Hammerhead (comics)
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| Hammerhead | |
 Hammerhead |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Amazing Spider-Man #113 (Oct 1972) |
| Created by | Gerry Conway John Romita, Sr. |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | unrevealed |
| Team affiliations | Maggia |
| Notable aliases | Mr. H |
| Abilities | Skull made of secondary adamantium |
Hammerhead is a fictional character that has appeared in various comic book series published by Marvel Comics. He is primarily an enemy of Spider-Man and a member of organized crime who exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe. The character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #113.
He is closely associated with the Hammerhead "Family" of the Maggia crime family. Hammerhead distinguishes himself from other villains in that he dresses up and acts somewhat like a gangster from the 1920s. Due to an injury he suffered, much of his skull was replaced with an unbendable steel alloy by Jonas Harrow, giving his head a flattened shape.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Though Hammerhead's real name is not known, bits of his past have been revealed. Hammerhead was originally a small-time hit-man employed by one of the "families" of the criminal organization known as the Maggia, the Marvel Universe version of the Mafia. He was found beaten, disfigured, and delirious with pain in an alley in New York City's Bowery by Dr. Jonas Harrow, a surgeon who had lost his medical license due to his illegal experiments. Seeing the opportunity both to save this man's life and to redeem his reputation, Harrow operated on the gunman for three days, replacing much of his shattered skull with a strong steel alloy. During the surgery, the unconscious Hammerhead fixated on the only memory he retained: an image of a poster for a movie called "The Al Capone Mob", which was hanging in the alley where he lay beaten and bloodied before Harrow found him. When he recovered, the memory of the poster and its images of 1930s-era gangsters prompted Hammerhead to start a gang of his own in the style of Capone and other mobsters of the 1920s. He even dressed as if he were living in that decade. Though not much is known about his life before he became a professional criminal and supervillain, he is known to have a sister. Later on, Hammerhead's entire skull was replaced with or reinforced with some type of nearly unbreakable metal (possibly vibranium or secondary adamantium).
A gang war broke out between Hammerhead's mob and Doctor Octopus's criminal organization. Hammerhead was forced to flee the country due to Spider-Man's interference.[1] He later had a rematch with Doctor Octopus next to an atomic breeder reactor on a remote Canadian island which caused a chain reaction, blasting Hammerhead "out of phase" with this dimension.[2] Some time later, he appeared as an immaterial ghost-like being to haunt Doctor Octopus. Doctor Octopus then unwittingly restored Hammerhead to a material state. Hammerhead kidnapped Spider-Man's Aunt May, who was then rescued by him as Doctor Octopus caused Hammerhead's helicopter to plummet into the Hudson River.[3]
Hammerhead then proposed that all Maggia "families" unite under his leadership. Wearing a strength-enhancing exoskeleton, he battled the Human Torch, who then fused the exoskeleton's power pack.[4] Hammerhead was nearly assassinated by the Kingpin's Arranger during a gang war. Hammerhead was forced out of a major role in New York City organized crime by the Kingpin.[5]
Hammerhead then allied himself with the Chameleon in the latter's bid to become the new crime-lord of New York City. The two served as partners in a splinter group of the Maggia.[6] Hammerhead hired Tombstone as a bodyguard and hit-man.[7] He hired the Hobgoblin to kill Joe Robertson, who posed a threat to Tombstone; the assassination attempt failed.[8] Hammerhead was kidnapped and beaten by Tombstone, who had gained superhuman powers and resented Hammerhead for not sending him to kill Joe Robertson.[9]
Hammerhead later attended a Las Vegas crime conference to divide the resources left by the Kingpin's downfall at the time.[10]
Hammerhead is a major player in underworld activities in the Marvel Universe and is highly sought after for elimination by the Punisher. He is currently one of several gang warlords struggling to control the criminal underworld in the major cities of the Eastern United States. During one of the first meetings of such warlords, Hammerhead was almost killed by the Strucker twins Fenris. This meeting was being manipulated by Baron Von Strucker, the head of HYDRA. When Don Fortunato made a bid for control of the New York underworld, Hammerhead opposed him and was almost killed as a result. When every other crime-lord surrendered to Fortunato and his HYDRA allies, Hammerhead went rogue, launching a raid on Fortunato's home and successfully fighting off a HYDRA attack on his own headquarters. He did have assistance from Spider-Man and Morbius, the Living Vampire. For a time, the hero known as S.H.O.C. also assists Hammerhead.
He was a member of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve.
[edit] Death of a villain?
Hammerhead has cheated certain death several times over the years. During a gang war with Doctor Octopus, Hammerhead was consumed by a nuclear detonation, a unique chain of events transforming him into a "living wraith" rather than killing him. In recent years, Hammerhead was slain by C.L.O.C , the computerized majordomo of the Sentry. Shortly thereafter, in Daredevil vol.2 #86, Hammerhead was almost killed in prison by Bullseye.
During the events of the Civil War, Hammerhead used the vacuum left by the incarceration of the Kingpin to gain a greater foothold in the ranks of organized crime, attempting to organize an army of costumed villains (consists of Ani-Men V, Answer, Aura, Bloodshed, Clown, Discus, Electro, Great Gambonnos, Kangaroo II, Man Mountain Marko, Mauler, Mindblast, Override, Ringmaster, Stiletto, Spot, Squid, Trapster, and Will O' The Wisp) to enforce his new criminal empire.[11] The Kingpin manipulated various hero factions, most notably S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man into breaking up Hammerhead's first convening of his army. During the conflict, Hammerhead was shot numerous times by Fisk's agent Underworld, who later confronted Hammerhead while he lay in prison. Underworld then shot Hammerhead at point-blank range with adamantium bullets.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Hammerhead has no superhuman abilities, yet his skull is now surgically reinforced with a highly durable metal alloy, making his head flat on top. This metal can absorb physical impacts that would otherwise fracture human bone. Hammerhead is in peak physical condition comparable to that of an Olympic level athlete. He is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant whose most dangerous tactic is charging head-first like a bull toward an opponent. Hammerhead once utilized a strength-enhancing exoskeleton designed by the Tinkerer.
He typically carries a 1920s style tommy gun. He uses his head as a weapon in unarmed combat by charging his enemy.
Hammerhead is highly skilled in the organization, concealment, and management of criminal enterprises. He is an effective hit-man, a skilled marksman, and an excellent street fighter.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Marvel Zombies
In the Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness miniseries, Hammerhead briefly appears among the various under-bosses of the Kingpin at a meeting to discuss how to survive the zombie outbreak. This version of Hammerhead is killed by the Punisher. [12]
[edit] Ultimate Hammerhead
Hammerhead first appears in Ultimate X-Men issues thirteen and fourteen as a mobster who has killed the parents of a little girl. The girl stumbles upon local street performer/magician Gambit, who takes the girl in and decides to protect her from the mob. The girl is kidnapped and Gambit goes on a rampage to find her, blindly running into an ambush Hammerhead set up. Gambit gets out of the ambush and chases Hammerhead down. In the end, Gambit charges Hammerhead's inorganic skull full of bio-kinetic energy and causes his head to explode.
In Ultimate Spider-Man, Hammerhead was revealed to have survived Gambit's attack, though how is not explained. ("It sucked. I came back.") He kills Silvermane in the beginning of the Warriors story arc and becomes the new leader of the Enforcers. He burns down one of the Kingpin's warehouses. After an intense battle with Spider-Man, Black Cat, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, and Shang-Chi, he was put in a coma when Elektra brutally stabbed him in the chest with her sai and flung him out a window.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Television
[edit] Spider-Man (1981)
Hammerhead appeared in the Spider-Man episode "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner." Hammerhead was said to maintain crime in the mid-west. He alongside Silvermane (and his henchman Man Mountain Marko) and Caesar Cicero meet with the Kingpin when his scientist Dr. Everett has created a dissolving fluid. He is webbed by Spider-Man.
[edit] Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Hammerhead appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Nicky Blair. He first appeared in the Insidious Six two-parter as one of Silvermane's loyal henchmen and amongst the other crimelords against Kingpin. In the second part, he was hired by Silvermane that since Kingpin failed to kill Spider-Man, he was supposed to have Kingpin killed. But Kingpin used the Insidious Six, the team that failed to kill Spider-Man for the Kingpin, to kidnap Silvermane, in which they successfully did (ironically, one of the Insidious Six members, the Chameleon, was disguising as Hammerhead to save Silvermane from the Six and when they entered an elevator to get Silvermane to escape in the basement, the Chameleon transformed into Kingpin and had Silvermane get to the roof where Silvermane was kidnapped, but Chameleon guised as Silvermane to trick Silvermane's henchmen into believing he was all right. Luckily, Silvermane escaped, thanks to Spider-Man).
Later, Silvermane hired Hammerhead again to steal the Tablet of Time so Silvermane can get his youth back, as the Tablet's ability was to restore youth into elderly people like Silvermane. But when Hammerhead failed due to the arrival of Spider-Man, Silvermane was displeased of Hammerhead's failure and even though he didn't fire him, he told him he was going to hire someone new and better. Hammerhead secretly quit Silvermane and started working for Kingpin. After Alistair Smythe, Kingpin's right hand man, stole the Tablet from Dr. Curt Connors and Tombstone, Silvermane's new hired man, had kidnapped Connors, Hammerhead figured out Tombstone had also kidnapped Kingpin's wife, Vanessa, even though Kingpin didn't know about it until Silvermane sent him a note, telling him he held her hostage. So Hammerhead kidnapped Silvermane's daughter, Alisha, before Kingpin knew about the kidnapping of his wife, and Kingpin was pleased about Hammerhead's work. When Silvermane then figured out Hammerhead betrayed him and kidnapped his daughter, Silvermane and Kingpin organized a meeting that Alistair Smythe's robot and Spider-Man had intervened. Hammerhead tried to re-kidnap Alicia but the helicopter he was kidnapping her in was out of control and landed on a roof. Spider-Man then arrived and defeated Hammerhead, but Alicia then used a stun-blaster on Spider-Man, knocked him out and kidnapped him. Alistair Smythe then used his robot again to steal the Tablet of Time from Silvermane (as Tombstone had stolen the Tablet and kidnapped Dr. Conners and his wife) but when the robot was defeated, Kingpin sent Hammerhead to retrieve the Tablet. While Spider-Man was dealing with the Lizard, Silvermane, Tombstone and Alicia, Hammerhead slipped by and stole the Tablet with the good guys thinking it was destroyed in the explosion of Silvermane's building, as Alicia wanted this process to come because she blamed everyone against her about her father becoming a baby (Silvermane actually overused the Tablet) and tried to kill them by blowing the building up with them inside, though all of them escaped. After Kingpin's wife left him because of his life of crime, Kingpin thanked Hammerhead for successfully taking the Tablet but told him to get rid of it, as it has led to the destruction of his relationship with his wife. Hammerhead did do as what Kingpin told him to - by selling it to Adrian Toomes for the villain to put his plans into action by the two-part second season finale.
[edit] The Spectacular Spider-Man
Hammerhead appears in the The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by John DiMaggio. He is shown working for Tombstone and organizes the Enforcers to take out Spider-Man. Hammerhead later gives Montana the equipment to become Shocker and contacts Norman Osborn to make him an offer on behalf of Big Man....make supervillains to distract Spider-Man from Big Man's operations. He bails two criminals out of jail, only to subject them to Osborn's illegal experiments that turn them into Sandman and Rhino. Hammerhead later speaks with Norman Osborn about the Green Goblin interference. Hammerhead ends up kidnapped by the Green Goblin, but is rescued by Spider-Man and Tombstone.
Hammerhead is much less beligerent and more cool-headed and intelligent than he was portrayed in original animated series. He also uses brass knuckles as weapons, unlike other interpretations of the character.
[edit] Video games
Hammerhead appeared in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series game for Super NES. He only appeared on Hard mode on the Construction Zone level.
Hammerhead is a boss in the game Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro.
Hammerhead also briefly appeared as a villain in Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace for Game Boy Advance. He had been helping Mysterio get some holographic technology with Big Wheel, Electro, Rhino and Scorpion.
[edit] References
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man #113-115
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man #130-131
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man #157-159
- ^ Fantastic Four #233
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man #284-288
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #51
- ^ Spectacular Spider-Man #157
- ^ Spectacular Spider-Man #161
- ^ Web of Spider-Man #68
- ^ Daredevil #307-309; Nomad #4-6; Punisher War Journal #46-48
- ^ Civil War: War Crimes #1 (February 2007)
- ^ John Layman (w), "Marvel Team-Ups" Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness vol. 1, #2 (2007) Marvel Comics and Dynamite Entertainment
