Proctor
Real Name: Dane Whitman
First Appearance: Avengers 344
Died In: Avengers 375. But he's recovered from worse...
What's His Problem? Proctor was the Black Knight of an alternate Earth, where he was a member of that world's Avengers. There he fell in love with his teammate Sersi and became her gann josin (soul mate). She eventually abandoned him. Heartbroken and embittered, he allowed the gann josin link to mutate him into a superhuman being, embraced the corrupt power of his ebony blade, and went mad. Renamed Proctor, he slew his Sersi with the blade and then began journeying from world to world killing her otherdimensional counterparts, destroying each Earth in the process.
Powers: As the Black Knight, Proctor was an extremely proficient swordsman, athlete, unarmed combatant and scientist. The gann josin link gradually mutated him into a superhuman being with a nebulous assortment of vague but apparently formidable powers. These included the augmentation of all his physical abilities to superhuman levels, self-regenerative powers with which he could heal fatal injuries, the ability to project force beams from his eyes, telepathy, and the ability to control the chemical composition of the human brain, which enabled him exert his will over others.
Weapons: Proctor wielded his reality's incarnation of the ebony blade, an enchanted sword forged from a meteorite by Merlin. The blade can slice through anything, but using it to draw blood invokes a curse that compels the user to seek more blood thereafter. Proctor also employed a wide array of advanced technology, presumably gathered from various alternate Earths and supplemented by alien science stolen from Proctor's captive Watcher, Ute, whom he used to find and navigate alternate realities.
Favorite quote: "Do you see now, Avenger? You cannot stop
me! On Earth after Earth, you have never stopped me!" (Avengers 375)
Heroes He Kept Running Into: Proctor was obsessed with destroying the Avengers, especially Sersi, who eventually avenged herself and her counterparts by killing Proctor with his own ebony blade. Proctor was also none too fond the other Avengers of this earth. He especially disliked his counterpart Black Knight, whom he resented for winning Sersi's love as he had failed to do; Crystal, with whom the Black Knight had a bit of a fling before he settled on Sersi; and Quicksilver, Crystal's estranged husband, who rescued the Black Knight from death at Proctor's hands.
People Who Think He's Not So Bad: Proctor recruited as his accomplices the Gatherers, Avengers members from various alternate realities, who were mostly loyal to him. One of them, however, was the counterpart of the deceased Avengers member Swordsman (Philip Jarvert). A perceptive and moral man, Jarvert doubted Proctor's cause despite being mind controlled and eventually defected to the Avengers.
Most Despicable Act: Destroying countless worlds in his ongoing serial murder of Sersi's alternate reality counterparts. Other bad deeds include the enslavement and eventual death of the Watcher Ute, as well as Proctor's insidious, ongoing attempt to drive Sersi mad and force her own Avengers teammates to destroy her -- one of the nastier, spookier gaslight scenarios in comics.
by Sean McQuaid
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