Deadly Ernest is a Canadian criminal that has a 'Death Touch', where any person he touches with his left hand dies immediately. He has come into conflict against the Canadian superheroes known as Alpha Flight. Earnest St. Ives was a French soldier during World War One. During an explosion St. Ives was thrown into a shell hole filled with mustard gas, but when Death came for him he refused to go and Death cursed St. Ives for rejecting her by making his touch deadly. Deadly Ernest rose to become the head of a crime syndicate in Montreal, where if first came into contact with a long time friend of the Hero Northstar.