WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Miles Morales, available now on the PlayStation 5.
There are a lot of villains in Spider-Man's ever-expanding rogues' gallery. Considering how long the list is, not all of them are going to be especially memorable. Every so often, though, a one-off villain or D-list nemesis finds themselves transformed into something much more important.
This is precisely the case for the Tinkerer, who has gone from a bit of a joke villain in classic Spider-Man comics to the primary antagonist of Sony's new Spider-Man: Miles Morales video game.
Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first introduced in 1963's The Amazing Spider-Man #2, Phineas Mason used his incredible inventions to blackmail politicians and terrorize Spider-Man, even crafting a fake UFO in an effort to convince the wall-crawler that he was actually an alien. Known as the Terrible Tinkerer, Mason also created custom maniacal machinations for other villains, for a price of course. Before long, Phineas Mason was the go-to guy for anything a budding or established supervillain might need. Phineas' son, Rick Mason, would himself find success as a mercenary on the side of justice. Even though the two operated on opposite sides of the law, they remained close until Rick's death. While the Tinkerer never made much of an impact as a threat himself, his creations and intellectual capabilities have, almost since the character's introduction, made him one of the most sought after minds in the Marvel Universe.
If the original Tinkerer isn't one that fans recognize, there is another that has made their MCU debut already, though viewers might have missed picking up on who exactly the character was. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Phineas Mason (played by Michael Chernus) is still crafting weapons and technology, though not specifically for villainous reasons. This version of the character worked alongside Adrian Toomes, the Vulture.
Toomes' Salvage Company secured a contract for themselves to clean up New York City after various super-powered battles but lost their contract to the Department of Damage Control. Backed into a corner by Damage Control and not seeing a virtuous way out of the situation, Mason turned to experimenting with the recovered alien technology and weaponizing it for the group's personal, criminal use, as well as for sale to anyone who could meet the price. While Spider-Man ultimately put an end to Toomes' criminal pursuits, as well as taking down the majority of the rest of his crew, Mason has disappeared into the shadows of the MCU.
Considering how many name drops and easter eggs were included in Homecoming, it's more than likely that fans haven't seen the last of this version of the Tinkerer.
The version of the character that has been thrust into the spotlight most recently comes from Sony's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. In the in-game universe, Phin Mason is a friend of Miles Morales. Her brother, Rick, is one of the developers of Roxxon Energy Corporation's new energy source, Nuform. Rick suffers chemical poisoning due to his work on Nuform, and is unceremoniously killed by Simon Krieger, the R&D Director for Roxxon. This version of Phin takes up the Tinkerer moniker and leads the Underground, a terrorist group dedicated to using their tech to take down Roxxon by any means necessary, even if it means innocent bystanders get caught in the fray as collateral damage. The Phin Mason of the game shares more in common with her predecessors than just a name alone, including the desire to do the right thing even if the methods aren't what anyone would consider "good."
It's always exciting to see classic characters make a comeback, and the Tinkerer is no exception. While this version of the character might not be the one that lasts the longest, the Phin Mason of the Miles Morales universe is still a memorable one. With any luck, this won't be the only time this incarnation of the Tinkerer shows up, and with innumerable webs left for the Spider-Man franchise to spin, that's almost undoubtedly the case.