Eddie's from a long line of Philadelphia police officers going back a hundred years and more. His father had risen through the ranks to become Commissioner of Police and his two older brothers were detectives, but Eddie was small and weak and of a nervous disposition so had settled for the life of an accountant, much to the shame of his family. Eddie met reporter Astrid Lee when he saved her inventor father from foreign saboteurs. They would eventually marry and have several children. When Eddie retired from the force he lost the steel skin, but kept the physique.