Chris "Volcano" Maddigan was a dirty cop with a short temper. He started in the Explosive Ordinance Unit of the Boston Police Department and learned the trade better in the Army reserves. As a police officer he succumbed to offers for a "supplemental income" by criminals willing to pay for his services. An occasional insurance scam here, a mafia backed car bomb there, and it wasn't long before he had made a name for himself.

Approaching retirement, he set up a plan to deactivate one of his own bombs and go out looking like a hero. Instead, a slight miscalculation cost him his thumb. Upset with his failings and paltry retirement and disability pay, he once again took on contract jobs. Firefly secretly began using Volcano's skills to carry out his own contracts. He was impressed with the level of skill used. With the creation of Stormfront, Volcano was one of the first to be recruited.