The Wanderer was a man from the 12th Century named Prester John, a one-time servant of King Richard who searched the world learning of the mysterious of mankind in order to unravel them. After many amazing sites he eventually found the hidden city of Avalon where an advanced civilization of man created advanced technologies and disappeared shortly afterwards - victims of their own power. There, the Wanderer found a powerful artifact called the Evil Eye and then, thanks to their technologies, he was sealed up within the Chair of Survival to be preserved forever - not dead, not alive.

He sat affixed in the chair for over seven hundred years until the Human Torch and Wyatt Wingfoot fell into his hidden chamber while searching for the Great Refuge of the Inhumans. Their presence awoke him, and he attacked them with his Evil Eye as a display of power. He explained his presence there, but because he couldn’t trust them he sealed them within an unbreakable, airless shield. Though soon his knight’s code of chivalry forced him to release them before they could suffocate.

The Torch realized that the Evil Eye might be the key to the escape of the Inhumans, and he stole it from the Wanderer and flew off before the Wanderer could explain that a safety button had to be pressed or else it would soon overload and explode. The Wanderer briefed Wyatt on this, who boarded the Black Panther’s Gyro-Cruiser and fired a beam of destructive light at Johnny, knocking the Evil Eye from his hands. The artifact exploded moments later, creating an explosion similar to an atomic bomb’s; thankfully, the Torch was far enough away that it only put out his flame. Then, together with Wyatt, the Wanderer revealed to Johnny that they were only trying to help him, though Johnny stayed fixed on the notion that the Evil Eye was his only hope to save Crystal and suggested that he would have been better off if they hadn’t stopped him.

Years later, Prester John became one of the many inhabitants of Cable's Providence Island, looking to separate himself from the awfulness of the outside world. Cable assigned him to be his Coordinator of Religious Activities. Alongside the mercenary Deadpool, John helped investigate the death of a notorious terrorist, Haji Bin Barat. They soon discovered that it was Deadpool himself who killed the terrorist, but after a fight with the mercenary, Cable personally asked Prester John to desist or leave his island. John agreed and Deadpool left instead. Deadpool and Cable eventually reconciled, and Prester John continued in his position, often helping with major issues springing up on Cable's island paradise.