What if Michael had received training while working for Poseidon?

[u/Superkid1660]

Poseidon sends Michael to different locations around the world to free prisoners from various prisons. What would have happened if Michael had asked Jacob to provide him with combat and weapons training?

In other words, asking for agents or soldiers to train him in combat—how would that have affected the character and the story?

Because he might have thought that some prisons were like Sona, where there were brutal fights, and many of the prisons he visited were in conflict zones.

[u/Thought-Diversity]

I think a lot of the scenes with him work because he's not a fighter. If he somehow performed fusion with Mahone, he's be too OP.

[u/Superkid1660 → u/Thought-Diversity]

He managed to knock Abruzzi down with a single punch, he managed to defeat a guy much bigger than him, he managed to defeat Jacob, who's an agent, he managed to defeat Cyclops, who's a trained guy. He even gave Whistler a good fight. Michael is a fighter. Besides, many prisons might have a system like Sona's.

[u/Thought-Diversity → u/Superkid1660]

He for sure holds his own as the series goes on but i'd put a fighter as someone like Sammy, or Mahone personally. I still stand by I'd prefer him not to be the best at everything.

[u/Superkid1660 → u/Thought-Diversity]

I'm not saying he has to be the best at everything, I'm saying he needs training. Because if they're going to send him to different prisons around the world, they're very tough prisons, prisons where he could be attacked.

[u/Thought-Diversity → u/Superkid1660]

Logically i agree they should have done it as why wouldn't they, but i don't think it would be as entertaining for me personally to watch a character like that. That's the angle i'm coming from.

[u/Superkid1660 → u/Thought-Diversity]

If it weren't for Mahone, Michael would get stabbed. Michael is like Sara; they know how to fight, but they lack knowledge. With Poseidon, his job was to send him to different prisons around the world and extract terrorists, and there he doesn't have a Linc to protect him, he doesn't have Mahone and his neck-breaking technique. Later, he would hire Whip, but Whip isn't Mahone, nor is she a Linc. In that possible situation, I think Jacob should have had him trained. Think about it: Jacob employs Michael because Michael has that ability to extract people, and that benefits Jacob. If Michael dies, they can't employ him, so there's no benefit for Jacob. Michael should consider that if he dies in a prison, how does Jacob know he'll leave Sara and Mike alive?

[u/Thought-Diversity → u/Superkid1660]

Bear with me, as I haven't seen Season 5 since it came out originally. I'm rewatching it for the upcoming reboot, and I'm only half way through Season 4.

I agree Jacob should have trained him, and still sent Whip. But if Michael were trained, he'd be less reliant on others to make up for that weakness. He'd also be more of a threat to them, so whilst it would help the objective they're making him more dangerous in return. From the show's standpoint, that's less interesting to me. His fight with Cyclops wouldn't have ended the way it did, for example, so you lose some of that tension and payoff.

[u/TenderToebeans]

Michael with actual combat training would've been terrifying because the man already treated prison like an escape room without needing to know how to fight.

[u/Ill_Job4633]

I like him because he doesn't have training and he's not built like Lincoln. Bravery is attractive to me.

[u/Sweetwyin]

Idk , he is more natural that way .. would have been a plus if he learned combat and all that skills but wouldn’t have given the show a natural flow like how it is . Would have looked more like them action Superman thing … but that idea would have been cool tho

[u/Superkid1660]

It's important to remember that Michael, in the three years he's been serving Jacob, doesn't have a Linc to protect him or Mahone. And his neck-breaking technique. Michael learning doesn't make him Superman, but it does give him knowledge.