The Circus of Crime established themselves as recurrent antagonists in several Marvel Comics series, where they briefly attempted to recruit Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch into their ranks when the Avengers had been disbanded. The Ringmaster later hypnotized Thor into assisting with one of the Circus' schemes while the Thunder God was stripped of most of his powers except his strength. Battling the Avengers again, they attempted to sabotage the Wasp and Yellowjacket's wedding. Other encounters pitted them against Daredevil and Power Man. They later fought Power Pack and Generation X.