Great Gambonnos

The Great Gambonnos are fictional characters, two twin supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The Great Gambonnos first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #16 (September 1964), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

The characters subsequently appear in The Amazing Spider-Man #22 (March 1965), The Avengers #22 (November 1965), The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (1965), Thor #145-147 (October–December 1967), Super-Villain Team-Up #8 (October 1976), Ghost Rider #72-73 (September–October 1982), The Sensational She-Hulk #1 (May 1989), X-Men and Power Pack #3 (February 2006), and She-Hulk #5 (April 2006). They also appear as "The Flying Gambannos" in Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil #2 (February 2009).

The Great Gambonnos appeared as part of the "Circus of Crime" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #2.

Fictional character biography

Ernesto and Luigi Gambonno were born in Milan, Italy. They are acrobats and aerialists that work for the criminal organization, the Circus of Crime. They are identical twins and though they think of themselves as the "Kings of the High Trapeze", they are defeated pretty easily by Spider-Man and Daredevil who prove to be superior acrobats to the both of them.^[1]

Frustrated by this defeat, the Gambonnos are more than willing to throw in with the Clown, Princess Python, and Cannonball. They kick the Ringmaster out and become the Masters of Menace, a name Princess Python thought up. They steal some valuable paintings. When Spider-Man attacks the Masters at their hideout, the Gambonnos have a set of gymnastic rings from which to swing, but they are clobbered by the web-slinger all the same and sent to jail. They rejoin the Ringmaster when he tries to lure Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch into the group, but cannot defeat Quicksilver.

The Gambonnos (alongside Ringmaster and the Clown) were among the villains in Hammerhead's unnamed villain army when Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. raided their hideout.^[2]

Powers and abilities

Ernesto and Luigi Gambonno have no superpowers, but they are expert acrobats and aerialists.

Other media

Television

• A variation of the Great Gambonnos appears in the Spider-Man episode "Carnival of Crime."
• The Great Gambonnos appear in the Avengers Assemble episode "Crime and Circuses", where they are both voiced by Roger Craig Smith.

References