Nothing is known about the history of the Ringer before he publicly committed his first crime in his costumed identity. He burglarized a safe in a building owned by Kyle Richmond, only to be opposed and defeated by Richmond himself in the latter's identity of Nighthawk. In the course of their battle, half of the Ringer's teeth were severely damaged. The Ringer was sent to jail, where it took months for a prison dentist to rebuild his teeth.
This disastrous encounter with Nighthawk convinced the Ringer that he was not meant for a life of crime and that he definitely never wanted to clash with a costumed crimefighter ever again. Therefore, after leaving prison, the Ringer hired the criminal inventor called the Tinkerer to construct him a new costume with improvements that the Ringer himself had designed. But the Ringer did not intend to use the new battlesuit himself to commit crimes, much as he felt the temptation to do so. Rather, he intended to sell it to "business contacts" of his.
Before the Ringer could take possession of the new battlesuit, the New York City Police Department learned the location of the Tinkerer's workshop and stationed guards around it. Nevertheless, the Ringer secretly broke into the workshop, found his new battlesuit, put it on, and began testing it. Then, however, another criminal, the Beetle, broke into the workshop to find the new battlesuit that the Tinkerer had constructed for him. The Beetle easily knocked out the Ringer and carried both him and the Beetle's own new costume away.
The Ringer revived to discover that he was the Beetle's prisoner. The Beetle demanded that the Ringer battle the costumed crimefighter Spider-Man on his behalf. The Ringer was afraid of fighting another "super hero," but the Beetle had placed a large ring around the Ringer's midsection. The Beetle claimed that his ring was made of a powerful explosive material and that he would detonate it if the Ringer refused to do his bidding. Reluctantly, the Ringer complied.
The Ringer proved to be no match for Spider-Man, who soundly defeated him. As a cruel joke, the Beetle, who had been monitoring the battle from afar, pressed a detonator, which caused a small explosive charge in the ring to go off that did not harm the Ringer in the least. The Beetle had tricked the Ringer: the ring about his midsection actually had contained devices that relayed information about Spider-Man and his battle techniques to the Beetle's computers. Spider-Man delivered the Ringer to the police, and the Ringer was imprisoned once more.
After next leaving prison, the Ringer avoided New York City and its "super heroes" and operated as a costumed criminal primarily in the Midwest. On a visit to the "bar with no name" in Medina County, Ohio, one of a number of similar secret meeting places for costumed criminals, the Ringer was contacted by Gary Gilbert, who was formerly the costumed terrorist called Firebrand. Gilbert invited the Ringer to attend a meeting at the bar to discuss strategies for dealing with Scourge, the mysterious vigilante who had murdered a large number of costumed criminals. The Ringer came to the meeting, but, unfortunately for him, so did Scourge, disguised as the bartender. Scourge slaughtered the Ringer and all the other criminals who were present.
