Johnny Chance, aka Spyman, is an agent with Liberty.
This covert governmental organization which is tasked with protecting America from all manner of dangers, has its ultra-secret headquarters beneath the Statue of Liberty. Its sizable facility consists of at least six floors beneath the surface on Libery Island. Agents for this agency can come and go via a submarine berthing area although there are other, less involved ways of entry. The name 'Liberty' is not, apparently, an acronym for anything or at least none is ever mentioned.
The agents for this secret bureau do tend to go around dressed in a skin tight full-body suit of a bright red color, including a piece that covers all the head except the face and which has a visor. When out on the street 'in disguise' Spyman is known to cover up with a trenchcoat, although he still wears the headress. When an agent is needed, the torchlight from the Statue changes to a red glow. Later when he is fitted with his mechanical hand, Spyman is able to receive a signal via it causing it to tingle.
It is not known if before the accident which would change his life dramatically, Johnny Chance was the lead agent or just one of its best but when he and a fellow agent named Mike discovered enemy agents in the headquarters setting up an atomic bomb, he took it upon himself to check it out. He incapacitated the two bad guys but not before they had armed the device. While removing the detonator from the bomb, the explosive went off in his hand destroying that appendage.
The lead scienctist for the organization, a Dr. Vane, had been working on a 'electro-robot hand' which housed many remarkable mini-gadgets. Unfortunately to that point the human body consistently rejected being connected to the device but the explosion that cost Chance his hand had radioactivity in it which somehow made his body more accepting so the metal hand was able to be grafted onto Chance's writst.
In the first version of the hand, there was an 'Electro-Blast' from his index finger, an X-Ray probe on his middle finger, ring finger housing the 'ring-control-sections' (?), and a recording device and transmitter in the pinky. The thumb had a photography unit. The pads of the palm had electro-magnetic plating which would allow him to adhere to walls for climbing. From the center of the palm could be shot a cone of opague rays 'obscuring the presenced of light' which he called a Black Beam.
When severe damage to the hand was taken at the beginning of the second recorded adventure, Dr. Vane revealed the latest 'model', a hand that had detachable fingers, each digit having a different use. These extra fingers are carried in a utility belt around his waist. Some of these included a flame thrower and a finger grenade.
We learn very little about Chance other than the facts that he is is in his late 20s or early 30s and is in peak physical condition. A handsome dark haired man, he is clean shaven and as fearless as they come. Where he came from or anything else remains a mystery.