Hammerhead (comics)
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Hammerhead is a fictional character, a supervillain in publications from Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #113.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Hammerhead is an enemy of Spider-Man and a member of organized crime. He is closely associated with the Maggia crime family. Hammerhead distinguishes himself from other villains in that he dresses up and acts somewhat like a gangster from the 1920s. Due to an injury he suffered in which his skull was reinforced with metal, his head has a flat shape to it.
Though Hammerhead's real name is not known, bits of his past have been revealed. He was a small-time member of the Maggia, the Marvel Universe version of the Mafia. He was found half-dead and amnesiac in the streets by Dr. Jonas Harrow, apparently as a result of a beating he suffered during a gang war. Harrow took him to his lab where, to save his life, he installed a metal plate in his head, giving him his "flat-top" look. During the surgery, the unconscious Hammerhead fixated on the only memory he retained: an image of a poster for a movie called "The Al Capone Mob", which was hanging in the alley where he lay beaten and bloodied before Harrow found him. When he recovered, the memory of the poster and its images of 1930s-era gangsters prompted Hammerhead to start a mob of his own. Though not much is known about his life before he became a supervillain, he is known to have a sister. Later on, Hammerhead's entire skull was replaced with or reinforced with some type of nearly unbreakable metal (possibly vibranium or secondary adamantium).
He is a major player in underworld activities in the Marvel Universe and is highly sought after for elimination by the Punisher. He is currently one of several gang warlords struggling to control the criminal underworld in the major cities of the Eastern United States. When Don Fortunato made a bid for control of the New York underworld, Hammerhead opposed him and was almost killed as a result. When every other crime-lord surrendered to Fortunato and his Hydra allies, Hammerhead went rogue, launching a raid on Fortunato's home and successfully fighting off a Hydra attack on his own headquarters (with help from Spider-Man and Morbius the Living Vampire).
He was a member of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve.
[edit] Death of a villain?
Hammerhead has several times been shown to cheat certain death over the years, a trait similarly showcased with such villains as Dr. Doom and The Puppet Master. During a gang war with Dr. Octopus, Hammerhead was consumed by a nuclear detonation, a unique chain of events transforming him into a "living wraith" rather than see him killed. In recent years, Hammerhead was slain by C.L.O.C , the computerized majordomo of The Sentry. Shortly thereafter, in Daredevil vol.2 #86, Hammerhead was strongly implied to have been killed in prison by Bullseye (comics).
During the events of the Civil War crossover event,Civil War: War Crimes #1 (February 2007) Hammerhead used the events of the War and the vacuum left by the incarceration of Wilson Fisk, The Kingpin, to gain a greater foothold in the ranks of organized crime, attempting to organize an army of costumed villains to enforce his new crimal empire. The Kingpin manipulated various hero factions, most notably SHIELD and Iron Man into breaking up Hammerhead's first convening of his army. During the conflict, Hammerhead was shot numerous times by Fisk's agent Underworld, who later confronted Hammerhead while he lay in prison. Underworld then shot Hammerhead at point-blank range with adamantium bullets.
Given Hammerhead's uncanny, and at times confusing, ability to survive visceral and very final-seeming death, it is possible that he survived this killing as well.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Hammerhead has no superhuman abilities, yet his skull is now reinforced by a very durable form of metal. This metal can absorb physical impacts that would otherwise fracture human bone. Hammerhead is in peak physical condition comparable to that of an Olympic level athlete.
He typically carries a 1920s style tommy gun. He uses his head as a weapon in unarmed combat by charging his enemy.
Hammerhead is highly skilled in the organization, concealment, and management of criminal enterprises. He is an effective hit-man, a skilled marksman, and an excellent street fighter.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Ultimate Hammerhead
Hammerhead first appeared in Ultimate X-Men issues 13 and 14 as a mobster who has killed the parents of a little girl. The girl stumbles upon local street performer/magician Gambit, who takes the girl in and decides to protect her from the mob. The girl is kidnapped and Gambit goes on a rampage to find her, blindly running into an ambush Hammerhead set up. Gambit gets out of the ambush and chases Hammerhead down. In the end, Gambit charges Hammerhead full of bio-kinetic energy and explodes his head. As far as Gambit is concerned, target neutralized.
In Ultimate Spider-Man, Hammerhead was revealed to have survived Gambit's attack, though how is not explained. ("It sucked. I came back.") He kills Silvermane in the beginning of the Warriors story arc and becomes the new leader of the Enforcers. He doesn't wear 1920's style clothing and other mobsters have referred to him as a mutant, signifying that maybe this incarnation might be some form of mutant. However, every super powered human in Ultimate Spider-Man is labeled as a mutant, regardless of whether or not they are, so Hammerhead's head could still be made of reinforced metal. He burns down one of the Kingpin's warehouses. After an intense battle with Spider-Man, Black Cat, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, and Shang-Chi, he was put in a coma when Elektra brutally stabbed him in the chest with her sai and flung him out a window.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Television
Hammerhead appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Nicky Blair. He first appeared in Part One of the two-part season premiere as one of Silvermane's loyal henchmen, and in the next episode, he was hired by Silvermane that since Kingpin failed to kill Spider-Man, he was supposed to have Kingpin killed. But Kingpin used the Insidious Six, the team that failed to kill Spider-Man for the Kingpin, to kidnap Silvermane, in which they successfully did (ironically, one of the Insidious Six members, the Chameleon, was disguising as Hammerhead to save Silvermane from the Six and when they entered an elevator to get Silvermane to escape in the basement, the Chameleon transformed into Kingpin and had Silvermane get to the roof where Silvermane was kidnapped, but Chameleon guised as Silvermane to trick Silvermane's henchmen into believing he was all right. Luckily, Silvermane escaped, thanks to Spider-Man).
Later, Silvermane hired Hammerhead again to steal the Tablet of Time so Silvermane can get his youth back, as the Tablet's ability was to restore youth into elderly people like Silvermane. But when Hammerhead failed due to the arrival of Spider-Man, Silvermane was displeased of Hammerhead's failure and even though he didn't fire him, he told him he was going to hire someone new and better. Hammerhead secretly quit Silvermane and started working for Kingpin. After Alistair Smythe, Kingpin's right hand man, stole the Tablet from Dr. Curt Connors and Tombstone, Silvermane's new hired man, had kidnapped Conners, Hammerhead figured out Tombstone had also kidnapped Kingpin's wife, Vanessa, even though Kingpin didn't know about it until Silvermane sent him a note, telling him he held her hostage. So Hammerhead kidnapped Silvermane's daughter, Alicia, before Kingpin knew about the kidnapping of his wife, and Kingpin was pleased about Hammerhead's work. When Silvermane then figured out Hammerhead betrayed him and kidnapped his daughter, Silvermane and Kingpin organized a meeting that Alistair Smythe's robot and Spider-Man had intervened. Hammerhead tried to re-kidnap Alicia but the helicopter he was kidnapping her in was out of control and landed on a roof. Spider-Man then arrived and defeated Hammerhead, but Alicia then used a stun-blaster on Spider-Man, knocked him out and kidnapped him. Alistair Smythe then used his robot again to steal the Tablet of Time from Silvermane (as Tombstone had stole the Tablet and kidnapped Dr. Conners and his wife) but when the robot was defeated, Kingpin sent Hammerhead to retrieve the Tablet. While Spider-Man was dealing with the Lizard, Silvermane, Tombstone and Alicia, Hammerhead slipped by and stole the Tablet with the good guys thinking it was destroyed in the explosion of Silvermane's building, as Alicia wanted this process to come because she blamed everyone against her about her father becoming a baby (Silvermane actually overused the Tablet) and tried to kill them by blowing the building up with them inside, though all of them escaped. After Kingpin's wife left him because of his life of crime, Kingpin thanked Hammerhead for successfully taking the Tablet but told him to get rid of it, as it has led to the destruction of his relationship with his wife. Hammerhead did do as what Kingpin told him to - by selling it to the Vulture for the villain to put his plans into action by the two-part second season finale.
Appearances in the Show:
- The Insidious Six
- Battle of the Insidious Six
- Tablet of Time
- Ravages of Time
[edit] Video games
Hammerhead appeared in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series game for Super NES. He only appeared on Hard mode on the Construction Zone level.
Hammerhead is a boss in the game Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro.
Hammerhead also briefly appeared as a villain in Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace for Game Boy Advance. He had been helping Mysterio get some holographic technology with Big Wheel, Electro, Rhino and Scorpion.
