Merge:Sandman

The Sandman is a Marvel Comics character, traditionally an adversary of Spider-Man. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (September 1963). His body has been changed into sand, which he can control completely. He may absorb nearby sand and reconstitute it into his body, as well.

Sandman is set to appear in the film Spider-Man 3, and will be played by Thomas Haden Church.

Character history
At the age of three, William Baker was abandoned by his father and forced to live in poverty with his mother. Throughout high school, William turned to theft and cheating to get through class and to make ends meet at home. After accepting a bribe, Baker was expelled from school and soon found work as a mob enforcer. Under the alias Flint Marko, Baker became involved in more and more illegal activity, and slowly developed a violent and bitter personality. Eventually he ended up doing hard time on Ryker's Island for his dealings but managed to escape. Immediately after he fled to a beach near Savannah, Georgia where he came into contact with sand that had been irradiated by an experimental reactor. His body and the radioactive sand bonded, and Marko's molecular structure was altered into a sand/dirt-like substance. Marko soon found that he could transform any or all of his body into sand, and adopted the name Sandman to match his new powers.

Marko clashed with Spider-Man for the first time at the school which the hero attended as Peter Parker. Marko was defeated by Spider-Man (and a vacuum cleaner), but eventually resurfaced as a member of the Sinister Six led by Doctor Octopus. After being soundly defeated by Spider-Man several more times, Marko gave up and took a shot at battling other superheroes. Most notably, he created the original Frightful Four to combat the Fantastic Four, but his fledgling group of villains were beaten by the experienced heroes.

Sandman eventually discovers that-starting with his hand-his body is slowly transforming into glass, although he is able to reverse the effect. Afterwards, he decides to resume his struggle with his original adversary, Spider-Man, and allies himself with Hydro-Man to do battle with their mutual enemy. The two briefly merge into an unintelligent and largely ineffective mud monster, but split apart. Afterwards, Marko becomes deeply depressed, and the Thing of the Fantastic Four supports him, and encourages him to use his power in the name of good.

Flint briefly joins the Avengers. Later, he becomes a mercenary in the employ of Silver Sable, as a member of her Wild Pack.

He eventually reverts to his villainous ways, claiming to have faked his heroic career, although it was revealed that the Wizard had used his mind-controlling "Id Machine" to force him to act as a villain.

Sandman then rejoins a new incarnation of the Sinister Six, which is working with one of Spider-Man's deadliest enemies, Venom. Venom reveals that he is here to make sure no one else kills Spider-Man, and turns on the remaining five. Dealing with Marko, Venom bites him, which somehow poisons him. His body slowly begins to crumble away. He blames Spider-Man, but ultimately asks him to deliver a message to his mother. He also expresses remorse that he could not pull off the task of becoming an official superhero. The Sandman then crumbles to pieces and seems to die, washing away down a sewer and ending up as part of Jones Beach, New York.

Sandman's body and mind scattered with the grains of sand. The major part of his mind merges with the beach and begins swallowing people in an attempt to piece himself back together. Spider-Man tries to free the captured people from Sandman's beach consciousness, which is his evil mindset, and succeeds when Marko explodes from too many clashing mindsets. Soon the sand of the beach begins to spread to different areas around New York, and all of the different aspects of Sandman's shattered mind form individual beings - Marko's good side, evil side, feminine side and childlike side.

Spider-Man locates all of the different versions of Sandman, and though the evil part hates the others, they all merge once more, but this time, the evil side of his personality is dominant. Sandman is still at large.

Morals
Morally, Sandman is a complex character. Throughout his criminal career, he possessed an affinity for his ailing mother. He reformed and joined the superhero group the Avengers and the Wild Pack of Silver Sable. He has since returned to a life of crime but resists the extreme methods and actions of typical supervillains, rarely killing anyone.

The Sandman nearly always uses the alias Flint Marko, but his actual name is William Baker.

Powers and Abilities
The Sandman has the ability to transform into a malleable sand-like substance which can be hardened, dispersed, or shaped according to his will. He possesses vast superhuman strength several times in excess of Spider-Man's, making him an equal to The Thing (both can lift approximately eighty-five tons).

Ultimate Sandman
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Flint Marko is a genetic mutation of the industrialist Justin Hammer, one of the results of an attempt to recreate the super soldier formula. Shortly after Hammer was killed by Dr. Octopus, S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltrated Hammer's factory to take care of any experiments Hammer was working on. Marko used this opportunity to escape and wreak havoc upon New York. S.H.I.E.L.D., with the help of Spider-Man, managed to contain him and imprisoned him in the Triskelion. There, he meets fellow genetic fugitives Norman Osborn (Green Goblin), Dr. Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), Max Dillon (Electro), and Kraven the Hunter. Under the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus's leadership the five broke free and captured Spider-Man to form the Ultimate Six. Marko participated with the group in an attack on the White House. However, he was defeated by Iron Man. After the battle, S.H.I.E.L.D. sealed Marko in various vials of sand.

In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, we see that Ultimate Beetle stole one of the vials containing Flint Marko. The ramifications are yet unknown.

1602 Sandman
Neil Gaiman, the writer of the critically acclaimed DC Comics series also named Sandman|Sandman, wrote the series Marvel 1602, in which many Marvel characters were reimagined as 17th century versions of themselves. 1602: Fantastic Four, a sequel written by Peter David, to be published in September 2006, will feature the 1602 version of the Marvel Sandman. However, as a homage to Gaiman, this one will have pale white skin, 'weird glowing eyes', and long, dark hair, as Gaiman's DC Sandman did. This was revealed on the pages of Newsarama.com

Television

 * Sandman appeared in one episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, where he was voiced by Chris Latta. He has also appeared in the Spider-Man (1960s Animation).
 * Sandman did not appear in the Spider-Man animated series of the 1990s because the series did not want to interfere with the continuity of James Cameron's proposed Spider-Man movie, in which the Sandman and Electro were supposed to be the villains. Although Electro was belatedly introduced into the series when Cameron's film fell through, Sandman remained unseen in the series, the only major Spidey villain not to appear in the show.

Film
On November 5, 2005 Thomas Haden Church was officially cast as villain Sandman in Spider-Man 3, revealed by Kirsten Dunst and confirmed by Sony. The character has long been a favorite of director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire. During press interviews for the first two films, both Raimi and Maguire mentioned Sandman as a villain they would like to appear in the series.

In a set photo circulating on the internet, Church is seen with Cliff Robertson and Michael Papajohn, the actor who played Uncle Ben's killer, together, spawning a rumor that Sandman was Uncle Ben's true murderer. However, the photo was an obvious photo manipulation: Uncle Ben's killer was digitally inserted. It is not uncommon for actors to interact on set, and there is no other evidence for this rumor. Michael Papajohn is not set to appear in Spider-Man 3. 

Action Figures
Sandman was one of the action figures included in Toy Biz's Spider-Man Classics series 12 and re-released in 2005's series 17.

The miniature figure line Minimates produced a miniature Sandman.