Man-Thing

Allegedly, before Earth was formed, a creator being from before time spawned the Fallen Stars, each an embodiment of one of its thoughts. On Earth, the creator made a woman, Cleito, representing the nature of reality. Cleito spawned Adam K'ad-Mon, the first Man of Lineage, and their birth site became the Nexus of Reality, a focal point uniting all dimensions. Descendants of K'ad-Mon served as Nexus guardians, but over time the Men of Lineage became less concerned with this mission, until eventually one man abandoned it completely: Ted Sallis.

A biochemistry professor at Empire State University, the sheltered Sallis had no knowledge of his destiny and preferred books to people. The United States Army recruited him into "Project Sulfur," which sought a means to survive bio-chemical warfare. Sallis developed "Serum SO-2," which granted immunity to all known toxic biochemicals, but its mutagenic effects would have transformed people into monsters. Ted's friend, the free-spirited girl Sainte-Cloud, convinced him to denounce the Project, shutting it down before any serum was produced. Ted proposed to Sainte-Cloud, but she refused due to their many differences. Returning to teaching, Sallis fell in love with one of his students, Ellen Brandt, a naive and impassioned girl of nineteen; the two eloped following a secret affair.

After their honeymoon, they visited the fortune teller Madame Swabada, who foretold a catastrophic change. Sallis was then reassigned to "Project Gladiator," a S.H.I.E.L.D. research program based in the Florida Everglades and aimed at re-creating the lost "Super-Soldier" serum that had created Captain America. Working separately from his colleagues, including Drs. Wilma Calvin and Barbara Morse (later Mockingbird), Sallis modified his SO-2 formula as the basis for a new Super-Soldier serum. The subversive organization A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) wanted the serum and conspired with a bitter Ellen, whom Ted had neglected since their honeymoon. Upon completing his new serum, Ted committed its formula to memory and burnt his records. When Ellen led Ted into an A.I.M. ambush, he fled and injected the only existing sample of the serum into himself just before his car crashed into the swamp. He should have died, but the magical energies of the swamp (containing the Nexus of Reality) combined with the serum to transform him into the hideous creature later known as the Man-Thing. His intelligence rapidly fading, he slew the A.I.M. agents and horribly burned half of Ellen's face.

Unknown to Sallis, Ellen had been pregnant. Recovered by Project Gladiator agents, she underwent surgery that repaired her face, but it proved temporary. She gave her son up for adoption and began punishing herself for her crimes by surrendering to alcohol, drugs, and carnal indulgence. Maddened by the face she saw in the mirror, Ellen ended up in Massachusetts' Rosewell Mental Hospital, eventually restored to sanity by the enigmatic mystic Sorrow.