Tombstone (comics)

Superherobox|

caption=Art by Sal Buscema.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Tombstone
real_name=Lorins Thompson Lincoln
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Web of Spider-Man" #36 (March 1988)
creators=Gerry Conway
Alex Saviuk
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
alliances=The Hand
Sinister Twelve
Hardcore's Untouchables ["Cage" #3]
aliases=L.Thompson Lincoln
powers=Superhuman strength, durability and endurance
Superior stamina|

Tombstone is a supervillain in the fictional Marvel universe. The character was created by Gerry Conwayand Alex Saviuk and first appeared in "Spectacular Spider-Man" #139 (March 1988).

Fictional character biography

Born as Lonnie Thompson Lincoln in Harlem, New York City, Lonnie started out as troubled youth who was bullied by his peers because he was Harlem's only African American albino. He became a school bully, taking protection money. The school newspaper was edited by Joseph "Robbie" Robertson, who was going to run a story on Lonnie's activities but pulled it when Lonnie intimidated him. Unfortunately, Lonnie allowed his personal demons to direct the course of his life and he turned to a life of serious crime.

As a hitman and enforcer, Lonnie used his albinism to his advantage. He filed his teeth and nails to points, giving him the appearance of a vampire. This frequently caught his opponents off-guard, making it easier to kill them. He also lifted weights and engaged in many street fights to hone his fighting skills. As an adult he stood over six and a half feet tall.

As an adult Robertson would regret ever having known Lonnie (who was now known as Tombstone on the street). One night Robertson, now working for a local paper, went to meet a source only to see him being killed by Tombstone. The latter threatened to kill Robertson if he ever confessed the story. Robertson kept the secret for over twenty years whilst Tombstone became a powerful mob enforcer, killing many others. The situation was exacerbated when Lonnie returned to Robertson's neighborhood. Eventually Robertson went to the police which resulted in Tombstone's incarceration, but not before Tombstone seriously injured Robertson, nearly permanently damaging his spine.

Robertson however was also incarcerated by a judge on the Kingpin's payroll for suppression of evidence. In prison, Tombstone made Robbie's life a living hell. Tombstone eventually broke out of prison and forced Robertson to come with him. Tombstone was confronted by Spider-Man but eluded capture after a harrowing battle in which Lonnie and Robertson (fighting on the side of Spider-Man) were knocked into a river. Both men survived, and a temporary truce was agreed. Robertson was then given a full pardon for helping recapture Tombstone.

Lonnie eventually gained a superhuman physical constitution. Under a strange set of circumstances, Tombstone was locked in an airtight chamber with experimental gas at the Osborn Chemical Plant. The gas was absorbed into Lonnie's bloodstream and had a mutagenic effect on his body. This resulted in the manifestation of enhanced strength and other heightened physical abilities.

inister Twelve

Tombstone was hired by the Green Goblin to be part of his Spider-Man killing group the Sinister Twelve, but was defeated.

Tombstone was hired by Lily Lucca to pretend he kidnapped her and to fight Daredevil, but Tombstone was beaten by him.

Hood

Tombstone joined the Hood's empire and battled the New Avengers, but he was defeated.

Powers and abilities

Originally Tombstone had no superhuman powers, but has gained them through artificial means. He possesses physical strength that has been increased beyond his original limits to superhuman levels. Tombstone's body is highly resistant to physical injury and is capable of withstanding extreme temperatures, great impact forces, high caliber bullets and toxic gases without sustaining injury. His reflexes, speed, and stamina are likewise heightened beyond a range attainable for normal human beings.

Aside from these advantages, Lonnie is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant with years of street fighting experience. He is also highly proficient with conventional firearms and well connected in the underworld of organized crime.

Lonnie has managed to hide the fact that he is nearly functionally illiterate, which was probably a large factor in his decision to become a criminal. As an albino, he is sensitive to sunlight due to a natural deficiency of melanin. He is also only capable of speaking in whispers.

In other media

Television

"Spider-Man: The Animated Series"

In "", Tombstone (voiced by Dorian Harewood) was not originally an albino, he was turned into one by the same laboratory accident that gave him his superpowers. He was hired by Silvermane to steal the Tablet of Time in his first two appearances, "Tablet of Time" and "". During an altercation with Spider-Man in Dr. Connors' lab, poison gas was released choking Spider-Man. Tombstone was unaffected because he claimed he did not need to breathe anymore. In fact, it is implied that he is a walking corpse, a member of the undead.

Later on in the series, in the episode "Tombstone", Tombstone appeared again and became the leader of a gang that had Robbie Robertson's son, Randy, as a member, to kill the story of Alicia Silvermaine being a gangster in the Daily Bugle. Tombstone promised to set Randy free to Robbie if he kills the Silvermaine story. Robbie refuses and Spider-Man captures Tombstone, having him sent to jail while Robbie and Randy confess to the police.

Also, in this series, Tombstone's origin was different in the comics. He was once Lonnie Lincoln, a friend of Joseph "Robbie" Robertson who wasn't an albino. When he was a child. he accidentally threw his basketball through the glass of a grocery store, but, after seeing the store was closed, Lonnie decided to rob the store to get ice cream, with Robbie's help. Lonnie ended up failing when the police came and arrested him. Robbie felt guilty for abandoning Lonnie and guiltier that Lonnie never gave his name to the police. After his release, Lonnie became a crook while Robbie graduated with honors at schools. Eventually, Lonnie made a break-in at the Spaulding Chemical Plant to contact Robbie. While there, it was revealed that Lonnie wanted to frame Robbie to get his revenge for abandoning him at the grocery store. After Lonnie fell into the vat of chemicals by accident, Robbie decided to stay behind to face the consequences to think about abandoning Lonnie at the grocery store. After the fall, Lonnie's skin turned white, his hair yellow, and his flesh tough and rock-like.

Later in the series, in the fourth season premiere, "", it was revealed that the prison Tombstone went to was Riker's Island with Richard Fisk (who was incarcerated two episodes before Tombstone). Fisk and Tombstone agreed to team up and bring Robbie Robertson into the same prison as them. They eventually kidnap Robbie, slipped a gun in his hand while he was unconscious and made him look like the leader of a gang in frozen crime. Apparently, Robbie's prison assignment would be New York State Penitentiary instead of Riker's Island. However, with help from the Kingpin (Richard Fisk's father), Robbie was reassigned to Riker's. There, Robbie would live for the next fifteen years. He also met Richard and Tombstone there again, and they revealed their entire plot to him. Spider-Man discovers this plan and rescues Robbie just when Richard and Tombstone would escape with their cellmate, landing them back in jail.

"The Spectacular Spider-Man"

L. Thompson Lincoln appears as a main villain in "The Spectacular Spider-Man" initially voiced by Keith David and later by Kevin Michael Richardson. Tombstone is depicted as a calculating, emotionless and highly intelligent crime lord, as opposed to being a mob enforcer like his comic book incarnation, though to the public he has the image of benevolent wealthy man, acting as a philanthropist. His voice is first heard as the "Big Man" when he has Hammerhead send the Enforcers to challenge Spider-Man during his fight with the Vulture. After Ox and Fancy Dan are jailed, Tombstone orders Hammerhead to have Montana use the equipment he stole to become Shocker. When Shocker is defeated, Tombstone has Hammerhead forge an alliance between him and Norman Osborne to create super villains to distract Spider-Man from his activities (This results in the creation of Sandman and Rhino). After learning Tombstone's identity from Rhino, Spider-Man confronts Lincoln as all the evidence points to him being the mysterious crime boss known as the Big Man. Lincoln states that he has had many names and that his favorite is Tombstone. However it should be noted that Tombstone never outright admits that he is the "Big Man" (Hammerhead does, but even he might be wrong). After easily beating down Spider-Man (partially because Spidey underestimated him), Tombstone offers the hero money in exchange for looking the other way in certain cases, which Spider-Man refuses. Tombstone subsequently sends in the police to incriminate Spider-Man as a villain. Tombstone later attends a town banquet which is crashed by the Green Goblin who seeks to overthrow him. Spider-Man managed to save him.

The Green Goblin later makes another attempt on his life by capturing Hammerhead and luring him into a trap with the threat of releasing evidence of Tombstone's criminal activities in the episode "The Uncertainty Principle". He winds up working with Spider-Man in battle against the Goblin until Hammerhead is freed, at which point the two escape together in a helicopter.

Tombstone later appeared in "Intervention", where the symbiote-influenced Spider-Man demands the previous job opening. Tombstone would agree as long as Spider-Man did not fight crime for a week, unless it were a super villain. After being free from the symbiote's control, Spider-Man broke their deal, saying that no amount of money is worth turning a blind eye to Tombstone, and vows to bring him down. Just after Spider-Man left, Venom arrived and accepted the offer and tells Tombstone he'll take down Spider-Man, to which Tombstone seems unsurprised.

Although it is never specifically stated that he is either a mutant or invulnerable, he does boast a chalk-white complexion and oddly pointed teeth.

He bests Spider-Man in a physical confrontation at their first meeting, in which he did display superhuman levels of strength, seems unconcerned about being killed in a bomb blast — even helping Spidey look underneath tables for the Green Goblin's "special" explosive — and takes several of Green Goblin's razor-bats through his back seemingly without pain in "The Uncertainty Principle".

References

External links

* [http://marvel.com/universe/Tombstone Tombstone] at Marvel.com