In Tales Of The New Teen Titans (1982) #1, we learn the origin story of Cyborg Pre-Crisis. On their Grand Canyon vacation, Kid Flash grills hot dogs for the New Teen Titans. During that time, Cyborg opens up to his “friends” and tells them his origin story.¹ Previously, Victor Stone was the child of deceased Silas Stone and Elinore Stone. And his parents were research scientists involved on research to boost human intelligence. At a young age, the researchers experimented on their child.

Eventually, they boosted his intelligence to genius level. With an I.Q. of 170, Victor was tutored into the sciences with little external human contact. At age eight, Victor wandered the streets fascinated by the outside world. When Ron Evers save him from a car accident, the two forge a friendship. Soon, they would be involved in criminal activity. When the two were arrested for looting a grocery store, the seeds of Victor’s hatred for his parents were planted.

Previously, Robin received a vision of the New Teen Titans at S.T.A.R. Labs in DC Comics Presents (1980) #26. Mysteriously, Raven warns him of the accident that would result in Cyborg. In our issue, Victor Stone tells how he became Cyborg. In an extra-dimensional experimental accident, an alien spore killed Elinore Stone.

When Victor visited his parents on his morning jog, it was too late. Horrifyingly, the monster attacked digesting half of his body. In time, Silas Stone punched the recall button on the computer. In an explosion, the alien vanished in the dimensional rift. Quickly, Silas worked on grafting Victor’s muscles, bones and veins with army-grade molybdenum steel. Soon, he became Cyborg.

After a month, Victor regained consciousness. Horrifyingly, he blamed his father for the accident and his monstrous condition. Despite his hatred, he worked with Silas to regain his mobility and grow in strength. After five months, Victor angrily cut ties with his father and moved out. At his new apartment, he soon lost his athletic career and his girlfriend Marcy Reynolds.

After a year in prison, Ron visited him. In fact, he offered him a job in a terrorist attack at the U.N. Though conflicted, Cyborg accepted. At night, the hero overheard the terrorists on the roof and their plan to scapegoat him. Courageously, he fought them and managed to send the bomb in the atmosphere. Though it blew safely, Cyborg could not save Ron, who fell off the building to his apparent death.