Prodigy (David Alleyne)

:"For the other Marvel Comics characters named Prodigy, go to Prodigy (comics)."

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caption=Prodigy by Skottie Young
character_name=Prodigy
species=Human Mutant
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="New Mutants" vol. 2 #4
creators=Nunzio DeFilippis (writer)
Christina Weir (writer)
Keron Grant (artist)
real_name=David Alleyne
species = Human Mutant
alliances=X-Men New X-Men New Mutants Xavier Institute Staff
aliases =
powers= Possesses the combined knowledge of every mind he has encountered up to M-Day, including the X-Men; formerly: the ability to mimic the knowledge possessed by others Prodigy (David Alleyne) is a former mutant, one of the student body in the Xavier Institute, and was a member of the squad therein. He first appeared in "New Mutants" vol. 2 #4.

Fictional character biography

Early life

David has the ability to temporarily absorb knowledge (but not superpowers) from anyone in close proximity who is not telepathically shielded. A mental block keeps him from retaining the knowledge once the person has passed a certain distance away from him. David has always been the smart one, but when he was a teenager, the answers just started appearing in his head- so long as he was in the same room as the teacher. He started to figure out that he was a mutant, and that he now had the ability to know anything that the people nearby knew. Feeling this made him a cheater, and knowing the knowledge would fade, David was driven to study even harder. He took college-level courses while finishing high school. But he kept his mutation a secret, until the hate group Purity outed him to his parents and attempted to attack him. David was rescued by the librarian at his school, the former New Mutant Karma, and her former teammate Danielle Moonstar.

New Mutants Squad

David was taken to the Xavier Institute and placed on Dani's squad called The New Mutants. His fellow teammates were Surge, Elixir, Wind Dancer, Wallflower and Wither. Dani appointed David as team leader but he declined so Wind Dancer took over. She turned out to be a bad team leader and David did take charge but not officially. In the end David and Wind Dancer became joint team leaders. Also David began a relationship with Surge.

Decimation

In the wake of the "House of M" storyline, he has lost his powers. When he and Josh wake up, Josh asks him what's going on, and David replies that he does not know anything. David soon reveals that he has built a "Danger Cave" that allows his teammates to relive former missions of the X-Men so they can train after he leaves, but Cyclops decides that it would be safer for him to remain at the mansion since William Stryker is targeting de-powered mutants as well. When Stryker attacks the mansion he is wounded by one of the Purifierers, who are stopped by the students, but seems to be fine when he joins the New X-Men when they leave to fight Nimrod. He proves useful to the team when he attacks the robot with the weapons brought by X-23. After returning to the mansion, he is invited to join his girlfriend Surge in running the New X-men squad, giving them free rein to add more members at their will.

Quest for Magik

David and several students listen to a story told by Blindfold, about Magik, a deceased member of the original New Mutants. The group is kidnapped by Belasco. They are taken to the other-dimensional realm commonly known as Limbo. David is questioned by Belasco about Magik. When told she is dead, Belasco kills David by ripping out his heart. Josh manages to regrow David's heart, bringing him back to life. David then tends to the drained Josh and realizes that Belasco put special helmets to block the telepathic powers of Stepford Cuckoos and Martha. As Mercury and Dust continue to battle Belasco, he has Josh boost a heavily injured X-23's healing factor. X-23 uses her claws to release them at David's instructions. The Cuckoos launch a telepathic attack on Belasco. They discover that although Belasco had captured and lost two other innocent women before, Beatrice and Shanna, Magik was different: Belasco loved Illyana and wanted her innocent soul not for power or revenge but for love. The Cuckoos are forced out of Belasco's mind but Belasco is defeated by Pixie and the Darkchild (Belasco's soulless recreation of Magik) before he could pull Earth into Limbo.

Children of the X-men

Fearing for his safety, Surge attempts to force Prodigy to leave by kissing Hellion in front of him. Initially planning to leave, he later decides to stay after the Cuckoo's removes his mental blocks, restoring all his past abilities. Although the Cuckoos are unable to restore his powers, they have restored his ability to access the collective knowledge of everyone with whom he came in contact from the onset of his powers to M-Day. Using Krav Maga picked from Wolverine and Shadowcat, he displays his newfound assets by besting Hellion in combat ["New X-Men" vol. 2 #43] . He is later appointed as a substitute instructor by Cyclops.

World War Hulk

Hank McCoy, the Beast tells David to protect the other students, instead of taking part in the fight against the Hulk.

Messiah Complex

In Chapter 4 of the Messiah Complex, Surge leads the New X-men in a mission against the Purifiers. Prodigy declines participation however, viewing the mission as more of a vengeance quest than beneficial. After the school is attacked by O*N*E Sentinels controlled by Cassandra Nova's nano-bots in Chapter 8, Prodigy assists Beast in the hospital wing stabilizing the severely injured students and faculty.

In Chapter 9 of Messiah Complex, he is shown displaying the knowledge he was able to recover by repairing Cerebro. This is with the telepathic assistance of the Stepford Cuckoos, who find the structure of his brain fascinating.

Following the destruction of the school at the end of Messiah Complex, the New X-Men are disbanded and the David is sent back home to live with his family again.

ecret Invasion

During the Skrull army's invasion of earth, the former members of the New X-Men are called to San Francisco in order to help various other X-teams repel the invaders. After Cyclops and his team capture a Skrullian spacecraft, David is shown helping Beast dismantle the ship's hardrive and decoding the information within.

Powers and abilities

Prodigy initially had the telepathic ability to absorb and mimic the knowledge and skills from the minds of the people in close proximity to him. This power only let him absorb other's abilities and not their powers. His power also granted him the ability to predict his opponents moves, allowing him to take on both Wolverine [New Mutants (2nd series) # 5] and Santo (Rockslide) [New Mutants (2nd series) # 8] in hand to hand combat. A side effect however was David's self-imposed mental blocks. These blocks prevented him from retaining the knowledge he absorbs, forgetting whatever he has learned after a short period of time.

After the events of M-Day, David is one of the many mutants who lost their powers. However, due to his extensive studying prior to coming to Xaviers, he's maintained a rather high intellect He created a Danger Cave, a training room for the rest of his peers, and shows an extensive knowledge of the past missions of the X-Men. [New X-Men (2nd series) #21] .

Along with his intellect, Prodigy has been displayed as an extremely competent leader. Early in the series, Danielle Moonstar initially chose Prodigy to become leader of the New Mutants Squad. He would initially decline [New X-Men: Academy X # 4] but would later offer to be co-leader after convincing from Wind Dancer [New X-Men: Academy X # 5] . Both Cyclops [New X-Men: Academy X #10] and Danielle Moonstar [New X-Men: Academy X # 7] have acknowledged his leadership skills; Danielle going so far as to state, " [Prodigy] is the best strategic thinker at the school." He is later made a substitute instructor for the students at the institute.

Although depowered, David has recently regained access to all the skills and knowledge that he absorbed when he was still a mutant. This was made possible when the mental block in his brain was removed by the Stepford Cuckoos. Now he can recall the fighting abilities and scientific knowledge of many of the X-Men including Beast's medical knowledge, Forge's and Professor Xavier's expert standing in various subjects, and Wolverine and Kitty Pryde's martial arts, etc. Considering that he had some contact with nearly all the X-Men, students, visitors, and various other people over the course of his life before he lost his powers, the exact scope of his collective abilities is hard to ascertain. Though he can no longer learn skills like he did with his powers, he can still learn normally.

Alternate Versions

House of M

In the House of M universe, David was once more a member of the New Mutants. The New Mutants were a group of young mutants trained to be diplomats, and David graduated the valedictorian. Prodigy once more acts as the leader of the new mutants (although in this case it's more unofficial). He leads the New Mutants in an attempt to save Nori's father. While initially conflicting with rival group the Hellions, the two groups would join together after learning of tortures of humans. David, along with the rest of the surviving New Mutants and the Hellions would later make their last stand against Sunfire and his army.

Too Much Information

In the storyline "Too Much Information," David asks Emma Frost and Danielle Moonstar to create a vision of an alternate world where David removes his mental block and keeps all the knowledge he aborbs.

In this world, David quickly surpasses all the teachers at the school, having permanently retained all the knowledge they possessed. David leaves the institute, telling Josh Foley (Elixir) that he would use Josh's healing power to heal every disease known to mankind for free. A few years later, David has gained the knowledge of Stephen Hawking, Tony Stark, Henry Kissinger, and many other prominent geniuses simply by passing near them. He announces at a press conference that he has cures for AIDS, cancer and every other known disease. He plans to distribute this cure across the entire country in a matter of weeks. However, these cures come at a high price: Josh dies during the medical procedure that harvested the tissue from his body needed for the cures. David mourns his friend but firmly believes that his unwilling sacrifice was just.

Eighteen years later, David has married former teammate Noriko Ashida (Surge), been elected President of the United States, eliminated poverty, unemployment, and discrimination against mutants and has nearly created a worldwide government. The only major holdout is China, which he plans to bomb via teleportation. Ashida secretly shares this information with the X-Men in hopes that they can prevent a mass genocide. However, before they can act on this information, David sends them on a false mission to investigate a satellite that he causes to explode. Seeking a convenient scapegoat, he declares that the already outlaw Hellions are terrorist threats and blames them for killing the X-Men. The Hellions and New Mutants join forces when many of the dark secrets of David's rise to power come to light. The combined groups stage an assault on the White House, but David's security forces kill most of the heroes. In the end, Ashida confronts David in the Oval Office, then uses her powers to destroy the White House and everyone remaining in it.

Though an illusion, it had a lasting effect on how he viewed his powers. [New X-Men (2nd series) #43]

X-Men: The End

Prodigy briefly appears in X-Men The End, as an agent of the X.S.E. He, along with Iceman, interrogates Sage. Prodigy absorbs all the information she knows, and is deeply troubled with what he finds out. When joined by Val Cooper, he reveals that she is an imposter. She responds by transforming into a Warskrull, killing Prodigy shortly after.

Bibliography

*"Marvel Holiday Special 2004"
*"New X-Men Yearbook"
*"New X-Men (: Academy X)" #1-38
*"Uncanny X-Men " #460-461
*"Secret Invasion: X-Men" #1-4

Footnotes