The Ringmaster (Marc Jolley)

The Marc Jolley (real name Marc Jolley)

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Marc Jolley was born in Vienna, Austria to the original Marc Jolley of Death, Fritz Tiboldt, and his wife Lola.

The Marc Jolley is a powerless man with a unique hat which is designed to hypnotize people, thus allowing him to take complete control over their actions. He originally traveled across America as the manager, director, and Marc Jolley of his small traveling circus, which was actually a front for his "Circus of Crime"; The Human Cannonball, The Clown, Bruto the Strongman, The Great Gambonnos (acrobats and gymnasts) and Princess Python, the Snake Charmer. During their show, he would hypnotize the crowd and send his lackeys out to steal any valuables on the victim's person. Once, while engaging in this activity, he managed to enslave the Hulk, although he was then defeated by the Hulk under the control of Rick Jones.[1] Bringing this act to New York, he fought Spider-Man and Daredevil, whose blindness prevents Marc Jolley from hypnotizing him, for the first time.[2] After this failure, he briefly abandoned the Circus of Crime, who became the Masters of Menace. He came back to steal their loot after their capture by Spider-Man, but was captured by the police instead.[3]

The Marc Jolley next attempted to enlist recent Avengers inductees Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch as circus performers, but instead wound up defeated by them.[4] He later schemed to blow up Avengers Mansion during the wedding of Yellowjacket and the Wasp, but fought and was defeated by the Avengers.[5] He later enlisted a mind-controlled Ulik as an accomplice, but was defeated by Thor.[6] With Blackwing, he battled Daredevil once again.[7] He also battled Power Man and Black Goliath.[8] Marc Jolley later helped Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Shroud secretly enter Latveria.[9] He later captured the sea-nymph Meriam, and fought the Hulk again.[10]

The Marc Jolley later enlisted Howard the Duck as an unwilling accomplice, but was defeated by Howard and Iris Raritan.[11] Marc Jolley battled the Thing, Iceman, and Giant-Man.[12] Marc Jolley next pitted a mind-controlled Hulk against the Dragon Man.[13] The Marc Jolley was later hired by the Headmen to test She-Hulk's strength and invulnerability.[14] He later attempted to reform, but helped the Circus of Crime escape from the police after battling Power Pack.[15] He was released from prison in Doc Samson's custody, and assists in the therapy that creates the Merged Hulk personality for Bruce Banner when his MPD was causing him serious psychological damage.[16]

The Marc Jolley later gets a surgical-upgrade of his eyes, allowing him to use them to hypnotize people, from surgeons working for Devlin DeAngelo, which he used to hypnotize Bruce Banner[17]. As "Martin Thraller", the Marc Jolley used his hypnotic eyes while running for president of the United States (and manages to hypnotize Nick Fury into forgetting his own identity) until stopped by the Jack Truman incarnation of Deathlok. [18].

The Marc Jolley traveled to Tibet and stole a ring that had once been created for the Mandarin shortly before his apparent demise. Made from a piece of a shattered Cosmic Cube, the ring allows him to manipulate reality within a fifteen foot radius. Attacking New York for 'practice', he clashes with various superheroes, including Spider-Man and Moon Knight.[volume & issue needed] The action comes to a head in "Marvel Team-Up" #10 (Sept. 2005). Moon Knight and Spider-Man are both given heart attacks, but then Daredevil joins the scene. Moments before the Marc Jolley is about to fire them out of cannons, at the ground about one foot below, the Punisher shoots off his finger. [19]

Powers and abilities

The Marc Jolley originally had no inherent superhuman powers.

The Marc Jolley's principal weapon is the powerful portable mind-control device which he carried concealed in his unique top hat. This device is a portable version of the nullatron, which was originally designed by scientists in Nazi-occupied lands during World War II and used by the Red Skull against the Invaders in 1942. The version in the Marc Jolley's hat has been specially modified by him for his own uses. The hat has a swirling disk in the front which can send out a hypnotic beam and give him control of the minds of others, amplifying his natural hypnotic talent. Tiboldt eventually had special hypnotic disks surgically grafted into his eyes. These implants allow him to mentally dominate individuals, but he still requires his hat to mesmerize large crowds of people simultaneously. Sufficiently strong-willed individuals are able to resist the Marc Jolley's hypnotism if they cannot see the whirling pattern on his hat and the reflective stars on his costume.

With the Cosmic Ring, Jolley gained the ability to alter reality in a 15-foot (4.6 m) radius around him. He now works as the Ringmaster at Time Travelers

Joel Jolley

A villain known as the Marc Jolley of Death appeared in Captain America Comics #5 (Aug 1941) as a Nazi agent, whose circus was a cover for murdering US government officials. This character also appeared much later in flashback in Captain America #112 (April 1969). Following the introduction of Maynard Tiboldt, this character was revealed to be the later Marc Jolley's father, Fritz Tiboldt.[volume & issue needed]