Protege

Protege's History

Protege was a cosmic entity, the childlike ruler of the Universal Church of Truth.

In order to save the lives of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Skrull shapeshifter Replica left them to give herself as a playmate to Protégé, her god. However, she comes into conflict with Protégé's other companion, Malevolence, the daughter of Mephisto. Thus, upon receiving a call for aid from her old friend Martinex, as his planet is being torn asunder by multiple tragedies, Replica dodges the attentions of Protégé and Malevolence to answer this call, though ultimately it is Protégé who lets her go. Despite this, she still had to be rescued from a Universal Church ship by Firelord.

In the 31st century of Earth-691, the Living Tribunal was nearly usurped by Protégé, whose abilities to duplicate the powers of others allowed him to manifest the Living Tribunal's own power. The Guardians of the Galaxy struggled futilely against Protégé, and the Living Tribunal itself wasn't able to defeat it. Protégé claims to have become not the new Living Tribunal, but the new One Above All. It was a Celestial named Scathan the Approver who saved reality by judging against him. The Living Tribunal then absorbed the Protégé into itself to prevent him from endangering reality again.