Matthew "Red" Ryan is best known in his pre-Challs days as a mountain climber, but he's much more than that. Brainex describes him as, "a pretty canny combatant! He was a famed mountain climber - and experienced in every hazard! He could cope with any danger and emergency!" In flashback, Red is shown hurling a "snow brute" (yeti? bigfoot?) off a mountain! Red started climbing mountains "before he was 10" (DC Comics Present 84). He once climbed a mountain in Borneo (Adventures of Superman 508). When challenging is slow, Red guides mountaineers and hunters on climbs (COTU 12).

Red is the youngest Challenger. In their first adventure (Adventure 496), Rocky calls him "the kid". The newsreel "Challenging the Unknown" also note's he the youngest (New Frontier 3). He started risking his life early enough. In COTU 74, Red claims "I was flyin' around the tops of circus tents before I was five years old!"

Red got a taste of immortality early on. Once while climbing Mount Fujioka, he was buried under ice and snow for 12 hours. "No way he could have survived," says June (Secret Origins 12), "but he did." Interestingly, June describes Red as "easy-going". That seems like wishful thinking, but she IS talking to a reporter!

Red's origin as a Challenger (COTU 31) begins in South America. A millionaire, Senor Domingo, wants to erect a radio transmitter atop Mount Blanco "to educate my poor countrymen." Red's only interest as an electronics engineer is in erecting a transmitter he's designed but can't afford to build.
	Red climbs the mountain in bitter wind. And weeks later, the transmitter is complete. "Tomorrow morning, the peasants within a 200-mile radius will start their education." But that night Red gets a visitor. A local boy claims that Senor Domingo wants the radio station for propaganda to become dictator. "You must destroy it!" "Building that transmitter was my single greatest ambition... And I keep my nose out of other peoples' politics! Now scram!" Yet no sooner does the kid leave the tent than he's gunned down. Red catches him as he dies. "What kind of murdering swine is Domingo, sending assassins after youngsters? Okay! I've made it my fight now!" Recklessly Red pursues the assassin up the tower, counting his shots to six. "We've both got the same weapons now - our bare hands!" Yet Red does the decent thing as the assassin steps back - shouts a warning. Too late. The man is electrocuted by 10,000 volts!
Days later, Red is paraded through the streets of the capital. The president exclaims, "The whole world knows how you exposed a plot to enslave my people!" He's even to appear on the show "Heroes". Yet Red regrets, "The real hero is that dead youngster." This lack of compassion will be Red's big regret as the Challs' plane enters a spiral toward certain death (Recounted in Showcase 6, COTU 31, and Adventure 493.)

Red is a gambling addict (or perhaps just addicted to risk). While passing through Las Vegas with Ace (Adventure 496), even though he owes $50K to the mob, he mooches a quarter off Ace to feed a slot machine, and beats on it when stiffed. Amnesiac and penniless in Turkey after being blown up, Red instinctively makes money betting on horses.

The first recorded instance of Red falling in love was Tiana, a simply polynesian girl who served him dinner when he was a paranoid man-fish. When Red transforms into Seekeenakee, Tiana feels she's betrayed the gods of her people, and is killed. Red tried to catch her and snagged only her flowered lei. He has only a withered orchid to remember Tiana by. (COTU 62, second story) Later Red would fall for Corinna Stark.

Red "always liked John Wayne," and "hates it when jerks quote him." (COTU V2 5)