| |
Background
Precious little is known about the criminal arms dealer and inventor, Phineas
Mason, aka the Tinkerer. First
encountered by Peter Parker after being sent to Mason's laboratory at the
behest of Mr. Warren and Professor Cobbwell early in the webspinners
career, he appeared to be
the leader of an alien task force attempting to control the world. Though
Spider-Man stopped the "invasion", the Tinkerer got away leaving behind only
a rubber mask, leaving a confused Spider-Man to ponder just who or what the
Tinkerer really was.
Years later, Spider-Man would learn that the Tinkerer is an ordinary man
who has an extraordinary talent for anything mechanical, and his "aliens"
were movie stuntmen in costumes, including his right hand man, a pre-
Mysterio Quentin Beck.
The Tinkerer has in recent years been inventing and improving armor and
weapons for
various super-criminals, including the Grizzly, the Beetle, the Big
Wheel,
Jason Macendale, the Rocket Racer and the Scorpion. For a time, he
worked for the Black Cat,
who had him insert nanotechnology into her costume to enhance her athletic
abilities. She used her new "powers" to try and convince Spider-Man that she
was capable of being a worthy partner in crimefighting.
The Tinkerer has never been brought to justice, but has unintentionally aided
those that work on the sides of the angels. Not only has he made the Black Cat
more formidable, he accidentally created The Judge. When his son, Rick Mason,
was killed by criminals, Phineas went after the lawyer (now a judge) that
aquitted his son's killer. Breaking into his home, Tinkerer stumbled upon
Micheal and Alice Hart and accidentally shot them both. Never meaning to kill
either of them, he revived Micheal, whom had somehow gained supernatural powers
from his brush with death. He was aided by Mason, who was still remorseful for
killing Hart.
However, in no way has the Tinkerer turned his back on making money, legally or
not. He recently acted as the auctioneer of the Venom symbiote. Many of
Spider-Man's enemies were at the auction, including Hydro-Man, Daniel
Berkhart (the second Mysterio),Sandman, Stilt Man, the Don Fortunato and
his son, the Shocker and the Owl. The symbiote was sold to the Don
Fortunato, who bonded it to his son. Angelo Fortunato then became the
second Venom.
Thanks To:
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.
The assistance of the
Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.
|
|