Protex (Dark Knights of Steel)

Mars was once a verdant paradise, where the White and Green Martians coexisted in peace. However, Protex came to believe that the Whites were superior and should rule over the Greens. His message of supremacy spread quickly through his people via telepathy and they attempted to enslave the Greens. The Greens fought back and the two peoples fought a bloody civil war. The Whites were better fighters but the Green's greater scientific acumen allowed them to create weapons of mass destruction. Between them they destroyed Mars, leaving it as nothing but a blasted red desert and with only dozens of each side left alive. Although there was nothing left worth fighting for, Protex refused to give up. He and his remaining followers tracked the last surviving Green Martians to their underground refuge and slaughtered them all; although unbeknownst to them one, J'onn J'onzz, survived.^[1]

Invasion

With Mars destroyed, Protex led the last few White Martians to conquer their neighbouring world Earth. As they arrived, John Constantine prophesied that the world would face an attack by demons from beyond the stars, but mistook the House of El who came to Earth around the same time as the monsters from his vision.^[2] At some point the Martians were contacted by Amanda Waller, the commander of the El's army. As Earth was home to many powerful beings who could have fought against the Martians, they made a deal to work together to manipulate the major kingdoms of the world into a self-destructive war that would have removed any obstacles to the Martian's conquest rather than invade directly. Protex agreed to spare the Lands of El from the worst of the destruction and, once the Kryptonians were dead, to allow her to rule the kingdom without interference. In reality each planned to betray the others once Earth's superpowered protectors were dead.^[3]^[4]

Protex also began following the Green Man whilst invisible and giving him instructions, convincing the mad wizard that his ring was speaking to him.^[1] The Martians fomented a war between the Kryptonians of the Lands of El on one side and the Amazons and Weather Wielders of the Kingdom of Storms on the other; first by having the Green Man give King Jefferson the ability to assassinate Jor-El,^[2] and then murdering Jefferson and his son Prince Jacob while disguised as the El princess Zala Jor-El.^[5]^[6] They also sent one of their own disguised as Prince Kal-El to attempt to kill Bruce Wayne, who had recently learned he was the son of Jor-El and half-Kryptonian, to turn Bruce against the El's.^[7]

When a vast Kryptonite meteor crashed on Earth, Protex dispatched one of his followers, disguised as Zala Jor-El, to retrieve it. The Martian retrieved the meteor, leaving a small fragment behind. They also murdered the Metal Men, a band of knights also sent after the "fallen star".^[6]

War for the Three Kingdoms

The Amazon and Kingdom of Storm's armies marched on the Castle of El. A Martian disguised as Queen Lara flew down to confront Hippolyta and Queen Anissa, and Hippolyta again asked "Lara" to surrender, promising that if the El's turned themselves over without a fight no harm would come to them and they could end this without bloodshed. The Martian refused and killed Hippolyta.^[8] The two sides charged into war against each other, which only became more confused when Bruce arrived riding a dragon and confronted Kal-El. However, the real Lara appeared and attacked her doppleganger, revealing its true nature.^[9] With subterfuge no longer possible, Protex decided it was time for an open assault. He murdered the Green Man and stole his ring.^[1]

The Martians crafted weapons from the Kryptonite meteor to use against the Kryptonians. The infiltrator who had impersonated told Protex that they had seen a Green on the battlefield. Protex realised that the Green was J'onn J'onzz, alive and on Earth, and that he would need to be killed before he told the humans their secrets and weaknesses. He infiltrated the castle and found J'onn imprisoned in a cell, as the queens of the three kingdoms did not trust him. Protex mocked J'onn for his choice to live as a human while the Whites had used their powers to become the monsters of human legends. J'onn was bound in a magic rope that rendered him powerless, but just as Protex was about to kill him with the ring, J'onn sent out a telepathic call for help to Kal-El. Kal and Bruce burst into the cell and set Protex alight with their heat vision, forcing him to retreat.

Waller came to the Martian's hideout to confront them for deviating from their plan and endangering her people. One of the Martians tried to attack her, but he triggered a spell of protection and burned to death before he could lay a hand on her. Waller told Protex she would create another opportunity for him, and that he must follow her instructions exactly from here on.^[3]

Defeat

Waller's henchmen secretly opened a gap in the Castle of El's defences through which the Martians could storm the castle and kill the rulers of the kingdoms. However, their initial assault was blunted by the Black Canary, a former prisoner of the El's who chose to fight alongside them for the fate of the world, and then became bogged down in a fight against the Amazons. Bruce Wayne, Kal-El, Zala and Hippolyta's daughter Diana flew in and attacked Protex directly, then drew them away to nearby Mount Kristoff. Protex and the Martians pursued, believing they were attempting to flee, but once they were all gathered around the mountain, Queen Anissa and Princess Jennifer used their powers to trigger a volcanic eruption, raining lava down on the Martians. The four warriors doused themselves in pitch and then set themselves alight, their powers protected them from the flame, but their mere presence became deadly to the Martians. Many Martians died and the defenders easily overpowered the survivors, including Protex. Diana told him that she would ensure his name was forgotten by history, and Lara banished the Martians to the Phantom Zone.^[4]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Martian Physiology: Protex possesses the same potential powers as an average Martian. These include:
- Shape-Shifting: Martians have psionic control of their physical for down to the molecular level. This allows them to a form of shape-shifting that allows them to mimic other forms, elongate aspects of their body, increase or decrease their physical size, and so on.
  - Size Alteration: As an extension of their shape-shifting abilities, Martians can easily alter their size, shrinking or growing to gigantic size.^[10]
- Invisibility: Martians can cause the biopolymers in their bodies to lose their ability to reflect light, making the Martians invisible to normal light and human sight.^[11]
- Phasing: Martians can go through solid matter.
- Superhuman Strength:^[11] Martians possess vast levels of superhuman strength and are among the few races that are able to match Kryptonians in terms of raw strength. Martians can easily shatter reinforced concrete and steel, lift and carry hundreds of tons with ease and deliver incredible damage with their blows.^[12]
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Durability: Martians possess high levels of durability that make them nigh-invulnerable to all forms of damage. Martians can withstand high-caliber bullets, powerful energy blasts, and kinetic impacts without suffering damage.^[13]
- Superhuman Speed: Martians can process thoughts, move, and react at incredible speed, being able to cover vast distances in little or no time, catch bullets in mid-flight, run on water and create afterimages as they run.^[14]
  - Superhuman Agility
  - Superhuman Reflexes
- Regeneration: Martians have powerful regenerative powers that enable them to regenerate their entire body from a severed limb, they can further enhance their regenerative powers by drawing mass from nearby sources.^[15]
- Flight^[11]
- Extrasensory Input
- Longevity^[15]
- Super Hearing^[15]
- Heat Vision^[16]
- Martian Vision: Martian visual acuity greatly exceed human norms and allows for a wider range of information to be observed. This includes the following:^[11]
  - Infrared Vision^{[citation needed]}
  - X-Ray Vision^[17]
  - Electromagnetic Spectrum Vision^{[citation needed]}
  - Telescopic Vision^[18]
  - Microscopic Vision^{[citation needed]}
- Telepathy: Martians have the ability to read the minds of others and project their thoughts to varying degrees. They can also project their mental essences into a gestalt community known as the "Great Mind". Through this, the community can enhance the telepathic strength of other Martians. This power can also enable them to reverse the effects of amnesia or psychological brainwashing. ^[11]
  - Illusions
  - Possession
  - Astral Projection
  - Mind Control: As an extension of this, Martians can also use the ability to alter a psychological profile of a target, enabling them to manipulate, and in some cases, outright control that individual. This practice is greatly discouraged however, and only rarely used. ^[19]
  - Telepathic Relay^[19]
  - Telepathic Assault
- Telekinesis:^[20] Martians have mind-over-matter abilities and can lift and move objects with their minds. They can also employ their telekinesis in an offensive way by discharging telekinetic blasts capable of great concussive power.^[21]