He plots with the Frightful Four members, but is kept from attacking the captive Alicia Masters by Thundra. She proceeds to have a one-on-one fight with the Thing in a stadium, that Trapster and the others plan to blow up, eliminating both the FF and the uncontrollable Thundra. However, Thundra knocks the Thing out of the stadium and ruins their plan.
A bandit calling himself Paste-Pot Pete uses a gun loaded with a special paste he invented to commit a bank robbery. His plans are cut short when the Human Torch shows up. When Paste-Pot Pete is about to be captured by the boy's flames, his luck turns in his favor as he is able to shoot a paste line to a passing airplane and escape.
Paste-Pot Pete considers getting an ally to defeat the Human Torch so he decides to break the Wizard out of jail. They both agree to work together to destroy their mutual enemy. However harmony is broken as soon as the Wizard imposes his leadership over Pete's proposed partnership. Using the Wizard's flaming suit, they commit crimes to frame the Human Torch. The flaming hero soon confronts them and they entrap him in a hall of mirrors. But Johnny melts his way out and rounds up the two criminals. Then he clears his name by delivering them to the police.
As the world's greatest authority on adhesives, Paste-Pot Pete is contacted in prison by the Avengers who need his help to dissolve Baron Zemo's Adhesive X. In order to shorten his imprisonment, he sends them to his warehouse where he stored a super-dissolver.
Being paroled out of jail shortly after helping the Avengers, Paste-Pot Pete redesigns his costume completely to make it more efficient and changes his looks to be taken more seriously. But his attempt to get revenge on the Human Torch falls short when he has to tackle the Thing first and then face the two heroes who send him back in jail.
After having escaped from jail thanks to the Sandman, they had rescued the Wizard who was floating adrift in the sky. When they meet again, the Wizard introduces Madam Medusa to the other two and they form the Frightful Four to get revenge on the Fantastic Four. They manage to surprise Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl and the Thing and send them adrift along with Alicia Masters, but the Human Torch captures the Wizard and forces him to rescue his friends. The Fantastic Four are about to defeat them when the Wizard's ship explodes, allowing the Frightful Four to escape.
Tired of the way it sounded, Paste-Pot Pete has decided to be called the Trapster from now on. Madam Medusa, the Trapster and the Wingless Wizard capture Sue Storm while she is at a beauty parlor. Then the Frightful Four lure the rest of the Fantastic Four and leave them stranded on the island until an atomic Q-Bomb explodes.
Spotting a flaming streak in the sky near Baxter Building, which is actually the Asgardian Balder journeying to Earth, the Frightful Four think it is the Human Torch. They realize that the Fantastic Four may have survived the explosion, so they decide to abandon their plan to take over their quarters.
Tension builds within Frightful Four which exacerbates the rivalry between the Trapster and the Sandman. Taking the opportunity of the Thing leaving the Fantastic Four, the villains brainwash him to join their group and turn him against his former teammates. With his help, they manage to capture the rest of the Fantastic Four. After Reed and Sue manage to abduct the Thing and escape, the Wizard decides to submit the Human Torch to the same treatment as the Thing but Madam Medusa realizes that he hero is only faking submission. The villains neutralize Johnny and use him as leverage to have the Fantastic Four surrender. But they soon realize that the Wizard is no longer in control of the Thing and although Madame Medusa is able to flee, her teammates are delivered to the police.
