Origin

Originally, the Circus of Crime was called Tiboldt's Circus, managed by generations of the Tiboldt family. During the 1930's, Fritz Tiboldt, who was a Nazi party activist, sent his circus from Germany to America giving performances as they attempted to assassinate several important government figures. Eventually, they were captured by Captain America. Soon after the death of Fritz and his wife Lola, their son, Maynard Tiboldt, took the mantle of Ringmaster. With a general decline of income as well as his hatred for Americans, he turned to crime. He decided that if they did not want to pay him, he would make them pay. Several members of the circus quit as they did not want to turn to a life of crime, but those that remained and agreed to follow Tiboldt re-branded themselves as the "Circus of Crime."

Creation

The first “Golden Age” criminal circus led by a Ringmaster was in Captain America Comics #5. The first use of the moniker Circus of Crime was in Kid Colt Outlaw #106, which was a Wild West variation. The modern Circus of Crime first appeared in Incredible Hulk #3 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Team Evolution

Ringmasters

• Fritz - The original Nazi sympathizing leader of Tiboldt's Circus in Captain America Comics #5
• Ringmaster - The leader of the original Circus of Crime in Incredible Hulk #3
• Pascale - Niece of the Ringmaster, who put his hypnosis tech to use at a swanky resort.

Strong-Men

• Zandow - The strongman of Tiboldt's Circus, the precursor of the Circus of Crime, in Captain America Comics #5
• Bruto - The original strongman of the Circus of Crime in Incredible Hulk #3
• Thor - A hypnotized Thor filled in for Bruto when he hurt himself in Thor #145
• Fake Thor - The circus replaced Thor with a Thor lookalike in Thor #173
• Ulik - Hypnotized into a new strong man when he tried to attack the Circus’ fake Thor in Thor #173
• Ironjack - A new strongman in Marvel Two-in-One #76

Clowns

• Derko - The clown of Tiboldt's Circus, the precursor of the Circus of Crime, in Captain America Comics #5
• Eliot Franklin - The original clown of the Circus of Crime in Incredible Hulk #3
• Howard the Duck - Kidnapped to be a Sideshow member but excelled as a stand-up comedian in Howard the Duck #26
• The Clown - A replacement clown for the Circus of Crime, claimed to be Eliot Franklin’s brother

Animal Tamers

• Omir the Snake Charmer - The animal tamer of Tiboldt's Circus, the precursor of the Circus of Crime, in Captain America Comics #5
• Princess Python - The original snake charmer with her pet, Precious, for the Circus of Crime in Amazing Spider-Man #22
• Blackwing - A bat trainer hired to help with Daredevil who was immune to Ringmaster’s hypnosis in Daredevil #118
• Rajah - An elephant tamer that worked for the Circus of Crime in Super-Villain Team-Up #8
• Tarrax the Tamer - The big cat tamer for the Circus of Crime in Marvel Two-in-One #76
• Antoro - Antoro was a resident Animal Tamer in Spider-Man Annual ‘98

Stuntmen

• The Trapeze Trio - The acrobats of Tiboldt's Circus, the precursor of the Circus of Crime, in Captain America Comics #5
• Human Cannonball - The original human cannonball of the Circus of Crime in Incredible Hulk #3
• The Flying Gambonos - The original acrobats of the Circus of Crime in Incredible Hulk #3
• Live-Wire - A cowboy with an electric lasso in Power Man #24
• Fire-Eater - The original fire-eater for the Circus of Crime in Marvel Two-in-One #76
• Swordsman’s Student - A young trick swordsman as part of the fake French Circus in Hawkeye (2012) #2
• Fifi - A young trickshooting archer as part of the fake French Circus in Hawkeye (2012) #2

The Sideshow

• The Missing Link - The beast man of Tiboldt's Circus, the precursor of the Circus of Crime, in Captain America Comics #5
• Teena - The original sideshow obese woman for the Circus of Crime in Incredible Hulk #3
• Dragon Man - Was kidnapped and made part of their show in Incredible Hulk #292
• Blossom - An obese woman introduced as a former member of Circus of Crime as part of their sideshow in Incredible Hulk #217
• Major Minor - A little person introduced as a former member of Circus of Crime as part of their sideshow in Incredible Hulk #217
• Stilts - A contortionist introduced as a former member of Circus of Crime as part of their sideshow in Incredible Hulk #217
• Rex the Dog Faced Boy - An ugly teen introduced as a former member of Circus of Crime as part of their sideshow in Incredible Hulk #217
• Archie the Dog Faced Boy - An Inhuman with a dog appearance who auditioned for the Circus of Crime in Spider-Boy Annual 2024

Major Story Arc

Thor the Strongman

After an angry Odin took Thor’s power to teach him a lesson, Thor was recruited by the Circus of Crime. He was still exceptionally strong, and the Circus needed a new strongman. They found him while Thor was working as a roustabout for the circus where he fought off an attack from Princess Python’s pet, Precious. Without his Asgardian might, he was susceptible to Ringmaster’s hypnosis. They even outfitted him in a knockoff Thor costume believing he was just a lookalike.

They tested Thor against a giant lead bull statue that was the same weight as a golden bull they were planning on robbing. Their previous strongman collapsed trying to carry it, but Thor was able to handle it with ease. When the guards started to shoot at them, it knocked Thor out of his trance. He dropped the bull and surrendered to the police. The Circus meanwhile made their getaway.

Later, they try to continue making their resident strongman dress like Thor. Unfortunately, this gets the attention of Ulik, who wanted to kill Thor. At the last second, the real Thor switched places with his lookalike strongman to take on Ulik. Ringmaster was impressed by both of them. He managed to hypnotize Ulik, but Thor had his powers back and was unable to be put into a trance. Thor was able to stop them this time and had them arrested.

The Sideshow

For a time, the Circus of Crime had a sideshow among their ranks. Members included:

• Rex, the dog faced boy
• Stilts, a lanky contortionist
• Blossom, a severely obese woman
• Major Minor, a pint-sized trash talker

One day, while they were on tour, they found a strikingly beautiful sea nymph in need, named Meriam. The Sideshow wanted to help her, but Ringmaster thought she was a money maker. He locked her up, but the sideshow folks broke her out and went on the run. Before the Circus of Crime could catch up with them, they befriended the Hulk.

It didn’t matter. Ringmaster was able to hypnotize the Hulk while his team members took out the rest of the sideshow. They locked them in circus animal cages. While Ringmaster interrogated Meriam over her secrets, Major Minor escaped and knocked Hulk out of his trance. He freed the others so they could take on the Circus of Crime and finally return Meriam to the sea, where she would be out of danger.

Primary Actions

Ringmaster went solo and assumed a new identity of Martin Thraller and used his hypnosis in his campaign to be the Utilitarian Party nominee for U.S. President. Since his hypnosis power required direct eye contact, he wasn’t so good on the phone. However, he had high hopes for what he’d be able to accomplish on live television. He even made his major party rival commit political suicide in one of their debates. The more campaigning he did, the more he found he didn’t even need to use his powers to manipulate people.

His Circus of Crime past would often come back to bite him. Princess Python shook him down for hush money, which he gladly paid. Money was no problem with his abilities, but his old clown teammate, Eliot Franklin, wanted him dead. When he set up a campaign event televised from Madison Square Garden, The Clown pounced. Ringmaster took a number of bullets from The Clown, but was ultimately saved by Nick Fury and a team of SHIELD agents.

Fury had already deduced Ringmaster’s true identity. He took the assassination attempt as an opportunity to run a cover story of Martin Thraller’s death, while Ringmaster recovers until he is well enough to be sent to Seagate prison.

La Cirque de Nuit

Ringmaster re-branded The Circus of Crime to La Cirque de Nuit (French for Circus of Night) and faked a French accent to get in-roads to the highest class clientele possible. He got his fancy new circus to open a luxury hotel in New York, with a who’s who of New York kingpins, including Wilson Fisk, Tombstone, and Madame Masque. In addition to his re-brand, he hired a student of the Swordsman and a new female trick-shooting archer, Fifi.

Unfortunately for Ringmaster, Clint Barton, who is also a student of the Swordsman, and his new partner, Kate Bishop, a female trick-shooting archer, were in the audience. They were tipped off by the homeless that something might be going down and brought with them special glasses that blocked Ringmaster’s hypnosis. While Ringmaster’s henchman fleeced the crowd, the two Hawkeyes made their move against them.

Fortunately for Ringmaster, the kingpins of New York shook their trance just as Clint drove off in their speed boat filled with the circus’ loot, framing himself for the circus’ crime.

Resort Chapiteau

After their failure as The Cirque de Nuit, the Circus of Crime was taken over by Pascale Tiboldt, the niece of Ringmaster. She moved them to the swanky Resort Chapiteau where they integrated the Ringmaster’s hypnosis tech with resort security. This way, they managed to convince the rich people staying at the resort to do their bidding, keeping their hands clean. They could have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for Kate Bishop’s estranged sister, Susan, attending the resort and calling her for assistance when she noticed something wrong.

After Kate uncovered the heart of their operation, which was essentially just Pascale and Fifi, they decided to burn down the resort and all the evidence with Kate tied up in the basement. They had more than they needed upon learning that Susan had a shard of the cosmic cube as a piece of jewelry, gifted to her by her dad. They retreated to Susan’s mansion, believing the Bishops to be dead, but they were eventually tracked down by Kate, who had called in help from her friends Stinger and Ms. America.

Gang War

Ringmaster eventually settled into New York City without his Circus of Crime. When Kingpin brokered a peace between gang leaders, Ringmaster was able to secure the Randalls and Wards Islands for himself, despite having no goons of his own. This was a problem when Hammerhead instigated a gang war to give the Maggia an opportunity to take the whole city back. He resorted to mesmerizing any civilians he met between his Islands and Crime-Master's Upper East side territory into his new Crime Circus. His fight with Crime-Master's goons on loan from AIM was interrupted by Spider-Man and the team he put together in spite of the Anti-Vigilante Law. Elektra, active as Daredevil at the time, had a strong enough will to withstand his hypnosis and knocked him out cold.

Variants

Heroes Reborn

On the second Heroes Reborn Earth, recreated by Phil Coulson under Mephisto's influence, the Circus of Crime was one of the two warring factions that created the crossfire that killed Frank Castle's family. The other side was the heroes Squadron Supreme of America.

Other Media

Television

• Spider-Man (1981): The Circus of Crime, renamed the Carnival of Crime, makes an appearance when the Ringmaster uses hypnosis and his acrobats posing as Spider-Man to frame Spider-Man for their crimes.
• The Avengers: United They Stand: The Avengers track a bio-weapon to the Circus of Crime, which included the original Swordsman, Hawkeye's old mentor.
• Avengers Assemble: Hawkeye is depicted as a former member, and the Circus tracked him down to get revenge for selling them out to the cops.