Lead guitarist in the band, Platinum Steel ("Platine Acier"), Philippe was an up-and-coming rock star in Quebec, Canada. One wintry night, while traveling to Churchill, up by Hudson bay, the tour bus crashed after hitting a large fault-like fissure in the road.

 

The bus careened down the slope and into the woods, finally resting hundreds of feet below in a ravine.  Three band members and the driver died in the crash, leaving Philippe and the lead singer, Jarrod Winters, injured but able to walk.  Bundling up, they tried to scale the slope, but could get no traction.  Cell phones were useless in the area, and the road they traveled had been closed behind them due to the incoming winter storm.  They were in big trouble.

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Both band members followed the ravine, noting that the fissure up from the road stretched further down into the ravine's path.  After several minutes of walking, they found the cause: a large 20 foot tall creature made of earth and rock, standing in their path.  The creature let out a bellowing wail.  Both band members ran back the way they came only to get knocked to the ground by an amazingly powerful tremor created by the creature striking the ground.  The creature slowly advanced on the knocked down band members.  Jarrod wasn't able to get back up since a boulder had rolled down and on top of his leg. Philippe scared for his life, began to run away, but after a few steps, stopped. Philippe instead tried to get the creature's attention and lead him away from Jarrod.  In so doing, the creature kept pommeling the ground, creating avalanches of snow and rock.  Philippe dodged the falling rocks as best he could, but it was the fall of a tall pine tree that eventually pinned him to the ground about 60 feet away from Jarrod.  The creature advanced on Philippe, stretching out its enormous muddied and rock-encrusted hand and grabbed up Philippe.  When the creature drew Philippe up close to what seemed its head, Philippe noticed a shining rock at the base of the creature's neck.  Each time the creature moved, the rock shone brighter. Having nothing to loose, Philippe stretched out his hand and ripped the shining rock from the creature's neck.

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The creature immediate bellowed a noise heard for over 20 miles, as it began to discorporate, causing all the rock and dirt to simply drop to the ground like a load of earth released from an excavator vehicle's maw.

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After a few minutes, Philippe was able to unbury himself from the mud and rock and went to his band-mate, Jarrod.  both were in disbelief over what they saw, but regardless, Philippe held the barely shining stone in his hand as evidence to what they'd just encountered.  When Philippe tried to move the boulder over Jarrod's leg, it wouldn't budge; it was way too heavy, and Jarrod was starting to go into shock.  Not knowing what else to do, Philippe made what he'd later call a 'hail Mary' play, and placed the shining rock up to his throat.  Immediately, rock and debris near Philippe started covering him like an exoskeleton, turning him into a 8 foot tall rock and dirt covered golem.  With his new enhanced strength, he was able to lift the boulder with hardly any effort. 

 

He then took his band-mate back to the bus, found several blankets, wrapped Jarrod in them and easily made an ascent out of the ravine back up to the road.  Once there, he removed the the shining stone, wherein all the rock and debris fell off and around him. Shortly thereafter, they came across a snowplow, which took them to the nearest hospital. Jarrod survived, but did loose two fingers from frostbite.

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In the aftermath, after the funeral for his band-mates, Philippe saw in a local paper that the dead body of an old 'first person' (native) Canadian was found amidst a pile of rock and debris near the site.  Philippe and Jarrod never told anyone about the rock creature, and kept it their secret...that is, until the villainous United Canadian Empire (UCE) tried to take over Quebec one day.

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When the .UCE struck Quebec, all military forces had been disabled by the UCE, leaving no one to stop the UCE's leader, the self-proclaimed 'Emperor North', that is, except Philippe.  Angered at the assault, Philippe broke out the shining stone, which he now called his 'amulet' and changed into the rocky golem he once was in the ravine. Single-handedly, Philippe was able to not only defeat the invading UCE, but took out four of its ten super-villains, as well as the Emperor himself.  The UCE retreated, and Philippe had saved Quebec.  For a day he was a hero; once the media got hold of him, he became a monster.  Threatened, assaulted, chastised and derided, Philippe left Quebec heart-broken that his own people would treat him the way they did.  Not long after, a representative from GUARD found Philippe hitchhiking towards the US border and offered him a spot with GUARD.  Initially, he did not want to go, but then he met Scarlet Sibyl, a member of GUARD's "Terraguardian" super-group.  Most say it was love at first sight, others say she 'manipulated' him with a spell, regardless, Philippe joined the Terraguardians.

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In his own unique way as a rock and roll musician, Philippe, now calling himself "Hard Rock", is a man who has learned that practice makes perfect, and the more he's practiced with how to use the amulet and his new powers, the better a superhero he will become...a superhero that can shred a mean electric guitar solo and smash some serious bad guys.

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