Flint Marko

## History

**Flint Marko** started out his career as a petty criminal working for Big Man, but Marko and his partner in crime Alex O'Hirn were constantly stopped by Spider-Man.

The Big Man used Marko as one of the first experiments with Oscorp. The process was meant to give Marko a super silicon armor, but the experiment went wrong and disintegrated him. After regaining consciousness, Marko discovered that his body had bonded with the sand around him, and he could form himself into almost anything he desired.

Going as **Sandman**, he was offered his revenge against Spider-Man but refused, saying he wanted only a "big score". After that he left, Hammerhead and the Big Man employed him and he went on a crime spree alone, harnessing his new powers. Hammerhead wasn't worried as his action would inadvertently drew Spider-Man's attention. Spider-Man tried to stop Sandman as he was robbing a bank, but he defeated the hero and escaped into a drain, although he was forced to leave his loot behind him, because of the drain grill. Spider-Man and Marko next fought on a construction site and it appeared that the Sandman had the upper hand. Spider-Man then formed a plan to drop a large pile of wet Quick Drying Cement which hardens and encased him as statue.

Sandman was kept in a special cell on Ryker's Island along with Doc Ock, Montana aka Shocker, Fancy Dan and Ox, Rhino, and Vulture. The eventually escaped the prison with the help of the Big Man and Electro, and decided to team up to finally take down Spider-Man. The team was dubbed by the Daily Bugle as the "Sinister Six". The team initially won and Spider-Man runs away, but later returned in the symbiote-controlled costume. Sandman was defeated when Spider-Man ripped off one of Shocker's gauntlets, and threw it at him, preventing him from reforming.

Sandman remained with the Sinister Six in its new roster, the team being organized by the Master Planner and having Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter as replacements for Dr. Octopus and the Shocker. The team attacked Spider-Man again, the Rhino challenging Spider-Man alongside Sandman, and the two of them were far too much for Spider-Man to out-fight, but Sandman was defeated again, by being convert to mud and then frozen.

Sandman later became more powerful. During his time in prison, he learned he could absorb extra sand into his body absorbing, which his lawyer helped him get. The combined sand from a beach and the bottom of the harbor becoming a massive giant, and helped Hammerhead took down an oil tanker to finally make the "big score" he always dreamed of. However, when the ship was about to explode, Sandman helped Spider-Man rescue the crew and wrapped himself around the exploding ship to protect civilians, and was crystallized in the explosion. Spider-Man believed he died, only for Sandman to appear alive.

## Attributes

### Powers

**Sand Body:** After a failed experiment, Flint Marko is now composed of sand, which gives him the following powers:

* **Shape-Shifting:** Marko can shape his sand body into any continuous shape he can imagine. He can also use his sand to resemble his human form and make clothes for his sand body.[*citation needed*]
* **Density Control:** Sandman can become as hard as sandstone, or disperse his body so that it becomes invulnerable to physical attacks.[*citation needed*]
* **Recompose:** Sandman has maintained mental control of the particles of which his body is composed so that he can reform his scattered grains unless a part of his body mass is isolated.[*citation needed*]
* **Sand Absorption:** He can convert grains of sand around him into components of his body to replenish parts of which he can lose sight during a battle. This way, it can increase its overall size and volume (to an as yet unknown limit) or its members.[*citation needed*]
* **Sand Control:** Sandman has the ability to manipulate sand.[*citation needed*]

Superhuman Strength: It has incredible strength that can be increased by absorbing extra sand into his body.[*citation needed*]

### Weaknesses

**Water:** Water can soften his grains of sand, so Sandman can't control them and has to wait for them to dry out. And at low temperatures, water can freeze his grains of sand.[*citation needed*]

**Heat:** Heat can petrify Marko's body, turning it into glass.[*citation needed*]

## Notes

* Sandman appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by John DiMaggio.