HISTORY: Leopold Stryke, the original Eel, was an aquarium caretaker and noted marine life expert. Unknown reasons drove him to pursue a life of crime thus he began electrifying the world as the evil Eel, until the original Gladiator senselessly murdered him.

A crook named Edward Lavell has since then donned the costume and adopted the Eel identity in pursuit of fame, fortune and super-heroic beatings.

The Eel has the ability to sneak in a building unnoticed by squeezing and sliding through narrow passages and other obstacles. This ability stems from a special oily coating his costume is covered with and the fact that he is limber and nimble just like an actual eel.

Spider-Man last tangled with the Eel, when the latter, working for Caesar Cicero, stole fragments of the infamous lifeline tablet as see in the "Spider-Man: Lifeline" three-part miniseries.