Douglas Birely was a genetic researcher. He experimented with radioactive causes of mutation at a private research company in California.

He asked his employers for clearance to experiment on a live subject with radiation to see if, like so many people he had heard of in the news, the subject would develop super-powers from radiation exposure. His employers refused and he illegally tested a radiation burst on himself. It did not give him super-powers; instead he contracted lethal skin cancer.

Because of his cancer he was forced to don a protective suit of armour to keep himself alive. Birely was fired.

Birely learned of a highly radioactive meteor. It had fallen to earth near the Aleutian Islands.

Using the last of his savings, Birely got to the islands, stole the meteorite and set up a laboratory. He discovered that the meteorite, which he called the lifestone, had the power to strongly mutate living organisms into super forms. He used it to create giant monsters, including a mutant bat he called Batragon.