Shortly after Sheldon Sampson's father's suicide in 1929, triggered by Black Thursday, former businessman Sheldon travels to an uncharted island in the Atlantic Ocean, where he, his brother, Walter and four others received superpowers. He then creates a superhero team called the Union of Justice and his guiding ideals - never kill anyone, never interfere in political matters - remain unchanged over the near-century of his adventures as the Utopian.