Wilbur worked as a scientist for Kaxton Labs when he decided the lifestyle was too slow paced for him. When he decided upon this, he stole the blueprints for one of their latest designs, a suit that was supposed to be used as a battering ram. He later made his own suit, only tweaking details here and there for battle use, and began partaking in small crimes, such as convenient store robberies. When Wilbur became engaged in a legal dispute with Kaxton Labs about copyrights on the suit, it was exposed that Wilbur was Stilt-Man. Wilbur later attacked Matt Murdock, who was the lawyer for Kaxton, with his new invention: a "molecular condenser" gun. In the midst of the battle, Wilbur somehow was struck by a beam from his own gun, apparently shrinking him to a microscopic size, when in fact, it had transported him to an empty pocket dimension. About six months later, Wilbur made his way out of the pocket dimension and began making more minor changes in his suit.

Wilbur had many battles with some of the Marvel Universes greatest heroes, including Daredevil, Spider-Man, Captain America, and even Thor. Although he met defeat in all of these battles, he never stopped his crimes. When it was believed that the Kingpin had died, his wife, Vanessa Fisk, offered Wilbur a portion of her husband's wealth and power. When Wilbur's position was challenged by Owl, Wilbur decided that he had had enough of his criminal career, and went to confess all of his wrong-doings to Matt Murdock. Matt denied everything he was told, truly believing that Wilbur had reformed, and let Wilbur go free. Wilbur turned in his suit and went on to live a normal, villain-free life.

Day later returned to the suit, becoming a wannabe crimefighter. He used a new and improved suit courtesay of Phineas Mason aka The Tinkerer. One of his busts came in conflict with The Punisher, who promptly blew him off his legs with an RPG and a bullet to the face at point blank range. He was last seen at his wake, which was attended by many of his supervillain friends.