Flint Marko is an escaped convict who fell into a Particle Accelerator that transformed him into a shape-shifting sand manipulator known as the Sandman. Marko was transported from his universe to Earth-199999 when Peter Parker tampered with Doctor Strange's spell to make the world forget that he is Spider-Man after his secret identity was exposed by Mysterio.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Flint Marko shared the history of his counterpart until he was transported from his universe into Earth-199999.
Spider-Man: No Way Home[]
Along with a number of other people, Flint was transported into an alternate universe by a spell gone awry. Appearing during Peter Parker's battle with Electro, Flint offered the young superhero his help, mistaking him for the Peter Parker that he knew. With Flint containing Electro, Peter managed to stop his overload and capture him. Subsequently, Flint was left confused by the alternate universe that he was now trapped in and his main priority was to get back to his daughter in his universe. Unlike the other villains, Flint was mainly ambivalent about being cured of his condition due to caring more about getting home and seeing a cure as his only way of doing so. When the Green Goblin convinced the others to turn on Peter after the Green Goblin persona took control of Norman Osborn's body, Flint joined them in escaping from Happy Hogan's condo.
During the battle at the Statue of Liberty, Flint battled the three Spider-Men, one of whom is his own Peter, alongside the Lizard and Electro, with Connors and Dillon being cured by Peter-One and Otto Octavius, who was given a new inhibitor chip by Peter-One, Connors being transformed back into his human form by Peter-One via an antidote created by Connors and Dillon's Peter for the Lizard Serum that transformed Connors into the Lizard and Dillon being drained of his powers of electricity manipulation by Octavius via an Electricity Siphon created by Peter-One for the accident with Bioelectric Eels that transformed Dillon into Electro. Flint was cured by his Peter via a particle accelerator created by Peter-One for the supercollider that transformed Flint into the Sandman, transforming Flint back into a full human for the first time since his accident and separating Flint from the sand particles that were bonded to him. Flint was urged by Peter-Two to stay in the Statue of Liberty for his own safety and, as a result, when the Green Goblin's attack collapsed the scaffolding that the rest of the battle was occurring on, Flint was safely out of harm's way. After Osborn was restored back to his normal self by Peter-One via an anti-serum created by Flint, Osborn, and Octavius' Peter for the Goblin Formula that transformed Osborn into the Green Goblin, Flint was returned to his universe alongside the former, Octavius, and their Peter when Stephen Strange cast the spell to make everyone forget the existence of their own Peter.
Character traits[]
Flint is depicted as a caring father whose only motivation was to return to his daughter, even while trying to get the box to reverse the spell, unlike Max Dillon, who liked Earth-199999 and the power it gave him and wanted to remain there. Having come from a time where he was apparently on good terms with his universe's Peter Parker, Flint initially greeted an alternate Peter Parker warmly and willingly helped him stop Max's initial rampage.
While motivated by a desire to see his daughter again, Flint was dubious about the chance at a cure for his condition and only went along with it because he saw no other way to get home. This disbelief was so strong that he continued attacking, despite his own Peter's attempts at trying to convince him to stop. When Flint was cured and transformed back into his human form by his Peter, he reacted with a mixture of shock, relief, and pleasure and followed his Peter's urging to stay in the Statue of Liberty where he was safe for the remainder of the battle.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Body Conversion-Sand: Due to the particle accelerator that fused sand particles to his cells, Sandman possesses the ability to either shape-shift himself into anything. It has granted him superhuman strength, durability, ageless immortality, flight via a sandstorm and can self reform his missing body parts. However, he may have lost the ability to take on a fully human form over time as, when he gets dragged into an alternate universe, Flint only manifests as a humanoid sand figure rather than his original human appearance. His powers also appear to have become unstable as he appears to be falling apart to a degree when he's sitting on Happy Hogan's couch, causing sand to fall from his form.
- Immortality: Due to sand particles replacing his cells, he cannot die by natural means. Due to his nature, he is also nearly impossible to truly destroy.
- Metamorphosis: He can absorb sand particles to increase his size, density and physical attributes.
- Superhuman Strength: Being able to harden his sand into solid matter, his strength is far stronger than that of an average human.
- Superhuman Durability: Being able to harden parts of his body, he becomes superhumanly durable. Bullets can easily pass or go straight through him as they cannot harm him at all.
- Flight: By transforming himself into a sand storm, the Sandman can fly across the air at great speeds.
- Self-Reformation: Sandman has his version of regenerative healing, by reforming instantaneously. He managed to reform half of his head instantaneously.
- Superhuman Stamina: Due to his body being composed of sand particles, he cannot tire, since he cannot produce fatigue at all.
Relationships[]
- Peter Parker/Spider-Man of Earth-96283 - Original ally and former enemy.
- Norman Osborn/Green Goblin - Ally and former enemy.
- Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus - Ally and former enemy.
- Peter Parker/Spider-Man of Earth-199999 - Ally and former enemy.
- Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange - Ally and former enemy.
Appearances/Actors[]
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (1 film)
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (First appearance) - Thomas Haden Church
Behind the scenes[]
Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts performed mocap as Sandman.
Trivia[]
- It is unknown when Flint came from as he is never known to have died. However, his immediate recognition of Spider-Man as Peter-One and expectation to be on good terms with him suggests that it's years after the events of Spider-Man 3, possibly even from the present day of Peter-Two's universe.
- Flint's powers appear to be more unstable than in Spider-Man 3, resulting in him not assuming his original human form like he previously could and at one point, literally falling apart while sitting on the couch in Happy's condo, suggesting the possibility that he was dying of his unstable powers.
- Unaddressed in No Way Home is the fact that it was actually Flint who killed Peter-Two's Uncle Ben, albeit by accident. While recounting to Peter-One about his Uncle Ben's death, Peter-Two only mentions Dennis Carradine and his revenge against him, due to the latter being directly responsible for causing a panicked Marko to accidentally kill Ben.
Gallery[]
Spider-Man: No Way Home[]
