Sandman (Spider-Man Films)

"I'm not a bad person. Just had bad luck."

- Sandman

Sandman (real name: Flint Marko) is an escaped convict in 2007 film Spider-Man 3, where he was portrayed by Thomas Haden Church. Sandman is seen as a tragic villain because he is portrayed as decent, understandable and honorable. A far cry from the Sandman of the comics.

Flint Marko's main weapon of choice was his own body, which he distorted to fit whatever purpose he wanted, although his main firearm was a Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver, which he used in his robberies prior to getting his powers.

Character Biography
Flint Marko originally appeared in the comics but was a main character in Spider-Man 3. Marko was a down-on-his-luck father of a child named Penny with cancer. In an effort to support her, the unemployed Marko was forced to rob banks and numerous other places to pay for her cancer treatments. One night, the robbery failed and Marko fled outside the city limits, trying to escape from the police, who were in hot pursuit. Marko fled into a gigantic chamber filled with sand at a remote testing facility. Marko didn't know it at the time, but it was an experiment that was testing if sand could protect against radiation. Marko successfully hid from the police in the pit, but the sand was blasted with radiation, and Marko's genes were blended together with the sand. Marko discovered that he could still be a normal man, but was invincible, as he was now made of sand. Marko realized that his sand makeup allowed him to grow in size and make weapons with his body. Marko used his newfound powers to rob numerous banks, but he was thwarted by Spiderman, who was growing increasingly unstable as a result of the symbiote, and washed him away down a drain. Sandman didn't know it, but Spiderman was actually Peter Parker, a mild-mannered photographer for the Daily Bugle, who discovered that Marko killed his beloved uncle, Ben. Venom later comes to Marko and forms an alliance with him, although Marko is slightly reluctant. After Spiderman kills Venom with one of the Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs, Marko sadly reveals to Spiderman that he never meant to kill his uncle. He told Ben, who was waiting for Peter, that he needed his car to get away. Ben attempted to talk Marko out of it, but before Marko could turn back, his accomplice, Dennis Carradine, ran up to Marko to steal the car and caused the Colt Python revolver in his hand to go off. Carradine was later pushed out a window by Parker that same night. Marko later surrendered to the police, stating that he spent "a lot of nights wishing I could take it back", and begs for Peter's forgiveness. Peter forgives Flint and, having finally come to terms with what he has done and at peace with himself, a successfully redeemed Sandman lets the wind carry himself away, presumably dying with it, although his fate is left unknown.