Vyking (Harold Carl Everson) was created by writer Peter B. Gillis and artist Brent Anderson and debuted in Strikeforce: Morituri #1 (December 1986).

Still eager to contribute more to his country, Everson tested for the so-called "Morituri program" and was found genetically compatible, one of the precious few among thousands of applicants.

The program subjected ordinary humans to a complicated scientific process and conferred them superhuman abilities, to be utilized as a weapon in the war of Earth against the Horde.

He had already been fascinated by the cause of the Morituri, after reading a comic book which detailed the adventures of the Black Watch, the first batch of volunteers (now dead) who had undergone the process and had achieved the first major victory of Earth against the Horde.

[1] Everson, together with his teammates, were later taken to the Biowar Zone Alpha (nicknamed "the Garden"), a specially designed facility, filled with traps, which would help the Morituri manifest their superhuman powers quickly, under extreme pressure.

After her refusal, Everson grew paranoid and began believing that Nion had been either bought or replaced by the Horde, and wanted them all to be killed inside the Garden.

After trying to help his teammates escape their traps, in vain, he sensed the console room into which Commander Nion was giving orders, behind a wall panel of the Garden.

In the team's first official mission, in Kramatorsk, Soviet Union, Vyking was initially paralyzed with fear, plagued by insecurities about his ability to lead.

Vyking left his recorder in the party and led the team to a secret group of Hordians who were stealing famous films from the movie archives of Los Angeles.

They soon deduced that the highest earthbound warlord of the Horde had ordered a nuclear strike on L.A. and these Hordians were stealing the movies to later sell them in the black market for profit.