Artie Gruber used to be an Aeroball player before a serious accident during a match against the Harlem Heroes nearly killed him. An accident he blamed on Heroes team leader – John ‘Giant’ Clay.
Restored to life as a cyborg by the Heroes’ then sponsor (Ulysses Cord) who was secretly out to destroy the team.
As a pawn of various evil men, Gruber attacked Giant and his team on three separate occasions (twice as the Harlem Heroes and once as the Harlem Hellcats in Inferno).
Gruber’s fanatical mission nearly succeeded, but each time he was beaten only to rise again deadlier and stronger than ever. He was last seen plunging into a river with a flaming jetpack – ironically the same way he nearly died when was an aeroball player.