| “ | I'm not a bad person. I just had bad luck. | „ |
| ~ Sandman |
Flint Marko, also known as the Sandman, is the secondary antagonist of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and a major antagonist in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home.
He is a professional criminal who accidentally killed Peter Parker's uncle, Benjamin "Ben" Parker. Sandman is seen as a tragic villain because he is portrayed as a decent man who only breaks the law in order to afford the care his cancer-stricken daughter desperately needs. However, his powers and methods in order to do so makes him one of Spider-Man's most dangerous foes, making him one the archenemies of Peter for killing Uncle Ben until he forgives Flint.
Years later, Sandman is accidentally transported to a different universe through space and time by a spell performed by Doctor Strange, where he was desperate to return to his universe to be with his daughter again and teamed up with other alternate villains, from different universes parallel to the Raimiverse and Webbverse timelines, in order to get back to her.
He was portrayed by Thomas Haden Church, who also played Dwayne LaFontant in Over the Hedge.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
Background[]
- He started robbing banks, along with his partner Dennis Carradine.
- While it was an accident, he killed Peter Parker's uncle, Ben Parker. This caused him to be arrested for that crime and caused Peter Parker to become Spider-Man in the near future.
Spider-Man 3[]
- After escaping prison, he returns to a life of crime by robbing banks again causing his wife to not trust him at all and even telling Penny to stay away from him knowing Flint is a bad influence.
- Upon getting new powers, he continued robbing banks and stealing money.
- During his robberies, he fought against the web-slinger, Spider-Man.
- During his getaway, Sandman once again fought Spider-Man, who was now branded with the black alien symbiote. After losing, he now wanted to kill him so he could get out of his way.
- He teams up with Venom so the two of them can kill Spider-Man together. They would've succeeded as well if Harry Osborn/New Goblin hadn't interfered by stepping in front of Spider-Man to prevent him from being brutally murdered by Venom.
- Even worse, he put the city at risk by turning into his massive sand form, endangering many lives with the mass destruction.
Spider-Man: No Way Home[]
- Years later, once he got transported into another universe and even though he helped MCU Spider-Man stopped Electro, he turned on him when he thought MCU Spider-Man killed him.
- He ditches MCU Spider-Man and escapes, not getting cured in the process after the Green Goblin took over Norman Osborn and convinced him, Electro, and the Lizard to keep their powers.
- He didn't care about the villains' fates after their battles with their own Spider-Men since he just wants to go home. He even made it clear to MCU Spider-Man while the villains were fighting over the Macchina di Kadavus.
- He tried to bury his Spider-Man alive at the Statue of Liberty during the final battle. He would've succeeded if his Spider-Man didn't get the cure and cured him with it.
Why Doesn't He Stand Out?[]
- He massively fails the heinous standards to Venom, the Green Goblin, and even Doctor Octopus, who have committed far more harmful crimes than him, with Venom fatally impaling the New Goblin in front of Peter and trying to assault MJ, the Green Goblin raiding the Parker household and attempting to kill Aunt May just to hurt Spider-Man mentally, and Doctor Octopus endangering millions of people with a fusion reactor that would kill all of New York.
- Come Spider-Man: No Way Home, he now fails the heinous standards even more to many other villains, while it would be unfair to compare him to the likes of Scarlet Witch, Ego, High Evolutionary, Ronan the Accuser, General Dreykov, Gorr the God Butcher, and Mysterio as their actual resources far out outweigh what he has, he still fails the standards to Vulture who isn’t that bad himself.
- He also fails the individual capability due to having a massive amount of superpowers enabled just for him, yet he never does anything truly heinous with them, meaning he holds back on his resources due to his morals.
- He is horribly tragic as his daughter Penny is sick and he desperately wanted to cure her, which is the reason why he steals money and robs banks. He was also filled with so much remorse upon killing Ben that he turned himself in to the police to make up for his crime and he even told Spider-Man the truth about his uncle’s death and didn’t ask for his forgiveness.
- He has firm standards as he couldn't stand Eddie's twisted sadism, despite the fact he was willing to help him into killing Spider-Man, as he was extremely disgusted of how he was going to rape Mary Jane and literally told him to stop doing so and put her down.
- He deeply loves his daughter Penny as he was willing to cure her at all costs and even robs banks to get enough money to buy medicine for her. He also never abuses Penny at all and generally gets along with her based on how their relationship is established onscreen.
- The only reason he wanted to kill Spider-Man was because of Spider-Man's new power and continuous interference and because of Venom's offer. After all that, he decides not to kill or even think about it, and he was confused and angry when he thought MCU Spider-Man killed Electro when MCU Spidey just simply sent him to a holding cell at the New York Sanctum, making him a villain by proxy.
- Not to mention that in the video game tie-in and the parade/robbery scene in Spider-Man 3, Sandman never actually wanted to hurt or kill Spider-Man at first, as he only wanted to get him out of his way "for a bit" to help his sickly daughter. He only resorted to the desire to kill Spider-Man after being defeated by him for a second time with the black alien symbiote as he tried to run away with the stolen bank money.
- In the video game tie-in, Sandman rejected Eddie's offer of a partnership to kill Spider-Man together but Eddie, who already knew what the answer was going to be, had already kidnapped Penny and forced Sandman to help him kill Spider-Man or else he would kill his daughter, therefore leaving Flint with no other choice but to comply with Venom.
- After being forgiven by Spider-Man, Marko placed a huge amount of respect and trust in him, even going to the lengths of protecting the Spider-Man from another universe due to mistakenly thinking it was his Peter.
External Links[]
- Sandman on the Villains Wiki
- Sandman on the Spider-Man Films Wiki
- Sandman on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Sandman on the Marvel Wiki
- Sandman (No Way Home) on the Marvel Wiki
- Sandman on the Marvel Movies Wiki
- Sandman on the Disney Wiki
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