RINGERRINGER
Real Name: Anthony Davis
Identity/Class: Formerly normal human technology user
(unconventional);
later a cyborg
Occupation: Vigilante; formerly A.I.M. agent; NASA lab technician
Group Membership: None
formerly: A.I.M.
Affiliations: Cobra (Klaus Voorhees), Hobgoblin (Roderick Kingsley)
Enemies: Nighthawk, Beetle (Abner Jenkins; now Mach-4), Scourge of the Underworld, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Kris Keating, Lethal Foes of Spider-Man (Beetle, Boomerang, Stegron, Vulture (Adrian Toomes)
Known Relatives: Leila Davis (wife)
Aliases: Hula-Man (by Spider-Man), Strikeback, Machine-Man (by Stegron)
Place of Birth: Hooper, Nebraska
Base of Operations: New York, NY;
USA, possibly
worldwide for AIM
Education: Masters in mechanical engineering, University of Nebraska
First Appearance:
(Ringer) Defenders I#51 (August, 1977); {Edizione Italiana: I Difensori#11 Editoriale Corno (marzo 1980)};
(Strikeback) Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#3 (November, 1993); {Edizione Italiana: Marvel Mix#11
Marvel Italia (febbraio, 1997)}
Powers/Abilities: Anthony Davis is a normal human with
a high degree of knowledge in technology, as he built his own costume. As
the Ringer, his costume could create rings of varying size, resistance, and thickness
by condensing the dust motes in smog, giving the rings the hardness of steel . The rings could be explosive,
crushing, or freezing, and he could control
their movement at short distance. He also could create long chains of rings for
various uses: as a whip, as stairs, and so on.
As Strikeback his body was covered and composed of metallic parts. He had jets
for flying, as well as repulsor/energy blasts, superhuman strength (class 25?), teleporting at short and probably long distances.
Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 145 lbs.
Eyes: (Davis) Brown; (Strikeback) left eye brown, right eye glowing green
Hair: (Davis) Black, later dyed blond; (Strikeback) none
History:
(Defenders I#51 (fb) - BTS) - Anthony Davis was in love with Leila.
(Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#3 (fb) - BTS) - Anthony and Leila married and were very happy.
(Defenders I#51 (fb) - BTS) - Anthony Danis worked for NASA but he was sure he lead a poor life. Jealous of Kyle Richmond's wealth, built a costume, and as Ringer assaulted the Richmond's house.
(Defenders I#51) - Ringer tore the Richmond's strongroom apart with an explosive ring. He knew that the Police might arrive, but he was surprised by Nighthawk's arrival. With his Rapid Fire Rings he destroyed Nighthawks flight equipment. The Ringer then ran away, but Nighthawk reached him, punching him in the face, only to fracture his hand on the Ringer's protective mask. The Ringer then fled again, concealed himself in a dark room, and waited for Nighthawk arrival. Using a chain of rings, he again attacked the hero, but he then ran out of rings. Nighthawk kicked him, breaking some of his teeth, after which the Ringer jumped out a window. Nighthawk, using the chain of rings succeeded in grabbing the Ringer in midair and smashing him through a wall.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#58 (fb) - BTS) - Ringer
was released from prison and was on probation.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#58 (fb) - BTS) - Ringer understood he wasn't cut out for the crime and wanted to sell his costume, so gave his costume to the Tinkerer to modify it.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#53 - BTS) - The Tinkerer was defeated by Spider-Man, and the Ringer's costume remained in the Tinkerer's old base, which was garrisoned by the Police.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#58) - Using a "chain of rings", Anthony Davis accessed the Tinkerer's warehouse, avoiding the Police. He donned his costume, but before he could go away, Abner Jenkins (disguised in civilian clothing over his armor) entered in the laboratory and defeated him with a single punch. Jenkins, remaining in the shadows, subdued the Ringer, duping him into believing that an explosive ring had been added to the costume, and if he (Davis) did not fight Spider-Man, he (Jenkins) would have detonate the explosive. The terrified Ringer acquiesced.
With the help of a mini-radar given to him by his "boss", Ringer found Spider-Man and attacked him. Spider-Man mocked Ringer for his name, avoided all his attacks and knocked out all of the Ringer's dental repairs. The Ringer succeeded in freezing Spider-Man for some seconds, but the Arachnid was in late for a date, so dodged him for a while, then left him on the roof of the building.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#58 - BTS) - Ringer was really
scared that his "boss" would kill him, and he searched for
Spider-Man for some hours.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#58) - Instead, it was Spider-Man, after his dinner with Debra Withman, who found the Ringer and defeated him very easily. Jenkins detonated the explosive, which was really just a farce that exploded in a small "poof," leaving both Spider-Man and the Ringer unharmed.
Spider-Man webbed up the Ringer and brought him to the Police. The Ringer confessed to having violated his probation and confessed to his actions.
(Deadly Foes of Spider-Man#4 (fb) - BTS) - Davis went to prison. Jenkins went to the same prison, unaware that Davis was there. When Jenkins boasted of his plan involving the Ringer with his prison-mates, Davis heard everything. He was too scared to seek vengeance, but told everything to his wife Leila Davis.
(Code of Honor#3) - Ringer, Hobgoblin and Cobra went on a crime spree, but were opposed by Daredevil and the Black Widow.
(Captain America I#319) - Ringer was gunned down in the Scourge massacre at the Bar with no Name.
(Deadly Foes of Spider-Man#4 - BTS) - Leila Davis used one of Ringer's gloves to entrap the Beetle (Jenkins) and used a ring to strangle him, but Spider-Man saved the criminal, captured Leila, and gave the glove to the Police.
(Captain America I#320) - The Water Wizard led Cap to the bar the morning after the Scourge massacre and showed him the bodies of the Ringer and all the other villains.
(Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#4 (fb) - BTS) - Anthony Davis wasn't dead,
but was very near to death. AIM took the corpses of the Scourge's
victims to discover information about their powers and equipment and saved
Ringer's life, performing experiments on him and transforming him into Strikeback, a
cyborg.
(Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#4 (fb) - BTS) - Strikeback performed some missions for the AIM, after which he became independent.
(Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#3) - Strikeback found his wife, Leila Davis, when she was Hardshell, part of the Lethal Foes of Spider-Man. He watched her from afar fighting against Stegron and the Beetle (Jenkins) for the possession of a Nuclear Gun.
Shortly after, when Leila was in danger for Stegron's assault Strikeback intervened in her defense and held back Stegron, equaling his strength.
(Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#4) - Strikeback helped Leila in taking the Nuclear Gun. He then teleported and stunned the Vulture with his blasts, and he bounced one of Boomerang's explosive boomerangs against him. He had to stop Leila from blasting the Beetle for revenge and tried to convince her that the criminal way of life was not better and that together they could have a good life. Stegron crunched him with his tail and repeatedly punched Strikeback till his systems short-circuited. His human parts helped him to resist the damage, and he blasted Stegron, incapacitating himi. Spider-Man then took the Nuclear Gun from Hardshell, but Strikeback stopped his former lover and forced her to teleport away with him, to start a new life.
(Thunderbolts#56
(fb)) - Anthony and Leila lived happily for a short time, then, Anthony
cybernetic systems broke down. He passed away quietly... at peace with himself.
Comments: Ringer
was created by David Kraft, Keith Giffen and Klaus Janson;
Strikeback was
created by Danny Fingeroth, Keith Pollard and Jim Amash(?).
I dislike the idea of
resurrecting Scourge victims. They seemed to be the few deaths we could actually
count on.
--Snood.
Ringer was also seen among the afterlife characters in Sensational She-Hulk#53.
--John McDonagh
But these could all actually be hallucinations on the She-Hulk's part. I've read the brain continues functioning after the heart stops beating.
--Will U
This is supported by the fact that the Ringer wasn't even dead.
--Markus Raymond
A Ringer was seen in JLA/Avengers#4, but since the characters in this story were pulled forward from different times it could've been another Ringer.
Code of Honor#3 addition by John McDonagh. Captain America I#320 addition by Rick.
Clarifications:
Anthony Davis, AKA Ringer, AKA Strikeback is connected to but is different from
and has no known connections to
Images:
Defenders I#51, page 9, panel 1
(Ringer)
Defenders I#51, page 10, panel 1 (Ringer,
head shot)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#58, page 4, panel 7 (Ringer's new costume)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#58, page 3, panel 4 (Anthony Davis, head shot)
Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#3, page 20, panel 1 (Strikeback)
Thunderbolts#56, page 14, panel 5 (Anthony)
Other appearances:
Spectacular Spider-Man II#58 (September, 1981) - Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Tom DeFalco (editor)
{Edizione Italiana: L'Uomo Ragno#1 Star Comics (maggio 1987)}
Captain America I#319-320 (July-August, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Paul Neary (pencils), Dennis Janke (inks), Michael Carlin (editor)
{Edizione Italiana: Capitan America e i Vendicatori#59 Star Comics}
Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#3 (November, 1993) - Danny Fingeroth (writer), Keith Pollard & David Boller (pencils), Ian Akin, Keith Aiken & Jim Amash (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)
{Edizione Italiana: Marvel Mix#11 Marvel Italia (febbraio 1997)}
Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#4 (Dicember, 1993) - Danny Fingeroth (writer), David Boller (pencils), Brad Vancata, Jim Amash, Mike DeCarlo, Keith Aiken & Ian Akin (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)
{Edizione Italiana: Marvel Mix#11 Marvel Italia (febbraio 1997)}
Code of Honor#3 (April, 1997) - Chuck Dixon (writer), Bob Wakelin, Derick Gross & Paul Lee (artists), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Thunderbolts#56 (November, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 05/10/2005
Last updated: 07/06/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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