Force of Nature is the name of a team of four superhuman mercenaries posing as employees of Project: Earth and defenders of the environmental issues. Project: Earth is an ecological direct action group based in Geneva, Switzerland, that regularly uses violence and deceit in retribution against those who damage the earth's ecosystem.
Even though many of Project: Earth's activities are behind-the-scenes, the group appears to skirt the edges of terrorism in the public eye. One such action involved creating the group Force of Nature, employing villains like Water Wizard and Firebrand by giving them a chance to hurt or kill people and destroy property under the guise of nobility; only the member Terraformer has expressed an actual interest in the planet's well-being. The villains were given codenames to reflect mankind's molding of elemental forces and disharmony with nature-- Aqueduct for Water Wizard and Skybreaker for Aireo, Terraformer and Firewall.
Force of Nature's first public mission was to stop developers in the Amazon rainforest. At the same time, Project: Earth's leader Omar Barrenos had the Project's inner circle fake their own kidnapping as a publicity stunt to encourage sympathy for their cause and discredit the developers. The group of young heroes called the New Warriors investigated the disappearance of one of the inner circle members, Madeline Baldwin, mother of the Warrior Speedball. Force of Nature, however, ambushed and subdued the heroes, and Barrenos tried to persuade them to join the cause. Although the team refused, Speedball pledged their help anyway after seeing that his mother was among the Project: Earth crew. The Warriors and Force of Nature were to attack the developers together, but instead the Warriors saved the lives of the clear-cutting crews and defeated Force of Nature. A last-ditch effort on Barrenos' part to martyr Madeline Baldwin and frame the developers was derailed by Speedball, but the administrators were able to escape into the forest during the confusion. Project: Earth was discredited, and Force of Nature were incarcerated and turned over to the Brazilian government.
Project: Earth soon arranged for Force of Nature's release, believing them to be more successful as a group than they had been as individuals. However, the operative Firewall was lost a few months later and was replaced by the mercenary Firebrand. The team was given another mission-- to put out the oil well fires raging in the war-torn Middle Eastern country Trans-Sabal. The mission went awry, and after a few weeks, Project: Earth officials contacted the New Warriors. The Project claimed to have surreptitiously assisted the heroes previous to this, and made them agree to pull the Force of Nature out of Trans-Sabal. The Warriors were successful, and Force members Terraformer, Skybreaker and Aqueduct were remanded to custody at the American prison called the Vault.
Since this incarceration, the Force of Nature has yet to band together again. Terraformer and Skybreaker were seen in a small riot at the Vault, stopped by Justice while he was imprisoned there. Aqueduct and Firebrand have since returned to their mercenary lifestyle.
