Trapster

Peter Petruski is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Strange Tales #104 (January 1963). Petruski is one of the first supervillains who became active during the "Silver Age" of Marvel Comics. He is known under the codenames Paste-Pot Pete and Trapster. Petruski is a former research chemist in New York City who invented an extremely adhesive "multi-polymer" liquid, which he used to create a paste-gun and become a criminal. He has also been a member of the Intelligencia and the Frightful Four at various points in his history.

Peter Petruski debuted as Paste-Pot Pete in Strange Tales #104 (January 1963), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He first appeared as the Trapster in Fantastic Four #38 (May 1965).

Peter Petruski was born in Gary, Indiana. Originally calling himself Paste-Pot Pete, he clashed with the Human Torch during his efforts to sell a new American missile to the Soviets. However, Pete escaped by using his paste to catch the wing of a plane, then diving into the sea.

Following a failed solo effort against Human Torch, Paste-Pot Pete broke out of jail and teamed with the Wizard in efforts to trump his youthful foe. However, Pete was angered over Wizard acting as the team's leader. Wizard framed Human Torch for a robbery. They got Human Torch to Wizard's house and used compressed air to force him into a chamber of steel mirrors, planning to fill the place with a gas that would cut off the oxygen supply of the Torch. However, Human Torch melted through the paste that held him to the floor, created a flaming duplicate to fool the two, then increased his flame enabling him to burn through the mirrors. The villains only realized this deception when the fake Human Torch faded away due to the gas, by which time Human Torch had regained his flame and captured the two in a flaming ring.

When Baron Zemo trapped the Avengers with Adhesive X, Pete provided them with a solvent of his own formulation to dissolve it and was paroled from prison. He adopted a new costume and weaponry, and battled Human Torch and the Thing using new paste types. He captured Thing, then Human Torch, but was still defeated. Wizard and Pete would eventually team with the criminal Sandman and the Inhuman Medusa as the Frightful Four to battle the Fantastic Four. It was shortly after the formation of the Frightful Four that Pete abandoned his old alias and assumed the more intimidating name Trapster after Spider-Man found the Paste-Pot Pete name laughable. The Frightful Four would clash time and again with the Fantastic Four, often enjoying some measure of success in their efforts. Over the years, the membership of the Frightful Four would vary, but Trapster served in virtually every incarnation in which Wizard served as well, loyal to his longtime boss.

He changed his nom de crime to the Trapster and appeared with new weaponry in Fantastic Four #38, with the second appearance of the Frightful Four, in an attempt to make himself sound more formidable. In this encounter, the Frightful Four was able to defeat the Fantastic Four. Over the years, a running gag in Marvel Comics involved heroes and villains alike reminding Trapster of his earlier name of "Paste-Pot Pete" — which would inevitably send him flying into a rage.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Trapster has often sought independent recognition, battling virtually every "street-level" hero in the Marvel Universe either by design or by opposition to some criminal scheme.

Peter Petruski does not possess superhuman abilities. Instead, the character relies on a variety of technological devices. He designed a costume of synthetic stretch fabric equipped with storage canisters for adhesives or lubricants, as well as paste-rigged boots and gloves to cling onto surfaces. His primary weapon is a projectile glue, initially delivered by a pistol connected by an armored tubing to the container worn at his hip, then wrist-mounted cannons, and eventually shot straight from the glove tips. Petruski shoots out streams of liquid gel that immediately form into a springy rope, thus enabling Pete to duplicate Spider-Man's webbing (to the point where he is the only person Spider-Man knows who could replicate even an approximate copy of his webs). He was able to create a fire-proof paste. Pete also designed boots that allow him to walk on walls by sequentially releasing a powerful glue followed by lubricant. Trapster created solvents that can render any surface frictionless and discovered a way to dissolve the extremely strong "Adhesive X" concocted by Heinrich Zemo, which even Zemo himself could not do. He also created a dust capable of rendering Mister Fantastic's unstable molecules inert.