Proteus in popular culture

• In the 1980s adventure television series Airwolf, a U.S. Senator tells Dr. Charles Henry Moffett, "I'd like to shake your hand." Moffett replies, "You already have, Senator. On Project Proteus. "
• In Anne Ursu's book The Siren Song, the second book in The Cronus Chronicles, the Greek Proteus, an ally of Poseidon, disguises as protagonist Charlotte's cousin Zee to keep the fact from her that he has kidnapped Zee himself. He is also the father of Charlotte's crush, Jason Hart, a mortal who does not appreciate his father's shapeshifting abilities. Once Charlotte finds this fact, she abandons Jason.
• The term "Proteus" and "Vombis" also were used in a James Blish short story, "A Hero's Life" about a race of alien beings who could change shape at will, but were not as malevolent as the Thing written about by John W. Campbell.
• In the film Fantastic Voyage, Proteus is the apt name for the experimental submarine which is shrunk to sub-cellular size, and injected into a dying scientist to save his life.
• In the animated TV series The Real Ghostbusters, Proteus is a shape-shifting, lightning-throwing, primal god who captures the Ghostbusters in the episode titled "Janine Melnitz: Ghostbuster."
• In the animated TV series Gargoyles, Proteus is the shapeshifting menace and archenemy of the city of New Olympus in the episode titled "The New Olympians."
• Kurt Vonnegut's novel Player Piano revolves around the actions of Paul Proteus, a manager of a machine works in New York. Paul's life mirrors Proteus in that he must change his "shape" (character) to find his place in a machine-controlled society with which he is out of sympathy.
• In the film Lost in Space, "Proteus" is the name of the space ship that is sent to look for the Robinson Family in an alternate time. The ship is subsequently destroyed.
• In another film, Demon Seed, the evil supercomputer is named "Proteus IV"
• In Craig Thomas' novel Sea Leopard, the British submarine is named HMS Proteus.
• In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Protean Charm is a complex spell used by Hermione Granger to enchant coins so that changing the serial number on one affected the others as well. She used it to communicate the times of secret meetings. It was also used by Voldemort to communicate with his Death Eaters.
• In the Marvel Comics series X-Men, Proteus is the villain identity of reality-changing mutant Kevin MacTaggert, son of Moira MacTaggert on Muir Isle Mutant Research Facility.
• In the DC Comics pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Legion of Super-Heroes stories, the Proteans are a race of telepathic shapeshifters. Shapeshifting Legionnaire Chameleon Boy kept a Protean as a pet, whom he dubbed "Proty". After Proty sacrificed itself to save Saturn Girl and resurrect Lightning Lad, Chameleon Boy obtained a new Protean pet, "Proty II". Later, Proty II became a member of the Legion of Super-Pets.
• In Rick Wakeman's song "The Battle/The Journey" Proteus is described as a giant prehistoric man who herds mastodons in the center of the Earth (itself an image from Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth)
• In Dean Koontz's Phantoms the character is referred to as being like Proteus by one of his victims.
• In Charles Sheffield's science fiction novels titled Proteus in the Underworld and Proteus Combined, Proteus refers to the process of using biofeedback equipment to change the shape of the characters' bodies.
• In James P. Hogan's novel The Proteus Operation, the term Proteus seems to relate to the ability to change time and reality, it that it is "flexible". He also uses it to refer to quantum mechanics, wherein it seems as if something changes to avoid being caught (i.e.: the act of measuring something changes it).
• In the Atraxa trilogy by Desmond Ravenstone, the Atraxa Defense Services use "proteon suits" which incorporate nanotechnology to sense the approach of a bullet or other high-speed projectile and change density so as to protect the wearer.
• In the Disney animated film Treasure Planet, the alien Morph, a pink blob who takes the form of everything he sees (much like a parrot repeats what it hears), is referenced to come from the fictional planet Proteus 1, a reference to his shapeshifting abilities.
• In Rick Riordan's The Titan's Curse, Percy Jackson captures a Proteus-like man, Nereus, to ask where the monster that, when its entrails are burned, will give you the power to destroy Mount Olympus.
• In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, Proteus is the middle name of the con artist Rinehart.
• In the children's TV series Thomas and Friends, Proteus is the name of the very first steam engine to have been built on The Isle of Sodor.
• In John C. Wright's Chronicles of Chaos, Proteus is the father of Quentin Nemo.[1]
• In Rudyard Kipling's "The Bees and the Flies", the poem recounts how a hero won a secret from Proteus.[2]
• In the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, Proteus is the name chosen by Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway)'s creation (Alex Price), when flipping through a book of Shakespeare's plays (presumably, The Two Gentlemen of Verona). The name has a double meaning - both to denote his closeness to Victor and using the name's nautical connotations as a reference to Proteus' previous life as a fisherman.
• "Proteus: The City" is the title of Book Four of Thomas Wolfe's autobiographical novel Of Time and the River.[3]
• "Protean Challenge", an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, features Proteus.
• The alien character of Prot in the book trilogy by Gene Brewer and played by Kevin Spacey in the movie K-PAX, like Proteus was said to embody, was a modernized "shape shifter" and magical type of advanced mystical ET who "walked in" to humanoid bodies, and shared wisdom and insights into the human condition.
• The crew of the Jupiter 2 in the 1998 film Lost in Space encounter and board a derelict space station named the Proteus.
• Company name in Eve_of_Destruction_(miniseries)[4]

The German–American scientist Carl August Rudolph Steinmetz, who had several physical disabilities, changed his name to Charles Proteus Steinmetz. This name reflected his identification with a figure that could easily alter its outward form.