Ryker, John

General John Ryker is a man not to be taken lightly. He is serious in getting what he wants no matter the cost or the consequences. There are rumors floating around that Ryker had a part in a U.S. President's assassination, and he possibly dropped the toxic Agent Orange chemical on army soldiers simply to study the effects it would have on them. He is ruthless, the lives of the innocent mean next to nothing to him, and he can brainwash almost anyone into obeying his commands.

General Ryker became obsessed with the Hulk and would stop at nothing to unravel the secrets of gamma radiation. Ryker experimented on many individuals, mostly homeless, all resulting in painful deaths. He soon discovered the key to successful mutations might be with a change in the subject’s mindset, so he began experimenting on his own troops. Ryker's first triumph was with a mentally unstable private, Benjamin Tibbets, turning him into a creature called Flux. Manipulating Tibbets into thinking the Hulk was responsible for his deformed transformation, Ryker set the enraged Flux loose. Unable to stand against the Hulk, Flux was beaten and Ryker was defeated in more ways than one. General Ross, long-time enemy of the Hulk, found out Ryker's real agenda for his obsession. John Ryker's wife was dying of cancer, and he was trying to cure her using gamma radiation. However, when Lucy Ryker found out how many innocent lives were ruined in her husband's experiments, she was appalled at what her husband became.

When Ryker's wife died, he became even more enraged at the Hulk's existence. He began his research all over again, but this time he was transplanting superhuman tissue onto normal humans, making them more than what they were. Again there were many agonizing deaths, with very few successes, but the five individuals who did survive became Ryker's Gamma Corps. Using DNA from Hulk foes such as the Abomination, Leader, the Harpy, Doc Samson and the Hulk himself, General Ryker created the operatives Grey, Mister Gideon, Mess, Griffin and Prodigy. The Gamma Corps were highly trained and ready to kill the Hulk, but the Hulk they encountered was not the Hulk General Ryker was familiar with. The Gamma Corps almost achieved victory, but the Hulk was simply too powerful for their combined might. In the midst of battle, the Hulk also explained exactly how Ryker manipulates his subjects while hiding the truth from them. The Gamma Corps turned on the General, and he was thrown into a S.H.I.E.L.D. penitentiary.

After the war with the Skrulls ended, and Norman Osborn had been given command of every military and research facility, including S.H.I.E.L.D., General Ryker was released from prison and made C.E.O. of Osborn's new business venture, the Origins Corporation. Ryker's first assignment was to track down the daughter of the Hulk, Lyra, retrieve her for DNA samples and acquire her sentient computer, Boudicca, for Osborn. Again using tissue from the Hulk's enemies – Abomination, Zzzax and the Glob – Ryker created three more agents – Aberration, Axon and Morass – to serve in his new Gamma Corps: Black.