Ted Sallis believes he is in the Everglade swamps to re-discover the lost Super Soldier serum from WWII for the United States government. In actuality, he has been working for A.I.M. the whole time. His partner Eric Schist and his fiance Ellen Brandt have been in on the deceit from the beginning. Ted finds out the truth and in his attempt to flee with the research is gunned down, but not before ingesting the untested serum...thus is born Man-Thing.