Rebels were founded on Amiga platform on the 10th of February 1989 after the two Danish groups Chaos Cooperation and Roadrunners merged.

On the PC platform Rebels did not appear until 1992. It came to being after two Swedish Amiga members by the name of M:et and Omnibuz decided to team up. Omnibuz was at the time the system operator of Sweden's largest scene bulletin board system so it was thought of as a good based of operations for the newly separate Rebels PC division.

The original intention for Rebels PC was to be an art and demo group where they would create home-brewed computer demonstrations to be shown at party gatherings for likeminded programmers. Their first demonstration had been rejected by the organisers of the first copy-party they attended as it was deemed too large. So the demo group idea was put on ice and Rebels PC went off to engage with the underground pirate scene.

Rebels later absorbed the Danish group 2000AD who had mainly operated on the Commodore 64 platform. The former leader of 2000AD later departed Rebels to create a successful group by the name of Cell Block 4. Cell Block 4 soon after became well known for churning out endless software cracks, sometimes up to 15 a day! Incidentally Cell Block 4 rejoined Rebels during the New Year of 1997. That was not long after the 2000AD brand separated from Rebels under the leadership of its Commodore 64 platform founder.

1996 also saw a Rebels merge with the US based utility group Pantera. This move made the group intercontinental and cemented it as a well known brand.

2000 saw the start of a shift within Rebels with a partial merger of the Defacto2 Art Division and a return to legal home-brew intros which included a full size demo. This evolution continued as the scene suffered severe attacks from international law enforcement agencies until the group become completely legitimate.