Raised in small-town America, young Victor Borkowski lived a normal life despite his reptilian features. The close-knit community accepted the boy for who he was until the growing world anti-mutant sentiment reached their town. For his own safety, his parents sent him to the Xavier Institute where he has excelled academically. When the students were organized into squads, Victor was placed on Northstar's Alpha Squadron and soon became squad leader. Victor also struggled with his sexuality, forming a close bond with the openly gay Northstar. When Northstar was killed by a mind-controlled Wolverine, Victor initially had trouble dealing with his loss but soon learned to cope with help from his new advisor, Karma.
Anole was also taken into Limbo where the New X-Men found and saved Illyana Rasputin. In the process his right arm was severed at the shoulder. Anole was suprised that the arm regrew and was much stronger. He, with the help of Pixie and the other New X-Men, defeated the villain Witchfire. Upon his return home, Pixie and Anole became members of the New X-Men team. As a member of the New X-Men team he confided his homosexuality to Rockslide, who was previously unaware.
During Hope Summers birth, the X-Men learned that the Purifiers were involved. Surge lead the New X-Men on a mission to find out how the Purifiers were involved. Anole used his camouflage to infiltrate their facility and found out that the Purifiers in fact did not have the baby. Upon his return to the mansion he helped defend his friends against Predator X.
When Cyclops disbanded the X Men, Victor went to his hometown. Northstar was alive again and came to talk to Victor about being accepted. He was surprised to learn that Victor's hometown accepted him for who he was, but his time with the X-Men made him into a warrior instead of a kid. Victor elbows Northstar in the face as he plans on running away from his civilian life.
Moonstar convinced Anole to join the Young X-Men in San Francisco. He aided in the Skrull invasion and was with them when they moved to Utopia.
When Magik was hurt and transported to Limbo during Cable's return from the future with Hope, Cannonball used Anole to convince Pixie to teleport a team into Limbo to retrieve her. Anole was a part of that team and was forced to fight his teammates who were corrupted in Limbo's dark energy.
