Sandman (Marvel Comics)
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- For other comic book series and characters called Sandman, see Sandman (comics).
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The Sandman is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, traditionally an adversary of Spider-Man. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (Sept. 1963). His body has been changed into sand, which he can control completely. He may absorb nearby sand and reconstitute it into his body, as well.
Sandman had frequently been cited as one of creator Stan Lee's favorite supervillains.[citation needed] He will appear in the 2007 film Spider-Man 3, played by Thomas Haden Church.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
At the age of three, William Baker was abandoned by his father and forced to live in poverty with his mother. Throughout high school, William turned to theft and cheating to get through class and to make ends meet at home. After accepting a bribe, Baker was expelled from school and soon found work as a mob enforcer. Under the alias Flint Marko, Baker became involved in more and more illegal activity, and slowly developed a violent and bitter personality. Eventually he ended up doing hard time on Ryker’s Island for his dealings but managed to escape. Immediately after he fled to a beach near Savannah, Georgia where he came into contact with sand that had been irradiated by an experimental reactor. His body and the radioactive sand bonded, and Marko’s molecular structure was altered into a sand/dirt-like substance. Marko soon found that he could transform any or all of his body into sand, and adopted the name Sandman to match his new powers.
Marko clashed with Spider-Man for the first time at the school which the hero attended as Peter Parker. Marko was defeated by Spider-Man (who used a vacuum cleaner), but eventually resurfaced as a member of the Sinister Six led by Doctor Octopus. After being soundly defeated by Spider-Man several more times, Marko gave up and took a shot at battling other superheroes. Most notably, he created the original Frightful Four to combat the Fantastic Four, but his fledgling group of villains were beaten by the experienced heroes.
Sandman eventually discovers that—starting with his hand—his body is slowly transforming into glass, although he is able to reverse the effect. Afterwards, he decides to resume his struggle with his original adversary, Spider-Man, and allies himself with Hydro-Man to do battle with their mutual enemy. The two briefly merge into an unintelligent and largely ineffective mud monster, but split apart. Afterwards, Marko becomes deeply depressed, and the Thing of the Fantastic Four supports him, and encourages him to use his power in the name of good. Sandman would then make sporadic appearances in various Spider-Man comics, assisting his former enemy. The first such appearance had him coming to the rescue of Spider-Man and Silver Sable, who were outnumbered and surrounded by the Sinister Syndicate. Silver Sable is impressed by Sandman's performance and recruits him as a freelance operative. Sandman would also appear as part of the Outlaws, a group of reformed Spider-Man enemies such as Prowler, Rocket Racer, Puma, and Will o' the Wisp, who would turn up from time to time to help Spider-Man.
Flint briefly joins the Avengers as a reserve member. Later, he becomes a full-time mercenary in the employ of Silver Sable, as a member of her Wild Pack, serving alongside heroes such as Paladin and Battlestar.
He eventually reverts to his villainous ways, claiming to have faked his heroic career, although it was revealed that the Wizard had used his mind-controlling "Id Machine" to force him to act as a villain.
Sandman then rejoins a new incarnation of the Sinister Six, which is working with one of Spider-Man's deadliest enemies, Venom. Venom reveals that he had joined the team to make sure no one else kills Spider-Man, and turns on the remaining five. Dealing with Marko, Venom rips off and swallows a chunk of sand, which apparently destabilized Sandman's body structure. His body slowly begins to crumble away. He blames Spider-Man, but ultimately asks him to deliver a message to his mother. He also expresses remorse that he could not pull off the task of becoming an official superhero. The Sandman then crumbles to pieces and seems to die, washing away down a sewer and ending up as part of Jones Beach, New York.
Sandman's body and mind scattered with the grains of sand. The major part of his mind merges with the beach and begins swallowing people in an attempt to piece himself back together. Spider-Man tries to free the captured people from Sandman's beach consciousness, which is his evil mindset, and succeeds when Marko explodes from too many clashing mindsets. Soon the sand of the beach begins to spread to different areas around New York, and all of the different aspects of Sandman's shattered mind form individual beings - Marko's good side, evil side, feminine side and childlike side. Spider-Man locates all of the different versions of Sandman and attempts to convince them to return to one being. Sandman's evil side merges with his child and feminine sides, but Sandman's good side doesn't want to allow evil to become a part of him again. The new Sandman responds by abandoning his good side completely, which eventually crumbles into lifeless sand and blows away. While the new Sandman is not the sadistic monstrosity that his purely evil side was, he is a criminal and seems to lack any desire to become a hero or do good.
Sandman is one of the villains recruited to recover the Identity Disc, but is seemingly killed due to mutinous behaviour. At the series' end, Sandman is revealed to be alive and working along with the Vulture to manipulate the other villains.
According to Spider-Man: Chapter One by John Byrne, Marko is related to the Osborn family. This has not been referred to by other writers.
[edit] Morals
Morally, Sandman is a complex character. Throughout his criminal career, he possessed an affinity for his ailing mother. He reformed and joined the superhero group the Avengers and the Wild Pack of Silver Sable. He has since returned to a life of crime but resists the extreme methods and actions of typical supervillains, rarely killing anyone.
The Sandman almost always uses the alias Flint Marko, but his actual name is William Baker.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Sandman has the ability to transform into a malleable sand-like substance which can be hardened, dispersed, or shaped according to his will. Even if his body is blown apart he is capable of reforming it. His shirt and pants are both apart of his mass sand-like body. They are colored to appear as if he were wearing actual clothes. He rarely wears shoes, most of the time he makes it appear as if he has long pants, so no shoes can be visible.
He can merge with natural sand if it is in his direct vicinity like a beach or desert, thus he can manipulate normal sand like his normal body, add it to his physical size and strength, or use it to reform himself.
His body seems to take the physical and chemical qualities of sand, as once he was mixed with cement ingredients and was turned into solid cement. He remained alive like this but in a coma-like state, and returned to normal later.
He possesses superhuman strength several times in excess of Spider-Man's, making him an equal to the Thing.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Ultimate Sandman
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Flint Marko is a genetic mutation of the industrialist Justin Hammer, one of the results of an attempt to recreate the super soldier formula. Shortly after Hammer was killed by Dr. Octopus, S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltrated Hammer's factory to take care of any experiments Hammer was working on. Marko used this opportunity to escape and wreak havoc upon New York. S.H.I.E.L.D., with the help of Spider-Man, managed to contain him and imprisoned him in the Triskelion. There, he meets fellow genetic fugitives Norman Osborn (Green Goblin), Dr. Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), Max Dillon (Electro), and Kraven the Hunter. Under the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus's leadership the five broke free and captured Spider-Man to form the Ultimate Six. Marko participated with the group in an attack on the White House. However, he was defeated by Iron Man. After the battle, S.H.I.E.L.D. sealed Marko in various jars of sand and kept them frozen.
In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, we see that Ultimate Beetle stole one of the vials containing Flint Marko. The ramifications are yet unknown.
Mark Bagley, who draws Ultimate Spider-Man, noted in his rough designs for the Ultimate Sandman that he would appear "Nekkid" most of the time. As he wanted to go with the more 'realistic' feel of the Ultimate imprint, he doubted whether Flint Marko's clothing had unstable molecules like his body.
[edit] 1602 Sandman
1602: Fantastick Four, a sequel to Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602 written by Peter David, featured the 1602 version of the Marvel Sandman. While he physically resembles Flint Marko, he has the pale skin and glowing eyes of Gaiman's Morpheus. He also alludes to an ability to summon nightmares.
[edit] Other media
[edit] Television
- Sandman appeared in one episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, where he was voiced by Chris Latta.
- He has also appeared in the Spider-Man cartoon from the Sixties.
- Sandman did not appear in the Spider-Man animated series of the 1990s because the series did not want to interfere with the continuity of James Cameron's proposed Spider-Man movie, in which the Sandman and Electro were supposed to be the villains. Although Electro was belatedly introduced into the series when Cameron's film fell through, Sandman remained unseen in the series, the only major Spidey villain not to appear in the show.
[edit] Film
On November 5, 2005 Thomas Haden Church was officially cast as villain Sandman in Spider-Man 3, revealed by Kirsten Dunst and confirmed by Sony. The character has long been a favorite of director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire. During press interviews for the first two films, both Raimi and Maguire mentioned Sandman as a villain they would like to appear in the series. In a newly released photo from Comic-Con 2006, Sandman is seen in the process of using his powers whilst reaching behind him to a child holding a teddy bear. In some promotional photos, it was revealed that he also has unspecified ties to the robber who killed Uncle Ben in the first movie. In the film, Sandman is accused of killing Ben Parker. While on the lam from police, Sandman stumbles into a particle physics laboratory and accidentally gets trapped in a giant whisk-like machine that turns him into living sand.
[edit] Video game appearances
- Sandman is a boss character in the Sega Genesis game Spider-Man. He also appears in the 1993 Sega CD version of the game. In both games, he rises from a sandbox and must be dissipated by striking him with water.
- Sandman appeared as a villain twice in Spider-Man: The Video Game.
- Sandman's most recent appearance was in Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro for the PlayStation. He chases Spider-Man all over a construction site, and the hero must turn industrial hoses on him to disrupt his integrity.
[edit] Action figures
Sandman was one of the action figures included in Toy Biz's Spider-Man Classics series 12 and re-released in 2005's series 17.
Sandman is also one of the numerous characters produced in the Marvel line of the block-figures called Minimates.
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | 1963 introductions | Spider-Man villains | Frightful Four members | Sinister Six members | Fantastic Four villains | Hulk villains | Fictional Americans in Marvel Comics | Marvel Comics mutates | Film villains | Fictional characters with the power to shapeshift | Fictional characters with the power to manipulate earth | Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
