Muto gained his powers in the 30th century, as a little boy he was aboard a survey ship with his parents, which was tracking a meteor that was headed towards Earth. When Superman showed up and destroyed the meteor, it proceeded to open up a singularity, which sucked the survey ship in transporting them to an alternate dimension.
The dimension they were transported to possessed no biological life, with only robots living inhabiting it. The robots then started experimenting on the boy, giving him powers and traits of the robot inhabitants.His time in the dimension had warped his views, so when he returned he only saw humans as slaves, and plotted to take over the world. Only to be foiled by his arch enemy the Superman of the 30th century.