Unlike the rest, his powers are all natural. Introduced in Slingers #0 (1998) by Joseph Harris and Adam Pollina, Johnny was a young mutant whose mother was killed by Nanny and Orphan Maker. He was left in the care of his distant father who blamed him for her death and had to hide his mutant powers from him. In college, he made friends his future teammates when they were approached by Black Marvel to become superheroes, using the costumes and identities that Spider-man used during the Identity Crisis saga, with Johnny becoming Ricochet. He would join the Slinger, helping fight villains like the Maggia and saving the guest in a hotel following Black Marvel’s betrayal. After saving Marvel’s soul from Mephisto, the team broke up but Johnny and Hornet continued to fight crime together.

He felt guilty when Hornet had asked for his help later and his friend was killed by a brainwashed Wolverine. Because of this, he joined the Loners, a self-help group that tried to dissuade former heroes back into heroic and live a normal life. However, all the Loner would eventually return to being heroes. He was later seen as a recruit for Avengers Academy as the second class of trainees. He would later be reunited with the Slingers when a demon took on Black Marvel’s form and turned Cyber into Hornet. Working together with Scarlet Spider (Reilly), they tried to find out the identity of Hornet. When the demon’s true form was revealed, the Slingers chased Cyber but he escaped. He began working for the Beyond Corporation, and after a bit of misunderstanding, rejoined the Slingers with Hobie Brown taking Hornet’s place as leader.