Background

Like many criminals, the man who became Hammerhead had a rough childhood. A Russian immigrant living in Italy, he was often beaten by his father for not speaking Russian. The continual beatings made him a violent man, such as when he beat a bully and his girlfriend to death in a movie theater. That crime brought him to the attention of the local mafia. In an ironic twist, the mob forced him to kill his father. Speaking in Russian, Hammerhead told his father that he gave him credit for making him this way.

Following a brutal defeat in which his head was shattered, Hammerhead was found in an alley by Jonas Harrow. The disgraced surgeon operated on him - replacing his broken skull with his metal replacement in an attempt to regain credibility.

Upon awakening, Hammerhead was infatuated with the 1920's movie poster which was the last thing he saw before awakening. Having forgotten his name, he adopted the role of the mobster "Hammerhead", favoring 20's clothing and weaponry, and the talk and behavior of the criminals of that time. Needless to say, Hammerhead has a screw or two loose in that metal skull of his.

Hammerhead was first seen during the major gang war in Amazing #113 and following, after Wilson Fisk decided to lay low - leaving the way open for Doctor Octopus and Hammerhead to lay their claims as his replacement.

Hammerhead was also involved with Doc Ock when Otto attempted to woo Peter's Aunt May. The events of that story caused him to become a "ghost", who returned in the "Ghost of Hammerhead" storyline."

Hammerhead was also a player in the second "Gang War" storyline, around ASM #284 and following. He survived, and then allied himself with Chameleon in the Lobo Brothers gang war story line around Spectacular #153 et. al.

Hammerhead also became one of the four major heads of organized crime, at which point he took Tombstone as an enforcer. Tombstone was a loose cannon, however, and foiled the hit that Hammerhead put on Robbie Robertson. Tombstone turned on his boss for good when he gained rock hard skin after a failed robbery at OsCorp. He had tried to steal a plant preservative called DIOX-3 but was stopped by the Molten Man, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin (Harry Osborn).

He returned again, as part of the Hydra/Fortunato/Jimmy Six gang war storyline in Spider-Man #71 and following. Basically, whenever there's a good gang war going, you can figure Hammerhead will be there. In fact, he recently started one with the help of Uber-Machine and the Rhino.

Thanks To:

The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

Some of the above information is extracted from the various versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent Marvel Encyclopaedias.