So the Protar constructed a number of prototypes of living, sentient beings, each more truly humanoid than the previous one, and each in the form of a different being whom the Protar knew to exist on another planet. Each prototype was placed on the planet populated by the beings it was modeled after, beginning with the least humanoid of the prototypes, and was designed to transmit whatever information it gained about the civilization in which it was placed, back to the next prototype in the series. After a long period of testing, the Protar had only the last two prototypes—the most humanoid—left to observe in action. One of them, Model X3Z, had already been placed years before on the planet Srenesk, whose culture, the Protar believed, was uniquely suited to teaching him concepts of morality and nobility.

Another prototype, the final one, entirely organic in nature, had been created in the form of an Earth boy and placed on Earth some years before. There he was being raised by two Protar androids in human form, whom the boy, called James-Michael Starling on Earth, believed to be his parents. The Protar believed that on Earth Starling would learn about humanoid emotions, which he would be better able to handle once Model X3Z’s high moral code was transmitted to him. As a member of the warrior elite, Model X3Z had taken a vow of silence, so that he rarely, if ever, spoke.

The Sreneskians had recently discovered what they believed to be the ultimate energy source: a means to tap the psionic energy of their world’s biosphere (all of the living beings of that world.) To honor Model X3Z, the elders of Srenesk decided to make him the first of their citizens to be endowed with the ability to draw upon this biospheric energy. The Protar were horrified when they learned this, knowing that the biospheric energy was too great for Model X3Z to control, and that he would transmit it along with his knowledge to Starling, who would also be unable to control it. Thus, all of the Protar’s plans would be ruined.

A number of Protar immediately set out for the planet Srenesk to prevent its natives from giving Model X3Z this power, but they were too late. Believing the Protar to be invaders bent on conquest, Model X3Z tried to use his new power against them. But he could not control the power once he unleashed it in such large quantities, and the power destroyed all of the inhabitants of Srenesk and their civilization. The Protar realized that X3Z had already transmitted the ability to tap biospheric power to Starling, to whom he was psionically linked. One Protar therefore stated that both X3Z and Starling had to be destroyed. Upon hearing this, X3Z broke free, and, commandeering a small starship, went to Earth to find and protect Starling.

On Earth, Starling and his supposed “parents” were in a car accident. As the androids lay injured, Starling learned that they were really mechanical constructs. Starling was taken to New York City’s Barrow Clinic. One night one of the Protar broke into Starling’s room at the clinic to destroy him. Model X3Z arrived immediately and began battling the Protar, but it was Starling himself who defeated the Protar by instinctively firing biospheric-energy blasts from his hands. Starling, astounded, recognized X3Z from dreams he had had. X3Z departed.

X3Z won public acclaim for his battles in New York City against various superhumanly powerful menaces, including the Hulk and Electro. The New York Daily Bugle dubbed X3Z “Omega” after the symbol on his costume. Omega and Starling again met when Omega attempted to rescue Starling and Grant from a psychotic killer named Kurt Klemmer. Again, Starling was the one to defeat the menace with energy beams from his hands.

Eventually, Starling and a school mate named Dian Wilkins went on their own to his home. Omega went to Las Vegas with his sometime employer, a New York pawnbroker nicknamed “Gramps” Hart. Omega and Gramps won a small fortune, but they were robbed by Ruby Thursday of the Headmen. Omega pursued Ruby, who had used her powers to make herself resemble a normal woman, but Las Vegas policemen, believing Omega to be attacking an innocent person, shot him dead.

Hart and Starling’s roommates became involved with the Defenders in their attempt to locate Starling. During that time, Moondragon, one of the Defenders, established a telepathic link with a dying Protar and learned the true origins of Omega and Starling. Starling, whom the Defenders had located, refused to accept the truth and blasted the heroes. However, Dian stepped in the way. To save Dian’s life, Starling turned his power inward, burning himself to ashes but harming no one else. Moondragon buried the remains of Omega and Starling somewhere in outer space.