Smasher 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. He was amongst the first of the Imperial Guard encountered by the team of superhuman mutant adventurers known as the X-Men who sought to rescue the Princess-Majestrix Lilandra from her insane brother, then-Majestor D'Ken. Following the orders of their emperor, the Guard clashed with the X-Men and were on the verge of winning when the band of interstellar freebooters known as the Starjammers arrived to turn the tide of battle in the X-Men's favor.
The Guard and the X-Men subsequently clashed once more when the Shi'ar sought to end the threat to the universe posed by the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix, which had assumed the form of X-Men member Jean Grey. Smasher was subsequently chosen as one of eight Guardsmen to battle the X-Men. The Guard defeated the X-Men on this occasion, but the mutants were allowed to return to Earth after Phoenix seemingly committed suicide.
Later, after the formerly-exiled Deathbird had usurped the Shi'ar throne, Smasher was amongst those Imperial Guard members who clashed with the British team of costumed adventurers known as Excalibur and 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 the X-Men's founder, the telepathic Professor Charles Xavier, using his telepathy to control Lilandra and the Imperial Guard, including Smasher. 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 the war between the Shi'ar and Kree Empires, Smasher was amongst a small contingent of the Imperial Guard that defended their Empress Lilandra against the Kree super-team known as Starforce.
Later, Cassandra Nova, the genetic twin of Xavier who had possessed her brother's body, sought to take control of the Shi'ar Empire and utilize its resources to destroy Xavier's dream. The Empress Lilandra sent Smasher to warn the people of Earth of Nova's plan shortly before she was mentally possessed by Nova. Travelling through the hyperspatial realm known as 4-Space unaided, Smasher crash-landed on Earth. Unfortunately for Smasher, the only nearby Earth creatures that could heed his warnings were a herd of cows.
After Nova forced Lilandra to dispatch the Imperial Guard to kill the X-Men, his fellow Guardsman and lover Plutonia detected Smasher's alarm signal and found him, battered and broken. She managed to return him to the Xavier Institute where Smasher convinced the Guard's praetor, Gladiator, of the truth of the situation. Together, the Guard and the X-Men managed to defeat Nova and free Lilandra.
