Meet Prodigy, the Knowledge-Absorbing Mutant

Every young mutant enrolled at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is a prodigy, but perhaps none more so than David Alleyne, who took Prodigy as his codename. 
 
With the mutant power to telepathically absorb the knowledge and skills of anyone around him, Prodigy swiftly became one of the most promising young X-Men of his generation. However, the young mutant genius did not follow the school's usual path of joining an X-Men team.  
 
When he lost his powers in the wake of HOUSE OF M, Prodigy found his place both in the X-Men's world and beyond Xavier's school alongside other young heroes. While many of his peers are still students, Prodigy has already distinguished himself as a professor.

Now, let's take a closer look at Prodigy and what makes him one of the sharpest mutants in his generation. We'll break down his time with the X-Men, the Young Avengers, and beyond as he gets ready to face an old rival in NYX (2024) #4 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Enid Balam.

WHO IS PRODIGY? 

Always the bright student, David Alleyne discovered his mutant power to absorb the knowledge of those around him while at school in Chicago. However, his power had limitations: he could not retain the knowledge and skills he mimicked from others when he was no longer in their proximity.   
 
David decided to join the Xavier Institute at the invitation of Danielle Moonstar after the mutant hate group known as Purity revealed his mutant status in NEW MUTANTS (2003) #4 by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, and Keron Grant. As the New Mutants evolved into the New X-Men, Prodigy took on a leadership role despite some hesitation about his powers. 

PRODIGY AND THE NEW X-MEN 

While at the Xavier Institute, David took greater interest in getting into a prestigious college than becoming one of the X-Men. However, his heroic nature quickly overtook those academic ambitions. Under Moonstar’s direct mentorship, David found a roommate and close friend in the healer Elixir (Josh Foley), a rival in the arrogant telekinetic Hellion (Julian Keller), and an eventual romantic partner in the electricity-controlling Surge (Noriko Ashida).  
 
Alongside Elixir and Surge, David took the codename Prodigy and joined the New Mutants Training Squad in NEW X-MEN (2004) #1. Although Prodigy initially declined an offer to lead the group, he ended up co-leading the team with the high-flying Wind Dancer (Sofia Mantega).

When David realized his knowledge absorption was temporary, he asked Emma Frost to remove these mental blocks to make him more effective in battle. However, Frost refused and showed Prodigy a potential dark future where he used his full powers to take over most of the world and died fighting Surge. This vision resulted in Prodigy distancing himself from his teammates.

HOW PRODIGY LOST HIS POWERS

When the Scarlet Witch depowered most of the world's mutants, Prodigy was one of the millions of mutants who lost his powers. However, even without his mutant abilities, Prodigy stayed with his friends and joined them in the New X-Men.

William Stryker and his mutant-hating Purifiers seized the decimation of the world's mutant population as an opportunity to attack the Xavier Institute, targeting depowered mutants. During these events, David rescued the Stepford Cuckoos from the Purifiers and helped the team face Nimrod, an ultra-powerful mutant-killing Sentinel from the future.

To thank Prodigy for saving their lives, the Stepford Cuckoos decided to remove his old mental blocks, unlocking all the memories and skills he had previously absorbed. While he could not borrow new knowledge, this gave him access to the scientific expertise of Beast, the martial arts skills of Wolverine, the tactical genius of Cyclops, among others.

PRODIGY LEAVES THE X-MEN 

The demonic Belasco dragged Prodigy and the rest of the New X-Men into the hellish Limbo dimension as the team searched for Magik (Illyana Rasputin). While interrogating Prodigy over Magik's whereabouts, Belasco ripped out David's still-beating heart in NEW X-MEN (2004) #38. The other X-Men defeated Belasco, but Elixir's Omega level mutant healing abilities barely managed to save David's life.

Following his near-death experience, Prodigy began drifting away from the New X-Men. Surge even broke up with David to encourage him to leave the team.

As the New X-Men disbanded, Prodigy initially stayed with the mutants as they found a new home in San Francisco. He chose to spend his time in the lab instead of the field, helping geniuses like Beast and X-Club with various projects.  
 
When a SCHISM between Cyclops and Wolverine divided the mutants, Prodigy stayed on the fortified island of Utopia with Scott Summers' X-Men for a while. However, he eventually decided to step away from the X-Men altogether.

Turning a new page, Prodigy began working for Super Solutions, a business that specialized in offering the services of superhumans to customers.

YOUNG AVENGERS 

During his time at Super Solutions, Prodigy befriended Speed (Tommy Shepherd) and eventually joined the speedster's old team, the Young Avengers. The pair encountered a bizarre Multiversal entity that resembled Patriot, who seemingly abducted Speed in YOUNG AVENGERS (2013) #6 by Kieron Gillen and Kate Brown.  
 
David reached out to the Young Avengers to search fortheir missing mutual friend and eventually joined the team. As a Young Avenger, Prodigy helped the team fight a multidimensional parasite called Mother.

On one of his first missions with the team, Prodigy kissed Hulkling, which made the Kree-Skrull hybrid briefly question his relationship with Wiccan. After helping Hulking confirm his feelings for Wiccan, Prodigy reasoned that the Patriot entity was a future version of himself and embraced him, which restored Tommy.

As numerous secrets of the Marvel Universe were revealed during ORIGINAL SIN, Prodigy and a few other Young Avengers took on the Hood. When that Young Avengers team went their separate ways, Prodigy attended a multidimensional university called Sotomayor University. He grew closer to another Young Avenger, America Chavez, who also enrolled. 
 
Prodigy and Speed started dating in this period. The couple spent a lot of time with Hulkling while Wiccan adventured with STRIKEFORCE. They also looked after a confused Master Pandemonium, who had taken residence in the old Maximoff house in New Jersey.

PRODIGY AND X-FACTOR

When the mutants of the world came together to form the mutant nation Krakoa, Prodigy found a new home and mission as a member of X-Factor Investigations in X-FACTOR (2020) #1 by Leah Williams and David Baldeon. Prodigy joined this team of investigators alongside Polaris, Askani (Rachel Summers), Akihiro, Eye-Boy, and Northstar.

On Krakoa, mutants unlocked the power of resurrection by telepathically placing copies of mutant minds in cloned bodies. This iteration of X-Factor was created to investigate and confirm mutant deaths, a measure taken to determine when resurrection protocols were needed.

As part of X-Factor, Prodigy investigated the death of his old teammate Wind Dancer in the Mojoverse and helped rescue several mutants from the media-obsessed dimension. The group aslo freed Siryn (Theresa Cassidy) from possession by the malevolent Morrigan and investigated Magneto for the Scarlet Witch's murder. 
 
While the Krakoan resurrection protocols restored Prodigy’s original mutant powers, David felt troubled by the mysterious circumstances surrounding his own death and resurrection. Thanks to Speed, Prodigy uncovered that he had been murdered by a serial killing club promoter named Buck Thatcher, who he then set up to be arrested.  
 
Later, the mutants of Krakoa elected Prodigy to the new X-Men team at the Hellfire Gala. However, this event marked the beginning of Krakoa's fall when Orchis launched an apocalyptic attack against the mutant nation. The mutant-hating organization killed Prodigy during this decisive assault on Krakoa.

PRODIGY IN NYX

In the wake of Krakoa's fall, the X-Men and their mutant allies scattered. Now, a resurrected Prodigy works to keep Krakoa's legacy alive as a professor of mutant culture and history at Empire State University. Joined by Ms. Marvel, Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Anole, and Sophie Cuckoo, Prodigy and his teammates now protect young mutants in New York City starting in NYX (2024) #1.

Join Prodigy as he helps mutantkind rise from the ashes in NYX #4, available now. 

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