Hammerhead (comics)

Publication history

Hammerhead was created by The Amazing Spider-Man writer Gerry Conway and artist John Romita, Sr. Conway recalled 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. The character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #113.

Fictional character biography

Hammerhead's family immigrated from the Soviet Union to Italy when he was a child. He got help from a man named The General. His father ran a garage in Toirrano, where he insisted the young man speak only in Russian, beating him severely with a mallet when he would not. Though not much is known about his life before he became an evil criminal and supervillain, he is known to have a sister.

All the while, Hammerhead dreamed of becoming a gangster. He is eventually recruited into one of the "families" of the criminal organization known as the Maggia, the Marvel Universe version of the Mafia, when a member oversees Hammerhead murdering a childhood bully and his girlfriend in a theatre showing The Godfather Part II. Originally a small-time hit-man, Hammerhead quickly rises through the ranks of the Maggia, while hiding the fact that he's actually Russian so he can be "made". In his final test, Hammerhead is brought to his father's garage (with the Maggia apparently unaware of their relationship), where he proceeds to kill his father, while telling him in Russian that he doesn't truly hate him, and that he made him (Hammerhead) this way.

One day, Hammerhead was found beaten, disfigured, and delirious with pain in an alley in New York City's Bowery by 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 thug 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. 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. 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. 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 Spider-Man as Doctor Octopus caused Hammerhead's helicopter to plummet into the Hudson River.

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. 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.

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. Hammerhead hired Tombstone as a bodyguard and hit-man. He hired the Hobgoblin to kill Joe Robertson, who posed a threat to Tombstone; the assassination attempt failed. Hammerhead was kidnapped and beaten by Tombstone, who had gained superhuman powers and resented Hammerhead for not sending him to kill Joe Robertson.

Hammerhead later attended a Las Vegas crime conference to divide the resources left by the Kingpin's downfall at the time. Around this time he participates in a multi-sided gang-war focused on the Kingpin's attempt to re-take New York City for his own.

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. Later he was hired as by Norman Osborn to be a part of the Sinister Twelve.

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 (consisting of the Ani-Men V, Answer I, Aura, Bloodshed, Clown, Cyclone III, 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. 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.

The bullets, while not penetrating his skull, did cause severe trauma to his brain, resulting him in needing surgery, but the hospital he was brought to was unable to treat him. In mid-surgery however, men working for Mister Negative came in, killed the hospital staff, and took Hammerhead away. Mister Negative then has his surgeon Doctor Tramma revive Hammerhead and offers to transplant his brain into a new robotic adamantium skeleton, which Hammerhead agrees to.

The operation is a complete success, and Hammerhead is restored to full mobility without any ill effects. He swears loyalty to Mister Negative in exchange for his restored life, and proceeds to shape a gang of lowlife thugs into an effective army for his benefactor. He then proceeds to battle Spider-Man, besting him with no effort for the first time in years. Later, he has a rematch with Spider-Man, with Spider-Man dislocating Hammerhead's hip bone.

Mister Negative sends Hammerhead to help Spider-Man (who Mister Negative corrupted) take down the Hood, who launches an attack on Negative's headquarters. He blackmails H.A.M.M.E.R. director Norman Osborn into forcing Hood to pull out of Chinatown.

Hammerhead later begins to doubt his loyalty to Mister Negative when Silvermane appears to return. Unknown to Hammerhead, it is actually an android controlled by Mysterio to plant such seeds of rebellion. Nevertheless, he flees a shootout with the Maggia when the Silvermane robot calls him a traitor. It is shown that Mister Negative had a computer chip put in Hammerhead's head to deliver an electroshock when necessary, which he promptly uses to punish him and remind him who is in charge.

During the Origin of the Species storyline, Hammerhead and Mister Negative are among the supervillains invited by Doctor Octopus to join his supervillain team promising them that will receive a reward in exchange for securing some specific items for him.

Powers and abilities

Hammerhead has no superhuman abilities, yet his skull is now surgically reinforced with vibranium, or adamantium, making his head flat on top; with this, he can charge and break through objects such as brick walls without causing any pain or damage to himself. 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.

After an assassin's adamantium bullet penetrated a part of his head not protected by his adamantium skull, Hammerhead is surgically rebuilt by Mister Negative. Breakout surgeries replace the upper half of his skeleton with an adamantium endo-skeleton (the skeleton is shown to have a network of hydraulic servomechanisms). The upper portion of his body is now superhumanly strong as a result of the additional, hidden, cybernetic musculature, making him able to effortlessly beat a superpowered foe such as Spider-Man. Mister Negative does not use on Hammerhead the same Lord Dark Wind bonding process, used on the similarly empowered Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike for coating their bones in adamantium: instead he replaces Hammerhead's bones with replicas fashioned in the invulnerable metal. It is still unknown how his artificial skeleton can carry on biological functions.

The intervention of Mr. Negative also radically changed Hammerhead's personality. Hammerhead now recalls his life as Russian immigrant prior to the accident in which he adopted the 1920s gangster persona. Consequently, Hammerhead no longer speaks like a 1920s movie gangster, but instead behaves as a typical modern Russian mobster and hit-man, as this was apparently his original personality prior to his head injury.

Hammerhead is highly skilled in the organization, concealment, and management of criminal enterprises. He is an effective hit-man, a skilled marksman (his preferred weapon was the Thompson submachine gun), and an excellent street fighter. In his original incarnation Hammerhead was able to hold his own against Spider-Man despite being an ordinary human by using his superhumanly durable skull as a blunt instrument. After his recent augmentation he is now capable of grappling with and physically overpowering Spider-Man to the extent that he could eventually crush his foe.

House of M

In the House of M reality, Hammerhead is one of the gang leaders defeated by Luke Cage in his rise to power in Sapien Town.

Marvel Zombies

In the Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness miniseries, Hammerhead briefly appears, along with the Owl and the Kingpin at a meeting to discuss how to survive the zombie outbreak. This version of Hammerhead is ultimately killed by the Punisher.

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of 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, taking 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. It is also known his first name is Joseph. 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 Enforcers' new leader. 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.

Age of Ultron

During the Age of Ultron storyline, a reality where Ultron nearly annihilated the human race has Hammerhead and Owl capturing Superior Spider-Man and hoped to trade him to Ultron. Hawkeye came to Superior Spider-Man's rescue as the Ultron Sentinels attack.

Earth-001

During the Spider-Verse storyline, the Earth-001 version of Hammerhead appears as a member of Verna's Hounds.

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