After Alberts parents died, Nuke turned to Tom Thumb for help; however, when Tom could not find a cure for cancer, Nuke went on a rampage. Dr Spectrum tried to hold Nuke back by encasing him in one of his energy constructs, but ended up accidentally killing him when Nuke's use of his own powers burned out the oxygen supply inside it.

When Nuke is introduced as Mr. Al Gaines, a young, severely depressed man living underground in a fallout shelter alone because his body emits high levels of radiation he cannot control. He is near invulnerable, can fly, and apparently superhumanly strong. General Alexander gives him a suit that will control his radiation output in return for fighting Hyperion.

In a fight with Hyperion the combination of Hyperion's eye-beams, Nuke's radiation blast, and Arcanna's quantum alterations creates a brief and unexplainable skip in reality that sends Gaines, Arcanna Jones, Dr. Emil Burbank and Raleigh Lund two years into the future.

Nuke has recently joined the Governments Squadron Supreme. In the first mission he is high up in the sky to be used as a tactical nuke, the person of last resort.