Ringer

Origin

The original Ringer was a man named Anthony Davis whose first outing as a criminal led him into conflict with Nighthawk when he broke into Kyle Richmond's building and ripped open a safe with an explosive ring. This was the first field test of the Ringer suit and Davis was pleased with the results. Davis caught Nighthawk with a constricting ring that destroyed his jet-pack. Davis was upset that a man like Kyle Richmond had inherited his fortune and accused him of making more money by ripping off the natural resources, his employees and consumers. The Ringer told Nighthawk that he was no longer going to work menial labor at the NASA Labs and technology would truly enrich the common man, instead of cheapening it. The Ringer would link up a number of metal rings to form a whiplike weapon he could strike and snare his enemy. The Ringer was forced to retreat when he ran out of rings and tried to escape through a window. The Ringer broke through the window but Nighthawk used the ring whip to snare Davis and smash him into a brick wall. Davis was out cold and apprehended by the police.

Creation

The Ringer was created by David Anthony Kraft and Keith Giffen in 1977 and first appeared in The Defenders # 51.

Story Arcs

Anthony Davis would hire the Tinkerer to rebuild his suit and add some upgrades after giving him new specs on the Ringer costume. Davis was forced to break into the workshop through the roof when two cops were guarding the workshop after Spider Man busted the Tinkerer a few days earlier. Davis entered the workshop and found his new outfit in a crate. Davis was pleased with the particulate-matter condensers the Tinkerer added to the suit which allowed the Ringer to form rings out of the smog and soot in the air. When he was testing the suit by himself, a man in a trench coat broke into the workshop and the two battled. Davis placed some rings around his attacker but he was able to break out of the them. The attacker knocked out Davis and carried him away along with another crate as they escaped through the utilities tunnel. Davis was held prisoner by Abner Jenkins also known as the costume criminal called the Beetle. The Beetle wanted Davis to fight Spider-Man for him and convinced the Ringer to comply or he would detonate an explosive device attached to the mid-section of the Ringer's suit. The Ringer waits on a building rooftop with a pint size radar unit until he sees Spider Man swinging nearby. The Ringer attacks the wall-crawler and the two combatants engage each other on the rooftops. Spider Man calls Davis the Hoopster and was able to escape from some constricting and freeze ring attacks. Spider Man punches the Ringer in the jaw and leaves him because Peter Parker has a date twenty blocks away with Debra Whitman. Parker tells Debra to meet him at his place in a half-hour because he has to run a quick errand. Spider Man finds the Ringer on a Midtown rooftop to finish the fight. Spider Man crushes the Ringer's gauntlets and Davis tells the web-head that some guy attached an explosive ring around his gut. The belt explodes but the Ringer is unharmed so Spider Man hangs Davis on some webbing outside a Midtown precinct house. The Ringer was used as stooge for the Beetle because the belt he wore collected data and information during his fight with Spider Man and beamed that data to his computers. The Beetle planned to beat Spider Man once and for all with the information the Ringer gathered for him.

The Ringer was invited by Gary Gilbert to attend a meeting of costumed criminals at the Bar With No Name. The meeting was about how to deal with the Scourge of the Underworld. The Scourge disguised himself as the bartender and gunned down the Ringer and everyone else in attendance.

Acts of Vengeance

A new person (Keith Kraft) would don the Ringer costume and decides to go hunting for some heroes during the Acts of Vengeance. The Ringer would come across Killer Shrike as he engaged several SWAT team members. The two villains are having trouble finding superhuman targets so they decide to hunt together and tag team against any costume hero they find. They are later joined by Coachwhip, who has the same agenda and the trio go hunting together. She jumps onto Ringer's hovering glider and is impressed with Ringo's powers. The trio run into Moon Knight and try to ambush him. Moon Knight jumps onto Ringer's hovercraft and causes him to crash into a car. Ringer would recover and shoot his rings towards Moon Knight who was engaged with Killer Shrike. The Ringer's aim was a bit off and ended up ringing Killer Shrike. The Ringer fled the scene while Killer Shrike and Coachwhip were defeated by Moon Knight.

The Ringer, Blacklash and Barrier are hired by Justin Hammer to retrieve a young man named Luis Barret who has superhuman speed. They chase Luis around Los Angeles and trap him in an alley. Hammer wanted Luis to don the Thunderbolt costume and retrieve plans for an experimental aircraft from Edwards Air Force Base. If Luis successfully completes the task then Hammer would compensate him and his family. Agamemnon from the Pantheon sensed a greater purpose for Luis and ordered Ulysses and Achilles to handle the situation. The two Pantheon members engage their enemies outside the base and the Ringer is taken down by Ulysses. Hammer escapes and Luis is back on the right track.

Ringer is later seen at the AIM Weapons Expo on an island protected by international law. Captain America, Diamondback and Falcon disguise themselves as Crossbones, Mother Night and Jack O' Lantern so they can infiltrate this expo in hopes of getting information on a criminal named Snapdragon. Batroc the Leaper arranged some pre-expo entertainment by testing the prowess of Crossbones who was actually Captain America in disguise. The Ringer is one of over a hundred super-foes in attendance. Batroc reveals to everyone that Crossbones was really Captain America and offered fifty thousand to the person that brings him down. All the hardened criminals including the Ringer rush the ring for a shot at the super soldier and a nice payout. Captain America is assisted by Falcon and Shang Chi so numerous felons including the Ringer are taken down during this operation.

Lethal Foes of Spider-Man

Anthony Davis would return as Strikeback and save his wife Leila Davi s from a confrontation with Stegron. Leila Davis was the costume criminal named Hardshell that brought together some criminals together which included Boomerang, Vulture, Rhino and the Beetle to retrieve a powerful nuclear blaster weapon. Poop hit the fan when everyone was fighting over the weapon for their own personal gains and Strikeback wanted to help his wife turn her life around. Strikeback told his wife that he survived the shooting by Scourge at the Bar With No Name and was found by AIM. They saved his life and used him as a guinea pig in their cyborg experimentation. Davis performed several missions for AIM as Strikeback and eventually became a free agent. Strikeback wanted to get back with his wife and start a good life together because criminality was a false path. Stegron reappeared and engaged with Strikeback once more. Strikeback took down the Dinosaur Man with a power blast and teleported away with his wife as Spider Man entered the picture.

The Ringer and a number of costume criminals appear as witnesses in court when the Trapster decides to sue the Tinkerer for consumer fraud. Some criminals like the Ringer and the Taskmaster appear on the behalf of the Tinkerer and a brawl ensues when Taskmaster tells the court that the problem is with the users and not the weapons. The Ringer and Boomerang go at each other when She-Hulk is forced to intervene when the brawl crashes into her case in court. She-Hulk takes down most of the criminals involved and tells the Ringer and Boomerang they are the same character because they both throw things. The Ringer and Boomerang exchange insults at each other when the emerald beauty knocks both of them out with a single punch. The judge dismisses the entire case and the Ringer and other participants in the brawl are arrested.

You Only Die Twice

Arnim Zola created numerous proto-husks from DNA samples of deceased heroes and villains including the Ringer whom he called his Corpse Corps. These resurrected husks would secure riches to fund his genetic experiments but come into conflict with Deadpool after Animus steals some files from him. The merc with a mouth guns down the Ringer, Cyclone, Cheetah and Bird-Man in a hail of gunfire. Deadpool destroys most of the proto-husks and defeats Arnim Zola.

Civil War

Ringer would attend the wake of Stilt Man alongside a number of villains wanting to pay their respects at the infamous Bar with No Name. Armadillo and the Rhino would exchange words at the bar and a huge brawl occurs. During the chaos, one of the villains noticed a napkin with a skull on it. The villains begin to collapse one by one and realized their drinks had been poisoned. Apparently the Punisher was disguised as the bartender. Punisher leaves the bar and everyone inside is caught in a massive explosion. Apparently all the villains including Ringer survived the attack but suffered several injuries.

The Initiative/Siege

The Ringer would join the Initiative and is selected to join the Shadow

Initiative. The Hood orders the Taskmaster to bring in a bunch of D-list villains, ex-cons and other Initiative members they feel are expendable into the Shadow Initiative. This group was the first wave of Initiative members to assault a prison in the Negative Zone called 42 that was taken over by Blastaar and his army. This group acted as cannon fodder to soften up Blastaar's forces before sending in the big boys to clean up. Ringer survived the assault and would later be recruited by the Hood during his stay at Camp HAMMER. Ringer and a number of other Initiative members are ordered to take down Prodigy and the Heavy Hitters after they stated on television that they were seceding from the Initiative. Ringer would fight Justice from the Avengers Resistance when they infiltrated Camp Hammond to retrieve Night Thrasher. The Hood would use the Norn Stones to upgrade the powers of his crew during the fight with the Resistance. However, the Resistance gets some help from Penance, Batwing, Bengal and Butterball. The Hood would receive a distress signal and is forced to leave with his Brooklyn crew. Ringer and some other super powered felons are left behind to fend for themselves. The tables have turned in favor of the Resistance and Ringer is taken down by Bengal .

A Council Of Masters

Max Fury, the leader of the Shadow Council has assembled a new Masters of Evil in the sovereign nation of Bagalia where Ringer is presently a member. Ringer is present when Max Fury and the Masters of Evil capture John Steele after he attempts to escape Bagalia with the Serpent Crown and the Crown of Thorns.

Ultimate Spider Man

Ringer would ring up Spider Man during a diamond heist and puts the squeeze on the wall crawler. Ringer thinks he's hardcore being from Waldorf, Maryland and plans to make a name for himself when he takes out Spider Man whom he believes is some mutant freak. Spider Man is assisted by a masked beauty with phasing powers and the Ringer unloads his rings at her. These metal rings harmlessly pass through her body and she uses her powers to phase Spider Man out of his circular bindings. Ringer tries to run away with his stash but gets blocked off by some webbing. Spidey's female friend phases into the Ringer's mechanism on his back causing it to explode. The female masked hero turns out to be Kitty Pryde and clowns the Ringer for carrying his wallet with him while committing a crime. Kitty tells the crowd that the Ringer is Anthony Davis from Medina County, Ohio and he's really not from Maryland. Spider Man and Kitty take off when the cops take the Ringer away.

Abilities & Paraphernalia

The Ringer wears a suit that allows him to shoot steel rings from his wrists that have various offensive capabilities. Some are explosive rings, freezing rings and rings that constrict an opponent. The rings have a tensile strength of steel and the Ringer can also interlock those rings to form a whip-like weapon or use them to scale down various structures. Davis gave the Tinkerer new specs when upgrading his suit and added particulate-matter condensers which formed rings from the soot and smog in the air. The Hood has recently augmented members of his crew with the Norn Stones and has increased the strength of the rings in the Ringer's arsenal. Ringer also had a hovercraft, but it was destroyed in a fight with Moon Knight.