Professor Phobos

Professor Phobos is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.

Publication history

Professor Phobos first appeared in Incredible Hulk #258-259 (April–May 1981), and was created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema. The character subsequently appears in Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty (February 1995).

Fictional character biography

Professor Piotr Phobos was the founder and instigator of a government program designed to locate and train superhuman beings in service of the state. He was a latent mutant with megalomaniacal tendencies and used the School for Super-Soldiers to further his own quest for power. With Soviet authorization, he established his academy in Moscow, and used a KGB task force to search for appropriate students. His first three students became known as Ursa Major, Darkstar and Vanguard – the latter two being the children of the man who would later become the Presence. In time, the School took on many other students as well, some of whom are said to have died in training. Phobos invented equipment that he used to siphon off some of his students’ mutant energies to stimulate his own. When the second Red Guardian discovered Phobos’ activities, he was forced to abandon his school. Phobos fled to the radioactive area of Khystym called the Forbidden Zone, but before leaving he gave talismans to Darkstar and Vanguard which he could secretly later use to control them. His students formed the team known as the Soviet Super-Soldiers.

When the Super-Soldiers were sent to the Forbidden Zone to investigate the Presence, they were reunited with their mentor, Professor Phobos. They learned that it was not the Presence who had been increasing the radioactivity of the Forbidden Zone, but Phobos himself, and they learned his true motives in setting up the school. The Super-Soldiers defeated Phobos by destroying his power-siphoning cybernetic armor and turned him in to the authorities to stand trial.

References

External links

• Professor Phobos at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe