Douglas Strange was a technological genius in robotics, and invented a number of weapons for the US Government. Strange had the foresight to patent many of his inventions, making himself enormously wealthy. Strange fell in love with and married a captivating woman named Andromeda. They purchased an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where Douglas started work on his dream project: to create the world's first true android.
An extraterrestrial ship crash-landed on their island home, with a mechanical lifeform aboard whom Douglas dubbed Scarab. Taking the Stranges captive, the alien consumed scrap metal to nourish its offspring. When that was insufficient, Scarab demanded that Douglas bring it large quantities of gold. When he refused, Scarab killed Andromeda. It then placed a twisted copy of her memories and personality into one of Strange's android prototypes and threatened to 'kill' the android Andromeda permanently if Douglas wouldn't co-operate. He reluctantly agreed.
With the use of one of his last government sponsored creations, Douglas Strange started a criminal career as the armed and armoured Gauntlet, and found himself in conflict with Hawk & Dove.
