He attends a conference on genetics in the 1930s along with other noted geneticists in the Marvel Universe such as Herbert Wyndham, Arnim Zola, and Wladyslav Shinsky of the Enclave.

[3] Sometime after winning the Prize, Black goes mad, takes the name "Centurius", and seeing himself as the self-proclaimed savior of Earth, retreats to remote Valhalla Island to conduct genetic experiments.

During the transport of his newly created life forms to an orbiting space ark, secret agents Nick Fury and Jimmy Woo by chance discover Centurius' island when they are forced to crash land their aircraft.

The pair of agents initially attempt to convince Centurius to return to civilization with them, but when the geneticist's plot to destroy all life on Earth is revealed, Fury and his companion attack.

In a ploy to defeat the agents, Centurius attempts to transform himself into a "superior being" using a device called the "Evolutionizer", but instead of evolving he "de-evolves" into a pile of protoplasmic slime.

[14] Centurius was later selected by Luke Cage to be a part of the "beta team" of the Thunderbolts, alongside Boomerang, Shocker, Gunna, and Mister Hyde.