Meltdown (Animated)
| The name or term "Meltdown" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Meltdown (disambiguation). |
- Prometheus Black is a human from the Transformers Animated continuity family.
Prometheus Black is an entrepreneur and business rival of Isaac Sumdac. Whereas Sumdac focuses on robotics, Black's expertise is in the area of biotechnology. However, his constant loss of business to Sumdac Systems has left Black bitter toward machines, including the sentient kind. An accident in testing a new corrosive designed to melt Autobot armor left him with the ability to melt anything he touches...and left a few screws loose, as he became the supervillain Meltdown. In addition to being able to melt things by touching them, Meltdown can also fire jets of the acid that covers him from the palms of his hands. He has a set of protective suits that allow him to walk around and manipulate objects without melting them.
He employs shrimp/giant and altogether biochemical freak Colossus Rhodes.
He also looks good in a pimp suit, which is the best superpower ever.
Fiction
Animated cartoon
- Voice actor: Peter Stormare (English), Rainer Doering (German)
Prometheus Black's biotechnology business was highly successful because it played off the citizens of Detroit's fear of illegal immigrants robots stealing their jobs. Much of his money was made on makeovers of some of the city's less physically gifted individuals, but he finally staged a promotion aimed at getting himself a contract with the city's police force. Pitting the seemingly frail old man Colossus Rhodes against Bumblebee, he hoped to win the support of Captain Fanzone. Unfortunately, Rhodes's rampage in the parking lot convinced Fanzone to recommend canceling all of Black's contracts with the city, leaving Black financially ruined. His venture capital backers, represented by Porter C. Powell, pulled out.
Discovering a corrosive from Bumblebee's systems, Black attempted to make an acid which would melt Autobot body armor. However, a lab accident caused the acid to bond with Black. Now calling himself Meltdown, he decided to take his revenge on Sumdac. Meltdown broke into Sumdac Tower and nearly killed the "nerd". However, Bumblebee managed to save Sumdac, and Ratchet imprisoned Meltdown in a force field. Total Meltdown
Meltdown and Colossus discovered the Dinobots' island, and using his ability to corrode strong alloys, he forced the Dinobots into servitude. Additionally, Meltdown's encounter with the Autobots had left him thinking: if a robot could transform, why not a human being? Meltdown began concentrating on developing a "human transformer". However, his early experiments (one involving his lawyer) were failures, and he decided to try again, this time with a child. He sent Swoop to kidnap Sari, Isaac's daughter, but Prowl, Bulkhead and Captain Fanzone's interference not only put a stop to his plan, but freed the Dinobots... whose first decision was to try and rend Meltdown limb from limb. Prowl gave him a choice: Dinobots or prison. Surprise, surprise, he chose prison. Survival of the Fittest
 Spoiler warning: Plot details for Black Friday (episode) follow. of the next episode/issue in the series or 30 days after release, whichever is sooner |
Meltdown was visited in prison by Sari, who wanted him to help provide evidence she could use against his old business partner, Porter C. Powell. That discussion was fruitless, but a few minutes later, the Dinobots had a lot more success in breaking into the prison and kidnapping Meltdown at the behest of their new "friend", Blackarachnia. The shifty cyborg knew of Meltdown's genetic research and ordered him to cure her of her organic contamination. Meltdown played along, but when the opportunity arose, he captured Blackarachnia and attempted to make her his latest test subject in the creation of a totally organic Transformer. Optimus Prime managed to disrupt the experiment and rescue Blackarachnia. During the scuffle, Meltdown was hit by a massive energy discharge from his genetic modification machine, and his body seemingly degenerated into a completely liquid state, leaking out of his containment suit and draining through the floor. Meltdown survived this and later began to reconstitute himself. Black Friday
