The man known as the Acrobat was an acrobat at a local New York fair during the 1940s. Acrobat learned that the fair was having a City of the Future model building competition that offered a grand prize of ten thousand dollars. The Acrobat built a model he called the City of the 1960s and put it on display. Fearing competition, the Acrobat sought to sabotage the model constructed by the students of the Lee School presented by Betsy Ross, leading to clash with Captain America and Bucky who were guests of the fair. The Acrobat fled from Captain America and got away at his own acrobatics show through a trap door in the water tank he dove into.

The Acrobat's second attempt at sabotage led to yet another chase, in which the Acrobat managed to lose the heroes in the nearby House of Mirrors. When the awards were about to be announced, the Acrobat stole a race car and kidnapped the judge and the prize money, however this time Captain America and Bucky were able to stop him. The Acrobat was unmasked and turned over to the authorities and the prize money was awarded to the Lee School.