Circus of Crime

The Circus of Crime is a traveling band of circus performers, usually led by Maynard Tiboldt, better known as the Ring Master, who use their special skills to rob their audiences.

The Circus of Crime was originally Tiboldt's Circus, a small Austrian travel circus managed for generations by members of the Tiboldt family. In the 1930s Fritz Tiboldt, then managed and ringmaster of the circus, became active in Nazi party activities. After World War II began, he was asked by German intelligence to take his circus to America, supposedly just to give performances in major cities, but actually in order to use the talents of the Nazi sympathizers among his performers to murder high government officials. However, Tiboldt, who came to be known as the "Ringmaster Of Death," was captured by Captain America, and both Tiboldt and the members of his circus who had aided him in his subversive activities ported.

Fritz Tiboldt and his wife Lola continued to manage Tiboldt's Circus after the war. Eventually Fritz and Lola Tiboldt were murdered by Nazis who had escaped capture in vengeance for their cooperation with the Allies. Fritz's son, Maynard Tiboldt, thereupon succeeded him as leader and ringmaster of the circus, and decided to move it to America, far from the scene of Hitler's rise to power and his par death.

But once in America, Tiboldt's Circus proved incapable of competing successfully with larger with larger American circuses. Blaming Americans not only for ignoring his circus, but also for his father's humiliating capture in America years before, Tiboldt decided to turn to crime. If Americans would not enrich him and his performers willingly, they would be forced to do so. Tiboldt outlined his plans to the members of his troupe, a number of whom had accompanied him from Europe, and others of whom had joined the troupe after it came to America. A good percentage of the troupe quit, refusing to turn to a life of crime. However, a surprising number of the circus members eagerly agreed to join Tiboldt in his criminal endeavors, and they became the first members of what is known as the Circus of Crime.

The Circus of Crime usual modus operandi is the following. They will give a performance before a large audience. At some point the Ringmaster will use the powerful mind-control device concealed in his hat to put the audience into a trance. The Circus members then rob the audience, who remember nothing about the thefts when the Ringmaster releases them from the trance and the performance continues. The Circus of Crime performs under different names so that audience will not suspect that they are the Circus of Crime.

Over the years the membership of the Circus of Crime has varied, although there is a core group that has participated in most of its criminal ventures. The Ringmaster and his accomplices have been imprisoned by the law numerous times, but rarely for long, given the difficulties of proving the charges against them, since their victims usually have no memory of being robbed by them. Occasionally the Circus of Crime has operated without the Ringmaster, either because he is in prison, or because some have become dissatisfied with his leadership. However, he has always returned a leader.

Ultimate Wolverine

Howlett's past is mostly unknown, but during World War II he participated in military airdrops with Captain America. Decades later, he was abducted and experimented upon by a covert government unit, who bonded unbreakable adamantium to his skeleton and implanted three claws in each arm. Initially designated Weapon X (later the name of the entire unit), Howlett was renamed both "Logan" and "Wolverine." Weapon X held him for at least a decade. Supposedly programmed to kill any human he saw, he proved his humanity was intact by saving Nick Fury's life in the Middle East. He grew to hate his captors and also his fellow prisoner, Sabretooth.

Fury eventually helped him escape, and Wolverine became a mercenary, frequently working for Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. He was constantly pursued by Weapon X, on one occasion evading them with the aid of the young adventurer Spider-Man. A year and a half after his escape, Wolverine was assigned by Magneto to assassinate Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men. Successfully infiltrating the X-Men, Wolverine delayed his mission in order to romance Marvel Girl, but in the succeeding weeks he embraced Xavier's cause and turned on Magneto, fighting the Brotherhood alongside the X-Men.

Wolverine remained jealous of Marvel Girl's boyfriend Cyclops, and when they investigated Magneto's abandoned Savage Land lair together, Wolverine left Cyclops to die. Wolverine helped the other X-Men battle Magneto and the Ultimates, but as the multi-front conflict reached its conclusion, Cyclops returned, exposing Wolverine's misconduct and kicking him off the team. Retreating into isolation, Wolverine was surprised when Cyclops, feeling Wolverine's rehabilitation outweighed their feud, invited him back and informed him S.H.I.E.L.D. had discovered evidence of his earlier life: a wedding ring.Soon afterward, Weapon X captured and enslaved most of the X-Men; Wolverine escaped, informed Nick Fury of the abductions, and then allowed himself to be captured in order to lead rescuers to Weapon X's secret base. While Wolverine was drawn into a grudge match with Sabretooth, the Brotherhood of Mutants raided the base, and Fury arrived to kill Wraith and guarantee the X-Men's freedom.

Troubled by the revelation, Wolverine departed again, but was targeted by Weapon X renegades whom he defeated alongside Spider-Man and Daredevil. Wolverine has gradually regained the X-Men's trust, and been startled by a growing attraction between him and Storm.

Recently, Wolverine was killed by Magneto.

Infinity Gauntlet

Universe

Marvel Universe

Key Characters 

Thanos, Death, Silver Surfer, Warlock, Doctor Strange, Mephisto, Nebula, Doctor Doom, Thor, Hulk, Spider-man, Captain America, Wolverine, Infinity Watch

Mistress Death believed that there was a cosmic imbalance in the universe - that there were more living than there were dead. As a result, Death resurrects her loyal servant Thanos, who is appointed the task of killing off half of the population of the universe. Not only is Thanos' power augmented by Death, he is granted access to the Infinity Well, where he realizes the power of the Infinity Gems. After much plotting and scheming, Thanos wrestles the gems from their owners and gains mastery over Power, Mind, Space, Reality, Time, and the Soul.

Hate-Monger

The Hate-Monger was a physical clone of Germany’s Adolf Hitler, the former leader of Germany and instigator of World War II. Years after the death of the original at the hands of the original Human Torch, Hitler's scientists created clones into which Hitler transferred his consciousness. In one such clone, disguised as the Hate-Monger, Hitler used a Nazi-designed Hate Ray to spread mindless hatred around the world. His first major attack was in the small southern country of San Gusto, where he bombarded the people with his ray, turning the country against itself. The United States had already spent billions trying to turn San Gusto into a show place of democracy, but after the Hate-Monger’s influence the country fell apart. Nick Fury, as a CIA operative, traveled to New York to enlist the help of the Fantastic Four to re-stabilize the country.

But once he arrived he found the Fantastic Four split up and only Mister Fantastic at their headquarters, the Baxter Building. The Hate-Monger had already beat him there, and had turned his Hate Ray on the four when they tried to break up a hate rally he had turned into a riot. Fury eventually convinced the entire Fantastic Four to help him, starting with Reed, who took the Pogo Plane to San Gusto in advance of the others. There, Reed stumbled upon the Hate-Monger’s Hate Ray while fighting San Gusto’s rebellion. The Hate-Monger gassed Reed with a paralyzing nerve gas and captured him. He explained to Reed that he was able to reflect his Hate Ray off of the Moon and fire it at any place on Earth, and soon he would blanket the entire planet in waves of hate and then control the haters to control the world. But before he could continue with his plan, Fury broke into the base and fired on the soldiers, threatening to shoot them unless the Hate-Monger gave Reed the antidotes to his paralysis and hate. The Hate-Monger acquiesced, but escaped shortly afterwards behind a pane of bulletproof glass.

Later, while the Hate-Monger’s soldiers fought off an attacking Nick Fury, the Fantastic Four, returned to their proper minds by Reed, helped Fury to subdue his troops. The Hate-Monger tried to turn a double-dose of his Hate Ray on the Human Torch, which would kill him, but the Invisible Girl snuck up behind him and spoiled his aim and he hit a pair of his soldiers instead. The soldiers turned on him and shot him. The Fantastic Four and Fury soon cleaned up the last of the soldiers and revealed the seemingly dead Hate-Monger as Adolf Hitler. But Hitler's mind had already transferred to a new cloned body, and he later continued his quest to rule the world.

106th Post!!!

This is my 106th post and I am going to share with you some of the people who have worn the Venom symbiote.

Galactus!

Spider-man

Scorpion

Wolverine

Hulk

Deadpool

And finally the original VENOM! 

and last, but not least... Bat-man!

House of M

      Universe

Marvel Universe was transformed into the House of M (Earth-58163)

        Key Characters 

Magneto, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, X-Men, Avengers, Spider-man, Fantastic Four

Following the events that disassembled the Avengers, Wanda Maximoff Scarlet Witch was left in the charge of Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier, both of whom were trying to rebuild the mutant nation of Genosha at the time. Enlisting the aid of Doctor Strange, Professor Xavier tried to cure Wanda of her insanity. Unfortunately, things appeared to be getting out of hand, and the combined efforts of Doctor Strange and Professor Xavier were not enough to help her.

Calling together the Avengers and the X-Men, Xavier and Strange held a group meeting to determine the fate of Wanda Maximoff. Quicksilver, who was eavesdropping, feared that the inevitable choice would be to kill her. Fearing for his sister, he hurried to Genosha where he pleaded to his father to protect Wanda. Magneto was torn-- he was unsure what the right choice was. His decision seemed to have been made.

When the Avengers and the X-Men flew to Genosha to check in on Wanda, Professor Xavier disappeared and suddenly the world burned white, to be replaced by a mutant utopia where humans had become the minority ruled under the House of M. No one remembered the world as it had been, except for S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Wolverine and a girl named Layla Miller, who exhibited the ability to unlock people's subconsciousnesses, reminding them of the world as it had been.

Uniting a group of heroes consisting primarily of the X-Men and the Avengers, those who remembered stormed the House of Magnus during a gala uniting all of the world's leaders, believing Magneto to be responsible for the world altering events. There, Doctor Strange discovered that it was not Magneto but Quicksilver who had manipulated Wanda into altering reality. Layla accidentally revealed to Magneto the world before the House of M. Enraged that Quicksilver had done such an atrocity in his name, Magneto killed his son. Wanda, who saw her brother's death, was traumatized. She quickly revived him from death and screamed to her father that he was a bad man, that mutants were freaks and that she hated him. As she seemed to calm down, Wanda said "No more mutants." Suddenly, the world burned white again... ...and the world returned as it had been, with only a few remembering the events of the House of M. As the world restored to normalcy, however, it became apparent that the majority of the world's mutants had lost their powers, Magneto and Quicksilver amongst them. With the bulk of the world's population ignorant of the world of the House of M, the shock of millions of mutants suddenly bereft of their genetic gifts caused widespread panic and the eventual quarantine of many mutants on to the grounds of the X-Mansion in Westchester.

Fall of the Mutants

Universe

Marvel Universe

Key Characters

X-Men, Madelyne Pryor, Forge, Freedom Force, Adversary, X-Factor, Caliban, Apocalypse, Horsemen of Apocalypse, New Mutants, Bird-Boy, Ani-Mator, Freedom Force

The X-Men battled the Adversary in Dallas, and X-Factor clashed with the Horsemen of Apocalypse in New York, while the New Mutants confronted the insane Ani-Mator on Paradise Island.