Northguard is the costumed identity of Phillip “Phil” Wise, a video-store manager and comic-book enthusiast who was enlisted by Progressive Allied Canadian Technologies (PACT) Corporation to help them combat an extreme right-wing terrorist organization known as ManDes (an abbreviation for "manifest destiny"). that was bent on overthrowing the Canadian government. Working in secret, PACT had developed a revolutionary cybernetic personal-weapons system called the “Uniband”. Wise was contacted when Karl Manning, the original wielder of the Uniband, was killed in a terrorist attack. Wise's brain patterns were similar enough to allow him to operate the device. Wise eventually agreed to be an agent of PACT only if he could do so as a costumed superhero. PACT accepted Wise's condition; and Northguard was born.