When I heard that my favorite Spidey villain, the Sandman, was going to be in Spider-Man 3, I felt like writing a story with him. Here it is.

Origin of Sandman

Flint Marko was the most wanted man. He had committed many daring robberies on his own and succeeded. He was a good shot with a gun, and stole since he was a baby. Although he had lots of muscles, he wasn't really bright. He cheated his way through school, his only good talent being football. After being taken out of high school, he began a successful criminal career.

Lately he had been jailed. It was inevitable that he would be caught. Just about every cop was after him. He just barely got out of prison, and the law tried to recapture them, but he was too clever for them, despite his not knowing much. He had evaded a second imprisonment and now he was on an Atlantic beach in New Jersey, where he crouched, letting police cars pass by. Strangely, there were no further patrols entering the area.. If he had listened to the radio or watched the news, he would have heard of a controversial issue going on about his hiding spot.

For the first time in many years, a nuclear weapon was going to be tested above ground, despite numerous protests. The scientists who had invented the weapon said they needed to test the weapon this way to see if it worked the right way. Their wishes wee surprisingly permitted to be fulfilled and Marko's life was about to change.

Marko heard a screeching sound and looked up. He started shuddering as his eyes widened. A missile was flying towards the beach! He started scrambling for cover, but it was too late. The sky flashed as the weapon exploded. Flint Marko felt his legs ripping. He was done for sure.

Strange blue energy swirled around, causing the sand to fly around uncontrollably. Globs of sand and nuclear energy got into the criminal's mouth and the new holes in his body. His screams were drowned out by the noise. The whole surrounding land turned bright blue as the beach and waters were pounded by the energy. Then he knew nothing more.

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All was quiet. It was around 7:15 A.M. and the sun shown its light upon the blackened beach. A heap of sand lay there, unmoving. It bulged out from the ground with four ridges coming out of it and what looked like a melted glob of ice cream at one end. It looked humanoid. Indeed, it was actually an intelligent being.

Flint Marko slowly revived. He felt new energy, but he also felt weird. He remembered last night's chaos. How had he survived? He stood up and realized what had happened to him. He was a sandman. He seemed to be trapped in his state. He despaired, filled with fear at his new condition. He tried to become human and succeeded.

The energy and sand going into him during the weapon test must have gotten together with his body, changing him in an unexplainable way. Even with human skin he felt a little weird. He was frustrated. Seeing a rock, he wanted to smash it and made a clenched fist. Suddenly his hand turned to sand, only this time it was extremely hard and it resembled a sledgehammer. Surprised, he smashed the rock.

He was filled with shock and joy. He was invincible! He formed more shapes such as a large blade or a winding tentacle. He learned how to soften and harden his sand. He could travel as streams of sand and even his clothes seemed to change with him. He went to town. What could possibly stop him?

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Flint Marko stepped into the bar, heavily concealing his features. Even fellow criminals would turn him in for the large bounty on him. He saw his two friends, Mike and Sharon. They recognized him instantly.

"Hello, Flint!" greeted Mike

"Shhh. Don't attract attention," whispered Marko. "Mike, and Sharon, I've go something to tell you. I was at the beach where the atomic test was, and--"

"Whoa! Wait a minute!" Sharon was confused. "That's impossible. How could you have survived?"

"I'll tell ya." Marko's friends stared at him. They thought he was crazy. Suddenly a man shouted, "Look! It's Flint Marko! The most wanted criminal! Get him boys!"

Marko changed his right arm into a large, hard block of sand. The men going after him (there must have been around twenty) stopped in their tracks. Two were knocked over by Marko's sand-Weapon. He then smashed a table, sending several men flying. The leader of the group encouraged his men onward.

When two strong men grabbed Marko, he simply changed into soft grains of sand and his opponents fell through, knocking into each other. After blasting more men back with large balls, he felt betrayal. Mike pulled out a gun. Marko seethed with rage and hardened his body. The bullets bounced off, one hitting the leader of the mob in the eye. Enlarging his hands, the Sandman grabbed Mike and smashed him down onto the counter.

"Traitor!" he yelled, pounding his ex-friend with normal human fists. After throwing another gun-toting man onto the floor, everyone fled: the gang, the bartender, Sharon, everybody. Marko calmed down. He wracked his brains for a plan, and then he hit upon one. He would use his powers to become even more dangerous. No one would ever catch him, for he was the Sandman!

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Next: The Sandman has his first encounter with Spider-Man!

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Early History: The Sandman first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #4. He was apparently one of Stan Lee's favorite villains, since he appeared in half of Marvel's titles during the sixties. At first he proved too powerful for Spidey, but Ol' Webhead easily outsmarted him, making him turn to soft sand and vacuuming him up.

The Sandman also found a weakness in water, although if he was maddened up while in one of his deadly forms, he stayed in that form and was still a threat. He joined the Sinister Six, hired the Enforcers, and battle the human Torch. The reason for his continuous strings of attacks was that in the early days of Spider-Man, there were no super-villain prisons, making it easy for the Sandman to slip out of prison in a soft form.