CAESAR CICERO
Real Name: Caesar Cicero
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Attorney, criminal
Group Membership: Maggia (Man Mountain Marko, Silvermane/Silvio Manfredi, Louis Wilson, others)
Affiliations: Beetle (Abner Jenkins), Boomerang (Fred Myers), General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, Cyclone (Pierre Fresson), Dreadnought, Eel (Edward Lavell), Don Fortunato, Hammerhead (Joseph), Hydro-Man (Morris Bench), Shigeru Ichihara, Impasse, Jimmy-6, Madame Masque, Mainframe (Ian Wajler), Rose (Jacob Conover), Scorpia (Elaine Coll), Slug (Ulysses X. Lugman), T.B. Smithson, Speed Demon (James Sanders), Gavin Thorpe, Tombstone (Lonnie Lincoln), Joey Tortelli, Vienna
Enemies: Angel the wolf, Avengers (Goliath/Hank Pym, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Triathlon/Delroy Garrett Jr., Vision, Warbird/Carol Danvers, Wasp/Janet Van Dyne), Luke Cage, Billy Connors, Martha Connors, Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Deathlok (Michael Collins), Big Ben Donovan, Joe Flanagan, Iron Fist (Daniel Rand), Misty Knight (Mercedes Knight), Maxine Lavender, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Thunderbolt (Bill Carver), Colleen Wing
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Big C, "Mouthpiece of the Maggia"
Base of Operations: New York City, New York
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man I#73 (June, 1969)
Powers/Abilities: Caesar Cicero is a talented attorney with many Maggia and criminal connections. Short in stature, Caesar can fire a gun to protect himself, but he more often uses armed men or super-powered henchmen to do his work for him.
Height: 5'2" (by approximation)
Weight: 160 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
History:
(Amazing Spider-Man I#73 (fb) - BTS) - Caesar Cicero, sometimes known
as Big C, became known as the "Mouthpiece of the Maggia", working as an
attorney to help protect them in their crimes. Cicero at times found
himself at odds with Silvio Manfredi, known as Silvermane, the frequent
head of the Maggia. Hearing about the famous Lifeline Tablet, which Kingpin was seeking to get his hands on, Cicero began making plans to obtain it.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#73) - Cicero bailed Kingpin's man, Louis Wilson, out of jail, and demanded that Wilson tell him everything about the Tablet. Cicero approached Silvermane about his plans, and Silvermane was furious that Cicero had hatched plots without Silvermane's authority.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#73 - BTS) - Cicero had Maggia agents kidnap Martha and Billy Connors, so that scientist Curt Connors would be forced to help crack the secret of the Tablet.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#73) - Flanked by Man Mountain Marko, Silvermane was again angry with Cicero when he learned about Connors. Cicero said he was only trying to prove his loyalty to the Maggia itself.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#74) - Spider-Man confronted Cicero at his office, wanting to know why he had bailed out Wilson, but Cicero pushed a panic button, summoning Maggia guards to fight off the hero. Cicero escaped through a passage behind the bookcase, though he was furious when one of the guards revealed to Spidey about the Connors being hostages. Cicero escaped with Martha and Billy Connors and took them to Silvermane and Marko, who were furious with Cicero for doing so. Cicero reported that he'd had the building blown up behind him, and he believed Spider-Man was dead now.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#75) - While checking on Martha and Billy Connors, Cicero heard a commotion and rushed to find that Silvermane had used the Tablet, and it had restored him to middle-age. Having secretly harbored desires to take over the Maggia after Silvermane's death, Cicero was shocked, and he managed to convince Marko that Silvermane was an imposter, inspiring the two of them to fight. As Silvermane continued to get younger, Spider-Man arrived, still alive, and Connors changed to the Lizard at the same time, though Cicero believed that was only a trick of Silvermane's. When the fight grew chaotic, Cicero went to kill Silvermane, but found the man had reverted to a child and then a baby, removing him from the battle. Cicero presumably fled as Spider-Man stopped the Maggia plots.
(Power Man and Iron Fist I#101 (fb) - BTS) - Cicero got drug charges dropped against a man in court.
(Power Man and Iron Fist I#61 (fb) - BTS) - When Big Ben Donovan stole a shipment of drugs from the Maggia, Cicero sent Man Mountain Marko to retrieve him.
(Power Man and Iron Fist I#61) - Marko returned with Donovan, tied up, and Luke Cage, in chains and unconscious and placed in a coffin, believing Cage to be Donovan's accomplice in the theft. Cicero demanded answers from Donovan.
(Power Man and Iron Fist I#62) - Cicero forced Donovan, at gunpoint, to drive while Marko watched over the restrained Cage in the back of the car. Donovan took them to a grave, which had been marked with Luke Cage's name where he had hidden the stolen goods, and Cicero planned to bury Cage alive and kill Donovan, but Thunderbolt (Bill Carver), a super-fast hero who was seeking information from Donovan interfered. As Iron Fist attacked and Luke Cage broke out of his buried coffin, the conflict escalated and Cicero tried to escape, but Cage attacked the car, causing it to crash.
(Power Man and Iron Fist I#101 (fb) - BTS) - Cicero began having problems with district attorney Maxine Lavendar, who was trying Cicero's client Joey Tortelli.
(Power Man and Iron Fist I#101) - The man Cicero once helped with drug charges showed up at Cicero's home, revealing he was the villain Impasse. Wanting to repay Cicero for his one-time kindness, the man said he had killed Power Man and Iron Fist for Cicero, without being asked, and then stated that he planned to kill all of Cicero's enemies with a germ gun in order to make Cicero a great man. As Impasse fled, leaving behind Iron Fist's mask and Luke Cage's belt, Colleen Wing and Misty Knight broke in, confronting Cicero, and he cried, explaining that he didn't want Impasse to do anything more. As the heroes left, Vienna entered, stating she would stop Impasse if Cicero paid her. Learning of the betrayal, Impasse came back to attack Cicero, poisoning him, but Wing and Knight broke in to stop him, though he poisoned them first. Vienna arrived with an antidote to the poison and she used it to save the others. As Cicero begged for it to be used on him as well, Luke Cage and Iron Fist broke in, alive, and Cicero fainted.
(Power Man and Iron Fist I#101 - BTS) - The remaining antidote was likely used to save Cicero's life.
(Spider-Man: Power of Terror#1 (fb) - BTS) - Silvermane had his agents kill several of Cicero's men.
(Spider-Man: Power of Terror#1) - Cicero went to Silvermane's home to confront him, and found that Silvermane was in a cyborg body and was infirm and dying. Silvermane revealed that he wanted Cicero's allegiance in an attempted takeover of the Maggia, and Silvermane revealed he had many other alliances as well as a new Scorpion suit ready to put into play. To aid Silvermane, Cicero had his men plant bombs on all the bridges in New York City.
(Spider-Man: Power of Terror#2 (fb) - BTS) - Silvermane and Cicero brought in super-criminals to help with the Maggia takeover plans, including Boomerang, Hydro-Man, Speed Demon, Beetle, and Scorpia.
(Spider-Man: Power of Terror#2) - Cicero went after one of Silvermane's foes, Joe Flanagan, a mobster who had refused Silvermane's offer of alliance, and Cicero shot at the man himself. As the criminal families warred, other heroes, like Deathlok, Daredevil, and Punisher, got involved, and many civilians wound up dead.
(Spider-Man: Power of Terror#3) - Silvermane detonated a few of the bombs, increasing the chaos in the city, and the Avengers got involved. Cicero regrouped with Silvermane and the other Maggia leaders and watched as Deathlok entered to confront them, but Scorpia stood guard and Mainframe took over Deathlok's robot form. Silvermane then announced his intent to transfer his consciousness into Mainframe's body. Soon, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Punisher attacked.
(Spider-Man: Power of Terror#4 - BTS) - The heroes won as Silvermane and the Maggia were defeated.
(Spider-Man I#73) - Cicero attended a meeting with many criminals, including Hammerhead, Tombstone, Gavin Thorpe, Silvermane, the Rose (Jaocb Conover), and Slug, held by General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, who proposed a criminal alliance against Don Fortunato.
(Spider-Man I#74) - When Fortunato captured Spider-Man, he united Cicero and the others behind him, as well as Hydra and his son Jimmy-6 and he promised to publicly unmask Spidey at midnight. Fortunato then revealed he had captured Tombstone, who he had in power-blockers, and Fortunato promised to kill anyone who turned against him again. Fortunato ordered Jimmy-6 to pass out guns to Cicero and the others, stating he would force them to shoot Tombstone, but Jimmy-6 refused and turned against his father. Spider-Man escaped as Daredevil attacked, and Cicero and the others escaped in the chaos.
(Spider-Man: Made Men#1 (fb) - BTS) - When Kingpin was removed from power, Fortunato took over the crime syndicate, and he promised the other crime bosses, including Cicero, that he would protect them and their interests.
(Spider-Man: Made Men#1) - When a war broke out among the crime families of New York, Fortunato called a meeting, on his boat, of the various crime syndicate heads, including the Rose, Silvermane, Hammerhead, and Cicero. Cicero boldly questioned Fortunato's leadership while insulting him, and Fortunato responded by sending his wolf Angel to kill Cicero. As the wolf had its jaws around Cicero's throat, another crime family attacked the boat and the criminals scattered.
(Avengers III#31 (fb) - BTS) - Grim Reaper summoned the American and European heads of the Maggia families to meet in Chicago.
(Avengers III#31) - Cicero attended the meeting alongside T.B. Smithson, Eel (Edward Lavell), Shigeru Ichihara, Madame Masque, Silvermane, and Cyclone (Pierre Fresson), but the Avengers attacked and Cicero and the others scattered as a Dreadnought was unleashed against them.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#2 (fb) - BTS) - Cicero acted as an attorney for both Eel and Man Mountain Marko, helping them get parole.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1 (fb) - BTS) - Cicero heard about Louis Wilson retrieving more fragments of the Lifeline Tablet, so he hired Eel and Man Mountain Marko to retrieve it.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#1) - After they attacked Wilson, Marko and Eel returned with the fragments, and Cicero was thrilled, but then Boomerang (working for Hammerhead) attacked and stole the fragments, ignoring Cicero's offer to pay him triple what he was being paid already.
(Spider-Man: Lifeline#2) - Cicero screamed at Marko and Eel for their incompetence. After Eel left, Cicero saw Spider-Man break in, and the hero sparred with Marko, breaking an antique grandfather clock that had been in Cicero's family for four generations. Cicero fired Marko angrily, then shot a gun at Spider-Man, but the hero webbed Cicero up and stringed him up on the ceiling to hang down by his arms. Cicero yelled at Spider-Man that he needed to go after Hammerhead instead.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, John Romita Sr., John Buscema and Jim Mooney.
Additional images by Markus Raymond.
This profile was completed 01/16/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary's celebratory event.
Profile by Chadman.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Caesar Cicero has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Amazing Spider-Man I#73, p9, pan3 (main)
Amazing Spider-Man I#74, p6, pan3 (face)
Power Man and Iron Fist I#101, p18, pan7 (choked by Impasse)
Spider-Man: Lifeline#1, p12, pan2 (holding Lifeline Tablet fragments)
Spider-Man: Lifeline#2, p9, pan4 (firing gun)
Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#73 (June, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John Romita Sr., John Buscema (pencilers), Jim Mooney (inker)
Amazing Spider-Man I#74-75 (July-August, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John Romita Sr (penciler), Jim Mooney (inker)
Power
Man and Iron Fist I#61 (February, 1980) - Mary Jo Duffy (writer), Kerry
Gammill (penciler), Bruce Patterson (inker), Roger Stern (editor)
Power Man and Iron Fist I#62 (April, 1980) - Jo Duffy (writer), Kerry Gammill (artist), Dennis O'Neil (editor)
Power Man and Iron Fist I#101 (January, 1984) - Steven Grant (writer),
Geof Isherwood (penciler), Andy Mushynsky (inker), Linda Grant (editor)
Spider-Man: Power of Terror#1 (January, 1995) - Greg Wright (writer),
Darick Robertson (penciler), Malcolm Jones (inker), Mark Powers (editor)
Spider-Man: Power of Terror#2 (February, 1995) - Greg Wright (writer),
Darick Robertson (penciler), Malcolm Jones, Al Milgrom, Randy Emberlin
(inkers), Mark Powers (editor)
Spider-Man: Power of Terror#3 (March, 1995) - Greg Wright (writer),
Darick Robertson (penciler), Malcolm Jones, Lee Sullivan (inekrs), Mark
Powers (editor)
Spider-Man: Power of Terror#4 (April, 1995) - Greg Wright (writer),
Darick Robertson (penciler), Greg Adams, Jimmy Palmiotti (inkers), Tom
Brevoort (editor)
Spider-Man I#73-74 (October-November, 1996) - Howard Mackie (writer),
John Romita Jr (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Spider-Man: Made Men#1 (August, 1998) - Howard Mackie (writer), Norman Felchle (artist), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers III#31 (August, 2000) - Kurt Busiek (writer), George Perez (penciler), Al Vey (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Spider-Man: Lifeline#1-2 (April-May, 2001) - Fabian Nicieza (writer),
Steve Rude (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Ralph Macchio (editor)
First Posted: 09/23/2021
Last updated: 09/22/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!