Background
Dr. Alexander “Alex” J. Mercer originally spent a life of poverty in his youth, spending his first nine years in foster care (Prototype Prima Guide). At age 10, he was finally able to reunite with his abusive mother who was released from prison. With his father being dead after his birth, the only person he could call family was his sister Dana, who he acted as a parental figure of sorts for. Even though he spent a lot of time with her playing and watching scary movies, Alex grew up full of rage and spite, eventually leading him to grow up trusting no one. He knew he was a sociopath at this point, and it didn’t matter to him.
As an adult, Alex had earned a doctorate in genetics at Columbia University, later working at and climbing the ranks of Gentek, where he and his team were in charge of the Blacklight project. Initially thinking this strain he had worked on was a cure to all diseases, he was incredibly invested in his work. Though, that wasn’t the true nature of the strain, as this Blacklight Virus was actually a bioweapons project capable of mimicking genetic information from infected hosts. Blacklight had actually originated in Hope, Idaho for the purposes of targeting specific racial types, for war. Despite figuring out what exactly he was working on, Alex didn’t care because he was so hooked on its chimeric properties and making it stronger. Even so, Alex was seen as a liability by Blackwatch, an elite army that combats exotic threats no matter the cost (Prototype #2), even with his work being years ahead of others.
This all led Alex down a life-changing, or perhaps life-ending, path. The project was feared by Blackwatch to eventually be leaked after Congress had scrutinized Gentek. They would secretly assassinate employees and scientists who had worked on the Blacklight project, with Alex figuring this out thanks to the help of Dana and planning to expose it, who is an investigative reporter. Discovering this purge, the paranoid Alex attempted to flee. However, he was caught by Blackwatch as he escaped via train. Knowing he was likely to get caught, Alex had brought some insurance with him, a stolen vial of the Blacklight Virus that he then proceeded to smash on the ground, unleashing the biological apocalypse across New York that would cause a lockdown. Alex was shot down by Blackwatch.
However, as his corpse was retrieved, something unknown to everyone was occurring. The virus had infected him after his corpse had landed on it, copying his genetic information, mimicking his body cell by cell and feeding the virus with some of his still living matter. The virus would awaken much later.
This is Alex Mercer. At least, that was what the virus thought it was. With very few memories of the past, this new Alex Mercer began a rampage to find answers to his past, being seen as a terrorist by the general public and on Interpol’s most wanted, all with the goal of killing whoever was responsible for doing this to him and to prevent it from ever happening again, not knowing it was basically himself that did. Even after reuniting with Dana, stopping Elizabeth Greene from spreading her own virus across Manhattan, after he’d released her in pursuit of his past, and preventing a nuclear explosion from destroying the city, Alex still didn’t know where he belonged in the world when he discovered the truth of his creation. He was a hero to the city, but he was also the reason for the infection and deaths of many. He isn’t human, and that truth was something he wished he never learned, and so lost faith in humanity.
But he chose to believe there was some good in the world, going on a trip around the world in hopes of finding someone, anyone, to believe in (Prototype 2 #1). Unfortunately, he was only met with the ugly side of people (Prototype 2 #1), witnessing people’s facades of kindness and meeting their true selves that only cared about their own freedoms (Prototype 2 #1). He was starting to think people weren’t saving, even when others celebrated him for saving them, they were celebrating their own freedom and not also the freedom of those around him. Alex questioned if he even wanted to rejoin humanity (Prototype 2 #1). The straw that broke the camel’s back was his encounter with a family who treated him kindly while he was disguised (Prototype 2 #1).
The father Flint was a mill owner while his daughter Autumn had developed a crush on Alex’s disguised self (Prototype 2 #1). Alex had begun having feelings too, so when the family was threatened by someone who wanted their lands named Zurich (Prototype 2 #1), Alex killed the sent assassins and consumed Zurich to stop him (Prototype 2 #2). The memories obtained through Zurich’s consumption made Alex find out that Flint was a criminal who had been involved in many murders and extortions. Even when confronted and stating he had put that behind him, Alex killed him as well (Prototype 2 #2). All that was left was Autumn, who Alex asked to travel with him, but when he found her, he saw that she was stealing his money for herself (Prototype 2 #2). Autumn then shot Alex in the face, stating that her father taught her well, to only care about herself. He regenerated moments later, consuming Autumn. This was Alex’s breaking point. He thought he finally found the one place and the only people he cared about (Prototype 2 #1), but only had his trust betrayed, deciding once and for all that humanity was full of worthless vermin (Prototype 2 #2). He no longer had his anchor point, so he was going to do something about it to make a better world in his eyes.
Alex sought to create something better than humanity, destroying them and replacing it with something anew. He started a second Blacklight Virus outbreak to accomplish this, where he met James Heller, who sought revenge for the deaths of his wife and daughter during the outbreak. This man caught Alex’s eye for his skill and potential, so he infected Heller with his strain of the Blacklight Virus. Alex would try to manipulate Heller by stating it was not his fault and that he should join him and his Evolved, Alex’s replacement for humanity who have similar powers to him, to form an army that would wipe Gentek, Blackwatch, and the virus off the face of the planet. Alex would also recruit other people to be Evolved in important positions in Gentek and Blackwatch to spy on them, but they would become hostile toward each other again after Heller had started ruining Alex’s plans. Heller would have a final encounter with Alex, having learned that it was his fault for the outbreak and his wife’s death, fighting to save both his actually alive daughter and Dana, who claimed her real brother was dead, but Alex thought of himself and even Heller as beyond Life and Death.
The bloody battle would finally end in Alex’s defeat. He taunted Heller one last time by saying he finally was at the top of the food chain before being consumed, giving Heller enough power to cleanse Manhattan of the second infection Alex had started. Alex had accidentally created the man that would be his own undoing, but their battle still had some of Alex’s body parts left behind that were severed in their final struggle. Who knows if being consumed for something greater was part of Alex’s plan, or if he’ll regenerate in the future, but Alex Mercer is a true example of a hero who lived long enough to become the villain.
More Info
Full Name: Alexander J. Mercer
Age: 30 (DOB - July 16, 1979)
Weight: 190.0 lbs. | 86.2 kg
Codenamed by Blackwatch as “ZEUS”
Alpha Virales Metamorph
Lived long enough to become the villain
Note
This character sheet features both the first and second Prototype games, including the official canon comics and Prima guide, as the main sources of this analysis. Abilities from Elizabeth Greene, who Alex has consumed, and James Heller, who possesses the same strain of the Blacklight Virus as Alex, will be included.
Other Random Things
Explanation of New York after the original Prototype, and further explanation of the Yellow Zone (Prototype 2 #4), and later the Green Zone (Prototype 2 #4).
Heller’s family’s resilient DNA that resists even Alex’s consumption.
Biomass Physiology & Abilities
Alex’s body is made of the biomass of those consumed, granting him superhuman physical traits including the ability to jump extremely high, as well as greater reactions and a faster metabolic rate.
James Heller can make his body bulletproof from small firearms due to a mutation of the virus, which is the same strain as Alex’s.
Described as being different compared to other Infected but still having a similar biology.
Infected individuals like Alex emit more body heat than the average human.
While an insult in this context, it might be suggested that those Infected still need oxygen to breathe as opposed to already being considered dead.
Blacklight Virus / Disease Manipulation
The Blacklight Virus is an infectious agent that reproduces inside and changes the cells of other living things, which Alex is entirely made of after the virus had consumed the corpse of the original Dr. Mercer to reform his body on the genetic level.
When a victim is infected, the virus “plugs in” its genetic code into the victim’s cells and activates the “junk” DNA in them to cause biological changes, eventually causing the cells to become one with the virus and sentient as a mutated vicious being.
It acts by affecting the protein encoding regions of the promoter introns in each cell.
It enters, re-purposes and changes the cell while replicating previously dormant non-coding segments of the organism's genome to cause these biological changes.
Stated to be the single most complicated viral structure by Dr. Mercer himself.
Alex is capable of infecting others with the Blacklight Virus through touch, altering their entire body down on the molecular level in seconds.
These can take the form of Evolved beings with powers similar to Alex or the various types of the Infected, which fall under his control.
The standard Infected are considered already dead with their mutated look and animalistic behavior.
Though a victim of the virus can also straight up die while in the process of turning into an Infected.
Alex and/or Elizabeth Greene produce hundreds of different strains of the virus every day.
Greene’s Mother form is stated to have 14 variants of the virus
The deadliest variant from Elizabeth Greene has a 99.999% mortality rate, the cause being massive organ failure and cell saturation due to the biology of the organism failing and death can occur ranging from hours to days depending on the target.
He can also infect others with his own strain of the virus like he did with James Heller.
Gathering biological material generally will create new strains.
The virus can even be inserted into people to flood their bodies and turn them into bio-bombs that cause them to explode with tendrils spouting that impale or attach to any surrounding enemies or objects before smashing them all together.
Alex has also shown to be able to control the virus while it’s inside other people’s bodies, which he can do to kill them from the inside.
Like Greene, Alex should also be able to remove the virus with a simple touch.
The virus is also capable of moving around and spreading across every form of transmission, such as through the air or water, especially if made in contact with an open wound or entry point to the inside of the body (Prototype #6).
Alex even has the ability to create an explosion of viral vapor to infect large crowds, turning any living organisms in its radius into Infected.
Elizabeth Greene is able to spread the Redlight Virus through touching objects, with the Redlight Virus being the original one the Blacklight variant is based on, so they should share similarities.
This caused 81% of Manhattan Island’s population to become Infected within 12 days.
It does have limits in that it can’t cross giant bodies of water.
Adaptation / Reactive Evolution
The Blacklight Virus is capable of evolving and adapting to outside threats depending on the situation at the genetic level.
Elizabeth Greene, who Alex has consumed, had such a quick enough evolutionary process that her body instantly developed an immunity to a Parasite specifically designed to subdue her and Alex.
This Parasite was ejected and formed as the Supreme Hunter, and was feared to be stronger than Alex himself.
Another example of Alex pre-consumption of Greene developing an immunity over time to Bloodtox, a substance specifically designed to injure those infected with the Blacklight Virus.
Alex pre-consumption also had shown to resist a bit of a pathogen, also specifically designed to harm him, though it would have eventually finished him if he had not had help from Dr. Ragland.
It’s safe to say that if Alex is exposed to something harmful, the Blacklight Virus will form some sort of resistance to it all to survive (Prototype #5).
Evolved Form: A much stronger base form Alex had achieved at the end of Prototype 2 after consuming eight of his other Evolved allies.
Immortality
As a virus being, Alex is immortal and can’t die through natural means similarly to the unaging Elizabeth Greene.
His regeneration and parasitic nature all around make him difficult to kill.
Hive Mind
The Hive Mind is a telepathic link between all who are infected with the Redlight and Blacklight Viruses (Prototype #6).
It’s used for guiding the Infected in spreading the viruses, though obviously can be used to control them for other purposes, and allows one to listen in on what their minds are thinking.
Alex is considered a leader for the Infected, and later on shows that he commands the Infected in the Hive Mind in Prototype 2.
81% of Manhattan Island would become Infected and part of this Hive Mind in the original Prototype, while the virus also spread to even more victims in Brooklyn and Staten Island by the time of Prototype 2.
This also allows Alex to figure out the location of specific Infected.
Shapeshifting
He’s made various weapons and objects through this, such as:
Claws: A pair of giant sharp claws that can tear enemies apart with quick slashes and stabs, and can even pounce on them to get right up and personal. He is still capable of throwing punches and other non-claw strikes by curling up the claws, including grapples and throws. He can also dig them into the ground to cause giant Groundspikes to impale enemies from afar.
Hammerfists: Hammer-like hands that greatly increase Alex’s striking power, crushing any enemies that get in his way. They’re so heavy that Alex can launch himself through the air by swinging one fist alone, a technique called Hammertoss, which allows for him to make follow-up attacks on hit. He can also cause spikes to rise from the below.
Musclemass: Small gauntlets that double Alex’s physical strength, granting him better striking power and the ability to pick up and throw things as heavy as tanks. His throwing capabilities are improved all around.
Whipfist: An elongated barbed appendage with a spear-claw at the end that’s retractable, useful for long-reaching stabbing and sweeping strikes to attack enemies. He’s got good aim even while moving around. It can even be used to grab far away objects, and even enemies to slam or choke them, or simply to bring them toward him while they’re in his grip. Also is great for attacking through chained gates (Prototype 2 #2). Lastly, this weapon can also be used to latch onto and swing around on surfaces, or drag him toward whatever he’s latched to, great for follow-up attacks. An Evolved is even able to use two with both arms.
Blade: A double-ended large blade for all your slicing and stabbing needs, though can also be used to block attacks. He uses the dual blades effectively in combat, even while airborne or sprinting, even able to perform a spinning slash. He can also hook someone with the side of the blade to pick them up and throw them. Alex’s blade is more powerful than his claws at the cost of being slower to use. Other characters like Dr. Koenig can create a blade on each arm, something Alex should be able to replicate.
Shield: A biomass shield used to block attacks. It can regenerate after a short while if broken from taking too much damage. Alex can also smash through enemies and obstacles by running forward with it. Heller has also shown to be able to create two of them to protect both in front and behind him and are capable of deflecting projectiles, along with parrying physical attacks. Heller’s shields are even able to grow spikes to further damage enemies with shield bash attacks.
Armor: Surrounds Alex in a suit of armored biomass, protecting him from attacks greatly. His movement and air maneuverability are decreased while wearing it. Alex can still use his other weapons while armored up, as well as other techniques like Devastators. Landing on normal humans with the armor’s weight can paste them.
Tendrils: While more known to be used by James Heller, Alex has shown to be able to create vicious tendrils. These can stretch and strike from a distance by attaching parts of enemies’ bodies to each other or surroundings before tearing them apart, which can be pretty creatively brutal. Essentially, they’re tethers, which also allows them to drag multiple objects and/or other enemies to a target to completely crush them with the Black Hole technique. Enough of them can create entire webs in enclosed spaces, and all around are great for at least getting enemies stuck in place if they’re not torn apart, or for grappling attacks, including doing so to drag himself toward an enemy or surface. The tendrils can also be seen a lot of the time when Alex consumes a victim to drag and condense them into his body (Prototype 2 #1). They can grow and attack enemies from anywhere along his body (Prototype 2 #2), which can hold them in place so Alex can follow-up with other attacks. They can also grow within a victim’s body to kill them from the inside. Lastly, Heller’s tendrils after consuming Alex were long enough to cover all of Manhattan.
And of course he can use one weapon with one arm and another with the other.
He can also shapeshift his body slightly to improve his joints and streamline his body structure to improve running, jumping, and throwing, or multiple of them at the same time.
Another trick of his is to manipulate his body to seem neutralized even to technology.
Consume
Alex is capable of consuming others similarly to how the Blacklight Virus first consumed Dr. Mercer’s body, taking the organic matter of living beings and making them become one with him, condensing them within Alex’s body and making him stronger.
When he kills someone, it’s a choice if he wants to consume them or not (Prototype 2 #1).
He can also tell what their biology was like and make assumptions based on that.
He’s skilled at doing so stealthily and quickly via aiming for vital points in the victim, making others not notice the death and replacing them.
Consuming allows one to gain the memories and experience of the victim, even comprehending over 1,000 of them, which was the case initially for the Blacklight Virus consuming the original Alex Mercer, thinking it was actually him due to him being the first person consumed.
This has been described as him having access to everything any of his consumed victims have seen, done, or heard.
A web of memories can connect one victim to another based on their relationship, allowing Alex to more easily track down people of interest.
All around lets him attain knowledge of things he’d otherwise not know.
Note that Alex can’t gain the memories of people who are dead, which has been used in the past to prevent him from gaining certain knowledge by having the victim kill themself before he could consume them.
As mentioned, Alex can choose whether to consume someone or not when he himself kills them, so an outside influence killing a person before he can consume them most likely means he won’t obtain all their memories, if any at all, which also explains why Alex had almost no memories when the virus consumed Dr. Mercer, since he died from being gunned down.
Alex is able to copy the biological powers of others through this, or improve already existing ones, along with learning the skills of the victim.
Consuming also aids in Alex’s regeneration, or in game and possibly story terms, restores his health.
Typically it seems the victim has to be weakened before the consuming process can begin, although Alex has shown that he can grab and go with one to consume them quickly.
It’s been shown that enemies can resist being consumed even when weakened, needing to be weakened even further to get it off.
Catching someone off guard or quickly overpowering them to consume them can also work.
James Heller can gain mass just from using physical strikes on enemies due to a mutation of the virus, which is the same strain as Alex’s.
Critical Mass: A state Alex enters after consuming enough biomass. This enhances his strength while increasing his regeneration capabilities, and allows him to perform up to three Devastator attacks. Afterward, he needs to consume again to replenish himself and be able to enter this mode again, though can also leave the mode if he takes too much damage and loses biomass.
Tendril Barrage Devastator: Causes dozens of biomass tendrils to strike all around Alex and impale any enemies in a wide area. He can also perform this in the air. James Heller’s similar Devastator has tendrils that stick to surfaces that trap and pull apart enemies. After Heller consumed Alex, his tendrils were long enough to consume all of the infected in Manhattan.
Groundspike Graveyard Devastator: Slams into the ground to erupt multiple large biomass spikes all around Alex that pierce victims from below (Prototype #2). If he’s in the air, he’ll slam into the ground with a Groundshatter to cause the spikes to erupt. He can also use a version where the spikes head forward in a line to reach further out in a specific direction.
Critical Pain Devastator: Unleashes a mass of hardened tendons that crush enemies with immense power and force that it even creates a gust of wind. This is Alex’s strongest Devastator when against a single opponent, and can even be used in the air.
Flyer Pack: Not so much a Devastator, but Alex has shown that he can summon and control a pack of Flyers, birds infected with and mutated by the Blacklight Virus. They attack with physical strikes in swarms. It’s also likely Alex can summon other types of Infected, due to Heller being able to summon Brawlers and Juggernauts.
Alex has also sent out and controlled a Goliath, but it’s unknown if he summoned it like other characters have summoned Infected.
Adrenaline Surge
When Alex’s biomass reserves are almost all gone, he enters a mode where he becomes invulnerable for a few seconds that allows him time to perform one Devastator.
Essentially, this gives him a chance to turn the tables by being invulnerable to attacks that are too much for him for a small bit before countering back with one of his strongest techniques.
If a Devastator isn’t performed, the invulnerability only lasts a certain amount of time.
Disguise
Along with his ability to attain the memories of those consumed (Prototype #5), Alex is also capable of shapeshifting his body to disguise himself as anyone he’s consumed and wear their clothes they had on when they were consumed.
As with consuming, he’s skilled at stealthily taking the identity of a victim swiftly without anyone noticing.
These disguises look and are exactly like the victim to the point where hand scanners accept them.
He can of course create his weapons while under his disguise (Prototype 2 #2).
He can even just change only the clothes if he wants to look stylish.
This immitates the victim’s voice too, which has allowed Alex to call in artillery strikes while disguised as someone from the military, or trick others by accusing someone else as being a threat in some way.
This is described as an ability that perfectly copies the victim, though things that can detect the virus can ruin attempts at deception, which even includes other hosts of the Blacklight virus.
Regeneration
The Blacklight Virus is able to have an active living form after making contact with any organic lifeform, also allowing himself to heal in a battle by actively consuming victims.
This all around restores Alex’s health over time when not taking damage.
So long as he can make contact with organic life, even with only something as small as a bird to consume, he can come back after some time even when blasted into a paste from nuclear explosions.
It’s probably more accurate to say that contact with lifeforms speeds up the regenerative process as opposed to allowing it to happen at all, as you can see here when looking closely that the virus is moving even before making contact with a lifeform.
More examples of regenerating from injuries include:
Sensory Powers
Thermal Vision: Alex can activate a thermal vision to see heat signatures (Prototype 2 #2), which is very useful for hidden opponents or when battling in foggy or debris filled environments.
Infected Vision: A vision that allows Alex to see the world how the Infected see it and tune into the Hive Mind, allowing him to more easily spot those who are Infected even if they don’t even realize they are.
Hunting: This viral sonar allows James Heller to find a target and guide himself toward it, even from across an entire city. This is done by sending out a Hunting Pulse that ricochets off the intended target by sending off a Return Pulse, kind of like echolocation. He can also see the target’s nervous system through this, and even detect if that person’s being watched by someone else for stealth kill tactics. Since this was Heller literally right after receiving the same strain of the virus from Alex, Alex should be capable of this as well.
Density Manipulation
Alex is capable of consuming hundreds of victims and containing them within his body despite it maintaining the same size, suggesting that he’s able to control the density of his biomass to where he can unleash it for his Devastators and other techniques.
He’s even stated to have consumed 1,000 people, probably multiple thousands (Prototype 2 #1).
Matter Manipulation
Alex technically has a small form of matter manipulation for when he consumes, since the clothes and other objects on a victim are transformed into biomass, which he can also form for himself whenever he disguises as that victim.
Martial Arts / Physical Techniques
Alex should possess the fighting skills of every person he has consumed, like the trained soldiers of Blackwatch.
All around has many quick ways to kill someone if they’re in his grasp.
His named physical attacking techniques include:
Cannonball: Alex tucks into a ball and propels himselfs forward to track onto and crash into enemies. He can even surround himself with spikes beforehand to make it pack a bigger punch. The attack also lets him rise into the air incredibly quickly.
Bulletdive Drop: While in the air, Alex can drop down at high speeds to slam into the ground with enough force to destroy military vehicles and launch cars. Doing this with the Hammerfists will result in an even more destructive attack.
Groundshatter: Alex pounds the ground to create a shockwave. If performed in the air, he can charge it up to form an even stronger shockwave when he lands. James Heller’s version of the attack also allows him to form a wide spread of biomass spikes from below to pierce enemies.
Knuckle Shockwave: Alex pounds his fists together to create a shockwave that blasts enemies away. Compared to the Groundshatter, this has a larger radius, but is weaker. He can also perform this in the air.
Flying Kick: Alex can eject biomass to launch himself quickly forward in various directions with a flying kick attack. It has somewhat homing capabilities.
Flipkick Launcher: Alex performs a flipkick with enough force that the enemy turns into a projectile that can hurt other enemies in the way.
Flying Elbow Drop: Alex drops from above with a powerful elbow drop that’s even stronger with Hammerfists being active.
Breakdown Smash: A powerful punch that Alex can charge up a long time for immense damage.
Uppercut Launcher: Alex performs an uppercut with enough force to shatter chins and launch enemies into the air. He can then bash them with a follow-up Air Combo to shatter their bones.
Air Stomp: A quick drop to the ground that lets Alex create a powerful shockwave that can clear the way of enemies.
Spike Driver: Alex cups his hands together before slamming them down to spike airborne enemies back to the ground with great force.
Palm Slam: Alex pushes his palms forward with enough force to form a small but focused blast of air.
Curb Stomp: Alex makes the enemy feel his boot in their face.
Body Surf: Lets Alex surf on top of an enemy’s body for further movement.
Snapkick Launcher: Alex performs a kick that launches enemies into the air for follow-up attacks.
Grapple Slam: Alex grabs a victim and whiplashes them into the ground for a shockwave knockout.
Powerbomb: Alex jumps with a grappled enemy and slams them full force into the ground below while putting his whole body into it.
Hunter Dirtnap: Similar to Grapple Slam, but for slamming much larger enemies like Hunters.
Parkour
Alex is incredibly skilled at parkour that is further boosted by his superhuman physicality (Prototype #2 / #5), meaning he’s capable of:
Wall Crawling: Alex is capable of crawling up walls.
Wall Running: Alex is able to run across and up walls easily, even while holding heavy objects like cars.
Wall Jump Latch: Lets Alex chain quick wall jumps together for enhanced movement.
Diveroll: Not so much parkour, but rolling to the side is a major way for Alex to avoid oncoming attacks and even lets him hit and run more easily.
Alex can generally parkour across terrain to maneuver around pretty much anywhere.
Air Maneuverability
Airdash: A technique that lets Alex dash in any direction briefly in the air, being able to do so twice within one jump. He can even do it to alter his momentum and go in a different direction.
Glide: Allows Alex to slow his descent as he’s falling to the ground, even halting his downward momentum if he’s falling quickly.
How this is done is unknown, though it might be achieved by losing biomass to lessen Alex’s weight.
When combined with the Airdash, Alex can more easily traverse the air.
Air Recovery: Allows Alex to recover back on his feet after being launched by an attack or explosion.
Mental Uploading
Realistically, he should also be able to upload the memories of those he’s consumed and those of the Hive Mind.
Shockwave Generation
Besides some of his physical techniques creating shockwaves, Elizabeth Greene was capable of creating a massive shockwave of infectious energy throughout a city block that Alex should be capable of replicating.
Energy Projection
Elizabeth Greene was able to form and fire off floating energy orbs that explode upon impact with their target, which Alex should theoretically be able to do as well since he consumed her.
Resistances
Mind Manipulation: Resisted having Elizabeth Greene upload visions into his head, even avoiding her manipulation of the Hive Mind.
Radiation / Extreme Heat / Fire: Survived part of a nuclear explosion and had no issues with the radiation and heat from it. Heller was also able to shake off a blast of fire meant to kill him, which affected him much less the second time he was exposed to it.
Disease Manipulation: Was able to slowly adapt to the Parasite’s disease that nullified many of his abilities to where he still kept his main physical prowess. Alex has also consumed Elizabeth Green, who also resisted the Parasite’s effects and thus should gain her resistance.
Biological Manipulation: Alex has complete control over his own biomass body, and he’s also been able to resist biological chemicals made to specifically harm the Blacklight Virus.
Electricity: While Alex had no known resistance to electricity in the original Prototype, as well as basic enemies dying to it before (Prototype #6), an enemy called a Hydra in Prototype 2 was able to resist sedation after being exposed to enough electricity. Because Alex is superior to the Hydra, since even Heller defeats it, it’s likely he also has a resistance to electricity, or at the very least could gain one very quickly if ever exposed to it again. The Hydra was also created from the Blacklight Virus, and Alex is responsible for the outbreak in Prototype 2.
Soul Manipulation: As a virus that uses the biomass of several dead bodies, including the original body of Dr. Mercer, Alex technically doesn’t possess a soul.
Ailments: Greene’s blood can cure every ailment known to man, including being able to infect the Parasite specifically made to destroy the virus. Alex’s blood has also tainted a cure for the virus called Whitelight, which instead turned those exposed to Whitelight into Infected/Evolved or killed them, letting him fully control the cure down to the molecular level.
Even More: The virus’s defensive function is that it adapts to threats and forms a resistance or immunity toward that threat, so it’s incredibly likely Alex can resist more things if exposed to them.
Some people assume Alex might have some sort of cold resistance due to this comic panel (Prototype 2 #1), but he’s clearly just working up a sweat chopping wood, so it’s likely nothing, but he should still theoretically be capable of adapting to the cold if exposed to it greatly to the point that it threatens the virus.
Equipment
Alex has a knack for finding military equipment in the bases he enters or from soldiers he’s killed, being able to use them fairly easily thanks to consuming military personnel who are trained in them and thus gained their knowledge.
Assault Rifle
Machine Gun
Grenade Launcher
Missile Launcher
A standard missile launcher that can fire missiles for explosive damage against enemies, which also home in on them.
Military Uniform
Alex wears a military uniform when disguised as one, which actually does grant him better defenses that can stop bullet fire from hurting him.
Feats
Strength & Attack Potency
Can lift cars, and even throw them far to destroy helicopters
Can crater the ground slightly after landing with a Bulletdive Drop
Grabbed a helicopter out of the air with his Whipfist and threw it as a projectile
His Groundspike Graveyard Devastator can cause this much damage (Prototype #2)
Speed
Has dodged gunfire on numerous occasions (Prototype #5)
Moved from a building to a helicopter so quickly that the person firing at him didn’t react before being killed (Prototype 2 #2)
Dodged a tank shot , and can react to it even better in an attempt to block it
His brain is able to process the decades worth of memories of those he’s consumed in seconds
This would also include Peter Randall, who was born in 1939 and would be 69 years old by the time he was consumed in 2008
While not from consuming, Alex regaining memories has been shown from outside his perspective, where it seems to take about the same amount of time
Durability
Can survive a tank’s explosion upon it being destroyed while inside it
Tanked this massive explosion caused by ruptured fuel tanks that destroyed an entire military base
The Blacklight Virus survived part of this nuclear explosion, which allowed Alex to regenerate after making contact with a living organism
Scaling
Peter Randall: A normal human that Alex has consumed.
Outran a Shelby Mustang’s explosion (Prototype #1)
Elizabeth Greene: Greene is a major boss that Alex has defeated, even consuming her. This of course means Alex should be capable of feats she has performed.
Created a shockwave throughout a city block that launched multiple enemies and cars throughout the air
Caused large scale seismic activity across Time Square while she was subsurface
Supreme Hunter: This is the final boss of the first Prototype game, who Alex defeats in a battle to the death while having to beat it quickly.
Stated that it would be able to withstand a nuclear bomb capable of destroying Manhattan after consuming Alex, or at least be able to regenerate from it easily, in which case the biomass would still have survived it
This is the bomb’s detonation in a bad scenario cutscene, as well as the bomb’s explosion radius shown here, and as an extra note just in case, the bomb in the ending was taken 10 to 15 miles off shore from Manhattan
While the atomic bomb is given an estimation for its yield at five times the Little Boy bomb, the showing of the bomb’s blast radius, from the ones using it and not outside people estimating it, would prove this to be false.
In Prototype 2, this is referred to as the “New York detonation” and might mean it would have destroyed more than just Manhattan
Also, while Alex didn’t consume the Supreme Hunter, it’s still incredibly likely by the end of Prototype 2 that he is at a similar level of durability or regeneration, due to consuming much more between the two games, including eight of his Evolved allies that turned him into his own Evolved form for the final battle
James Heller: Despite being defeated by him, Alex has consumed more than Heller and still put up a fight against him.
Ripped off the top of a tank before proceeding to smash it into the rest of it
Launched a helicopter dozens of feet into the air with one punch
Can launch people and tanks dozens of feat into the air with a Bulletdive Drop
His tendrils are capable of pulling and launching multiple trucks
A bio-bomb can cause this massive explosion if enough objects are pulled to its center
After absorbing Alex himself, created a large mass of tendrils that quickly traveled throughout Manhattan to consume all that were infected by the Blacklight Virus
A shockwave was also created during this
Training & Experience
Has the memories and experience of every person he’s consumed, and has used this to gain information and learn skills he’d otherwise not know
One of the people he’s consumed has experience being in three wars
Peter Randall is 69-years-old who was lietenant general of Blackwatch for 40 years when he was consumed, and even served in Vietnam (Prototype #1) and the Hope, Idaho incident (Prototype #1) before then
Dr. Mercer has always been seen as incredibly smart (Prototype #2), especially when it comes to genetics and biological engineering
Commonly uses his shapeshifting abilities to trick others into thinking he is someone else, including voice related trickery
Learned how to hijack and drive armored vehicles after consuming, even being able to do so with helicopters later on
Tricked Dr. McMullen into exposing himself by sabotaging infection detectors, and later tricked him again by pretending to still be affected by Bloodtox so that Blackwatch would bring him to him
Had caused 81% of Manhattan Island’s population to become Infected in the span of 12 days, causing the deaths of over a million people between both games due to causing a second outbreak that expanded even further than Manhattan
Freed Western Africa from its atrocity causing warlord (Prototype 2 #1)
Defeated Robert Cross, Elizabeth Greene, Peter Randall, Supreme Hunter
Weaknesses
If he is too low on biomass, he will be incapable of using Devastators outside of Adrenaline Surge or maintaining his Evolved form, ultimately not being able to regenerate fast enough in a fight for it to be useful and possibly leave him open to a permanent end.
Alex needs biomass in his body for his regeneration to occur quickly, or else it’ll take a lot longer, like how the Supreme Hunter could regenerate from a puddle, but was only able to show up again at the very end of Prototype since it didn’t have anything to consume.
Even Alex coming back after the nuclear explosion quickly was thanks to a bird conveniently landing in his biomass remains.
Alex is described as stubborn, for what it is.
Lived long enough to see himself become the villain.
