4. Prometheus (New Year’s Evil: Prometheus)
Background: Prometheus is probably one of my favorite characters on the list and the only reason he is not higher in our countdown is because his efforts are not solely aimed at Batman, they are aimed at the entire Justice League (Batman included), which yes, might actually be more of a feat, but seen as this is a Batman orientated list today he is coming in at number 4.
Prometheus has been classed as an “Anti-Batman” and for good reason; as a young boy he was the son of two career criminals who were shot in front of him by the local police. This pushed Prometheus to swear vengeance against the forces of justice in the world. He is brilliantly intelligent, spent many years travelling the world training his fighting skills, and he is also incredibly rich (through his parents hidden ill-gotten-gains and his own crimes) and just like Batman, is motivated by the death of his parents.
Present day: The Justice League have gone through some member changes: Hippolyta (Wonder Woman’s mother) has taken over the mantle of Wonder Woman, and Steel and Plastic Man have joined the team. For the sake of good press and to mark the new line-up, the JLA have held a competition for the winner to pretend to be a superhero and hang out/become an honorary member for 24 hours, as well as inviting one hundred of earth’s press to cover the event.
Seizing the opportunity, Prometheus intercepts and kills the winner: Retro, a simple man with good intentions and a dream of becoming a superhero. He takes Retro’s place by downloading all of his movements and mannerisms into the suit he is wearing so that he can go undetected by the league.
After entering The Watchtower under the guise of Retro, Prometheus starts to put his plan into action and there is nothing Batman or anyone a can do about it:
- He starts by taking control of Steel’s suit and commanding him to walk until he finds a wall and then throw his hammer straight through it (In their moon base).
- He then moves onto J’onn (Martian Manhunter) and by increasing the oxygen levels in The Watchtower and firing a phosphorous dart at him, he causes J’onn to set on fire (one of, if not his only weakness). While J’onn is injured, Prometheus infects him with a molecular toxin that renders him and his shape shifting ability into nothing more than a writhing puddle of Martian goo.
- He destroys the advanced hydroponic center responsible for oxygen creation, and then sets the remaining air supply on fire.
- He renders Green Lantern’s ring and mind useless through what he calls a Neural Chaff, as well as convincing The Flash that he has rigged bombs to detect his movement if he moves any faster than a regular human. Using their now vulnerability to his advantage, he proceeds to shoot both of them in the chest.
- He sends Huntress into a state of hypnosis using his specially timed flickering helmet lights and vocal tricks.
- After disabling the escape pods, transporter and pretty much everything else on The Watchtower, and with the air supply being burnt off into space, Prometheus gives Superman the option to kill himself and he will put everything right, and save the one hundred innocent reporters that are on The Watchtower.
You may be asking: “Where does Batman come into all of this?”. Well, you can probably tell by now, Prometheus is not someone to be messed with, and our Dark Knight found that out pretty swiftly; Not only has Batman’s entire team been taken down/rendered useless while he was on board The Watchtower, but…
That’s right, not only did Prometheus just download every move/fighting ability that Batman has, straight into his brain, but he also added 29 of the other greatest martial arts masters in the world. Combine that with his disorientating helmet lights and It’s safe to say that Batman did not see this coming. It’s not long before Prometheus kicks the ever-loving crap out of Batman and leaves him unconscious, moving on to the rest of the Justice League.
