When Obadiah Stane took over Stark International a research scientist quit and took his latest discovery with him. The scientist walked into traffic and a nearby man picked up his briefcase which held his new discovery. Months later after he had figured out how to work the force-field generator, calling himself the Blank, he set out to begin a crime spree. During his first bank robbery he ran into Wonder Man who tried to stop him, but due to the force-field, the Blank was able to slip away. His next robbery would catch the attention of the newly formed West Coast Avengers. Every corner he turned to try and escape led him in a confrontation with another member of the West Coast Avengers. In order to escape, the Blank ran into gas pumps and ignited them, causing the entire gas station to go up into flames. After the Black reached his apartment he began to make plans to leave the city. While he recharged his harness one more time, an energy form erupted from the generator and took human form. Thinking he was another Avenger he began to surrender only to find out that the man wasn’t an Avenger, but a foe of the Avengers known as Graviton. Graviton made an offer to the Blank to help him unite all of the criminal mobs under his leadership and he agreed. However during a confrontation with the West Coast Avengers, Graviton hurled the Blank, along with Tigra and the Shroud, into the pacific ocean. The Blank’s whereabouts are unknown and it is also unknown if he even survived his landing in the ocean.