Drake Shannon and "Crash" Simpson were co-owner of a stunt cycle show. The two quickly grew apart due to their differences. Simpson saw Shannon as careless and reckless on the other hand Shannon viewed Simpson as a weak-kneed fool. Seeing noway to work together the men decided to have a race with the winner walking away with the show. The race ended in tragedy as Shannon lost control of his bike and since he chose not to wear a helmet with a face-mask his face was gruesomely disfigured. After recovering from the accident Shannon became a loner due to his now hideous appearance. Shannon grew bitter, and his rivalry with Simpson turned into vengeful hatred over the following years, even after Simpson's death. Finding him a perfect pawn, They Who Wield Power contacted Shannon, supplying him with a technologically advanced eyeball-shaped helmet and a laser gun. As the Orb, Shannon recruited a gang of cyclists and set about gaining revenge against Simpson's daughter Roxanne and her adopted brother Johnny Blaze (secretly Ghost Rider), who now owned Crash's cycle show.
With his gang, the Orb disrupted a show Blaze held in Madison Square Garden, kidnapping Roxanne and demanding Blaze hand control of the business over to him in exchange for her return. With the aid of Spider-Man, who had been attending the show in his civilian guise, Ghost Rider defeated the Orb's gang and rescued Roxanne, though the Orb seemingly perished after being chased in front of a subway train. Surviving, the Orb accepted a chance to collect the bounty placed on Karen Page. Tracking her down to Delazny Studios, he was surprised to learn Blaze was present as well, working as a stuntman for an upcoming film. The Orb began hypnotizing studio personnel to attack Blaze, who transformed into Ghost Rider to fend off the attacks. The Orb kidnapped Page, but with Ghost Rider in pursuit, abandoned her to save himself. Ghost Rider caught up with Orb and beat him thoroughly, but the Friend (a manifestation of Mephisto posing as an ally of Ghost Rider's) appeared and convinced the demonic hero to abstain from killing the Orb. Ghost Rider walked away, believing the Orb would no longer pursue his friends and family, but almost immediately, the Orb targeted Roxanne again. Using his powers to give Roxanne temporary partial amnesia, the Orb and his gang then captured Blaze. Again, Blaze became Ghost Rider and fought the Orb before searing the villain's soul with hellfire.
Upgrading his weapons (presumably via Justin Hammer, in exchange for a portion of planned profits) and having plastic surgery to restore his face, the Orb targeted Blaze and Blaze's girlfriend Gina Langtree in Las Vegas, but Ghost Rider again defeated him, searing his soul once more with hellfire. More ruthless than ever, Ghost Rider tried once more to kill the Orb, but Gina talked him out of it. The encounter deteriorated Orb's plastic surgery, and he vowed further vengeance on Blaze. After robbing an armored car to fund more modifications to his helmet and weaponry, supplied by Madame Menace (Sunset Bain), the Orb attacked Ghost Rider anew, only to have his soul repeatedly burned with hellfire. Some time later, the Orb caught the attention of Hawkeye, who pursued him into the Mojave desert. Hawkeye captured the Orb, but knocked him unconscious. The hero dragged the Orb until they came to a large metal dome, a base of Plantman, who tried to kill them both before Hawkeye forced Plantman to flee. Stranded in the desert, the two came across an abandoned town, and the Orb encountered a group of Plantman simulacra that had replaced the Orb's gang. Believing them to be the originals, he ordered them to kill Hawkeye, but they instead opened fire on him, apparently killing him. Orb was later seen alive in a the "Bar With No Name" in New York City.
