When Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988 it signalled the end of the Cold War, but it also signalled the rise of the uberhuman super villain UXB who would go on to become one of the most devastating ubers of the 1990s. Before his transformation, Sergei Yagudin was like most of the other young soldiers in his platoon. He was trained in the basics of warfare, equipped with flawed weapons and sent to Afghanistan to fight the Americans through a proxy conflict. His goals were simple: to survive long enough to return home and hopefully work in his father's truck repair business.

The Soviet super team 'Oktober' was active in Afghanistan and were hailed as heroes. Yagudin and his friends looked up to them with pride and a little envy. During the withdrawal Oktober vanished: the government was not interested in any protracted negative publicity so the team was called back to Moscow ahead of the troops. Yagudin felt a little betrayed, as did many of his friends and most of the military command.

When the platoon was ambushed by Mujhadeheed forces there were pleas for Oktober to rescue the young, doomed soldiers. There was no help and the Russians were slaughtered except for three who holed up in a cave which was surrounded by the Mujhadeheed.

For several days the soldiers were trapped and the Mujhadeheed enjoyed torturing them with obscene displays against the dead soldiers. One of the survivors shot himself in the cave, leaving Yagudin and one other in darkness. What happened next is not clear but most believe Yagudin went insane with the death threats becoming more and more graphic and the dwindling hope extinguished by the darkness.

Apparently he was an uberhuman and as the pressure built up he literally exploded, shattering his own body and the mountain he was hiding in. A crater can still be seen at the site. There were no survivors and no eye-witnesses apart from Yagudin who admits that he has no clear recollection of what happened.

He survived, though, and reformed his body although it was now more powerful than it had ever been.

Feeling betrayed by Russia he remained in Afghanistan causing mayhem and nearly reversing the Soviet and West withdrawal. He grew bored with the wanton destruction and moved to the Middle East where he continued to cause trouble, but this time as a mercenary, reaping financial rewards for his explosive acts.

The Americans called him UXB (Unexploded Bomb) and the name caught on. Yagudin hadn't considered a name for himself but when the media began taking an interest in his crimes and his past, he began to liken himself to his heroes, Oktober. In fact, he and Oktober met several times and most of those were on friendly terms. It was during the end of Oktober that UXB actually eclipsed them in fame. Oktober had been disbanded during the 1990s but UXB moved even more on to the world stage.

During what is now known as The Iron Age, UXB clashed with American super teams on American soil and abroad, most famously when he blew up three Navy vessels off the coast of Washington State : USS Callaghan, the George C Marshall nuclear submarine and the Range Sentinel. He was also successful in defeating Sanction twice and was responsible for the deaths of Hawk Lord, X-Kavator and Darkstar II.

While he was briefly incarcerated in America in 1992 UXB was never really contained until his death in 1995 at the hands of the villain group Maximum Force in what became known as The Acts of War. Other villains involved included the Havoc Masters, Deep Six and the (Alternate) New Men.

UXB was mad. The trauma of his transformation was never really reconciled and he went through his explosive career with utter abandon. He loved destruction and had no regard for anyone except himself, a factor in his eventual death at the hands of Maximum Force. He betrayed partners but was never blacklisted in the mercenary world because his powers were so devastating.

By the end of his life he was a hollow man. There was nothing in his life and earning money from jobs was not making him any happier.

"Game Over!"

His powers were known throughout the world as he was the walking time bomb. UXB's body was able to detonate massive energy, easily able to topple buildings and more than enough to throw down even the hardiest of super heroes. The range of his explosions was generally a 60m radius and he had shown himself capable of multiple detonations in the space of a short time.

After his transformation Sergei Yagudin grew a foot and put on over 60lbs of muscle. He was thick and red-faced, seemingly immovable and incredibly aggressive in his stance and gaze. He wore his reddish hair in a buzz cut and had a block head. For a costume he wore an assortment of iron link chains over a red and black armoured jumpsuit. He never concealed his face because he knew that he could wipe out any witnesses to his crimes: living or mechanical.