Prodigy

Prodigy Portrayed by Donald Glover Statistics Full Name David Alleyne Age 18 Height 6'1" Build Fit and athletic Eyes Brown Hair Black Factions None Occupation Student Alignment Hero Claim to Fame A member of the Academic Decathlon national winning team, his freshman year of High School. His win was revoked when he was outed as a mutant, causing a minor nerd uproar. (And screwing up everybody's GPA and college applications.) Out mutant. Reputation A serious, scholarly young man who needs to lighten up. Biography David Alleyne had, in many ways, a storybook upbringing. His father and mother are both professionals who installed strong values and work ethics in David and his younger sister, Kim. He was an accomplished student long before his mutation kicked in, with above average aptitudes in math and science and seemed destined for great things. Unfortunately, at fifteen, his X-gene destroyed the future David thought he was going to have. His mutant ability, allowing him to absorb the knowledge and skills of anyone within ten yards or so, at first caused a spike upwards in his already high GPA. But David began to notice those skills went away after a short time. He figured out, eventually, that he was a mutant and ‘borrowing’ the knowledge of others. That drove him to study harder and work more, trying to broaden and deepen his own skill base, trying not to feel like an imposter in high school, and college, unable to turn his powers off and constantly second guessing himself about how intelligent and worthy he ‘really’ is and how much is his mutation ‘stealing’ the genius of others. Telling his parents about his mutation landed him at Xavier’s school and he thrived there, training as a student at the school and picking up his first bachelor’s degree, in electronic engineering, before he even graduated from Xavier’s. Rather than make the jump to being a member of one of the X-Men teams, David decided to continue his studies and is working his way through a double major in political science and engineering, keeping up his self-defense training and helping out at his old school or with anything mutant related when he can.

Character Details Personality David is driven and serious. Perhaps a little too much so on both counts. He has a touch of ‘impostor syndrome’, making him feel as though his achievements are not really his and that he needs to work harder and smarter than everybody around him to truly earn academic and personal acclaim. As a friend, he is loyal, level-headed and steadfast, but it can be hard to get him into ‘fun’ mode. As a partner, team member or co-worker, he expects only the best of himself and anyone working with him, favoring strategic and well-thought out approaches and finding spontaneity and improvisation to be evidence of a reckless or thoughtless personality. A potential romantic partner would find him carefully guarded and prone to deep reserve that means his feelings often stay mostly hidden until they bubble over and he does something impulsive. (And he hates that he does that, every time.) In short, he’s the kind of guy who needs to loosen up and relax and enjoy being who and what he is but is too vested in being an exemplar of a responsible super hero, a mutant and a black man. Learning to try to think of himself as ‘David’ and nothing else will be a major part of his growing up process as he heads from his teens into his twenties. Abilities Skill Mimicry Prodigy has a kind of subconscious telepathy that allows him to access the skills and knowledge of anyone within approximately ten meters. In practical terms, that means that as long as he is close to a world-class fighter, like Batman or Captain America, he can fight on their level. Or when near someone like Ted Kord or Tony Stark, he can understand and work with advanced technology on their level. In addition, whatever knowledge they have, such as languages spoken, tactical acumen and the like are mimicked as well. He is also able to synthesize those abilities, subconsciously, taking skills and abilities from everyone in his radius simultaneously. David can’t emulate physical or mental skills that are beyond a human’s ability, like Spider-Man’s agility or danger sense or the Flash’s ability to think as fast or faster than light. But anything up to the edge of human ability is fair game. David also doesn’t get access to specific memories. He might pick up the ritual of how to seal a dimensional gate from Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate, but he won’t remember the lessons they learned to gain that knowledge. He also is unable to emulate the skills and knowledge of things that are robotic or otherwise synthetic or completely alien in nature. A Kree or Kryptonian’s science skills would be fair game, an android or shoggoth's skills would not. His limit of ten yards and instantly forgetting (consciously) those skills are mental blocks on David’s part. He’s afraid of the crushing responsibility of keeping them and fiercely independent, wanting to prove himself, rather than just rely on ‘stolen’ abilities. Combat Telepathy Like all of David’s telepathic abilities, this is a subconscious use of his powers. Given a human-enough enemy (see Skill Mimicry for limits), David is able to ‘read’ a foe, giving him an advantage in terms of avoiding being hit or knowing when and where to strike himself. He can telepathically feel the intent of an attack or defense as the foe forms that intent and act on it at the same time. Against very skilled martial arts like Iron Fist and Batman, this ability is less effective, because they assume that a hypothetical foe would try to counter them and thus they tend to at least score a glancing blow with each strike or manage to roll with a blow given to them, lessening the impact. It also is of limited use against beings who are significantly stronger and/or faster than humans. You might be able to get your arms up in a perfect block, but when you are blocking the Hulk, that just means more bones are going to be broken. Mental Shield Another subconscious use of David’s abilities makes him hard to read telepathically and hard to influence with mental abilities. He isn’t in the same class as Mastermind or Hector Hammond, (much less Jean Grey or Professor X), so repeated effort or an overwhelming attack can smash that mental shield and a truly subtle telepath (like Emma Frost or Professor X) can slide ‘under’ it to read his thoughts or project their own. David can also choose to lower the shield, but he must concentrate to do so. Advantages Mild Genius David isn’t a Reed Richards, Tony Stark or a Hank McCoy, but he fits quite comfortably in the ‘second tier’ of scientific and mathematical geniuses. Which is to say that he might not be able to build a repulsor, Pym particles or a time machine, but given enough time and the right lab, he could probably repair or slightly modify them. Physically Fit Prodigy was a minor athlete in high school and his time at Xavier’s taught him that all the knowledge in the world was useless if he didn’t have the ability to use any of it. As an ‘out’ mutant, David is always aware that he could be in danger and keeps himself as fit as daily workouts, running and martial arts classes a few times a week can make him. Combat Trained Another legacy of his time with the X-Men, David learned to defend himself and how to handle tactical situations. Without his powers coming into play, he’s not amazing in a fight, but he knows how to handle himself, with the proficiency of a trained soldier or cop. Combat Visor In tactical situations, David wears a set of corrective sports glasses that are impact resistant and provide heads-up information via links to public and X-Men databases, as well as being able to record what he sees and scan UV and IR frequencies, radio, bluetooth and cell-phone transmissions, etc. This allows him to gather evidence, procure information and stay in contact with others while in the field. Disdvantages Bad Eyesight David is naturally nearsighted and without corrective lenses, his ability to make out details at more than arm’s length is impaired. Thanks to modern optometry, he wear very thin lenses or even contacts, but his prescription is heavy and without his glasses, he’s largely useless at a distance. Impostor Syndrome Because of the way his powers work, David is constantly trying to prove himself to himself and others. He can’t just do well, he has to do it perfectly or it isn’t good enough. This relentless drive for perfection can make him seem humorless and boring and lead him to work longer and harder than he should, until those efforts actually become self-defeating. Relationships Image Name Relation Information Character Name Friend Insert a description of the relationship here. Notes <This section is optional. You can delete it.> Character Gallery Logs 2014 Back to: Current Cast