Steven Martland, CEO of LIVE Corporation, steers the pharmaceutical giant’s evolution into a megacorporation notorious for unethical bio-mask experimentation—devices designed to confer superhuman abilities. Under his command, the corporation becomes a shadowy enterprise conducting covert human trials, predominantly on prisoners. Early prototypes trigger rapid aging, claiming countless lives. A prominent scar etches his left eyebrow, a distinguishing feature chronicled in every record.

Decades before the central conflict, he orchestrates a bank bombing to obliterate evidence, inadvertently killing Olivia Burner—wife of Richard Burner—among other civilian casualties. He methodically silences threats, authorizing hits on witnesses and investigators like prosecutor Monica Campbell. To divert law enforcement, he unleashes Jeremy “Grimm” Payne, an unhinged serial killer and ex-test subject, to sow chaos and veil corporate misdeeds.

Martland coerces ex-SSC detective Harry Creighton into servitude by exploiting his girlfriend’s critical illness, holding her survival hostage to guarantee cooperation. He coldly categorizes individuals as expendable or protected—a classification initially sparing his brother, Fred Faraday. Yet a desperate bid to save Fred with an experimental mask backfires, accelerating his aging and demise.

When his crimes surface, Martland flees under an alias. His escape ends abruptly as his private jet plummets into the ocean—a crash widely suspected to be Richard Burner’s vengeful retaliation for Olivia’s death. Confirmed deceased, Martland’s reign concludes, severing his grip on unfolding events.