Real name Tryco Slatterus, The Champion is one of the Elders of the Universe. As one of the oldest living beings in the universe, his origin was lost in the early histories. He was the survivor of one of the intelligent races that evolved in one of the first galaxies to form after the Big Bang. His race became extinct and his native galaxy died as the ages passed, but the Champion lived on, having become virtually immortal. As the relatively few survivors of the earliest period of the universe, the Elders of the Universe regarded themselves as figuratively being siblings. The Champion of the Universe first appeared in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7 in 1982.

When Tryco Slatterus came to Earth, he defeated a number of its heroes like Sasquatch and Colossus. During this event, Thor was disqualified for throwing his hammer Mjolnir (he was allowed to use it since he'd be powerless without it and would revert to his mortal persona), Hulk was disqualified since the Champion didn't want to "soil his hands on a mindless beast," Wonder Man was disqualified for tearing up the ring after being battered badly in the first round, Namor was disqualified for refusing to stoop to training, and Doc Samson was disqualified for not being sufficiently skilled to qualify as an opponent. The Thing was able to give the Champion enough of a battle in a losing effort for him to leave satisfied. Later, The Champion was bestowed with the possession of the Power Gem. Thanos managed to take the Gem from the Champion during his quest to gather all of the Infinity Stones. The Champion later attempted to gain revenge on Thanos but was harmlessly teleported away.The Champion then joined the other Elders in the Grandmaster's scheme to kill Galactus. The existing universe would collapse, and the Elders would survive the big crunch and the subsequent big bang of a new universe, becoming Galactus-like beings in the new universe. The scheme failed, but the Champion had become one of the threats to the universe he had schemed.