The Collective began as a procedure undertaken by a man named Maurice with the objective to fuse the personalities of himself and other four volunteers: Julie, Ty, Samantha and Peter. Five months and 73 failed experiments later, Maurice sought the help of his cousin Al who worked as a janitor for A.I.M. to gain access to an untested device that could supposedly create a psychic bond between people. The device not only merged their minds, but also their bodies, turning them into a monstrous blob of human parts with the desire to assimilate anybody in its vicinity. The Collective went on a rampage through Queens, and in the process assimilated roughly twenty more people before vigilante Moon Knight confronted it at the New York Hall of Science. After fighting Moon Knight, the Collective managed to rip his mask, exposing enough skin to touch and assimilate him as well.
