The scientifically-minded Earthquake is a member of the Imperial Guard, a multi-ethnic group of super-powered alien beings who act as enforcers of the laws of the Shi'ar Empire. Earthquake was one of eight Imperial Guardsmen chosen to battle the team of superhuman Earthling mutants known as the X-Men over the fate of Phoenix, a primal force of the cosmos that had assumed the form of the X-Man Jean Grey.

Later, after the formerly-exiled Deathbird had usurped the Shi'ar throne, Earthquake was amongst those Imperial Guard members who clashed with the British team of costumed adventurers known as Excalibur and the team of interstellar freebooters known as the Starjammers over the fate of the then-bearer of the cosmic Phoenix Force, the alternate future daughter of the X-Man Jean Grey named Rachel Summers.

Much later, the intergalactic teleporter Lila Cheney transported the X-Men to the Shi'ar Empire at the behest of then-Empress Deathbird in time to see Lilandra regain her throne. Not all was as it seemed, however, as in reality a group of Warskrulls, using technology to allow them to duplicate superpowers, had captured and impersonated Xavier, using his telepathy to control Lilandra and the Imperial Guard, including Earthquake. After the ruse was discovered by the X-Men and all the Warskrull impostors were exposed, Lilandra settled matters with Deathbird, discovering her sister did not want the throne anymore. During her time as ruling Shi'ar Majestrix, Deathbird had come to despise the responsibilities of maintaining the needs of an Empire as large as the Shi'ar's.

During the war between the Shi'ar and Kree Empires, Earthquake was amongst a small contingent of the Imperial Guard that defended their Empress Lilandra against the Kree super-team known as Starforce.

When the Empress Lilandra learned of the many Earth heroes that had sacrificed their lives to stop the malevolent psionic being named Onslaught, she dispatched eight members of the Imperial Guard, including Earthquake, to protect Earth. While on Earth, the Guard uncovered a plot by a militant Kree faction to simulate a radical political activist group in revenge for Earth's involvement in the Kree/Shi'ar war. In reality, the group created a "nega-reactor", similar to the bomb that was used on the Kree. However, this plot was stopped by the Guard, but not before the reactor was used by the Kree's leader, the Supreme Intelligence, to re-incorporate itself after being presumably killed at the end of the war.

Subsequently, Earthquake was amongst those Imperial Guard members who defended Lilandra against an assassination attempt by the Kree Ronan the Accuser and his unwilling agents, the royal family of the Earth race known as the Inhumans.