Hammerhead (Marvel)
Hammerhead is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Joseph was a gangster whose flat-topped skull was made of hard metal and allowed him to headbutt his enemies with deadly force.
It was said that he was born in Russia with his father and himself moving to Italy. Around 40 years go, he and his family lived in Toirrano in Italy where his father worked in a garage. Whilst there, they attempted to settle there with Hammerhead lying about his past and claiming that he was of Italian-born descent after being enamoured with the Mafia and gang culture. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1) It was shown that Hammerhead had a younger sister named Antonia who he cared for deeply. (Spider-Man: Lifeline v1 #3)
Whilst in Brooklyn, he called a meeting amongst the lower ranks of the gang who resented Hammerhead for having delusions of grandeur and being above his station. This saw them turning him where they brutally attacked him and left him for dead. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1) The near-dead man was left on the streets in the Bowery when he was found by Jonas Harrow. The surgeon was under the hope of redeeming his own lost reputation leading to him helping to repair the injured criminal's brain and fixed a steel alloy to replace the shattered bone thus creating the man who came to be known as Hammerhead. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #114)
Hammerhead
Around this time, Hammerhead made a push to become the leader of the Maggia though others disagreed as they felt that Joseph had become too famous to the public due to his battles with Spider-Man. (Fantastic Four v1 #233)
Later on, Robertson came to be pardoned and released from prison with Tombstone remaining an escaped convict. This could not stand in Hammerhead's eyes who planned to have Robertson murdered with the crime lord hiring the Hobgoblin for the task. Tombstone though objected at first as he wanted to be the one to kill his old friend but was forced to agree with his boss's plan. However, the planned hit was stopped due to the intervention of Spider-Man who helped save Robertson's life. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #161)
Brand New Day
During 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. Among them included the Ani-Men, Answer, Aura, Bloodshed, Clown, Commanda, Cyclone, Discus, Electro, Great Gambonnos, Kangaroo II, Man Mountain Marko, Mauler, Mindblast, Override, Ringmaster, Slyde, Spot, Squid, Stiletto, Trapster, and Will O' The Wisp that were to be used to enforce his new criminal empire. 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 a prison hospital. Underworld then shot Hammerhead at point-blank range with adamantium bullets. (Civil War: War Crimes v1 #1)
The bullets, while not penetrating his skull, did cause severe trauma to his brain, resulting in him needing surgery, but the hospital he was brought to was unable to treat him. In mid-surgery, men working for Mister Negative came in, killed the hospital staff, and took Hammerhead away. Mister Negative then had his surgeon, Doctor Tramma, revive Hammerhead, and offered to transplant his brain into a new robotic adamantium skeleton, to which Hammerhead agreed. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1) Hammerhead's first task as a member of Mister Negative's organization was to consolidate all of the Bronx gangs to go up against the Maggia. He happened to attack new acquaintances of Spider-Man and fought with him. Although his new strength and body allowed him to initially beat Spider-Man and dislocate his jaw, he was later defeated when Spider-Man realized he was "top heavy" and was able to take out his legs. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #576)
Gang War
After Wilson Fisk abdicated his throne as Kingpin, the criminal underworld fell into chaos as the Owl moved to claim his position. This saw him attacking a number of his rivals with Hammerhead's gang being a target. This led to the Libris crime family reaching out for allies and arranging a meeting with Hammerhead. During the meeting, he came to agree to them working together against their common foe in the Owl. (Daredevil v6 #14)
Hammerhead came to be one of various crime bosses that competed with the likes of Mister Negative for the Tablet of Life and Destiny in order to curry favor with Mayor Wilson Fisk. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #59)
Following Fisk's fall, the territories were distributed among the various crime lords that ruled the city with Hammerhead being among their ranks. At this time, Tombstone looked to claim power and take over from the Kingpin. Hammerhead argued that the Rose being Fisk's son should take over but Tombstone rejected the idea stating that Richard Fisk lacked any territory. As such, he could not take over as the kingpin of crime. This would lead to a state of hostilities between Tombstone and the Rose within the criminal underworld. (Amazing Spider-Man v6 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He came to adopt the name Hammerhead when his bullies used to hit him on the head when he was a child. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1)
He had said that he liked movies and used to watch gangster films as a child. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1)
All his life, he came to be pushed around by people with nobody giving him anything. Instead, he always had to take what he wanted. (Fantastic Four v1 #233)
Joseph had noted that he was against hitting women and children. (Spider-Man v2 #17)
Even as a child, he demonstrated violent tendencies such as when he decided to murder his bullies for picking on him. By adulthood, he had no issues killing his own father in order for Hammerhead to secure himself among the Italian gangs. Hammerhead had said that his father used to beat him as a child to make himself feel strong but instead his son felt stronger than he could ever be in life. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1)
When he was young, his father was known to had beaten him to discipline Hammerhead when he was a child. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1) It was known that he had a younger sister by the name of Antonia. She was said to be among the people he cared about and looked after her as she suffered from cancer. To him, all that mattered was that his sister was well and alive. (Spider-Man: Lifeline v1 #3)
Powers and abilities
Though of Russian descent, he came to learn Italian as a child after he and his family emigrated to Italy and could also speak Russian. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1) Originally, Hammerhead had been an ordinary human being until he became subjected to Jonas Harrow's experiment. This saved his life from his grievous injuries and saw the outfitting of a steel allow over his head to replace his shattered bone. Such was his strength that his head was impervious to an augmented superhuman punch to it. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #114)
Initially, he came to use a strength magnifying exo-skeleton built by the Tinkerer that was able to fight superhumans. (Fantastic Four v1 #233)
Later on, Hammerhead suffered from grievous injuries where he nearly died until he was abducted by Mr. Negative's organization. Accepting his aid, this saw Doctor Tramma graft a new metallic skeleton onto Hammerhead not only saving his life but increasing his capabilities as a result. (Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1 #1)
It was shown that he equipped advanced technology in his dwellings such as his penthouse with these including defenses capable of responding to superhumans. (Fantastic Four v1 #233)
Notes
- Hammerhead was created by Gerry Conway and John Romita, Sr. where he made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man v1 #113 (October, 1972).
- In Back Issue! v1 #44 (2010), Conway wrote on the characters creation that Hammerhead, "was most directly influenced by the Big Man and the Crime-Master, who were among the first villains in Amazing Spider-Man. One of the more interesting things Stan [Lee], Jack Kirby, and, of course, Steve Ditko did was combining the two different kinds of milieus: superhero and Dick Tracy, with the unusual criminal characters who had some kind of physical deformity... Plus, Hammerhead—I liked [the] name, and John Romita came up with an interesting look".
- In their list, IGN came to rank him as Spider-Man's 20th greatest enemy.
Alternate Versions
- In House of M: Avengers v1 #1 (2007), an alternate version of Hammerhead appeared in the House of M reality designated as Earth-58163 in the Multiverse. He was shown as being one of the gang leaders defeated by Luke Cage in his rise to power in Sapien Town.
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man, Hammerhead appeared in the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor Nicky Blair. The metal used in this version's head was adamantium and he initially served Silvermane before being fired by him. He was then hired by the Kingpin where he remained loyal to Fisk.
- In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Hammerhead appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor John DiMaggio.
- In Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister Six, the Marvel Noir version of Hammerhead appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Jon Polito. This version was a Marvel Noir take on the character where he was a crime boss and rival of Joe Fixit who employed Martin Li as a henchman until the latter transformed into Mister Negative.
- In Spider-Man, Hammerhead appeared in the 2017 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Jim Cummings.
Video games
- In Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, Hammerhead appeared as a boss antagonist in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Dee Bradley Baker.
- In Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Hammerhead appeared as an antagonist in the setting of the video game where he was voiced once again by actor John DiMaggio. This version was Joseph Lorenzini who was a native to the Marvel Noir universe where he was born with a deformed head and a flat, thick skull. He initially worked as a circus freak under the nickname The Human Bulldozer before being recruited by Norman 'The Goblin' Osborn to serve as his gang's loan shark and enforcer. After being sent to New Jersey to retrieve a fragment of the Tablet of Order and Chaos and running afoul of Spider-Man Noir, Hammerhead uses the fragment to merge himself with his twin Tommy guns, intending to overthrow Osborn as the head of New York's criminal underworld. In the end, Spider-Man Noir defeated him and claimed the fragment.
Appearances
- Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1972)
- Fantastic Four v1:
- Spider-Man: Lifeline v1:
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day — Extra! v1:
- Daredevil v6: (2019)
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- Amazing Spider-Man v6:
External Links
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