Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Who Is Lonnie Lincoln in Marvel Comics? Tombstone, Explained

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Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man offers a fresh perspective on the titular web-slinging superhero as he embarks on the most perilous adventure of all time: high school. The animated Disney+ series follows Peter Parker as he enters his Freshman year, where he must navigate stressful academic standards, a grueling social hierarchy, and typical teenage drama–all while he hides his dangerous secret. A freshly superpowered Peter Parker struggles to balance his civilian life with that of a crime fighter. As the Amazing Spider-Man, Peter still has a lot to learn, but thankfully gets some tips from Norman Osborn, a local businessman with secrets of his own.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will explore more of Peter Parker’s teen years, including his classmates at Midtown High School. Among the series’ supporting characters is Lonnie Lincoln, a popular athlete who befriends Peter. Fans of Marvel Comics may recognize this character, who has a much richer history than casual fans may recognize. Lonnie Lincoln is better known as the supervillain Tombstone, who has a surprising connection to a beloved supporting character from Spider-Man comics. Who is Lonnie Lincoln in the Marvel universe and what might his future be in later episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

Who Is Tombstone in Marvel Comics?

Tombstone Is a Street-Level Villain in the Marvel Universe

Lonnie Lincoln is perhaps better recognized by hardcore Marvel fans as the lesser-known Spider-Man villain Tombstone. First introduced in Web of Spider-Man #36 (1988) by Gerry Conway and Alex Saviuk, Tombstone is an intimidatingly large man with pale white skin, a flat top, and a permanent sneer who almost always speaks in low whispers. In the comics, it is explained that Alonzo “Lonnie” Lincoln was a pariah in his neighborhood growing up, separated from the other kids in his community because of his albinism, a lack of melanin in the skin cells that leads to discoloration. Hardened by his experiences, Lonnie Lincoln fell in with the wrong crowds and began working with mob bosses and hitmen. These criminal activities carried over to his school life, where Lincoln threatened other students, forcing them to pay him protection money to avoid getting a beating. His classmate, Joe “Robbie” Robertson, planned on running an article in the school newspaper decrying Lonnie’s criminal activities but, the crime boss-to-be successfully got him to pull the story by threatening him.

Robbie Robertson and Tombstone’s rivalry reached a new chapter when they met again after high school. Robertson was covering a crime story for the local newspaper, only to catch his old classmate in the act of murder. Lincoln threatened to kill Robbie if he told anyone what he had seen, forcing the up-and-coming reporter to keep the secret for decades. This was a formative moment in Robertson’s life, as he always blamed himself for shrinking from his responsibility as a reporter. Lincoln continued to rise in the crime world, earning the nickname “Tombstone” for the countless lives he had taken for his bosses. He especially rose to prominence under the employ of Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. the Kingpin of Crime, who dispatched him to kill his most important enemies. In the years that followed, Tombstone would clash with the superhero Spider-Man on multiple occasions. The web-slinging superhero often stepped in to disrupt Lincoln’s mob activities, earning a lifelong enemy in the hitman, who eventually rose to become a mob boss himself.

Important Marvel Comics Storylines Featuring Tombstone

Tombstone Is Involved In Many of Marvel’s Mob Storylines

Lonnie Lincoln has appeared in a handful of important storylines over the years. Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #139-142 explores the Spider-Man villain’s history with Robbie Robertson, including their time as classmates and the fateful moment when Robbie agrees not to report on a murder he’d witnessed with his own eyes. When Tombstone returns to New York City as the Kingpin’s top enforcer, Robbie struggles with the guilt of the secret he has kept for twenty years. Tombstone continues to torment his old classmate, reminding him that his life and his family’s lives would be in danger if he ever let their secret slip. Robbie, a much stronger man now, finally decides that he needs to make things right and alerts the police to the decades-old murder. Angry, Tombstone attacks Robbie, severely injuring his spine and temporarily confining him to a wheelchair. Thankfully, Spider-Man can track the criminal down to Atlanta, where he defeats him and sends him to prison–but not for long.

After his debut storyline, Tombstone often plays a role in the street-level crime sagas of Spider-Man comics. After leaving the employ of the Kingpin, he is hired by Hammerhead and the Chameleon, who challenge Fisk’s criminal empire with their own rival crime family. He continues to rise in the criminal underworld over the years, eventually becoming the head of his own gang. This comes back to bite him during the recent “Gang War” storyline, where Tombstone is shot by an assassin hired by rival gang leader Madame Masque. This triggers a massive gang war in New York City, which embroils many of the local superheroes. Outside of Marvel Comics, Tombstone makes appearances in the Sony Spider-Man video game and in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Who is Tombstone in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

Tombstone May Have a Prolonged Arc in the Animated Series

The first episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man introduce a Lonnie Lincoln very different from the one that fans know from Marvel Comics. In the animated series, Lonnie is a studious and athletic high school kid who works hard to keep up his grades, win games as the school’s quarterback, and help out his family. Although he is presented as Peter Parker’s rival for the affections of Pearl, a classmate at Midtown High, even Peter can’t bring himself to hate Lonnie, who charms him with his sunny disposition. This is a far cry from the version of the character who would eventually grow up to become Tombstone in Marvel Comics. The series also does away with Lonnie’s albinism, which may have been too dated a storyline to include in a modern series.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man may be repeating a trick used in the MCU Spider-Man movies, which feature Ned Leeds as Peter Parker’s best friend. Like Lonnie Lincoln, Ned Leeds is known for becoming a supervillain in Marvel Comics. However, the MCU seems to have no designs on turning Ned into the villainous Hobgoblin. Likewise, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man may have no plans to transform Lonnie Lincoln into Tombstone. However, with a multi-season arc planned that will at least follow Peter through his high school years, there is still plenty of time for the animated series to feature Lonnie’s villainous downfall. He may turn out to be the most tragic character in the series, going from a bright and friendly student to the villainous gangster that he is in the comics.

Lonnie Lincoln’s story may prove to be one of the most interesting in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Though he seems trustworthy now, fans of the comics know that Lincoln could grow up to become the supervillain Tombstone, eventually putting him at odds with his new friend, Peter Parker.

“}]] Lonnie Lincoln, a.k.a. Tombstone, will be a major player in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Here’s everything to know about the Marvel villain.  Read More