The villain known as the Sandman was one of the first characters Spider-Man ever faced off against in the pages of 1963's Amazing Spider-Man #4, where he forced Spidey to run off after damagin his mask in battle.
Since his first appearance, Flint Marko has had a roller-coaster ride of a career as he has moved from villain to hero and back again, which we'll take a closer look at today as we learn a little bit more about one of Spider-Man's most powerful villains, Sandman.
10 RETURNED TO PRISON FOR HIS FATHER
When Sandman and Spider-Man first met, he was captured a little too easily when he was sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, though it was later revealed he had willingly been captured after he heard his father had also returned to prison.
The two had previously become acquainted in jail, except his father didn't realize his new friend was his son since he used an alias when they first met. After he was transformed into the Sandman, he let Spider-Man catch him so he could return to jail and break out his father.
9 MORE THAN ONE IDENTITY
Sandman was born as William Baker, though he is known "professionally" as Flint Marko, which is the alias he first gave his father when they met in jail, and the name he most frequently uses as Sandman.
When Sandman reformed he returned to the William Baker name for years, though after manipulation from his former teammate Wizard managed to revert his personality back to his villainous side, the Flint Marko persona returned as well.
8 CAN CONTROL SAND
This might seem like an unnecessary detail here but it can be an important distinction of Sandman's powers, as his consciousness is actually localized to a single grain of sand that he forms his body around using his control of sand.
He can control vast amounts of sand that he uses to increase the size of his body, with entire beaches, and at one point the Sahara Desert under his mental control, and it was recently revealed that he is also able to give someone else his control of sand as well.
7 HE'S A TEAM PLAYER
It didn't take long for Sandman to form up with other supervillains to take on Spider-Man as he was a part of the first group to call themselves the Sinister Six that formed in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1.
He would go on to work with the Frightful Four, the Sinister Twelve, the Superior Six, the reformed criminals known as the Outlaws, and as a paid mercenary for Silver Sable with her Wild Pack, which would eventually lead Sandman to become a reserve member of the Avengers before he returned to his villainous career.
6 HAS MULTIPLE COSTUMES
Sandman's most familiar costume is the same outfit he was wearing when he was first transformed, which is a striped green shirt and brown pants that briefly changed colors to match the Frightful Four's purple-hued motif.
However, he has worn a few different costumes over the years and even saw a few superhero-esque costumes while he was with the Wild Pack that never really fit the character, though he inevitably returned to his classic costume.
5 ALMOST BEAT THE FANTASTIC FOUR
After his time with the Frightful Four, Sandman stole advanced technology from Mister Fantastic's labs and created a suit of armor that amplified his abilities with various chemicals that produced different reactions with his sandy body.
He then used this suit of armor to take on the Fantastic Four alone, using his new costume to nullify the various powers of the FF before he escaped a trap set by Reed Richards, causing him to be lost in the Negative Zone instead of Sandman.
4 BECAME THE MUD-THING
Sandman has always had issues when it comes to water, which had a hand in his first few defeats by Spider-Man thanks to rain or sprinklers weakening his ability to hold his sandy form together enough to fight.
When Sandman and Hydro-Man began to fight for the affections of the same girl, the battle carried them out onto the docks and they fell into the stormy water, where they mixed to become the monstrous Mud-Thing. They were eventually separated after an extended time trapped together in that form, leaving them both feeling extremely violated.
3 IMMUNE TO RADIATION
While the exact way Flint Marko was transformed into the Sandman has varied over the years due to a few different retellings (nuclear explosion/test/waste), it is always caused by exposure to radiation, like Spider-Man himself.
His exposure has essentially made him immune to radiation, as he remarked himself while fighting Hazmat of Avengers Academy. It was also revealed that his initial exposure gave him cancer, which he managed to cure by exposing himself to more massive doses of radiation.
2 STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE ON THE THING
His time with the Frightful Four showcased many confrontations with the Thing where he proved to be more than a match for the FF's powerhouse, and he has on occasion staggered the Hulk in battle, especially when he was wearing his enhanced armor.
And while Spider-Man's strength level's can sometimes similarily match up to powerhouses like the Thing when pushed, it's that extra classification of Hulk-level strength that really brings attention to a villain like Sandman.
1 TECHNICALLY IMMORTAL
Given the nature of Sandman's unique abilities, he has always been able to reform himself back together after apparent deaths, though he had quite a few close calls that had him questioning whether or not he could die.
He was faced with a startling look at his possibly eternal future when he lost the ability to control his sand body and died next to Spider-Man on a beach, though he was soon possessed by his future self who had survived for billions of years, long after the death of the solar system.