Flint Marko

"I did a terrible thing to you, I spent a lot of nights wishing I could take it back. I'm not asking you to forgive me. I just want you to understand."

- Flint Marko Flint Marko was an escaped convict who fell into a particle accelerator and was transformed into a shape-shifting sand manipulator The Sandman.

Spider-Man 3
Flint Marko stole money to pay for medical treatment for his terminally ill daughter, Penny. While on the run from the police after escaping from prison, he accidentally falls into an experimental particle accelerator that molecularly binds him with sand, giving him shape-shifting sand abilities. A major focus of the plot involves Marko's connection to the murder of Ben Parker, Spider-Man's uncle, in the first film.

Sandman is later spotted by police officers walking down the streets of Manhattan. Sandman gets on top of a dump truck filled with huge amounts of sand. When one of the policemen climbs atop the truck, he is assaulted by a huge fist made out of sand. Having absorbed the truck's sand to add to his mass, a giant Sandman then emerges. The police shoot at Marko, but he manages to escape by turning into a sandstorm and flying away with the wind. At the Spider-Man fair, the sandstorm is spotted, and Spider-Man goes to investigate. In doing so, Spider-Man confronts Sandman, foiling his attempt to rob an armored truck, but Sandman gets away. Later, at the police station, it is revealed by Police Captain George Stacy that there is evidence implicating Marko as Ben Parker's killer, and he also tells Peter and May that the carjacker, Dennis Carradine, that Peter confronted two years earlier was really Marko's accomplice, and did not fire the shot that killed Ben Parker. In the meantime, Sandman robs a bank, and Spider-Man, now with enhanced abilities due to his new black suit, chases him to the subways. During their fight, Spider-Man bursts a water tank, flooding Sandman in water and turning him into mud, which is swept through a sewer grate. Believing that Sandman is dead, Spider-Man leaves; unbeknownst to him, however, Sandman, who is washed out to the river, is able to eventually reconstitute himself.

Spider-Man later tears the symbiote off his body in a bell tower after learning of its parasitic nature, and it merges with Eddie Brock, to become Venom, who convinces Sandman to team up with him to destroy Spider-Man. Sandman agrees because he feels that Spider-Man will not stop chasing him until he is dead. The two kidnap Mary Jane Watson and take her to a construction site, forcing Spider-Man to face them both.

During the fight, Sandman uses the site's sand to again increase his size, turning into a version of himself several stories high. After Venom restrains Spider-Man with his webbing, almost strangling him, Sandman nearly beats Spider-Man to death, but for the intervention of Harry Osborn, under the guise of the New Goblin, who comes to his friend's aid with his Goblin arsenal. Harry explodes a pumpkin bomb at Sandman, and then distracts Venom enough to free Spider-Man. Working together, the two manage to save Mary Jane, defeat Venom, and temporarily disable Sandman. (Harry and Brock are both killed in the process). Sandman returns to his normal size, and having discovered Spider-Man's real identity, he reveals that he never wanted to kill Uncle Ben. He had been trying to ask to use Uncle Ben's car, and accidentally shot him in a moment of panic. Realizing that Marko is telling the truth, Spider-Man forgives him. Marko is touched by Spider-Man's compassion, and he shapeshifts and flies away.

Relationships
He was married to Emma Marko, and has a daughter, Penny. It is unknown if they are still married or not after he went to jail, even though it's clear he still cares deeply for his family.

Behind the scenes
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Trivia

 * Sandman is the only main villain in the series not to die.
 * In the comics, he was not involved with Uncle Ben's death. This was changed in Spider-Man 3 because the crew wanted Sandman to be emotionally connected to Peter, like the series' other villains were.
 * In the comics, his original name was William Baker, but he later adopted the alias of Flint Marko.
 * While he doesn't have a daughter in the comics, he did meet a girl Keemia Alvarado that was introduced in the Gauntlet storyline who believed him to be her father despite that they are not biologically related.
 * Sandman is the only villain in the series who does not have an occupation and aside from Venom is the only one who is not a scientist.
 * He is only ever called Sandman once throughout the film, when a news anchor refers to him as so while reporting of a story involving he and Venom. Throughout the majority of the film, he is referred to by his real name, Flint Marko, or just Flint, or Marko.