Many Centuries ago, the man now known as General Immortus gained a supply ofa certain chemical that allowed him to survive down the ages. As the years passed, Immortus paid the greatest chemists in history to duplicate the chemical, but none could do so. At last, in the 20th Century, with only enough chemical left for two more centuries, Immortus became desperate. Since one more attempt to duplicate his chemical would exhaust his remaining supply, Immortus became the secret benefactor of Niles Caulder, a brilliant young scientist who was pursuing his own research into the secret of immortality.

When Caulder learned that Immortus was his benefactor, he refused to continue his research, but Immortus forced him to do so by implanting a miniature bomb in the young man's chest. Ultimately, Caulder tricked Immortus into shooting him as part of a plan to free himself from immortus' domination. Though Caulder was able to have the bomb deactivated, the effort left him a paraplegic, his legs totally useless.

To combat Immortus, Caulder gathered a group of super-powered misfits he called the Doom Patrol. For years the Doom Patrol battled Immortus and his ilk, until Caulder and his team were seemingly slain by two of their foes. Fearing the secret of immortality was lost to him forever, Immortus was relieved to find that Caulder had passed the secret to his wife Arani who had organised a reformed Doom Patrol.

Immortus kidnapped Arani and used his super-science to probe her mind and discover at last the secret he had sought for centuries.

After drinking the immortality serum, Immortus gre stronger, more virile, and became a young man again for the first time in centuries. But the effects of the serum, which had been specially formulated for Arani's unique body chemistry, were short lived and Immortus became an old man again, apparantly perishing in the destruction of his mountain headquarters.