Thorkeld was a scientist hired by the criminal Dr. Tod to study the cannister with the wild card virus that Tod's men found in 1946. In two weeks of research, Thorkeld and his men tested the substance on various animals, to no effect - animals aren't affected by the alien virus. Then somebody accidentally dropped a sample. Almost all in the research team were killed or mutated by the virus. Thorkeld became a hideous gelatinous joker that could barely talk. He killed himself almost immediately.