Ewan's powers manifested in a desperate attempt to break out of a police holding cell after he was accidentally locked in. In a vain effort to bend the bars, he found they were no longer metallic but more of a rubbery substance. Since then he's been able to fine-tune it to work under almost any condition. Although he's aware of the existance of other mutants throughout the world, he has never felt compelled to seek them out and be with his own kind. Ewan preferred to live as a normal person, working in a job and going about daily tasks.His short temper has gotten him into many dodgey situations, and even got him kicked out of the metropolitan Police for brutality and his almost vigilanti-like attitude.
Since moving to the US, he briefly ran a successful business in his store on Hudson St, until he was arrested as a suspect during the JFK hostage situation. He was held for a few days while awaiting a court hearing before an unknown Mutant approached him posing as a guard. The mutant got him to turn a bar of lead to adamantium before melting the bars of his cell. Shortly afterwards a real guard arrived on the scene, saw the bars and assumed it was an escape attempt. After a brief fight, MacLeod escaped back into NYC. He stayed in the basement of the Clear Skies cafe under the care of Cassie Forme for few weeks after being shot and assumed killed by AMTF Lt Cross.