[3] Following an accident, he had most of his skull replaced with an inflexible steel alloy by Jonas Harrow, giving his head a flattened shape and near-indestructibility, hence his nickname.

He is eventually recruited into one of the "families" of the criminal organization known as the Maggia when a member oversees Hammerhead "making his bones" by murdering a childhood bully and his girlfriend in a theater showing The Godfather Part II.

Originally a small-time hitman, Hammerhead quickly rises through the ranks of the Maggia, while pretending to be ethnically Italian so he can be "made", or fully initiated member.

[8] One day, Hammerhead was found beaten, disfigured, and delirious with pain in an alley in New York City's Bowery by Jonas Harrow, a surgeon who had lost his medical license due to his illegal experiments.

Seeing the opportunity both to save this man's life and to redeem his reputation, Harrow operated on the gunman for three days, replacing much of his shattered skull with a strong steel alloy.

[9] During the surgery, the unconscious thug fixated on the only memory he retained: an image of a poster for a movie called "The Al Capone Mob", which was hanging in the alley where he lay beaten and bloodied before Harrow found him.

[10] He later had a rematch with Doctor Octopus next to an atomic breeder reactor on a remote Canadian island which caused a chain reaction, blasting Hammerhead "out of phase" with this dimension.

[volume & issue needed] When Don Fortunato made a bid for control of the New York underworld, Hammerhead opposed him and was almost killed as a result.

[23] During the events of the "Civil War", Hammerhead used the vacuum left by the incarceration of the Kingpin to gain a greater foothold in the ranks of organized crime, attempting to organize an army of costumed villains (consisting of the Ani-Men, the Answer I, the Aura, Bloodshed, the Clown, the Cyclone III, the Discus, Electro, the Great Gambonnos, the Kangaroo II, Man Mountain Marko, the Mauler, Mindblast, Override, the Ringmaster, Stiletto, the Spot, the Squid, Slyde, the Trapster, and the Will O' the Wisp) to enforce his new criminal empire.

[24] The bullets, while not penetrating his skull, did cause severe trauma to his brain, resulting him in needing surgery, but the hospital he was brought to was unable to treat him.

He swears loyalty to Mister Negative in exchange for his restored life and proceeds to shape a gang of lowlife thugs into an effective army for his benefactor.

[26] Hammerhead later begins to doubt his loyalty to Mister Negative when Silvermane, a deceased former Maggia don and an old enemy of the Kingpin, appears to return.

It is shown that Mister Negative had a computer chip put in Hammerhead's head to deliver an electroshock when necessary, which he promptly uses to punish him and remind him who is in charge.

[28] Hammerhead is among the crime lords competing with Mister Negative in obtaining the Tablet of Life and Destiny to win the favor of Mayor Wilson Fisk.

While stating that he'll take the blame for what happened to his daughter, Hammerhead is told by Count Nefaria that the other crime lords will bow to the Maggia once again.

[31] After hearing about how Mister Negative's Inner Demons had used holy water on Lady Yulan's gang, Hammerhead meets with Mister Negative, Lady Yulan, Owl, and Black Mariah where he mentions that his gang will be backed by Count Nefaria and Silvermane while also mentioning that Madame Masque and Tombstone's territories are up for grabs.

[32] At Arthur Avenue, Hammerhead meets with Owl, Lady Yulan, Mister Negative, Black Mariah, Diamondback, and Shang-Chi (who is representing the Five Weapons Society) when Janice Lincoln arrives with White Rabbit stating that none of the crime lords will have her father's territory.

After sending some gunmen to target Randy Robertson, Hammerhead learns too late that the girl he has been dating was Madame Masque in disguise as she uses a combination of magic and an Adamantium bar to knock him out.

[35] Hammerhead has no superhuman abilities, yet his skull is now surgically reinforced with vibranium (or secondary adamantium), making his head flat on top; with this, he can charge and break through objects such as brick walls without causing any pain or damage to himself.

The upper portion of his body is now superhumanly strong as a result of the additional hidden cybernetic musculature, making him able to effortlessly beat a superpowered foe such as Spider-Man.

Consequently, Hammerhead no longer speaks like a 1920s movie gangster, but instead behaves as a typical modern Russian mobster and hitman, as this was apparently his original personality prior to his head injury.

The Army of Darkness miniseries, Hammerhead briefly appears, along with the Owl and the Kingpin, at a meeting to discuss how to survive the zombie outbreak.

After an intense battle with Spider-Man, the Black Cat, the Moon Knight, Iron Fist and Shang-Chi, he was put in a coma when Elektra brutally stabbed him in the chest with her sai and flung him out of a window.