Trapster

The Trapster is a villain who specializes in various mechanical gadgets that he uses to trap and ensnare his foes. He is a member of the Frightful Four, nemeses of the Fantastic Four. Until mid-1965, Trapster was known as Paste-Pot Pete, using a special gun that fired various potent pastes at his foes. Though still an expert in adhesives, Trapster expanded his knowledge and changed his persona to reflect his greater range of skills.

Biography

Paste-Pot Pete

Paste-Pot Pete's first crimes of note were a pair of attempted robberies, of money from a bank and a missile from a military base. But the Human Torch thwarted his plans, forcing him to escape. Pete hid out for some time, plotting his revenge, and soon endeavored to team up with another of Torch's fiercest rivals, the Wizard, who was imprisoned at the time. Pete stormed the penitentiary and freed the Wizard, but Wizard's domineering personality immediately began to get on Pete's nerves. Nonetheless, the two soon began disrupting Torch's public image using a flaming asbestos suit that Wizard had previously developed to imitate the Torch. In one case however, Torch was able to get the jump on the two and chase them back to their hideout. They had expected this however, and trapped Torch inside a large labyrinth of steel mirrors. Torch was able to escape, stealthily trapping the two in a ring of fire long enough to inform the authorities and arrest them both. Several months later, Pete was phoned in prison by the Wasp representing the Avengers. The Masters of Evil led by Baron Zemo had blanketed New York in Adhesive X, a material thought to be unbreakably sticky. In exchange for a reduced sentence, Pete pointed the Avengers the way to a vat of his "super-dissolver" that he kept in a warehouse. This proved to be effective in dissolving Adhesive X and turning the tide in the Avengers' fight with the Masters.

Pete was indeed paroled for assisting the Avengers, and by the following month had found a new resolve to become a stronger and more efficient criminal. He rented a glue factory and spent his time developing new equipment and weapons to combat his foes. In particular, he sought vengeance against his nemesis, the Human Torch. He hid in the shrubs outside of Torch's home, where he witnessed the Thing visit and notify him of Pete's parole. Torch already knew this however, and didn't consider it his concern, leaving to go on a date with his girlfriend Doris Evans. As Thing left in his segment of the Fantasticar, he was attacked by Pete himself, who had been watching from the shrubs nearby. Pete eventually took control of the vehicle, trailing Thing behind him on a strand of paste. Pete took Thing to his rented glue factory, securing him to the wall with ultra-strong paste. Torch soon arrived, and the two managed to beat Pete into submission and leave him for the police.

The Frightful Four

Paste-Pot Pete met the Sandman in prison, and the two broke out together. They commandeered a plane to make good their escape, and happened to rescue a third villain, the Wizard, in midair. Wizard had been defeated by the Human Torch and left to ascend far into the atmosphere. The three decided to form a team to combat the Fantastic Four, and Wizard went on to recruit the mysterious Medusa to round out their ranks. The newly dubbed Frightful Four infiltrated the Fantastic Four's headquarters at the Baxter Building, catching the heroes off-guard in their home. Wizard nearly managed to send three of the Fantastic Four into the atmosphere with his anti-gravity device, but Human Torch managed to put a stop to the Frightful Four's plans. The villains fled and regrouped, leaving the heroes off-balance and shocked that they were almost defeated so easily. Wizard went to great lengths to enact his vengeance on the Fantastic Four, constructing an underground base with a massive bomb inside it beneath a remote Pacific atoll. He and the others lured the heroes to the atoll and stranded them there, leaving them to seemingly die in the explosion. A month later, the Frightful Four went to the Baxter Building and found that their enemies had not returned. They were however scared away by a burst of flame in the sky that they assumed was the Human Torch, but which was in fact the Asgardian Balder, arriving on Earth for an unrelated matter.

Against the Frightful Four's hopes, the Fantastic Four did in fact survive and return to New York. After a brief falling out between the Thing and the rest of the team, the Frightful Four captured Thing and used the "id machine" of Wizard's creation to alter the hero's mind, manipulating his anxieties and turning him to the side of evil. Thing proved to be a potent ally against the rest of the Fantastic Four, but in the end, the heroes' cunning and steadfast alliance allowed them to return the Thing to normal and finally bring the Frightful Four to justice, with the exception of Medusa, who slipped through the Human Torch's grasp by way of Wizard's anti-grav ship. Wizard was hospitalized by the Thing while Sandman and Trapster were left in their cell wondering whether Medusa would help them escape, or if she had given up on the Frightful Four.