Where in the text does it suggest that unlike other beasts of prophecy, that particular one refers to an individual? If God wants us to understand prophecy, which He does, wouldn't He be consistent in His symbolism? Now while I would agree that at the head of all those political systems there is one king/president/prime minister of Pope who in the chief spokesman, he is but the representative of a system of power and governance that the beast is the symbol of. Proof of this lies in the long enduring life spans of the entities involved, and the changing of leadership that oversaw the prophetic events of history.This is false. Beasts are often not individuals but they can be like the second beast of Revelation 13, the false prophet who is an individual yet is called a beast.
You guys need to cut loose from your futurist mindsets and recognize that futurism and preterism was a creation of the beast itself in order to divert the accusing fingers of the reformers to the distant future or the distant past... Anywhere but to itself. Consider that there are other ways to look at prophecy which makes far greater sense, and is evidentially based on history rather than wishful thinking regarding some future individual which cannot possibly fulfill all the criteria demanded of Antichrist by the prophecies themselves.