An amateur inventor, Bertram Larvan designed a mechanical insect that could help the insect, bird and animal life that prey on man. Larvan was convinced that this would make him his fortune. Unfortunately, without financial backing, Larvan could not build a working model of his robot insect, and without a working model no one would give him financial backing.

Repeatedly rejected, and growing ever more bitter against society as time passed, Larvan at last decided to break the visious cycle by stealing the money he needed for his invention.

Larvan used the robot insect he built with money from his first robbery to steal more money, until he had built himself a veritable army of robot insects, beginning a crime wave which brought him into battle with Ray(the Atom) Palmer.

In his guise as the Bug-Eyed Bandit, Larvan accidentally discovered the Atom's secret identity, and used this information in his repeated attempts to slay the tiny titan. These attempts all failed, and Larvan became a victim of amnesia whilst in prison.