Spider-Man 3 is best remembered for having too many villains, among those Flint Marko a.k.a. Sandman, whose fate was left unknown. As one of the most beloved characters from Marvel Comics, Spider-Man has been adapted to other media since the 1970s, but his most popular versions are those on the big screen. Spider-Man made his cinematic debut in 2002 with Sam Raimi as director and Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, and was so well-received it made way for two more films. Spider-Man 2 is considered one of the best superhero films ever made and one that set the bar for subsequent films, but the same can’t be said about Spider-Man 3.
Released in 2007, Spider-Man 3 saw Peter Parker coming across (and bonding) with an alien symbiote while preparing for his future with Mary Jane Watson (Kristen Dunst). Because that wasn’t enough, Peter also had to deal with Harry Osborn (James Franco), Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), and Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church). Through the latter, Raimi and company retconned one important part in Spider-Man’s arc, as it turned out that Marko was the true killer of Uncle Ben. Sandman also broke a “tradition” in Raimi’s trilogy as his death wasn’t shown on screen, leaving fans questioning what happened to him after the movie ended.
Marko was a thug who escaped from prison, and while fleeing from the police, he fell into an experimental particle accelerator that fused his DNA with the surrounding sand, transforming him into Sandman and thus giving him the ability to control sand and reform his body with it. Peter later learned Marko was the one who killed Uncle Ben and went after him, but Marko explained that it was an accident and that it had been haunting him ever since. Peter forgave Marko, who then drifted away. This makes Sandman the only antagonist in Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy that didn’t die, but it also gives him a sadder ending.
Where Sandman went after the events of Spider-Man 3 is open to interpretation, but what’s sure is that he wouldn’t be able to reunite with his family for a long, long time, as he was still wanted by the police. After escaping from prison, Marko stole money so he could get his daughter the treatment she needed – with him floating away to an unknown destination, he wouldn’t have been able to help her, and it’s a mystery if he got to see her again. Given his deep regret over Uncle Ben’s death and that his only purpose when stealing was helping his daughter (as he saw no way out of the situation), it’s unlikely that he continued on that path after Spider-Man 3. Perhaps he started over somewhere else, but that also means not seeing his daughter again.
While his motives to steal are understandable, they don’t justify everything he did, and ultimately, Sandman paid for his actions – and the price was not going back to his daughter and not being able to help her as he wanted. Sandman didn’t die in Spider-Man 3, but he got a more tragic ending than the rest of the villains in Raimi’s trilogy.