Brothers from Los Angeles,Charles and Hal Chandler have been both been known as the hero 3-D Man. During the 1950's,Nasa was just starting to put their first man into orbit. The key to the success of the program was the XF-13 rocket plane, an experimental aircraft capable of reaching the upper most atmosphere. When it was time to test this craft, one of the first men chosen was Charles "Chuck" Chandler. On Chandlers first test of the aircraft he was tailed and later abducted by the skrulls. The skrulls has had their eyes on earth for ages and hopes to use it's strategic position to gain the advantage in the war with the Kree. So with that in mind the skrulls became interested in earth's space exploration programs. The night before Chuck had taken off,the Skrulls had orchestrated a kidnapping in which Chuck's brother Hal helped him escape. The skrulls were obviously persistent in their conquest. The skrulls had been looking to abduct pilots so that they could gain vital information from the regarding the space program in which the operate.
Coming to the realization that Chandler would never willingly give up any information the skrulls prepared a mind probe ray. In that instant he broke free of the Skrulls grasp and escaped. During his escape he damaged several components of the ships warp drive which are absolutely necessary to the ship's maintenance. Just as he attempted to make his dramatic exit in the XF-13 back home, the skrulls ship exploded from an overload in the power source. Hal made his escape unharmed but he wasn't safe from the alien radiation that came from the ship's explosion. The XF-13 was badly damaged in the escape so Chuck decided to land the ship in the Mojave Desert where he knew his brother Hal would be watching the test flights. When he ejected himself from the craft his brother ran over to greet him and he vanished into a burst of light.In the belief that his brother had perished, Hal returned to LA to inform their parents and the NASA authorities. That night Hal had become aware that there the image of a man had been imprinted into the lens of one of his glasses,and that one lens was red and the other green. Hal figured out that the image in one lens of the man was of his brother, which was imprinted their when he vanished in that burst of light. By putting on the glasses and concentrating on the two images on a flat surface Hal triggered a dimensional transfer that returned Chuck to this reality but left Hal in a trance-like state.
During Secret Invasion, Chuck and Hal were seen telling their story to the new 3-D Man Triathlon.They are apparently retired from super-heroism so it's fitting their legacy would be carried on by another.
Delroy Garrett Jr., formally know as Triathlon gained access to the 3-D Man goggles at his graduation from the Initiative, making him the new 3-D Man.
