-As mentioned before, Professor Xavier was absent in the comic version.
-The cartoon X-Men shy away from helping Wolverine in his trauma. In the comic, Cyclops angers him into a
fight, purposely breaking Wolverine from his psychological funk before it makes him gun-shy.
-Unlike the ‘scared li’l kid’ in the cartoon, comic Proteus was a psycho bent on domination and destruction.
He was the type of mutant threat the X-Men were founded for to oppose. His search for his father had less
to do with love than committing patricide (his label for father was based on his mother’s view, ‘the-one-I-hate’)
-Cartoon Proteus’ ability to possess people is safer to the victim than in the comic. Comic Proteus’ possession
kills the person and prolonged use burns out the body.
-Cartoon Proteus lacks his comic counterpart’s limitations like having an energy form that needs a body to
possess (cartoon version still has his original body), as well as being vulnerable to metal.
 -Unlike her wimpy cartoon counterpart, comic Moira took a gung-ho attitude to her son. Taking responsibility for
Proteus, she tries to kill him at one point with a rifle. When she meets her husband again after an estrangement of
twenty years, she aims a rifle at him, willing to blow him away for what he did to her years ago.
-Cartoon Joseph MacTaggert divorced Moira because of Kevin/Proteus, then married again and had children. His comic
counterpart refused to divorce Moira despite a separation of twenty years (being possessive as well as
calculating, seeng Moira’s reputation too useful for his political ambitions). He also didn’t know about having
a son until minutes before his fate…
-Cartoon Joseph MacTaggert’s fate is kinder. His comic counterpart, a real brute, gets possessed/killed by his son.
What’s left of his body gets consumed in battle with the X-Men, receiving major assaults by Wolverine, Cyclops, Havok,
and Phoenix (but still surviving), then getting destroyed.
-Unlike his cartoon counterpart, comic Wolverine’s fear of Proteus does not prove a liability. He does not
high-tail it when Proteus arrives.
-Cartoon Proteus’ fate is kinder, reunited with his father, and allowing help for the education of his powers.
Comic Proteus was killed by Colossus to rescue Moira from being the next host body (after getting psychically and
physically tortured by Proteus, Colossus changes into metal, and rams his fists into the being, causing Proteus to
short circuit and explode).
Interesting facts:
-In the comic, Proteus didn’t die. He somehow ended up in the Star Trek Universe.
-This story was Banshee’s last adventure as an active X-Man member for a while. Injuries sustained in a
previous adventure had neutralized his ability to project energy by voice, making him a liability in stories
leading up to this one. After Proteus’ death, Banshee remained on Muir Isle to stay with Moira, only helping
the team once or twice with his non-Mutant skills (he was an Interpol agent). Later, his wounds fully healed
by the Morlock Healer, the powered Banshee returned to the X-Men.
Return to X-Men Comparisons: Comics to Cartoon
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