Protocide

Character History and Major Story Arcs

Origin

In 1940, while stationed near France, Private Clinton McIntyre rebelled against his commanding officer, whose orders he feared would lead his unit to certain death, and was subsequently charged with treason and with the officer's murder, which McIntyre claimed was accidental.

Sentenced to death, McIntyre was offered clemency by General Maxfield Saunders, one of the officers attached to Project: Rebirth (later known as Weapon I), an experimental program designed to produce super-soldiers. Disdainful of Professor Abraham Erskine's chosen candidate for augmentation, Steve Rogers, and skeptical about the promised effects of Erskine's super-soldier formula, Saunders designated McIntyre as his own test subject in Operation: Prototype.

Shortly afterward, Steve Rogers was transformed into Captain America and Saunders, hurried to repeat the process, failed to realize Erskine's procedure had three stages and gave McIntyre only the liquid formula for ingestion, omitting the injection and vita-ray exposure necessary to stabilize the transformation. As a result, while McIntyre indeed underwent complete physical augmentation, literally growing more muscular with each moment, the process induced dementia and intense pain, causing him to flee into the streets on a rampage. The newly mutated Prototype collapsed shortly afterward from heart failure, and General Chester Richard Phillips, Project: Rebirth's head military liaison, took Saunders into custody for McIntyre's murder. Prototype's body was eventually placed in storage, although it is unclear if he was truly dead or simply in deep suspended animation.

Return

Prototype's body, sealed in a containment tube and long since forgotten, was discovered in Virginia confiscation warehouse by SHIELD agents, including Agent Billups, actually a double-agent for SHIELD's enemy AIM. Billups brought the body to his AIM superiors, who were able to resuscitate Prototype due to mutations in his circulatory system. Re-dubbed Protocide, he received implanted memories to win him to AIM's side, making him believe Captain America, supposedly his wartime partner, had betrayed him and left him for dead, sabotaging Project: Rebirth and taking the honor and glory due to Protocide himself.

Quickly proving his remarkable strength, speed, and savagery in combat, with no sign of his earlier dysfunction, Protocide was assigned to intervene in a fight between AIM operatives and the US Agent, whom Protocide defeated and nearly killed, despite his opponent's superior strength. Soon afterward, he attempted to steal the deadly Omega Compound designed by SHIELD, whom AIM had told him ruled America. Acting as guard for the formula's transport, Captain America confronted him; although Cap finally knocked Protocide unconscious after a grueling battle, his own pause for recovery allowed his opponent to escape, incapacitating several SHIELD agents in the process. AIM then tasked Protocide with decimating various HYDRA facilities, which he did with brutal efficiency.

Captain America learned Protocide's origins from Cache, an AIM computer-entity, and confronted him at a waterhouse HYDRA base. As they fought, Cap lambasted McIntyre for what he perceived as failure to live up to Project: Rebirth's responsibility, but the two joined forces when HYDRA agents targeted them both. Struck by a neural shock gun, Protocide fell into the facility's energy core but, when Cap pulled him to safety, fled after knocking his rescuer into it instead.Cap survived and arrived at AIM headquarters to again confront Protocide, who now recognized Cap's sincerity and realized AIM had been lying all along. Unfortunately, there proved no chance at reconciliation when panicking AIM operatives lashed out with their weaponry, exploding the AIM facility and seemingly killing Protocide.

However, he survived and was last seen hitching a ride to parts unknown.

Civil War and the Initiative

When the Super-Human Registration Act was enforced, McIntyre avoided any involvement in the war by continuing to keep a low profile and help purport the reports that he died during the assault on AIM headquarters years ago. When forming the Initiative, Tony Stark was doubtful about the reports that Protocide was deceased and sought to determine his status to no avail.

Powers and Abilities

Protocide possesses low-level superhuman strength, speed, stamina and reflexes. He carries a remarkably durable chevron shield of unrevealed composition.

Physical Attributes

Height: 6'3''

Weight: 280 lbs.

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Brown