Origin

Michael van Patrick was a young American great athlete, but he lost his university scholarship once the press revealed that his great-grandfather was Dr. Abraham Erskine, the man who created the Super Soldier Serum. Even after repeated tests that all came up negative for any foreign substances, his scholarship would not be granted to him. This because many people believed that Michael would have received some form of the Super Soldier Serum and that therefore his athletic records where due to this serum, and not to his hard work and training. They even talked about making him give his medals back. This all caused Michael to put his career in sports to a stop. While Michael did not receive the Serum, his physiology was the result of his father who reverse engineered Erskines prior research notes (passed down to his family). Erskine outlined that a strict dietary regimen and isometric exercise would yield the result for Michael's body to be at the natural pinnacle of human condition. The process took 20 years; however, the result did indeed work.

Creation

MVP was created by Dan Slott and Stefanio Caselli and first appeared in Avengers: The Initiative issue 1 in 2007.

Major Story Arcs

Avengers: The Initiative

Michael was recruited for the Avengers Initiative. Taking up the codename MVP, Michael established himself as one of the most capable young heroes of the Initiative, and begins to express some feelings for the shy and self-conscious Cloud 9. During a training exercise however, MVP's teammate Trauma's powers accidentally cause Armory to lose control of her powers, and MVP is killed while pushing Cloud 9 out of the way. Dr. Pym is called to the lab where Von Blitzschlag informs him and Gyrich of MVP's anatomy--instead of being enhanced by the Super Soldier Serum as everyone believed, he is an honest to goodness "uber mensch" the ultimate human specimen. Von Blitzschlag states that "every cell in his body is perfection".

After the incident, no one in the Initiative could tell of what had happened to MVP. In an attempt to make more soldiers to occupy the Initiative, Hank Pym (Skrull), Baron Von Blitzschlag, and Henry Gyrich decided to clone MVP from his DNA. Three Clones where made whom later joined the Initiative as the Scarlet Spiders.The clones were named Michael, Van, and Patrick and were given the Stark Spider-Man Armor that Spider-man wore during the Civil War. They think of Baron as there "Father". Later it was revealed that the Baron made another clone of MVP and put him in Kentucky with his father so he wouldn't find out about the accident that killed his real son. One other clone was made, but he became the lethal K.I.A. During a confrontation with K.I.A., the first clone (re-code named MVP), whom has been living with his father helped defeat K.I.A. with the New Warriors led by Justice.

Abilities

Peak Physical Condition: Through years of experimental program of isometric physical training and food diets, Michael's body was at the peak of human conditioning. Unlike Captain America (Rogers)'s enhanced condition, Micheal was required to engage in a daily regimen of rigorous exercise, including weight lifting, aerobics, and gymnastics to keep himself in peak condition.