THE TRICKSTER

Real Name: Milo van Sett

Identity/Class: Human (Post-World War II era)

Occupation: Criminal

Group Membership: Led his own gang of thugs (Spike, others)

Affiliations: Monk, Spike

Enemies: Bucky (Fred Davis), Captain America (Jeff Mace), Golden Girl (Betsy Ross)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Boss," "the Nation's Arch Menace"

Base of Operations: A hideout within an unidentified mountain range, USA;
    formerly an abandoned garage, USA

First Appearance: Captain America Comics I#71 (March, 1949)

Powers/Abilities: The Trickster did not possess any superhuman powers but he was an extremely skilled and careful planner, able to factor in many possible outcomes when planning his crimes.

    He always carried a cane and a handgun to use if needed.

    He also had access to many useful items including a blowtorch capable of burning its way into a bank vault in seconds, a giant blimp that could move at a high enough speed to avoid airplanes, a helicopter, a large truck equipped with a catapult in the back and a fake taxi cab equipped with gas projectors in the back seat. His men utilized a steam shovel but the steam shovel could have simply been stolen or confiscated.

    The Trickster was prone to gloating and bragging about his own cleverness and planning, which almost always ended up being his downfall.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 155 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

History:
(Captain America Comics I#71 (fb) - BTS/Captain America: Official Index to the Marvel Universe TPB - BTS/Captain America: America's Avenger#1 - Fred Davis entry - BTS) - The Trickster made a name for himself as a criminal that plagued the entire United States with a crime wave. Deducing the secret identity of Captain America's crimefighting partner Bucky (see comments) and learning that Bucky was in the hospital, the Trickster devised a plan to get at Captain America by capturing and holding Bucky hostage.

(Captain America Comics I#71) - As the recovering Bucky was picked up by Jeff Mace (in his own guise as Prof. Steve Rogers), the Trickster arranged for his agent Monk to pose as a cab driver and when the thug picked up "Rogers" and Bucky, he gassed the two in the back seat of the car. Regaining consciousness to find themselves facing the Trickster, Mace and Bucky were welcomed by the criminal, who gloated about his plan to use Bucky as a hostage to lure Captain America into a trap. Unaware that "Professor Rogers" was actually Jeff Mace: Captain America, the Trickster announced his plans to free "Rogers" so that "Rogers" could inform the newspapers of Bucky's capture and thereby, provide the information that would lure Captain America there. The Trickster then freed "Rogers" and gloated about his "surprise" for Captain America before having his thug release "Rogers" and order him at gunpoint to spread the word of Bucky's capture. As soon as he released, Jeff Mace changed into his Captain America costume and rushed back to the Trickster's garage hideout.

    Busting through the window, Captain America confronted the Trickster and his thug Monk, who was ordered to take care of the hero while the Trickster ducked away. Cap soon noticed Bucky bound to a hydraulic car ramp and rushed into the room as the Trickster watched from afar. Despite Bucky's claims that his capture was a trap, Captain America worked to free Bucky and the Trickster announced that he had Captain America exactly where he wanted him. The Trickster then pulled a lever and the hydraulic car ramp moved up towards the ceiling, leaving Captain America and Bucky open to be shot by the criminal. Admitting that he hadn't expected Cap to fall into his trap so soon, the Trickster nonetheless gloated that he planned to shoot both Captain America and Bucky dead and continue his crime wave undeterred. Captain America hurled his shield, knocking the gun from the Trickster's hand and breaking Monk's arm. The two criminals then scrambled to retrieve their guns and Cap knocked out Monk as the Trickster grabbed his gun. The Trickster then held Bucky hostage at gunpoint, warning Captain America not to move. Cap agreed and stayed still, keeping the Trickster's focus while Bucky snuck away and went for a oil pump. Bucky then sprayed the Trickster with oil and Captain America threatened to throw a lighted match onto the oil-soaked Trickster unless the criminal dropped his gun. Fearing for his life, the Trickster surrendered and the criminal was brought to justice.

(Captain America Comics I#72/4 (fb) - BTS) - The Trickster apparently escaped custody and assembled a larger group of thugs. He then began a carefully planned out new crime wave.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 8 - Patriot (Mace) entry - BTS) - The Trickster became a recurring opponent of Captain America (Jeff Mace), at one point fighting both Captain America and Golden Girl (Betsy Ross).

(Captain America Comics I#72/4) - The Trickster and his goons robbed the First Merchants' Bank and fled into the back of a large truck. As the Trickster gloated about how they could accomplish anything with careful planning, the truck was quickly surrounded by the police, but the unworried criminals stepped onto a catapult built into the back of the truck and the Trickster and his thugs were soon launched away from the crime scene, landing in a net set up on a nearby rooftop. As the police rushed up the fire escape towards the rooftop, the Trickster and his men escaped in a helicopter that the Trickster had arranged to be on the rooftop. When a police plane caught up the criminals, the Trickster headed for the nearest cloud and seemingly disappeared from the searching police. Once obscured by the cloud, the Trickster docked his helicopter into a large blimp within the cloud and carefully moved the blimp whenever the police plane grew near. Hours later, the Trickster landed the blimp at his hideout.

    The next day, the Trickster's agent Spike showed the Trickster a newspaper article about a new gold shipment at the National Bank. Recognizing the article as obvious bait to lure him into a trap, the Trickster nonetheless decided to rob the National Bank as a way of publicly tricking those who wished to trick him. Twelve hours later at the National Bank, as a steam shovel went out of control as per the Trickster's plan, the Trickster himself burned his way into the National Bank vault. Bragging about how clever his plan was, the Trickster soon found the gold shipment in a large crate and whistled for his men to help move the gold into the shovel portion of the steam shovel outside. As the Trickster departed the Bank, the steam shovel dropped the gold crate into the back of a getaway car. In the distraction of the steam shovel and the car, the Trickster escaped into the sewers and made his way through the tunnels. Not far down the road, the getaway car dumped the gold crate into a sewer manhole, where the Trickster and his thugs found it. The Trickster then gloated about how he had again tricked the police and ordered his men to open the crate, revealing Captain America. Captain America knocked down the Trickster with one punch before taking down his thugs as well. The Trickster then pulled a gun on Captain America but the hero hit the Trickster's hand with his shield, breaking the flashlight the Trickster held in his hand. The arriving police then took the Trickster into custody and while he was being handcuffed, the Trickster demanded to know how the police found him in the maze of sewer tunnels. Captain America then revealed that he had worn a two-way radio on his belt to summon the police to wherever the Trickster ultimately ended up.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Al Gabriele and Al Avison.

    While Captain America Comics I#71 only states that the Trickster had only deduced a connection between Bucky Barnes and Captain America's partner, Bucky, the Official Marvel Index to Captain America TPB confirms the Trickster had outright deduced that the hero Bucky was Bucky Barnes. Of course, due to retcons, this Bucky was actually Fred Davis posing as Bucky Barnes and Fred Davis' Marvel Handbook entry in Captain America: America's Avenger#1 establishes that the Trickster had deduced that Bucky was Fred Davis rather than Bucky Barnes. Also, if there was any confusion as to whether or not the Trickster knew Bucky Barnes or Fred Davis was Bucky or not, the Trickster learned for sure that "Bucky Barnes" (aka Fred Davis) was the crimefighter Bucky when Davis changed into his Bucky costume right in front of the Trickster while trapped on the hydraulic car ramp. So IF the Trickster had not already figured it out, he sure learned it at that point!

    The Trickster's real name was first revealed in the Patriot (Mace) profile in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 8 (2009).

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Trickster should be distinguished from:

Monk

Monk was a criminal thug who worked with the Trickster during his plan to capture and shoot Captain America and Bucky. As part of the Trickster's plan, Monk posed as a cab driver and picked up Jeff Mace (in his guise as "Professor Steve Rogers") and Bucky, gassing them in the back seat once they had entered the cab. Monk then brought the two back to the Trickster's garage headquarters and was later tasked with releasing Jeff Mace (as "Rogers") and forcing him at gunpoint to tell the newspapers of Bucky's capture in order to lure Captain America into the Trickster's trap. When Captain America busted through a window at the Trickster's headquarters, Monk was ordered to take care of Captain America. Captain America soon fell for the trap and when Cap hurled his shield at the crooks, the shield hit Monk, breaking him arm as it knocked the gun from his hand. The Trickster quickly ordered Monk to retrieve his gun but Monk was knocked out by Captain America before he could do so.

--Captain America Comics I#71
Spike

Spike was one of the many thugs who worked with the Trickster during his second, carefully planned crime wave. Spike accompanied the Trickster to the First Merchants' Bank and aided in robbing the bank, escaping with the Trickster via catapult, helicopter and finally, blimp. As the blimp landed at the Trickster's headquarters, Spike joked that the Trickster might as well use a rocket as well. The next day, Spike noticed a newspaper article about a gold shipment at the National Bank and showed it to the Trickster, who recognized it as a trap. Despite this, the Trickster decided to trick those wishing to trick him by succeeding in robbing the Bank and Spike subsequently accompanied him to the robbery, helping to move the crate of stolen seeming gold into a steam shovel that moved the crate into a getaway car. Spike then joined the Trickster in escaping into the sewers and was present when the stolen crate was opened to reveal Captain America. After Cap punched the Trickster, he punched another thug and hit Spike in the neck with the corner of his shield.






--Captain America Comics I#72/4
images: (without ads)
Captain America Comics I#72, p19, pan1 (The Trickster holding a mobile, main image)
Captain America Comics I#72, p25, pan5 (The Trickster, headshot without his hat)
Captain America Comics I#71, p4, pan2 (The Trickster, headshot)
Captain America Comics I#71, p6, pan2 (The Trickster pulling a lever)
Captain America Comics I#71, p3, pan5 (Monk)
Captain America Comics I#72, p22, pan1 (Spike)

Appearances:
Captain America Comics I#71 (March, 1949) - "Trapped by the Trickster!" story - Stan Lee (writer), Al Gabriele (pencils), Al Avison (inks), uncredited editor
Captain America Comics I#72 (May, 1949) - "The Tricks of the Trickster!" story - uncredited writer, Ken Bald (art), uncredited editor
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 8 (2009) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer, coordinator), Mike Fichera (writer, coordination assistant, art refurbishment), Stuart Vandal, Madison Carter (writers, coordination assistants), David Wiltfong (writer, art refurbishment), Sean McQuaid, Michael Hoskin, Ronald Byrd, Chad Anderson, Chris Biggs, Eric J. Moreels, Mark O'English, Al Sjoerdsma, Jacob Rougemont, Gabriel Shechter, Anthony Flamini, Rich Green, Markus Raymond, Andrew Golentz, Rob London, Mike O'Sullivan, Jeph York (writers), Jonathan Couper-Smartt, Eric Englehard, Bill Lentz, Barry Reese, David Sexton (past writers), Josef Rubinstein, Carl Burgos, Ron Wilson (Patriot (Mace) entry art), J. Christopher Schmidt, Sean Ellery, Jason Lewis, Tony Marcotte, Matthew Frank, Courtney Via (art refurbishment), Pond Scum, Nelson Ribeiro (art reconstruction), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
Captain America: Official Index to the Marvel Universe TPB (2011) - Daron Jensen, Al Sjoerdsma, Stuart Vandal (head writers, coordinators), Paul Bourcier, Chris Buchner, Ronald Byrd, Russ Chappell, Michael Hoskin, Chris McCarver, Jacob Rougemont, Robert J. Sodaro, Kevin Wasser (writers), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Captain America: America's Avenger#1 (August, 2011) - Jeff Christiansen, Mike O'Sullivan, Stuart Vandal (head writers, coordinators), Markus Raymond (writer, assistant coordinator), Sean McQuaid, Kevin Garcia, Madison Carter, Patrick Ryall, Ronald Byrd, Patrick Duke, Rob London, Matt Forbeck, Paul Fairchild, Chris Biggs (writers), Gus Vasquez, Tom Chu (select character art), Mike Fichera (art refurbishment, assistant coordinator), Gally Articola (art refurbishment), Jeff Youngquist (editor)

First posted: 10/06/2023
Last updated: 10/06/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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