The Promethean Giants are beings who tried and failed to breach the Source Wall to discover the mysteries of the cosmos.
History
For their hubris, they were left embedded in the wall or floating through space, chained to enormous rocks, living on such a vast scale that it takes a billion years to feel a single heartbeat. Many of the giants are shattered, but still alive, able to reach out with their thoughts to other beings, mentally crying out in humiliation. Metron would contemplate the giants on occasion. Some giants had been there so long, primitive vegetation grew on their suspended forms.
Prime Earth
The throwback from the previous universe, Relic, was defeated when he was forced into contact with the Source Wall, becoming one of the newest members of the Promethean Giants.[1] Metron later created a device that would communicate with the Giants, and he and Highfather spoke with Relic.[2] Relic had some kind of rudimentary awareness of his petrified predicament, though he wasn't fully alive.
The Giants were also, in some respect, dead; as Black Hand touched the Source Wall and reanimated the Promethean Giants as members of the Black Lantern Corps.[3] Their conscription into the Corps did not last long, as their connection to the Source brought them back to life; freeing the Promethean Giants, including Relic.
Perpetua's Great Army
History tells that Perpetua's Great Army were the first Promethean Giants. As the Source Wall was built to contain her and her power, so were the bodies of her Great Army entombed on its surface, and they cry out when she is freed.[4]
Powers and Abilities
Weaknesses
Unable to move
Notes
- In New Gods #1, Jack Kirby states that the Promethean Giants enlarged themselves in their attempt to smash through the Source Wall, but failed. In Gerry Conway's later run on the series, he states that the giants were enlarged to their current size and frozen in time as punishment for assaulting the Wall. Conway also refers to the giants as gods, while Kirby does not specify their nature. According to Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #62, at least some of the giants were once gods of New Genesis.
- In Kirby's New Gods, the Promethean Giants are portrayed as floating in space near the Source Wall. Marvel and DC Present #1 by Chris Claremont was the first story to show the giants embedded in the Source Wall itself, a portrayal that has stuck in most portrayals of the Wall afterwards.
- The Promethean Giants are also referred to as Source Titans in Green Lantern Annual (Volume 5) #3.
See Also
- Appearances of Promethean Giants
- Race Gallery: Promethean Giants
- Images of Promethean Giants
Links and References
[[Category: Promethean Galaxy]]