 Gladiator first appeared in "Daredevil" #18 (July 1966), and was created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr.

Melvin Potter was a costume designer who had the deluded belief that he was far better than any superhero.In order to prove his point, he designed a suit of battle armor for himself, complete with deadly wrist blades, and became known as the Gladiator.He battled Daredevil in his first criminal outing, and then met the Masked Marauder, another enemy of Daredevil's.