Extreme and complex environments, ranging from deep sea, polar, and aerospace settings to salt-lake chemical processes, and physiological conditions, demand adhesives with exceptional tolerance and stability. Traditional adhesive materials are prone to interfacial failure, material embrittlement, or chemical decomposition, which severely restricts their practical applications under extreme and complex conditions. In this tutorial review, we focus on four representative extreme conditions: high temperature, low temperature, high salinity, and physiological media. We first briefly outline the evolution of both traditional and bioinspired adhesives, alongside their limitations in extreme settings. We then elucidate the dominant failure mechanisms of adhesives in these environments and summarize state-of-the-art material design strategies to circumvent these issues. Finally, we highlight the critical bottlenecks in current research and propose future directions. This review intends to offer theoretical guidance and design insights for the development of high-performance adhesives suitable for extreme and complex conditions.
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