Phineas Mason, aka the Tinkerer, made his appearance in the Amazing Spider-Man No. 2, in April 1963. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created the Tinkerer. Mason is a short and small man and although he has no superhuman abilities, he is a genius engineer and can invent weapons and gadgets from random spare parts he finds lying around. In his first appearance, he was repairing radios only to place spy gear in people’s radios to attempt to steal secrets. The Tinkerer was soon discovered after Peter Parker visited his radio repair shop and came back to investigate as Spider- Man. In order to try to keep his identity a secret, the Tinkerer tried to make himself look like an alien by hiring goons dresses as creatures from outer space and leaving behind a mask for Spider-Man that looked like Mason’s face. Not only that but the Tinkerer escaped in a flying saucer type ship.
The Tinkerer wasn’t to be seen again until Amazing Spider-Man No. 159, in 1976. Spider-Man eventually learns the Tinkerer is no alien, but just a mechanical engineer with many tricks up his sleeves.
The Tinkerer usually works behind the scenes and he has a son named Richard “Rick” Mason, also known as the Agent. Rick is a former SHIELD agent who left the agency to become a freelance secret agent. He specializes in data on how to handle super humans. Although the two family members differentiate in morals, the Tinkerer has been know to help his son out by inventing gadgets for him. Not only does the Tinkerer create weapons for him and his son, but he also created them for other super villains. The Tinkerer is responsible for Mysterio’s suit, the Scorpion’s tail, Hobgolblin’s armor and more. The Tinkerer works alone but is often hired to create weapons to defeat Spider-Man and other super heroes.
The Vulture made his first appearance alongside the Tinkerer in the Amazing Spider-Man No. 2, in April 1963. Since they will both be appearing the in the Spider- Man movie, it is likely that they will cross paths or team up. This isn’t the first time that the Tinkerer and Vulture have teamed up. It may even be possible that the Tinkerer will be responsible for the Vulture’s advanced suit in the upcoming movie. With Spider-Man’s corner of the MCU just beginning to expand, the Tinkerer could be a connection to the underworld and villainous side of Spider-Man’s rogue gallery. Either way, the Tinkerer will make his first live action appearance in the upcoming SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING that will be hitting theaters on July 7, 2017.
Written by James Philbrick, Character Profiles -- Click here to read James' posts
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