Victor Stone's accident

The story of Victor Stone's accident is the beginning of the origin of the superhero known as Cyborg, who eventually joins the Teen Titans, then moves onto working for the Special School for Disabled Children, and finally after a long time of absence from any superhero group, he decides to join the Justice League.

The accident
Victor Stone was a promising athlete, who was excelling in the sport. His father was a cybernetics expert who worked at Star Labs. One day, Victor went to Star Labs to visit with his mother and his father, who both worked there. Coincidentally, an experiment in dimensional travel went horribly awry when a massive gelatinous monster crossed over an experimental portal and killed Victor's mother. The creature then turned on Victor and severely mutilated him before his father managed to force the creature back through the portal. To save his son, Victor's father outfitted him with experimental prostheses of his own design. However, the equipment could not be worn inconspicuously, and thus Victor was horrified to see much of his body, including part of his face, replaced with sheer metallic limbs and implants. Although Victor wanted to die at this shock, he adjusted enough through his resulting physical therapy to control his implants with suitable skill.

After the accident
In the time following the accident, Cyborg shunned publicity, because he was ashamed to be seen due to his appearance. He focused his time helping young people. He started out helping the Teen Titans when he joined the team in 1983. He later went on to work for the Special School for Disabled Children. Superman approached him on a number of occasions to try and recruit him to join the Justice League. Every time he tried to recruit him, Cyborg turned him down, fearing that being in the JLA would put him in the spotlight too much. Once, when Cyborg singlehandedly defeated Lex Luthor, Superman asked him to join again, but he still turned it down, much to Firestorm's surprise. It wasn't until Cyborg befriended Ronald Raymond and helped the League stop Darkseid's plans that he finally decided to join the Justice League of America.