| Circus of Crime | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Incredible Hulk #3 |
| Created by | Stan Lee Steve Ditko |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | New York |
| Member(s) | Ringmaster The Clown Bruto The Strongman The Human Cannonball The Great Gambonnos Princess Python Live Wire |
The Circus of Crime is a fictional villainous organization in the Marvel Comics universe.
Contents |
Oddly, there were two organizations in the Old West who dubbed themselves the Circus of Crime. Both teams fought against Kid Colt.
Originally a spy organization employed by the Nazis during World War II, Tiboldt's Circus was a traveling circus led by Fritz Tiboldt, the Ringmaster, and he and his performers would use their special skills and talents to rob their audiences. He was sent to America to murder US Government officials, under cover of his circus activities, Tiboldt and his gang fell afoul of Captain America and were deported back to Germany, where Fritz Tiboldt and his wife were subsequently murdered by their former employers.
The modern day Circus of Crime first came to the authorities' attention when they carried out a series of robberies of small towns using the Ringmaster's skill in hypnotism to mesmerize entire towns. Regrettably for the Circus, Rick Jones was one of the victims of their capers, and his involvement led to the involvement of the Hulk, as Rick briefly had telepathic control over the Hulk. He resisted the Ringmaster's hypnotism when the Ringmaster tried to bill him as 'The Monster of the Age', leading to the Circus' arrest.[1] After a brief stretch in prison, the Circus visited New York City, where they battled both Spider-Man and Daredevil. The Ringmaster was briefly able to hypnotise Spider-Man. The Circus' core members later briefly operated as the Masters of Menace (a name thought up by Princess Python) after being released from prison and throwing the Ringmaster off the team, replacing him with the Clown. However they were again captured by Spider-Man.
The Circus of Crime established themselves as recurrent antagonists in several Marvel Comics series, where they briefly attempted to recruit Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch into their ranks when the team had been disbanded but they were defeated though they made them wanted by accusing them of trying to rob the Circus, though later in the issue it is claimed the DA wormed the truth out of Princess Python(Avengers #22), hypnotized Thor into assisting with one of their schemes while he was stripped of most of his powers except his strength, attempted to sabotage the Wasp and Yellowjacket's wedding, and battled against Daredevil and Power Man. They later fought Power Pack, the Thunderbolts and Generation X.
Initially depicted as credible villains, the Circus of Crime's members were gradually used by writers as comic foils, and were once defeated by Howard the Duck. They were featured as antagonists in the first issue of the Sensational She-Hulk second series.
This team briefly forced Kid Colt to assist them until he exposed them.