The World War II version of the character, Henry Heywood, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps prior to the United States involvement in the war, but was injured when saboteurs, spearheaded by the man who would become Baron Blitzkrieg, attacked his base. Heywood had been a biology student under the tutelage of Doctor Gilbert Giles, and his former professor performed extensive surgery on him, enhancing his damaged body with mechanized steel devices that gave him superhuman strength, speed, and durability. At the request of Doctor Giles, Heywood kept his newfound gifts a secret, and was returned to service in a desk position. Frustrated at his inability to help more directly, Heywood adopted the masked-hero persona "Steel", and was attempting to steal armaments from the military base where he worked—to send to those more directly in the war's fray—when some fifth columnist saboteurs broke into the base. Heywood defeated the saboteurs, and embarked on a career fighting foreign threats and other criminals before America went to war.