In the Muskogee, Oklahoma of another reality, a young Philip Seleski grew up a comic book lover. Phil's favorite comic, Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom, inspired his interest in science and helped determine his field of study. Like his comic book hero, Phil excelled in the sciences and became a brilliant nuclear physicist. His crowning achievement was the design and construction of the first nuclear fusion reactor for the Edgewater Advanced Fusion Energy Research Center.

During the reactor's first test run, something went horribly wrong. There was a core breach, and a reactor meltdown was imminent. Doctor Seleski, in an attempt to stop the disaster, threw himself into the reactor's leaking anti-proton pumps. As a conscious Seleski floated in the plasma, he wished that the whole incident would stop. It did. The pumps stopped leaking and all of the deadly radiation that was in the process of being released simply disappeared.

Seleski survived the incident and made a startling recovery. However, things would never be the same for the good doctor. The accident had somehow transformed him into a being of pure energy. He also soon discovered he had the power to manipulate energy in all its forms.

A suspicious world mounted an attack against Seleski and in the ensuing conflict, Seleski inadvertently created a black hole and destroyed his world. Faced with the horror of his actions, Seleski abandoned his timeline and found his way to the Valiant Universe, to a point in time before the accident happened. Once here, the grievous Seleski split himself into two personas: one a physical manifestation of his guilt, and the other an incarnation of his childhood hero, Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom.

"Born" with the collective memories of Seleski and his own comic book origins, Doctor Solar believed the Phil Seleski of the Valiant Universe to be a potential murderer, and set out to destroy him. Seleski convinced Doctor Solar of his intent to save this world during a final conflict in the reactor that spawned them. Seleski managed to absorb Doctor Solar and emerged from the reactor at the point that this timeline's Phil Seleski was about to hurl himself into the anti-proton pumps. After absorbing this timeline's Phil Seleski, the fully recombined Phil Seleski successfully prevented nuclear disaster, and fulfilled his dream of being a hero. Seleski was granted a second chance at life as Solar, Man of the Atom.

This persona was the actual comic book character from Seleski's childhood. Seleski's overwhelming guilt in destroying his world, combined with his subconscious desire to actually become this hero, physically manifested itself in this form. Doctor Solar was reabsorbed by the alternate Seleski during their final conflict.

This persona is the physical manifestation of Solar's anger and warrior instincts. The Destroyer was created when Solar, under Master Darque's influence, attempted to destroy this world. Geoff McHenry, John Veerhusen, and Gayle Nordheim intervened, and Gayle convinced Solar to fight the force controlling him. This conscious act gave "birth" to the Destroyer. The Destroyer was responsible for the destruction of the Spider Alien base on the moon. Having made his home in the distant future, he recently played a pivotal role in ending The Chaos Effect.

Gayle is Phil's colleague and lover, but more importantly, she has proven to be Solar's anchor to his own humanity. Gayle played a key role in preventing a possessed Solar from destroying the world by reaching out to him. Seleski would give up all his power just to live a normal life with Gayle.

Private investigator Fred Bender discovered sensitive information about Solar and became obsessed with learning more about the hero and his abilities. After confronting Seleski with the knowledge, Bender offered to back off his investigation if Seleski would show him the extent of his powers. Seleski complied but Bender's greed screamed for more. Bender tricked Solar into surrendering a fraction of his power, which he used to go on a rampage. Solar tracked Bender down, reclaimed
his power, and stranded him in the desert. When he emerged, Bender sought out Master Darque, and begged to be granted the power to destroy Solar. Bender was transformed into a being of pure necromantic energy, but the price was slavery to Darque. Solar would be revenged not by Fred Bender but rather by the evil Doctor Eclipse.

Ravenus is a powerful plasma being who feeds on the life force of others. A team of scientists, led by Dr. Raven, were running tests on an unusual, glowing object found in the Nevada desert. During testing, the object exploded, killing nearly all of them. When Raven grabbed one of his fallen colleagues, Raven drained him of his life force, making himself stronger, making him "Ravenus." In a confrontation with Solar, Ravenus discovered that the object was a combination of residual plasma from a battle between Solar and Dr. Eclipse. Solar defeated Ravenus and sealed him in the Edgewater reactor core. Ravenus has since escaped and has a score to settle with Solar.

TERENCE: Darque's earth elemental was a homeless man recruited into Darque's service. For every murder he committed, Darque granted Terence a tattoo. When Terence earned his last tattoo, he was transformed into the monster that currently plagues Solar.

ABDUL: Darque's water elemental has the power to call and control liquids of all kinds. However, Abdul's mind was too fragile to handle the power and he went insane immediately. He is now a most formidable enemy.

JAWIB: Although Darque's fire elemental met resistance from Doctor Mirage and the Eternal Warrior, and apparently imploded from his power feeding back into him, he has returned to menace Solar.

Erica Pierce was Doctor Phil Seleski's colleague at the Edgewater Center. During the accident that granted Seleski his powers, Erica Pierce was caught in the reactor as well and granted similar powers. In the current Valiant Universe timeline, Pierce's powers first manifested in the form of an energy child which Solar confronted and destroyed. Later on, Pierce also used her latent powers to kill her abusive husband. However, she was also apparently consumed and killed by her own powers.

Solar investigated the scene at Pierce's home and discovered that she was not killed by her own power but rather by someone else's. This other person was in fact the Erica Pierce from the reality that was destroyed by Seleski before he came to the Valiant Universe. Following the alternate Seleski to this timeline, Pierce began laying plans to recreate the world according to her own twisted machinations. Pierce had set up her base in the area just outside of time. There she became known as Mothergod by her followers. Mothergod first replaced the Erica Pierce of this timeline and then initiated the Unity conflict as her solution to fixing a broken world. It took the combined might of Solar and the rest of the heroes of the Valiant Universe to put her down. Pierce is currently imprisoned in a wormhole of Solar's fabrication. If she were to escape, the ramifications would be dire indeed.