Sandman (Thomas Haden Church)

Sandman
Name:	Flint Marko
Alias(es):	Sandman
Rank:	Villain
Spouse(s):	Emma Marko
Children:	Penny Marko
Portrayed by:	Thomas Haden Church
First appeared:	Spider-Man 3

"I'm not a bad person, I just have bad luck."

―The Sandman

Sandman (Flint Marko) is the main antagonist of Spider-Man 3. He is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1963. He was portrayed by Thomas Haden Church.

History

Spider-Man 3

Small time crook, Flint Marko steals to pay for medical treatment for his daughter Penny, who has an unspecified illness. Marko and his accomplice Dennis Carradine robbed the same wrestling venue that Peter Parker had competed at that night. Marko attempted to steal Peter's Uncle Ben's car to make his and Carradine's escape with the cash. Ben reasoned with Marko, but Carradine's arrival shocked him and he shot Uncle Ben at point blank accidentally. The police identified Carradine as the killer alone, but Marko is eventually arrested and imprisoned for unrevealed reasons.

While on the run from the police after escaping from prison, Marko accidentally falls into an experimental particle accelerator that molecularity binds him with sand, giving him shapeshifting sand abilities. "The Sandman" is later spotted by police officers walking down the streets of Manhattan. The Sandman gets on top of a dump truck filled with huge amounts of sand. When one of the policemen climbs atop of the truck, he is assaulted by a huge fist made out of sand. Having absorbed the truck's sand to add to his mass, a giant Sandman then emerges. The police shoot at Marko, but he manages to escape by turning into a sandstorm and flying away with the wind.

Marko learning to solidify his new body

At the Key to the City fair for Spider-Man, the sandstorm is spotted, and Spider-Man investigates. In doing so, Spider-Man confronts The Sandman, foiling his attempt to rob an armored truck, but The Sandman evades him. Later Peter and Aunt May are asked to come to the police station. At the police station, it is revealed by NYPD Captain George Stacy that there is evidence implicating Marko as Ben Parker's killer, and he also tells Peter and Aunt May that Dennis Carradine, who Peter confronted two years earlier was really Marko's accomplice, and did not fire the shot that killed Ben. Peter is left feeling guilty over causing the death of the supposedly innocent carjacker, and letting the real killer get away. When shown photos of Marko Peter instantly recognizes him as The Sandman and rushes off and waits for news to try to attain vengeance.

Meanwhile, The Sandman robs a bank, and Spider-Man, now with enhanced abilities due to his new black suit, chases him to the subways. During their fight, Spider-Man manages to burst a water tank, flooding The Sandman in water and turning him into mud, which is swept through a water grate. Believing that The Sandman is dead, Spider-Man leaves in satisfaction, but unbeknownst to him, The Sandman, who is washed out of the river, is able to eventually reconstitute himself. Later, after Spider-Man tore off the Symbiote from his body in a bell tower after learning of its parasitic nature, and it bonds with Eddie Brock Jr. to become Venom, who convinces The Sandman to team up with him to destroy Spider-Man together.

The two kidnap Mary Jane Watson and take her to a construction site, forcing Spider-Man to face them both. During the fight, The Sandman uses the site's sand to again increase his size, turning into a version of himself several stories high. After Venom restrains Spider-Man with his webbing, almost strangling him, The Sandman nearly beats Spider-Man to death, until the intervention of Harry Osborn, under the guise of "The New Goblin", who comes to his friend's aid with his father's Goblin equipment. Harry explodes a pumpkin bomb at The Sandman, and then distracts Venom long enough to free Spider-Man. Working together, the two manage to save Mary Jane and defeat both The Sandman and Venom, though at the cost of Harry and Eddie's lives.

The Sandman returns to his normal size, and having discovered Spider-Man's real identity, he reveals to Peter that his shooting of Uncle Ben was an accident while he was trying to carjack Uncle Ben. During the incident, Ben was attempting to reason with Marko, but Carradine arrived and startled Flint, causing him to shoot Ben unintentionally and that every day he feels regret for it. Sensing that Marko was indeed telling the truth, and understanding the importance of forgiveness over revenge, Spider-Man forgave him, and Marko shape-shifts into sand and flies away in the breeze, while shedding tears.

Trivia

• In the comics, William Baker was a common criminal who spent most of his early life drifting in and out of street gangs, using the alias Flint Marko. While on the run from the FBI, a nearby nuclear test reactor exploded, making his body form into sand, becoming known as the Sandman.
• Sandman was the only villain in the Spider-Man trilogy to not die.