John Fox was a historian for the National Academy of Science in Central City in the 27th century. He was going out with reporter Kim Fryer of Spectrum News. When the radioactive villain, Manfred Mota, had brought death and destruction to the Central City of 2645, the Academy decided to send John in the past to retrieve one or more of the three Flashes to help defeat Mota. However, his mission was a failure, but the tachyon radiation that powered his journey gave him superspeed. He subsequently sent Mota through the timestream to the year 50 Billion AD.