Ringmaster

The Ringmaster, born Maynard Tiboldt, is an Austrian villain, potent hypnotist, and former leader of the Circus of Crime. He was kicked out of the group by his remaining followers in early 1965 after years of decline.

Biography

Assisted by his circus of followers, including Bruto and Teena, Ringmaster attracted audiences and hypnotized entire towns' worth of people in 1962 in order to effortlessly ransack the affected towns. Plainville is one such example of a town affected by the circus. Ringmaster was briefly able to capture the Hulk and use him in his show, but Rick Jones, possessing mental control over Hulk, helped the monster escape. Military authorities arrived shortly after; Ringmaster's fate is unknown, but he was likely taken into custody. Two years later, Ringmaster and his circus of underlings set up a show in New York, aiming to hypnotize and rob the audience. They advertised local hero Spider-Man to appear, entirely without intending for him to do so, to assure they would draw a crowd. When the time came, Spider-Man did show up, and displayed his exceptional agility to a delighted audience. But soon Ringmaster appeared and used his hypnosis to put nearly the entire audience into a trance, as well as Spider-Man himself, and his underlings began robbing the stunned spectators. But one man in the crowd had not been affected: the blind attorney Matt Murdock, who soon revealed himself as his heroic alterego Daredevil. Daredevil, who possessed exceptional senses that more than made up for his blindness, confronted Ringmaster, who set the hypnotized Spider-Man on his new foe. The hypnotized Spider-Man fought him on Ringmaster's orders, but the usually bright and reflexive Spider-Man was hindered due to being limited to Ringmaster's own reaction time. Daredevil was thus able to overcome him and grab Ringmaster's hat from his possession, using it to break Spider-Man's trance. The two fought together against Ringmaster's minions for a time, until Spider-Man told his new ally that he could handle the rest, and Murdock quietly reclaimed his place among the still-entranced audience. Spider-Man handily defeated Ringmaster and his crew, tying them up for the authorities and using his hat to snap the audience out of their hypnosis.

By early 1965, Ringmaster's circus had crumbled to just half a dozen people: 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. Clown's group accomplished a valuable art heist the following day, and Ringmaster planned to get revenge by stealing the art from them and turning them in. He was questioned by the police, but of course had a legitimate alibi. He went to the Clown's hideout, where Spider-Man had already begun beating up the Circus members. Ringmaster ambushed Clown and took the artwork, unaware that the police had been trailing him. They took in Ringmaster and the rest of the Circus of Crime.