In the aftermath of the Stamford, Connecticut disaster, Iron Man Tony Stark, Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), and Yellowjacket (Henry Pym) devised a plan to place federally sanctioned super-team in each of the fifty states. Realizing that there were not enough existing superhumans willing to comply with their program, they began developing technology to create their own superhumans. Recruiting from corps of human volunteers, Pym subjected candidates to the SOMA Process, which prepared their human bodies with nanites so they could withstand the rigors of super human activities. The most successful candidates were then tapped to join the Order, the federally sanctioned super-team of California, and each member received a viral genomech payload, which artificially replicated a biological condition that bestowed them with superhuman powers for one year. Each member also signed contracts agreeing to behave within specified moral parameters while in public. The team trained at a top secret SHIELD base in the desert of Arizona for one year (during which time they were called to Midtown Manhattan to serve backup for Tony Stark's pro-registration forces) before making their public debut. With a hierarchical structure based on the pantheon of Olympian gods, the team is represented by press agent Kate Kildare of Hestia Public relations.
The team made its official debut defeating the heat-generating Infernal Man in the San Gabriel Mountains; however, four team members (Avona, Corona, Maul and Pierce) were decommissioned from the team the next day for violating their contractual morality clauses during their post-victory celebration. Just as four new members (Aralune, Mulholland, Supernaut, and Veda) were introduced, California came under attack from a team of nuclear-powered Soviet sleepers robots, which were automatically reactivated by the heat released upon the Infernal Man's defeat. After containing the 20-kiloton nuclear blast and averting the crisis, the team were called to New York City during the the invasion of the Hulk (Bruce Banner) and his Sakaarian allies in order to form a protective superhuman perimeter around the metropolis. Upon the team's return to California, they have dealt with several crises orchestrated by Ezekiel Stane (Zeke), who sought to destroy the team to expose tony Stark's inadequacies. The team tracked Stane to his Salton Sea headquarters, but had their powers neutralized by an amplified electromagnetic pulse (which killed team member Heavy). After being rescued by SHIELD, the team set out to find Mulholland, whose powers were being used by Stane to cause violent riots to erupt around Los Angeles; Anthem then reluctantly killed Mulholland in order to stop the riots from escalating. Deciding it was too much for regular people to handle the power augmentation and training, Stark restructured the Order as more of a military operation than social experiment, with the surviving team members continuing to serve as California's team in the Fifty States Initiative.
Recently Stane continued his assault upon the Order, he had recruited the Los Angeles vigilante girl gang the Black Dahlias to kill the remaining Order members. Their first target was the decommissioned Corona, who they successfully killed, however, they were not as successful in their attempt to murder Calamity. Stane also persuaded Maul, to join him in his campaign to destroy the Order and upstage Stark.
