SANDSTORM
SANDSTORM
Real Name: Tony Trainer
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Grad student
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Marcus Randall Devane, Dr. Marla Madison, Quicksand
Enemies: Sandman (William Baker), Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Empire State University
First Appearance: Web of Spider-Man#107/1 (December, 1993)
Powers/Abilities: Sandstorm's body is encased in hardened-grit armor, which provides him with protection from small-arms fire. He can eject the outer layer of his armor as a hail of shrapnel, and regenerate it by pulverizing more matter into grit. He can form his armor into spikes and other simple weapons. He can also generate damaging sandstorms and sand-blasts.
History:
(Web of Spider-Man#107/1) - Over the objections of Dr. Marla Madison, Tony
Trainer was ordered by Morelle Pharmaceuticals rep Marcus Devane to begin the
microwave bombardment of bio-samples from Quicksand and the Sandman as part of
Project: Sandstorm. Trainer, more concerned with the excitement of pure
science than their bickering, did as he was told. The two
microwave-irradiated samples contacted each other and created a dual magnetic
resonance, resulting in a massive explosion. Encased in an amorphous shell
of particles, Trainer ground his way across the campus, adding to his mass as he
pulverized everything in his path. Spider-Man rescued Dr. Madison from his
path of destruction, and dropped a wall on him, briefly halting his rampage.
As Quicksand and Sandman arrived on the trail of their purloined bio-samples,
Trainer emerged in his new humanoid form as Sandstorm!
(Web of Spider-Man#108/1) - Believing that he'd killed Devane, who had in fact been killed in the explosion, Sandstorm generated a massive sand-maelstrom while Spider-Man and Sandman escaped to safety. He briefly battled Quicksand until she claimed that she'd come to help him. Together, they battled Spider-Man and Sandman. Sandstorm disabled Sandman with his sand-spikes, but was rendered powerless when Spider-Man hit him with a chunk of reverse-polarized shrapnel which dispersed his fused-grit armor. As the police took Trainer away, Sandman stayed with him to ensure that he was treated fairly.
Comments: Created by Terry Kavanagh, Alex Saviuk, and Stephen Baskerville.
Tony Trainer was introduced a mere few months before readers were introduced to Ben Reilly's ally Dr. Seward Trainer and his diabolical daughter Carolyn, alias Lady Octopus. All three are scientists - maybe there's some family connection there?
Dr. Madison refers to Marcus Devane as "Randall" once - so, in time-tested Appendix tradition, I hereby dub him Marcus Randall Devane.
Profile by Minor Irritant.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Samdstorm has no known connections to:
(Web of Spider-Man I#107/1) - Morelle Pharmaceuticals representative Marcus Devane was assigned to military research project Project: Sandstorm alongside ESU scientist Dr. Marla Madison. Incensed over the Daily Bugle's expose on Project: Sandstorm, Devane accused Madison of leaking information to her husband J. Jonah Jameson, and ordered her grad student Tony Trainer to begin their experiment with bio-samples from Quicksand and the Sandman. Despite Madison's intentions to conduct the experiment in the desert, Trainer proceeded. The bio-samples made contact, resulting in an explosion that mutated Trainer and killed Devane. In the confusion, Trainer believed that he had killed Devane.
--Web of Spider-Man I#107/1
images: (without ads)
Web of Spider-Man#108, cover (main image)
Web of Spider-Man#107, p9, pan3 (Tony Trainer)
Web of Spider-Man#107, p9, pan4 (Devane)
Appearances:
Web of Spider-Man I#107-108 (December, 1993-January, 1994) - Terry Kavanagh
(writer), Alex Saviuk (penciler), Stephen Baskerville (inker), Eric Fein (editor)
First Posted: 10/13/2008
Last updated: 09/04/2011
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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