Circus of Crime
The Circus of Crime, also known as the Masters of Menace, is an organization of villainous circus entertainers led by the Ringmaster. For a brief time, Ringmaster was ousted from the group by the Clown. After this iteration of the group was defeated and sent to prison by Spider-Man, Ringmaster resumed leadership.
History
The Clown takes over
For several years, the Circus was a loosely organized group of criminals defined by who happened to be following the Ringmaster at the time. Ringmaster used his powers of hypnosis to dupe local crowds across the United States, and followers such as Bruto and Teena followed his every order. By 1965, thanks to the efforts of foes such as the Hulk, Spider-Man, and Daredevil, Ringmaster's operation had crumbled down to a handful of essential personnel: the Clown; Princess Python; the Human Cannonball; and the trapeze twins, the Great Gambonnos, Ernesto and Luigi. Several months after his first encounter with the Circus, Spider-Man tracked down the Ringmaster and his remaining followers once again. He gave him a stern talking to, warning him to stay on the straight and narrow. The rest of the Circus, already dissatisfied with Ringmaster's leadership, took his lack of resistance to Spider-Man as the last straw, and kicked him out of the group, positioning the Clown as the new leader.
The next day, Clown organized a heist on an art exhibit. While he distracted and intimidated the attendees, the rest of the Circus made off with the paintings on display. Clown proposed a new name for the outfit, and they began to call themselves the Masters of Menace. Elsewhere, Ringmaster was brought in for questioning related to the heist at the police station, but was let off because his alibi checked out. Later, Spider-Man tracked down the villains and tried to apprehend them. He proved more than a match for the team, including Princess Python's colossal pet snake. Clown attempted to make off with the paintings in the confusion, but was attacked by Ringmaster in an attempted bout of revenge. Ringmaster in turn had been trailed by the police, who took in the whole lot of criminal circus performers.[1]
Reunion
Everyone in the Masters of Menace spent much of the year in prison. When they were released, the Ringmaster reclaimed leadership of the team, and Bruto rejoined after having been absent from the team of late. They attempted to continue running their act, but found little success drawing an audience. Around the same time, the Avengers were forced by a court order to disband after being framed by the Enchantress and Power Man for a number of costly accidents. Three of the four Avengers—Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch—had since sought various jobs in entertainment, to no success after their public humiliation. The Circus sent them an invitation to join, and they eagerly accepted, unaware of the Circus's checkered past. The next day, Ringmaster tried to hypnotize them into robbing customers for him, but they fought back before he could succeed. The three easily trounced Ringmaster's cronies, but he called the police in the meantime, accusing the ex-Avengers of trying to rob him. The police arrived, and the heroes fled, prompting a state-wide manhunt for the trio. Later, the district attorney got Princess Python to confess that the Avengers were not at fault.[2]