"You wanted to burn the world like it burned you. But your fires are embers. Your army is melting. And you, failed, ignored, irrelevant...
...You're afraid. And whatever knows fear...
... Burns at the Man-Thing's touch."
– Theodore Sallis, X-Men: Curse of the Man-Thing Vol 1 #1
Dr. Theodore Sallis was a biochemistry professor who worked at Empire State University, where he also performed various experiments. After being recruited by the American military, Dr. Sallis was asked to work on Project Sulfur, hoping to create a serum that would allow soldiers to survive biochemical weaponry. After this project ended in failure, with Serum SO-2 turning those who used it into monsters (who, ironically, were also immune to toxic chemicals), Dr. Sallis set to work to try and instead recreate the super soldier serum that gave Captain America his abilities as part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Project Gladiator. While his research was successful, he would be led into an ambush set up by Advanced Idea Mechanics and hunted down due to him being the sole person who knows how to create the formula. While escaping, Sallis injected himself with the serum before his car crashed into a swamp, transforming him into a behemoth of vegetation that would come to be named Man-Thing, serving as the Guardian of the Nexus of All Realities.
...You're afraid. And whatever knows fear...
... Burns at the Man-Thing's touch."
– Theodore Sallis, X-Men: Curse of the Man-Thing Vol 1 #1
Dr. Theodore Sallis was a biochemistry professor who worked at Empire State University, where he also performed various experiments. After being recruited by the American military, Dr. Sallis was asked to work on Project Sulfur, hoping to create a serum that would allow soldiers to survive biochemical weaponry. After this project ended in failure, with Serum SO-2 turning those who used it into monsters (who, ironically, were also immune to toxic chemicals), Dr. Sallis set to work to try and instead recreate the super soldier serum that gave Captain America his abilities as part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Project Gladiator. While his research was successful, he would be led into an ambush set up by Advanced Idea Mechanics and hunted down due to him being the sole person who knows how to create the formula. While escaping, Sallis injected himself with the serum before his car crashed into a swamp, transforming him into a behemoth of vegetation that would come to be named Man-Thing, serving as the Guardian of the Nexus of All Realities.
