CRIME-MASTER

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Arms dealer

Group Membership: Maggia

Affiliations: His henchmen, Turk Barrett, Blood Spider (Michael Bingham), Death-Shield (Timothy Karlskin), Janus Jardeesh, Ghost, Gladiator (Wylie Lemmick), Grotto, Hobgoblin (Roderick Kingsley), Jagged Bow (Joseph Emberlin), Jigsaw (Billy Russo), Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), Lady Bullseye, Ox (Raymond Bloch), Tombstone (Lonnie Lincoln), White Rabbit (Lorina Dodson)

Enemies: Artyom, Deadpool ("Wade Wilson"), Ryan Gudmunsdottir, Luka, Spider-Man (Otto Octavius), Slapstick (Steve Harmon), Spiderlings, Venom (Flash Thompson)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: A warehouse near the New York docks

First Appearance: Superior Spider-Man I#22 (January, 2014)

Powers/Abilities: The Crime-Master was a capable smuggler and arms dealer. He may have also possessed the gas-gun used by prior Crime-Masters.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

History: (Superior Spider-Man #22 (fb) ) - A smuggler for the Maggia saved up his criminal earnings and bought the Crime-Master identity and costume from the Hobgoblin. As one of the Hobgoblin's supervillain franchisees, the Crime-Master owed him a cut of all of his criminal earnings.

(Superior Spider-Man I#22) - Venom, believing this Crime-Master was the prior Crime-Master, infiltrated his henchmen and accompanied them back to his warehouse base and attacked. Venom soon determined that he wasn't Bennett Brant, and the Crime-Master was displeased to find out that his new identity came with baggage. When Spider-Man burst into his base accompanied by his mechanical Arachnaughts and Spiderling henchmen, Crime-Master surrendered and pulled his mask off, telling the heroes that he'd just bought the costume from the Hobgoblin. 

(Superior Spider-Man I#23) - When Venom and Spider-Man started fighting each other, Crime-Master ran outside and surrendered to NYPD chief Zachary Pratchett, offering to give up all his suppliers if the police would protect him from the battling heroes.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Deadpool & the Mercs for Money I#2) - Learning that Deadpool and his Mercs for Money had acquired a Rigellian Recorder capable of predicting the future, the Crime-Master hired Blood Spider, Death-Shield, and Jagged Bow to extract its location from Deadpool. He arranged a meet in a warehouse, and ambushed Deadpool and Slapstick. Crime-Master insisted that his minions leave them alive long enough to extract the information, but the two mercenaries soon turned the tables on their foes. Deadpool painfully pinned the Crime-Master's arm behind his back until the crimelord agreed to just bid on the Recorder.

(Deadpool and the Mercs for Money I#3) - Crime-Master attended the subsequent auction for the Recorder. He made the opening bid, but was quickly outbid by the other villains in attendance. The auction subsequently descended into chaos, and the Recorder was ultimately won by the Ozarks Kingpin.

(Civil War II: Kingpin#2) - The Crime-Master joined the Kingpin's resurgent organization, and joined him and several of his other criminal associates when he uncovered undercover SHIELD agent Ryan Gudmunsdottir. Later, the Crime-Master came into conflict with gangsters Luka and Artyom over a debt; they brutally murdered him, and left a note reading IT'S NOT YOUR CITY pinned to his corpse.

Comments: Created by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Humberto Ramos, and Victor Olazaba.

While Bennett Brant, the previous Crime-Master, was apparently part of some ancient line of Crime-Masters, this dude is just a guy who bought his stuff from the Hobgoblin.  He doesn't even seem to have the Crime-Master's signature gas-gun, which I guess means he just bought a mask and a brown suit.

This Crime-Master doesn't have Bennett Brant's henchmen, either - Brant's had high-tech weapons, and these guys just have guns. 

The henchmen image is technically of Venom impersonating one of Crime-Master's henchmen, but it's the best full-body shot there is.

Profile by Minor Irritant.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Crime-Master uses the same identity as, but is not otherwise connected to:

Crime-Master's henchmen

(Superior Spider-Man I#22) - Several of the Crime-Master's henchmen unloaded a shipment of grenades at the West Side train yards in Manhattan. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by Venom, who waylaid and impersonated one of their number. Back at the Crime-Master's warehouse base, Venom revealed his deception, and the Crime-Master ordered his henchmen to kill him. They were no match for the symbiote soldier, however, and they were all defeated.

The Crime-Master's henchmen were armed with conventional firearms.

--Superior Spider-Man I#22

images: (without ads)
Superior Spider-Man I#22, p15, pan1 (main image)
Superior Spider-Man I#22, p16, pan4 (unmasked)
Superior Spider-Man I#22, p3, pan2 (henchmen)

Appearances:
Superior Spider-Man I#22-23 (January-February, 2014) - Dan Slott & Christos Gage (writers), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Deadpool & the Mercs for Money I#2-3 (May-June, 2016) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Salva Espin (art), Jordan White (editor)
Civil War II: Kingpin #2 (October, 2016) - Matthew Rosenberg (writer), Ricardo Lopez Ortiz (art), Wil Moss (editor)

First Posted: 09/09/2014
Last updated: 08/29/2017

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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