Sandman Comic Book Profile

Real Name:

William Baker
AKA – Flint Marko, Sylvester Mann, Quarryman

Location:

New York City

First Appearance:

Amazing Spider-Man #4 (1963)

Created By:

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Powers:

The Sandman, as his name implies, can turn his body into living sand. He has complete control over his sand body, even down to the smallest grain. This enables him to squeeze through the smallest of gaps, allow bullets and other objects to pass right through him, harden his body to stone, and mold his body into just about any shape, although it should be pointed out that Sandman typically uses a more brutish approach, normally turning his hands into blunt like objects like maces, clubs, and hammers. He is also able to use his sand like body and hurl it at opponents, blasting them with immense force.

In this form, Sandman also has incredible strength and endurance. He can keep his sand form apparently indefinitely, even if his body is scattered across vast distances. He always finds a way to reform back to his normal state. He is also able to use natural sand to add to his body to make it larger and stronger. He has also used the sand around him to reform himself should his body get dispersed.

His one weakness is to fire and heat. Being sand, he has the properties of sand and extreme heat can turn him into glass. He recently has learned to use this to his advantage by turning turn parts of his body into glass.

Team Affiliations:

William Baker, better known as Flint Marko, has had both villainous and heroic allegiances.

Villainous:
Sinister Twelve
Sinister Six
Frightful Four

Heroic:
Avengers
Wild Pack
Outlaws

Currently Seen In:

Sandman can often be seen in the Spider-Man titles.

Interesting Fact:

Sandman and Hydro-Man once combined themselves into a mud like monster when the two paired up to do crime at the bidding of a girl they both liked. The monster had limited intelligence and after a King Kong like spectacle show, the monster went on a rampage and at the last moment, fell to the sidewalk and crumbled to bits.

Origin:

William Baker is, at his core, a thug, but he is still a man with a conscience. He was born and raised in a crime riddled neighborhood in New York and eventually went into crime himself. It was at this time that he adopted the name Flint Marko, which most people know him as.

After getting arrested and sent to the infamous Ryker’s Island, Marko escaped and was chased by authorities to the beaches of the east coast. While he was there, a nearby nuclear test facility exploded and he was exposed to immense amounts of radiation that fused his body with the sand around him. He found he could turn his body into sand and adopted the name Sandman.

As the Sandman, Marko continued his petty crimes of theft and burglary. He was stopped on numerous occasions by Spider-Man, The Human Torch, The Hulk, and others. One instance changed Sandman’s path after a disastrous team-up with Hydro-Man where the two fused into a near mindless mud like creature and eventually crumbled in a fall off of a building, leaving him to be picked up piece by piece by the authorities.

This instance made Sandman want to change his ways for the better, working with the Silver Sable and her Wild Pack group, and even becoming an honorary member of the Avengers. This was short lived, when the villain and former teammate of the Sinister Six the Wizard, warped his brain so that he forgot about his heroic dreams. Recently, in a battle with Venom, Sandman had an integral part of himself bitten out of him by the Spider-Man copycat and nemesis. His mind fractured, and along with it, his body as well. He came apart and each piece of him was a separate identity or part of his overall persona. He spent much time in a coma like state on a beach, but awoken to reform and find each piece of his body. It appeared that the part that Venom bit out of him was his evil side. After a time of searching, the Sandman was complete, and he has returned to his villainous ways.