Despite Marvel’s Spider-Man for the PS4 offering a near-complete Sinister Six get-together in the form of Doctor Octopus, Shocker, Rhino, Vulture, and Electro, one of the missing members, Sandman, will get his time in the spotlight during Insomniac Games’ sequel.
The trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 previously showed a sandstorm followed by the first appearance of the Sandman fighting Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Here’s everything you need to know about Sandman, including his role in the video game sequel and his comic-book origin.
Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man 2
Who Is Sandman In Spider-Man 2?
Sandman is a secondary antagonist in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, who serves as the opening boss in the sequel. Sandman previously appeared in Sam Raimi’s live-action movie Spider-Man 3 and the MCU entry Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the Gamerverse sequel continues to use the villain’s nickname, Flint Marko, instead of his given name, William Baker.
During the game’s opening, Spider-Man and Miles Morales must team up in order to stop Sandman’s dust storm that is terrorizing the city. Also serving as the game’s tutorial, the heroes must fight their way through Sandman’s minions within nearby buildings and use whatever they can around them to suppress the villain, including water. After being defeated, Marko is taken to prison and a portion of the city is left covered in sand where the Spider-Men have to rescue people caught in the debris. The narrative makes it known that Marko had lain dormant with his family for the last few years, but something caused him to rage.
During the game, you’ll be tasked with collecting various orange crystals around the city, left behind by Marko, which gives the Spider-Men access to his memories leading up to the opening battle. After defeating a small group of sand minions, you will then be able to access those memories by breaking open the crystal. It turns out that Kraven the Hunter was hunting Sandman to join his collection of villains for him to use and Marko’s daughter, Keemia, had also been taken. In order to find her, Marko retaliated and began tearing up the city, but he was defeated and put behind bars instead. However, upon finding the last crystal, Spider-Man is given a statue that he takes to Marko’s home, only to find that his daughter and wife are safe and well. MJ tells the Spider-Men that Marko has become more himself in prison now that his memories have been collected, and he knows his daughter is safe.
Sandman’s Powers & Abilities
In Spider-Man 2, Sandman has a variety of abilities shown during the opening battle, including the ability to grow to a Godzilla-like size and tower over the city. The villain is also able to create a violent dust storm that engulfs part of the city, making it more difficult for the Spider-Men to engage in combat and reach him because of the wind coming from the tornadoes. The storm also gives cover for the villain as debris circles around him, and he can also launch debris through the air toward the heroes. Sandman can also create sand minions, resembling the villain’s appearance in normal size, to appear at will in order to fight off enemies.
In Marvel Comics, Sandman is able to manipulate sand and rock particles by hardening or dispersing the materials. The villain can also grow to a tremendous size in his sand form taking various shapes and can create a variety of weapons to avoid and attack obstacles. One of Sandman’s weaknesses is exposure to heat, as the high temperature causes his sand form to turn into glass. While it is possible for his glass form to turn into sand again, this takes time. Miles’ Venom power is particularly useful against sand minions as it causes them to freeze in place and then overheat.
Sandman Is A Founding Member Of The Sinister Six
First introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 in 1963, and created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, Sandman’s real name is William Baker, who also adopted the nickname and alias Flint Marko whilst playing on his high-school football team.
Sandman was introduced as an adversary to Spider-Man and a shapeshifter who could turn himself into sand, caused by a nuclear testing site that housed irradiated sand within an experimental reactor. After coming into contact with the sand, William’s body fused with the radioactive sand which altered his molecular structure.
In addition to getting on Spider-Man’s nerves, Sandman also became an enemy of the Fantastic Four, and served as a founding member of both the Sinister Six and the Frightful Four. William teamed up with Doctor Octopus after being handed over by Spider-Man to the police in a vacuum cleaner. Despite starting off as a villain, Sandman goes through a redemption arc and eventually becomes an anti-hero, after The Thing from the Fantastic Four encourages him to go on the straight and narrow.
Meet Leandro Cano, Sandman’s Voice Actor
Previously voiced by Thomas Haden Church, Travis Willingham, and Dee Bradley Baker, Leandro Cano debuted as the voice of Sandman in Spider-Man 2. The actor has accumulated over 30 credits within his acting portfolio since 2001, and Spider-Man 2 will be the actor’s third voice-acting role.
Cano appeared in a number of shorts during his career, including The Migration of Clouds in 2002, Breaking In: The Internship in 2004, and Made Public in 2019. The actor has also appeared in a number of well-known television shows, including General Hospital in 2004 where he played Inspector Morse, Boston Legal playing a prisoner, Without a Trace playing a guard, and Castle playing a bouncer. Additionally, Cano had notable roles in Huge playing Mr. Delgado, Pat Harjo in Bull, and Manny Delgado in CSI. Miami.
Joining Cano’s live-action work, the actor also provided voice work for the 2004 video game Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders and played the roles of King II and a journalist in the 2022 series Tekken: Bloodline. Cano also portrayed Simon Diaz in the 2021 podcast series Agent Stoker for three episodes.