John White was an undercover agent working for the National Security Agency, and was given the assignment to investigate the First Sons, along with Lucy Kuo and their inside associate, Sebastian Wolfe. Though, he was nearly successful in his time undercover, he was ripped apart and pulled into a vortex during a freak accident with one of the First Sons' inventions, namely the Ray Sphere. After some time, his sub-consciousness awoke, and was reborn as "The Beast", a Conduit with immense power.