Tombstone (character)

• 1. Introduction

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  Tombstone is a Marvel Comics crime boss whose face was built to resemble the grave marker he is named after. Writer Gerry Conway chose the name first. He then gave the character albinism and squared-off features so the finished drawing would echo a slab of stone, and he told artist Alex Saviuk to draw it that way. The result is a hulking albino man with filed teeth, a feared figure in New York City's underworld and primarily an enemy of Spider-Man and Daredevil. How did a villain designed from a single word earn such a long life? What does a school newspaper have to do with a hitman's career? And why do so many screen versions of him look like entirely different men?

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• 2. Conway's Gamble

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  Web of Spider-Man #36, dated March 1988, introduced Tombstone to readers. From that first appearance he came with a shared past attached to Joseph "Robbie" Robertson, a longtime supporting player in Spider-Man's world. He was soon made a regular in The Spectacular Spider-Man, a title Conway was writing at the time.

  Conway later explained his thinking in plain terms. "My general motivation was a need to work with the characters who weren't central to The Amazing Spider-Man title." That book was the flagship, so he looked past Aunt May, Mary Jane and J. Jonah Jameson toward second-tier and even third-tier players. Robertson was one of them.

  Hammerhead supplied the second motive. Conway missed the ruthless gangster Hammerhead used to be, but he did not want to bring back Hammerhead himself. A new type of villain solved the problem. In his words, "It just came to me as a character type." As the backstory grew, readers responded well to it, and that backstory starts in Harlem.

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• 3. Harlem Origins

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  Lonnie Thompson Lincoln was born in Harlem, where, in the comics' telling, he was the only African-American albino in the neighborhood. Other children bullied him for it. He grew taller and stronger than all of them, and he turned that advantage into a racket by extorting protection money from his classmates.

  The school newspaper was edited by Robbie Robertson, and it prepared a story exposing the scheme. Lincoln used scare tactics on Robertson, and the story was pulled. Lincoln let his personal demons steer him from there. He dropped out of school and joined organized crime.

  As a hitman and enforcer, he made his looks work for him. He sharpened his nails to match his teeth, and the vampire look often caught opponents off guard, which made killing them easier. He also lifted weights and fought in many street brawls to build his skill.

  Years later, Robertson was working for a local paper and went to meet a source. He arrived just in time to watch Lincoln kill that man. Lincoln threatened to kill Robertson too if the story came out, and Robertson kept the secret for over 20 years. Lincoln rose through the underworld in that time, and he came back to New York City with a new name, earned from the many lives he had taken: Tombstone.

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• 4. Vendetta With Robbie

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  The Kingpin's top hitman was the role Tombstone held when he returned to New York City. He threw the Hobgoblin out of the Arranger's window, and he captured a mutant known as the Persuader on the Arranger's behalf.

  Robertson finally found his nerve when Tombstone came back to his old neighborhood. The reporter told police about the decades-old murder, and Tombstone was arrested. Before that happened, Tombstone confronted Robertson and hurt him badly, nearly causing permanent damage to his spine. Tombstone then met Spider-Man in Atlanta, was beaten, and was sent to the Philadelphia State Penitentiary.

  Robertson ended up in custody as well, jailed for suppressing evidence. Tombstone learned of it and arranged a transfer to Lewisburg State Penitentiary, where Robertson was serving his sentence. There he killed an inmate named Bruiser, who died trying to protect his friend Robertson.

  Tombstone eventually escaped prison and faced Spider-Man again. He nearly beat Spider-Man to death, and only Robertson's intervention stopped him. The two men then tumbled into the Susquehanna River. Tombstone carried the badly hurt Robertson to an Amish family so that Robertson could heal enough to give him a decent fight. When Tombstone moved to kill Robertson in revenge for turning on him, Robertson stabbed him with a pitchfork and got away.

  Tombstone then switched sides and joined the crime family led by Hammerhead and the Chameleon, who were rivals of the Kingpin. He even saved Robertson from the Hobgoblin so that he could kill his old foe himself. Robertson, for helping recapture Tombstone, earned a full pardon from the government.

  An Oscorp chemical plant was the setting for his last attempt on Robertson's life. Robertson shot him and trapped him in an airtight test chamber filled with an experimental gas. The gas soaked into Tombstone's blood and mutated his body, boosting his strength and sharpening his other physical abilities. Tombstone was grateful and called off his vendetta. Gratitude ended the feud, but it did not end his career as an enemy of Spider-Man.

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• 5. Strength and Skills

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  Before the experimental gas, Lincoln had no powers at all. He was simply unusually tall and in near-peak human condition. The mutagenic reaction pushed his strength and reflexes far beyond their old limits.

  His body can now shrug off extreme temperatures, great impact forces, high caliber bullets and even toxic vapors without injury. Those are the traits that make him so hard to put down in a fight.

  Years of street fighting gave him unarmed combat skill. Even before he had superpowers, he could kill a person easily with his bare hands. He now blends that experience with his physical gifts into a fighting style built on intense speed or force that overwhelms opponents. He is also highly proficient with conventional firearms.

  He is well connected in the world of organized crime as well. That mix of speed, force and underworld contacts made him a natural recruit for other villains.

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• 6. Daughter and Judge

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  In the "Origin of the Species" storyline, Doctor Octopus invited Tombstone to join a supervillain team in exchange for some items. Later, Tombstone confronted Carlie Cooper. Police arrived and he escaped, but he doubled back after learning that Cooper knew who Menace really was. He cornered Cooper, Mary Jane Watson and Menace together. Menace knocked him out by activating the Goblin Glider and sending it crashing into him, and police took him away.

  A later reveal made Tombstone the father of the new Beetle, Janice Lincoln. His daughter contacted him for help, and he lent it to the Sinister Six against Owl's men.

  Yuri Watanabe, a rogue cop who became the fourth Wraith, had a friend critically injured by Tombstone during one encounter with police. Tombstone escaped justice with help from a crooked judge named Howell, at a time when he was using his resources to save his wife from cancer.

  The crime lord Mister Negative handed Watanabe evidence of the link between Tombstone and Howell. That evidence put both men in prison. Howell did not live long afterward, because a prisoner who worked for Tombstone later killed him.

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• 7. Gang War

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  A jail break attempt by Black Cat, the Enforcers and an Inner Demon disguised as Crime Master went wrong for Tombstone. The Inner Demon shot him in the chest. He survived and formed a new gang with Grim and Reaper.

  Mr. Fish then approached him with a warning. Black Cat's gang was targeting Tombstone and his criminal empire ahead of a coming gang war in Harlem. Alex Wilder joined them and spoke about the family business of his father, Geoffrey Wilder, whom both men had known while he was alive. Alex announced he was starting a new incarnation of the Pride based in Harlem. He then beat Tombstone and used a magic spell to send Fish to Hell. Tombstone recovered and, with help from Black Talon, rescued Fish.

  The wedding of Janice Lincoln and Randy Robertson became the flashpoint of the "Gang War" storyline. Shotgun shot Tombstone while he attended, and New York City's crime lords began battling for his territory. Tombstone formed a truce with Spider-Man and She-Hulk to handle the war. After freeing Shotgun from Madame Masque's control, he pulled his gang and the Sinister Syndicate back during the last fight between Spider-Man's allies and the Maggia.

  Shocker and the Aftershocks later joined his gang as allies. During the "Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral" storyline, Torment murdered Shocker. Tombstone blamed Carnage and stated that he intended to kill him.

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• 8. Many Faces

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  In 2020, Comic Book Resources ranked Tombstone 9th in its list "Marvel: Dark Spider-Man Villains, Ranked From Lamest To Coolest." In 2022, Screen Rant put him on "10 Spider-Man Villains That Are Smarter Than They Seem" and "10 Most Powerful Silk Villains In Marvel Comics." Comic Book Resources ranked him 9th again that year in "10 Most Violent Spider-Man Villains."

  Alternate versions of him live on other Earths. Earth-20051 has a Tombstone in Marvel Adventures, and Earth-90214 has one in Luke Cage Noir. Earth-982 hosts a version in The Spectacular Spider-Girl, and Earth-22191 hosts another in Secret Wars.

  Spider-Man: The Animated Series cast Dorian Harewood as Lonnie Lincoln. That version fell into a chemical vat during a botched robbery, which disfigured him and gave him his powers. He blamed his former childhood friend Robbie Robertson ever since, and the grudge kept him in regular conflict with Spider-Man while he worked for bosses such as Silvermane and Richard Fisk.

  The Spectacular Spider-Man began with Keith David in the pilot episode and continued with Kevin Michael Richardson. This Tombstone is the original Big Man of Crime. He hides behind the public mask of L. Thompson Lincoln, a benevolent wealthy philanthropist. With Hammerhead as his second, he hires the Enforcers and enlists Norman Osborn to engineer super-villains as distractions from his crimes. A gang war erupts between him, Doctor Octopus and Silvermane. Spider-Man helps defeat and expose him, and the Green Goblin takes over his place as crime lord.

  In Spider-Noir in 2026, Abraham Popoola plays a World War I soldier captured by the Germans and experimented on. The press calls him a monster, and he lives with his mother in Harlem. Silvermane recruits him with other powered veterans as an enforcer. After the Spider and Daily Bugle reporter Robbie Robertson cure him, he chooses to leave the city with his mother.

  Marvin "Krondon" Jones III voiced Tombstone in the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where he is the Kingpin's personal bodyguard. Jones returns for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse in 2027. He also portrays Lonnie Lincoln in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Brand New Day in 2026.

  The Marvel Cinematic Universe animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man gives Eugene Byrd the role of a young Lonnie Lincoln. This Lonnie is a football player at Rockford T. Bales High School, a friend of Peter Parker, and the ex-boyfriend of Pearl Pangan. He is forced to join the 110th Street Gang to stop his younger brother Andre from joining. He earns the nickname "Tombstone" by saving gang leader Big Donovan from Mac Gargan. In a later battle with Gargan, Donovan flees, and Lonnie is exposed to a mysterious gas developed by Otto Octavius. The gas gives him superhuman strength and durability, and he becomes the 110th's new leader.

  In video games, Nolan North voices Tombstone as a boss in Marvel Heroes. Corey Jones voices him in Spider-Man (2018), where he leads a biker gang with ties to major criminal outfits across New York City. He gained his powers from experimental Alchemax chemicals as a youth in Harlem, and he came to view Spider-Man as a "challenge" to overcome. A side mission has Spider-Man stop him from selling a designer drug called "Grave Dust," which temporarily grants users his powers. Spider-Man develops an antidote and uses it to defeat him at his hideout.

  Corey Jones returns in Spider-Man 2, and the crime boss has changed. He has been paroled, has reformed, and now works as a mechanic at a Coney Island amusement park.

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