Ord hails from the Breakworld, a planet home to a warrior culture whose technology allows them to see partial versions of the future. These “timeshadows” foretold that their planet would be destroyed by a mutant from Earth, most likely a member of the heroic X-Men team. For decades, Ord fought and won in many arena-style battles for the honor of being chosen to travel to Earth with a declaration of war. However, the spy agency S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient Worlds Observation and Response Department), a sub-division of S.H.I.E.L.D. that handles extraterrestrial matters, was able to settle diplomatically with him by offering him a chance to eradicate the mutant gene, while they would seek to identify the mutant that would be responsible for the Breakworld’s destruction.

In order to fulfill his end of the bargain, Ord secretly stole the body of Colossus, a former member of the X-Men, before it was due to be cremated. Using his advanced alien technology, Ord had Colossus restored to life and kept him prisoner for years while experimenting on him. Ultimately, Ord discovered the cure to the Legacy Virus still in Colossus’ system and presented his findings to Benetech geneticist Doctor Kavita Rao, who was able to modify it into creating a “cure” for the “mutant condition.” As Rao appeared in front of the world media to announce the cure, Ord hoped to flush out the X-Men and staged a hostage situation at a charity gala. True to form, the X-Men arrived to save the hostages and confronted Ord. Making short work of the heroes, Ord was driven off by the timely arrival of the alien dragon Lockheed, ally of the X-Man Shadowcat, who engulfed Ord’s head in flame, causing him to flee.

Seeking revenge, Ord stole into the Xavier Institute to find that the X-Men had left to investigate Benetech. Wanting to leave the X-Men a message, Ord injected the young student Wing with the “cure”, removing the boy’s powers and instructing him to tell the X-Men that the mutant abomination would never be a threat to the Breakworld. Ord then returned to Benetech and confronted the X-Men; however, another timely arrival –Colossus, who had been found and freed by Shadowcat – saw him defeated once more. Head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury and S.W.O.R.D.’s Special Agent Abigail Brand arrived to defuse the situation, but while explanations were being made, mutants desperate to obtain the cure stormed the facility, allowing Ord to escape in the confusion. The X-Men were able to prevent him from leaving Earth in his spacecraft, and he was taken into custody by S.W.O.R.D.