Forge is a mutant who possesses a natural talent for mechanical inventions, which is enhanced by his mutant ability to see mechanical energy. Through this power he can see how something could function so that he can build new things, and it gives him the ability to see working machinery and operate, change, or take it apart.

He debuted in The Uncanny X-Men #184 (August 1984) as a creation of Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr. Forge is a member of the Cheyenne nation who trained as a medicine man, but he chose to focus on technology rather than continue to learn about his mystical powers. The decision caused tension with his teacher, so Forge left home and joined the army and served in the Vietnam War. When his fellow soldiers were killed, he used their spirits to summon demons and unleashed them on his enemies. Then Forge ordered a bombing to close the portal he had opened between worlds, and he was caught in the blast, losing his right hand and leg.

Forge created cybernetic replacements once he returned home and he was hired to work for the Defense Department. He created a weapon to detect Dire Wraiths then made a device that could neutralize mutant powers. Despite his protests, the weapon was used against Rogue, who had been accused of killing a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but it took Storm’s powers instead.

Storm was injured during the incident, so Forge helped her recover. The pair became romantic, but she left once she learned that he was the inventor of the device. Later he made the Neutralizer more powerful and with Rom’s help, Forge sent a large Neutralizer into space so that they could blast the Wraith’s homeworld.

With that threat gone, Forge destroyed the remaining Neutralizers and began focusing on stopping the Adversary – a demon that Forge had let into the world during the war. The Adversary posed as Naze and convinced Storm that Forge was going to open a gate to hell, but she soon realized that it was a trick. Then the Adversary sent Storm and Forge to another dimension where they resumed their romance, and Forge found a way to restore Storm’s abilities.

They found their way back to Earth and joined the X-Men in the fight against the Adversary. Forge knew of a spell that could send the Adversary back to hell, but it would require the sacrifice of nine lives. Eight X-Men and Madelyn Pryor volunteered to die for the spell, though the goddess Roma secretly restored their lives.

Believing the X-Men to be dead, Forge joined Mystique’s Freedom Force and an interim X-Men team to fight the Reavers. Forge made a rifle that could deactivate the cyborg Skullbuster, forcing the Reavers to retreat. Banshee came to Forge to tell him that the X-Men were still alive, so the pair set out to find them. First they went to Cairo to look for Storm, but their plane was attacked by the Fenris Twins, then they traveled to the ruins of the Xavier Mansion to save Jean Grey from the Morlocks. When they finally found the team, Forge and Banshee became fulltime members of the X-Men.