Ringmaster

* 2020
* 2019

*Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my arena, where there's no rules, no research, only bloodshed! I am Ringmaster, your announcer, your host extraordinaire for this extravaganza. And let me welcome you, to...**the exhibition!!!***
—Ringmaster starting every exhibition from Season 4 to Season 5.
**Marshall**, more known by his stage name "**Ringmaster**", is the main protagonist and host of Season 4 and onward of the *DEATH BATTLE!* spinoff show *DBX*, a role replacing that of Boomstick from the first three seasons, as well as the host of *Death Race*. He is an extravagant arena master who forces fictional characters in a fight to the death in front of an audience, but unlike *DEATH BATTLE!*, does not research or make rules, only lets the fight play out. In *Death Race*, he is also the host but this time he works alongside Wizard and Boomstick, who are the commentators.

## Physical Appearance

Ringmaster is a tall man with brown skin and a large pink pompadour. While he normally changes his outfit to colors that correspond to the fighters that appear in *DBX* and *Death Race*, his normal attire has a pink palette. He is never seen without his sunglasses, that are somehow able to change shape as he expresses different emotions. While these aspects of his designs remain consistent, he has changed his design from Season 4 to Season 5. From Season 5 and onwards, Ringmaster now wears a belt, and his pompadour and shades have increased in size, with the former losing a single curl of hair that stuck out previously.

While presenting the characters involved in the exhibitions, animated "chibi" versions of Ringmaster will sometimes appear, visualizing jokes that Ringmaster cracks during his rundowns. These chibi designs change across seasons as well.

## Personality

Ringmaster is a passionate person who wants to bring up the hypes and emotions of the spectators. He also seems to enjoy watching iconic characters killing each other just as much, if not more so, than Boomstick, regardless of legalities. Ringmaster's lively personality is conveyed in the way he is animated as well, having far more cartoonish and exaggerated movements and reactions compared to the other hosts.

Ringmaster's main priority is putting on a show and being the center of it, which causes him to get frustrated whenever others unknowingly humiliates him in front of a large audience. He also has a grudge against research, due to the fact that he is terrible at math. Ringmaster is also shown to be incredibly neglectful in his work to the extent that, as of Season 6, he is required to have a cohost in order to run the show. Despite seeming self-centered at times, Ringmaster is a good friend, as he has gone to great lengths to help Boomstick reunite with his father.

## History

* Season 6 production notes
* Ditto
* Ditto
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There is little information on Ringmaster's past, but it is known that Marshall went to college and was roommates with Boomstick.

After Boomstick recieved a letter from his father in *DEATH BATTLE!*'s Hulk VS Broly, he enlisted the help of Ringmaster to track him down. While he and Boomstick were drinking and repeatedly clicking the random button on Instant Google Street View in search of Boomstick's dad, Boomstick told him that he knows someone who could sell him cheap pyrotechnics, which inspired Ringmaster to install a "Interactive Fireworks" into the V.I.P. seating section of his arena for his non-filmed test show for Season 6. Unfortunately, the test show went horribly wrong, and a vaguely described foreign person of authority was in the V.I.P. seating section. Apparently, that man had a pomade that was incredibly flammable, and it is because of this that Ringmaster requires a responsible party on site to maintain coverage, in other words, a co-host. Marshall's first choice was, of course, his old friend Boomstick. However, things did not work out, as Marshall and Boomstick's "artistic differences" caused Ringmaster to publicly humiliate Boomstick during Ness VS Sans, which upset Boomstick so much, he refused to co-host the next episode.

Ringmaster's second option was Wizard, who he had previously collaborated with for *Death Race*, but things got even worse than with Boomstick, as Marshall and Wiz do not get along at all. In Apocalypse VS Black Adam, Ringmaster tried to rid Wiz of his flying podium just like he did with Boomstick, but since they were created by Wiz in the first place, the tables were quickly turned. This made Ringmaster resort to violence and knock Wizard out cold with a bat, sending the scientist to the hospital and rendering him unable to co-host another episode.

In Donald VS Daffy, Ringmaster was able to reconcile with Boomstick, but this wouldn't last long, as the mere mention of 'research' caused things to spiral out of control, and the inclusion of Mecha-Goose Howard only made things worse. Now, Boomstick is hospitalized as well, and definitely not happy with Marshall.

Running out of options, Ringmaster brings in D.U.M.M.I. for Zuko VS Roy. While the show didn't end with a disaster, Ringmaster still chose not to work with D.U.M.M.I. again simply because the robot was too depressing to work with.

Desperate, Ringmaster uses cardboard cutouts of Wiz and Boomstick as his co-hosts in Sailor Mercury VS Blue Ranger, playing the role of both. His sanity becomes questionable as the fake Wiz and Boomstick, played by himself, confesses that Ringmaster's arena is a hostile work environment and want to leave, while Ringmaster tries to stop them. When he is all alone, he laughs, and even casually mentions that he is drifting into madness.

Now out of people he personally knows, at the end of Sailor Mercury VS Blue Ranger, Ringmaster calls Perfect Cell to help him, having heard he was good at being a co-host. His new co-host appears in Palpatine VS Xehanort, and although he is much better than D.U.M.M.I. at cracking jokes, Ringmaster finds Perfect Cell's cockiness due to his overwhelming power hard to deal with. This reaches its breaking point when Cell forces him to wear a Kermit the Frog outfit, causing Ringmaster to not bring him back.

In Goomba VS Koopa 2, Ringmaster is ecstatic when Jocelyn the Intern shows up, who mentions that Ringmaster has been sending her many calls, and even crying in them. Ringmaster gladly accepts her as his co-host, and she proves to not only be extremely knowledgable, but also doesn't have any conflict with him. Although he is briefly shocked when she asks for a floating platform, which was the source of conflict with some of his previous co-hosts, he accepts, and has finally found a proper co-host.

After the season ends, Ringmaster resumes his search of Boomstick's dad (possibly to make amends), and in *DEATH BATTLE!*'s Macho Man VS Kool-Aid Man, he receives a tip from an anonymous source about the whereabouts of Boomstick's father. After observing the battle between Macho Man and Kool-Aid Man, he, alongside Wiz and Boomstick, meet up with Deadpool, who is revealed to be the anonymous source. Their search finally comes to an end when they unexpectedly find Boomstick's mother instead, who assures Boomstick that even though he never got to have a relationship with his father, the friends he made along the way is all he needs.

## Relationships

### Boomstick

*Aw come on, buddy! Look, we had our artistic spats and... then I broadcast it to the entire internet... b-but we're still united in our love of violence!*
—Ringmaster attempting to reconcile with Boomstick. • Donald VS Daffy

Ringmaster considers Boomstick to be his best bud, as they were roommates in college. They share the same love of battles to the death, but they are still able to get on each other's nerves. Ringmaster's tendency to hog the spotlight went out of hand in Ness VS Sans, when he humiliated Boomstick live on stage. While he managed to temporarily reconcile with Boomstick for Donald VS Daffy, things quickly got out of hand and Boomstick had to be sent to the hospital after an incident involving Mecha-Goose Howard. While he doesn't want to admit it, Ringmaster has extreme regret for his actions and wants to truly reconcile with his old friend again, even projecting this onto fake cardboard cutouts.

In *DEATH BATTLE!*'s Macho Man VS Kool-Aid Man, Ringmaster notifies Boomstick that he may have finally located the whereabouts of his father, and while they didn't get the result they were expecting, they seem to be on good terms with each other again, with Ringmaster actually being a supportive friend while Wiz insisted the search was pointless.

### Wizard

*What better way to destroy the beautiful destructive power of a collapsing star than by throwing some numbers on it!?*
—Ringmaster opposing Wizard's calculations. • Naruto Uzumaki VS Ryu Hayabusa

Ringmaster doesn't enjoy working with Wiz, because he cannot tolerate his research and nerdy know-it-all personality. This even causes Ringmaster to knock Wizard unconscious live on stage with a bat, sending the poor scientist to the hospital. Although the two have contrasting personalities, Ringmaster still wants to reconcile with Wiz, even projecting this onto fake cardboard cutouts. It should be noted that prior to Season 6 of *DBX*, Ringmaster seems to be perfectly fine working with Wizard in *Death Race*, and expressed concern when he was possessed by K.I.T.T.

In Yoda VS King Mickey, it may be hinted that Wiz is a little jealous of Boomstick considering Marshall his "best bud".

### D.U.M.M.I.

***Ringmaster:** You're gonna have to give it a little more pizzazz, a little more oomph, y'know? Get the crowd "fired up"?

**D.U.M.M.I:** My sensors indicate that I do not give a shit.*
—D.U.M.M.I shutting down Ringmaster's attempt at getting him to crack a joke. • Zuko VS Roy
Ringmaster considers D.U.M.M.I a downer in most aspects but still respects him for not trying to steal his spotlight. However, he gets frustrated with the robot due to his lack of stage presence.

### Perfect Cell

**Perfect Cell:** You can't be my sidekick if you don't wear the outfit!

**Ringmaster:** I'm NOBODY's sidekick. This is MY ring and I'm its master, so-

(*Perfect Cell points a Ki blast at Ringmaster.*)

**Ringmaster:** (scared) Ihhhhh!

—Perfect Cell threatening Ringmaster with his destructive power. • Palpatine VS Xehanort
Ringmaster finds Perfect Cell's cocky attitude and dominating presence to be hard to deal with, having an outburst when Cell tries to make him wear an embarrassing Kermit the Frog outfit, though Ringmaster has no choice but to comply with his demands when Cell threatens him with his power.

### Jocelyn

**Ringmaster:** Can it be? No wanton violence, no psychotic episodes, no enraged cyborg geese!?

**Jocelyn:** I... Don't know what you're talking about.

**Ringmaster:** And that's why you've got this gig on lock!

—Ringmaster and Jocelyn forming their partnership. • Goomba VS Koopa 2

On the *Desk of Death Battle*, Jocelyn often complains about how she is mistreated by Wiz and Boomstick, so she seems to be quite flattered when Ringmaster is delighted to have her on the show.

Ringmaster and Jocelyn actually make for a perfect pairing as co-hosts. Jocelyn doesn't mind playing second fiddle to Ringmaster, because being seen onstage in front of a cheering crowd is still better than the closet she used to work with, and while she cares more about informing the audience, she focuses more on trivia instead of calculating feats like Wiz.

## Trivia

* Ringmaster appeared as a cameo in *DEATH BATTLE!*'s Deadpool VS Mask on a bus with the *DBX* logo.
* Ringmaster's real name was revealed outside of *DBX*, in *DEATH BATTLE!*'s Yoda VS King Mickey.
* Ringmaster cameoed in *DEATH BATTLE!*'s Heihachi Mishima VS Geese Howard as the announcer in the battle's setting, albeit only his voice.
* Despite it being a Season 6 episode, Ringmaster's cameo in Gogeta VS Vegito uses his Season 4 design.
* In Season 6's OASIS advertisements, Ringmaster interacts with his previous versions.
	+ While playing "RINGRUNNER", Season 5's Ringmaster has the name "SeizeOnTwo", an obvious pun on Season 2. This is likely referencing the fact that Season 5 is the second season of the rebooted *DBX*.

## Gallery

Early expressions sheetArt of RingmasterChibi Ringmaster in Season 5 and *Death Race*Chibi Ringmaster in Season 6In Batman VS Iron ManIn Gogeta VS Vegito