Travis Hoyt was a world renowned, best-selling novelist until a plane he was on crashed leaving him in a wheelchair. Blaming technology for the accident which left him without the use of his legs, Hoyt became a recluse moving to Haiti. However he couldn't get away from hateful technology and was disgusted at the development going on in his new found home.

During the rainy season and a work break because of it, Hoyt entered an unfinished plant. The floor had deteriorated and weakened due to the rain and collapsed under him dropping him into a mysterious, underground pool. The pool had strange radioactive properties which restored the use of his legs and after repeated visits in the radioactive water gave him the power to get vengeance on technologies and those who develop them. However, the radioactive waters also left his body scarred.

Wearing bandages to cover his face, Hoyt, calling himself the Night Phantom, began sabotaging and destroying power plants in Haiti. But when he destroyed a plant which was a part of Stark Industries, Tony Stark got involved. Working with the local police, Tony Stark investigated the destruction of his plant. The natives told him that it was the Night Phantom. Stark dismissed it as local superstition until, as he left the destroyed plant, his jeep was attacked and thrown into the jungle.

Janice Cord, Tony Stark's girlfriend, took Stark to Travis Hoyt's home because Hoyt was an old family friend. However, Hoyt, wearing a rubber mask of his face, threw Stark out and revealed himself to Cord. He then tried to force her into the radioactive waters to make her a suitable mate for himself.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark, becoming Iron Man, investigated the accident and tracked Hoyt to the underground lake and saved Cord. As Iron Man and the Night Phantom battled, the Night Phantom dove back into the pool to increase his power. However, the bottom of the pool caved in sucking Hoyt down never to return...it seems.