Sandman (Marvel Comics)
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- For other comic book series and characters called Sandman, see The Sandman (comics).
The Sandman (William Baker, alias Flint Marko) is a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, and an enemy of Spider-Man. He was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #4 (1963).
The Sandman has the ability to transform into a malleable sand-like substance which can be hardened, dispersed, or shaped according to his will. He possesses vast superhuman strength several times in excess of Spider-Man's. This ability came from an incident of accidental radiation bombardment on an atomic bomb testing beach, the result of which was that Marko's molecules merged with that of the sand under him.
In addition his many crime sprees, Sandman has served as a founding member of the Frightful Four which often tangled with the Fantastic Four, and of the Sinister Six which frequently battled Spider-Man.
At one point, after a humiliating experience of temporarily becoming a monster after he merged with Hydro-Man, he reformed, thanks in part to the support of the Thing, and became a member of the Avengers, and later a mercenary in the employ of Silver Sable. He later reverted to his villainous ways, claiming to have been faking 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.
Later, Sandman joined an incarnation of the Sinister Six, working with Venom. It was in this incarnation that Venom bit the Sandman, poisoning him, making his body crumble. He blamed Spider-Man in the beginning but he then asked him to deliver a message to his mother. The Sandman crumbled to pieces and seemingly died, dispersing down a sewer drain.
However, Marko was in actuality not dead. His sandy remains eventually became spread out over Jones Beach, New York, with his mind and personality scattered. The beach Sandman had now merged with and taken control over began to mindlessly swallow up people into the sand, in an unconcious attempt to slowly piece himself back together. Spider-Man tried to free the captured people from the Sandman's consciousness, only succeeding when Marko exploded from containing too many clashing mindsets. Relatively soon afterward, the sand that Sandman's body was composed of spread to different areas around New York, and all of the different aspects and personalites of Sandman's shattered mind formed into their own individual beings - Marko's good side, evil side, feminine side and childlike, infant side were all separated to different parts of the city. After they were all finally merged back together into one again, the standard evil side of his personality once again became the dominant one, and the criminal named the Sandman is once again at large.
Currently, the Sandman is rumoured to be the villain in the upcoming film Spider-Man 3.