WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Jessica Jones Season 2, streaming now on Netflix.
Jessica Jones is back for its second season and like any good Marvel Netflix show, it’s got a bunch of fun Easter eggs to look for. While the Whizzer’s appearance was much more than a quick tribute (pun fully intended) to the Golden Age hero, the references to his father and the source of his powers are exactly the kind of fan service we live for.
Some humorous Spider-Man allusions, making the Raft an important part of the season's plot, and the standard Stan Lee cameo are three more easter eggs we’ve already highlighted.
RELATED: Does Trish Walker Become Hellcat in Jessica Jones Season 2?
Right at the start of the season, we get a mention and then an actual appearance of a character named Maynard Tiboldt. In the comics, Tiboldt (sometimes spelled Tibolt) is the supervillain known as The Ringmaster. He was first introduced in Incredible Hulk #3 (1962) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. As his name suggests, Maynard is a circus ringmaster, though he doubles as a career criminal with his troupe, the Circus of Crime. This band of baddies also includes colorful characters such as Human Cannonball, Live Wire, Princess Python, The Great Gambonnos, Fire-Eater and more. When they appeared in Hawkeye #2 (2012), the team of crooks had modernized their name as Cirque Du Nuit, an obvious play on Cirque Du Soleil.
This big top act is originally from Austria and started as a legitimate circus back in their homeland. But when Tiboldt moved his group to America to seek fame and fortune, they found that their small troupe could not compete with the bigger circuses. Thus, they devised a way to take advantage of their audiences and then slip out of town with nobody the wiser.
This is where we come back to Tiboldt’s Jessica Jones appearance and how it adapts one of his key traits. Ringmaster has a powerful hypnosis mechanism in his top hat; so powerful, it can put a whole stadium of people in a deep trance. Now, in the first episode of the new season, "AKA Start at the Beginning," Trish Walker mentions on her radio show that her next guest will be noted hypnotherapist Maynard Tiboldt. Then, in the third episode, "AKA Sole Survivor," Trish suggests Jessica do a session with Tiboldt to try to uncover something about IGH.
He attempts to put her in a hypnotic state, but Jessica won’t go under. He tells her to find her safe place, and she retorts that she doesn’t have one. He doesn’t give up and asks about the memory she is trying to access. The scene then cuts to Dr. Tiboldt leaving, visibly frustrated. However, he doesn’t seem annoyed enough by the interaction for it to be his supervillain origin story, so we don't expect he will be back in Season 3... but you never know.
Streaming now on Netflix, Jessica Jones Season 2 stars Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Carrie-Anne Moss, Eka Darville, J.R. Ramirez and Janet McTeer.