On Mars, when a racial war broke out between the green-skinned Martians and the white-skinned ones, J'onn J'onzz, a leading citizen on his native world was placed in charge of the army. Having been defeated by the white Martians leader, Benn Blanx, J'onn was banished to a desert for thirteen years. During the first year, on the planet Earth, a would-be scientist named Dr. Mark Erdel built a transmitter machine. Seeking to make contact with extraterrestrial life, he aimed his device towards the vicinity of Mars and activated it. The transmitter beam streaked across both space and time, and it brought J'onn back to Erdel's Colorado laboratory. When J'onn shapeshifted into a human-like form, Erdel was shocked and suffered a heart attack that killed him. As he was dying, Erdel asked J'onn for forgiveness for making him a prisoner of Earth.
