Professor Andre LeClare worked on methods on drawing energy from other dimensions. His life work was stolen by Felipe Picaro, an engineer, who sold the process to a South American dictator. Andre seeked the help of Coast Guard Lieutenant Monica Rambeau, a family friend. She took the mission on her own, without notifying her superiors.
In the conflict that resulted
Monica tried to disable the dimension-tapping device with her bare hands–a brave act that physically put her in the interface of the machine and caused it to overload. The result was that Monica was endowed with mass/energy exchange powers that she at once used to defeat Picaro and his henchmen. Her new powers started her career as Captain Marvel, later codenamed Photon.