Ringmaster (Marvel)
The Ringmaster is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Maynard Tidboldt
The Ringmaster is a powerless man with a unique hat which is designed to hypnotize people, thus allowing him to take complete control over their actions. He originally traveled across America as the manager, director, and ringmaster of his small traveling circus, which was actually a front for his Circus of Crime; The Human Cannonball, The Clown, Bruto the Strongman, the Great Gambonnos, and Princess Python the Snake Charmer. During their show, he would hypnotize the crowd and send his lackeys out to steal any valuables on the victim's person. Once, while engaging in this activity, he managed to enslave the Hulk when he was under the control of Rick Jones who was attending a performance. However the Hulk captured him when he tried to escape in a chariot. (Incredible Hulk v1 #3)
Bringing this act to New York, he fought Spider-Man and Daredevil, whose blindness prevents Ringmaster from hypnotizing him, for the first time, though he was briefly able to place Spider-Man under his control. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #16)
After this failure, he briefly abandoned the Circus of Crime, who became the Masters of Menace and were led by the Clown. He came back to steal their loot after their capture by Spider-Man, but was captured by the police instead along with the rest. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #22)
The Ringmaster next attempted to enlist recent Avengers inductees Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch as circus performers, but instead wound up defeated by them, though he claimed they tried to rob him making them wanted by the Police, though it is later claimed the DA got the truth out of Princess Python. (Avengers v1 #20)
He came to meet Chen Hsu who was offering to sell a ring that had been made from a fragment of the Cosmic Cube and could alter reality around the wearer. Hsu intended to sell it to the highest bidder but the Ringmaster used his hypnotic powers to cause him to give it to him during their meeting. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #7)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
The Ringmaster's principal weapon is the powerful portable mind-control device which he carried concealed in his unique top hat. This device is a portable version of the nullatron, which was originally designed by scientists in Nazi-occupied lands during World War II and used by the Red Skull against the Invaders in 1942.
The hat has a swirling disk in the front which can send out a hypnotic beam and give him control of the minds of others, amplifying his natural hypnotic talent.
At one point, he had within his possession a ring crated from a piece of the Cosmic Cube. This allowed him to alter reality around him across a limited distance. He could manifest objects, make individuals invulnerable and cause others to experience heart attacks. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #10)
Notes
- The Ringmaster was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in Incredible Hulk v1 #3 (September, 1962).
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man, the Ringmaster appeared as an antagonist in the 1980s animated television series in the episode "Carnival of Crime" where he was voiced by actor Stan Jones.
- In Avengers: United They Stand, the Ringmaster appeared as an antagonist in the animated television series in the episode "Comes a Swordsman" where he was voiced by actor Normand Bissonnette
- In Avengers Assemble, the Ringmaster appeared in the animated television series in the episode "Crime and Circuses" where he was voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore.
Video games
Appearances
- Incredible Hulk v1:
- Marvel Team-Up v3:
- Luke Cage:
External links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
