Michael Van Patrick was a talented athlete who had achieved many victories and won many awards in a variety of sports. He was offered many scholarships and eventually accepted one. While he was attending college the press revealed that MVP's great-grandfather was Dr. Abraham Erskine the inventor of the Super-Soldier Serum that created Captain America. In response to this news, Van Patrick's scholarship was taken away. Many tests were performed all of which showed no foreign substances or enhancements in Van Patrick's blood. Regardless of this fact, Van Patrick was kicked out of his school. After hearing about this scandal, Justice went to Liberty, Kentucky to talk with Michael and his father about joining the Initiative after a little persuasion Michael agreed to become a trainee.
Once arriving at Camp Hammond in Stamford, Connecticut, Van Patrick adopted the codename MVP. MVP quickly became one of the most promising recruits of the Initiative. He earned She-Hulk's respect after breaking the camp's obstacle course record for non-speedsters on his first try. While he was taking a shower, MVP was interrupted by Cloud 9 who had accidentally wandered into the men's locker room. Immediately embarrassed, Cloud 9 ran out of the showers. After changing into his uniform, MVP tracked Cloud 9 to the combat simulator where Armory was testing her powers. MVP was apologizing to Cloud 9 when Armory suddenly began attacking Trauma and started blasting her arm cannon wildly. While everyone was seeking cover, Cloud 9 froze and MVP tackled her out of the way of one of Armory's energy blasts. While checking on Cloud 9's status, another wild energy blast shot through MVP's head, killing him instantly. Gauntlet halted Armory's attack while Henry Peter Gyrich told everyone present that the incident had not occurred and that MVP had not died in Stamford.
MVP's body was then given to Baron von Blitzschlag for an autopsy. Afterward, the Baron revealed to Gyrich and Yellowjacket that MVP had no superhuman powers and his perfect physique was entirely natural. Preserving the body in his lab, Blitzschlag began cloning Van Patrick. The first, wholly unaltered clone was returned to MVP’s father Brian and passed off as the original. Blitzschlag created three other clones by combining his own DNA with MVP’s. These clones were named Michael, Van, and Patrick; they were turned into the scarlet spiders and placed on the Shadow Initiative. Blitzschlag later produced a fifth MVP clone by combining Armory’s Tactigon weapon and MVP’s DNA, which drove the clone insane. Dubbing itself KIA, the clone ravaged Camp Hammond and began hunting down all the witnesses of MVP’s death. He then killed Van of the clones.