THE BOSS MAN

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Criminal

Group Membership: Leader of his own gang

Affiliations: His gang

Enemies: Spider-Man

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City

First Appearance: "Spider-Man in: The Trap" (Hostess Fruit Pies advertisement in Marvel Team-Up I#34 and other May-June 1975 issues)

Powers/Abilities: The Boss Man is evidently known for his keen analytical mind. He employed a super-steel spider net to capture Spider-Man.

History: Nothing is known about the Boss Man save that he leads a gang of criminals; it is not known how highly he ranks in the NYC underworld.

("Spider-Man in: The Trap")- The Boss Man and three underlings staged a trap for Spider-Man by somehow triggering Spider-Man's spider-sense to draw him to their location. The Boss Man had two of his underlings capture Spider-Man in a "super-steel spider-net," then had him imprisoned in a "windowless, five-foot-thick concrete security cell," leaving a third underling (who had noted that the Boss Man's "calculations" to capture Spider-Man had proven correct) to guard Spider-Man while the Boss Man departed with the other two. Spider-Man persuaded the criminal to release him in exchange for some Hostess Fruit Pies which the hero happened to have with him, then set out to capture the Boss Man and the rest of his gang. It is not known if he was successful.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and artist. Bob Almond believes the artists to be Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

The Boss Man has the distinction of being the first villain to appear in a Hostess advertisement featuring a Marvel super-hero.

A later villain, Larcenous Lil, also appeared in an advertisement entitled "Spider-Man in: The Trap" and also caught Spider-Man in a net, after which he ALSO used snacks to bribe a guard into releasing him.

Of all the Hostess villains, only Icemaster has shown up in an Earth-616 title. He could have crossed over to Earth-616 from "Earth-Hostess," but I say leave them on Earth-616 until proven otherwise. Nonetheless, until they do show up in regular continuity, they remain outside regular canon. Surely someone will write a story teaming them all together.---Snood.

This is not true anymore as some Hostess ad villains were mentioned in the Fantastic Four Encyclopedia as natives of Earth-616. And lets not forget about Printout Man in the New Avengers Most Wanted Files.

by Ronald Byrd

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Boss Man should not be confused with:

• Bossman Morgan, Harlem gang leader and agent of Killmonger, @ Captain America I#152
• The Boss, Japanese criminal who created Widdle Wade, @ Deadpool Team-Up#1
• Boss Barker, Kralian Skrull, @ Fantastic Four I#91
• Overboss Dixon, supervisor at Landau, Luckman and Lake, @ Deadpool III#-1
• Zoe Culloden, succeeded Dixon as Overboss, @ Wolverine II#79
• Mister Boss, head of San Francisco racketeering operation, enemy of Shang-Chi, @ Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#7
• Big Boss, alias of Vulture 2099, @ Spider-Man 2099#6
• Or any other organized crime leader or employer of anyone

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