Tinkerer appeared in 1963 Marvel Comics called Amazing Spider-Man.
Phineas Mason was a brilliant scientist and engineer skilled in invention. When he was middle-aged, he had a repair shop named Phineas' Fix-It. One evening while closing his business, he came across a confused fleeing Doombot. Phineas took pity in the robot and adopted him. After using the Doombot as an assistant for years, Mason grafted an artificial membrane with the appearance of human skin onto the robot's surface to help it blend in society, with the Doombot later adopting the name of Vincent Doonan.
With the emergence of superheroes some years later, Mason began to loathe these beings he considered used their abilities recklessly. He eventually became obsessed with superhumans so much that he decided to become a supervillain himself, taking up the alias of the "Terrible Tinkerer" and targeting Spider-Man to get rid of him. This development prompted Vincent to leave Mason's side.
Tinkerer's first known job was when he was hired by Quentin Beck. As part of an elaborate scheme, the Tinkerer hired actors to masquerade as an alien invasion force. From his workshop, he would repair people's radios and place cameras and other spying equipment inside them in order to steal government secrets. Peter Parker picked one up for his teacher and eventually discovered the device and returned dressed as Spider-Man. Discovering the "aliens" plan, he was eventually captured but later freed himself and in the ensuing struggle as the base caught fire. While everyone fled the Tinkerer dropped a fake mask of his face, which Spider-Man picked up and became convinced they were all real aliens. He reappeared years later, reconstructing the Spider-Mobile at the orders of the Kingpin and attacking Spider-Man with it.
Rocket Racer hired the Tinkerer to redesign his skateboard after his first defeat by Spider-Man. Rocket Racer was then hired by Jackson Weele to steal evidence that might incriminate him. Farrell used the evidence to blackmail Weele. He attempted suicide but Farrell stopped him but still mocked Weele calling him Big Weele. Weele, annoyed by Farrell, hired the Tinkerer himself to construct the Big Wheel.
Over the following years he constructed or improved the weapons and equipment of various super-villains where he provided Diamondback some new throwing stars, repaired Goldbug's Bug Ship, built Grim Reaper's Scythe, fixed Grizzly's exo-skeleton harness and bear suit, redesigned Rocket Racer's rocket-powered skateboard, redesigned Trapster's arsenal, and provided Whirlwind with improved armor and weaponry.
He has also worked for the Ani-Men, Beetle, Constrictor, Hammerhead, Jack O' Lantern, Jester, and Owl.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Scientific Genius: The Tinkerer possesses extensive knowledge in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, as well as a high degree of expertise in designing and manufacturing innovative weapons and devices, even by using parts from pre-existing devices as unsophisticated as a color television set or an automatic gun. Even though the Tinkerer is a solo operator who arms criminals, the threat of his clients using his inventions against him to avoid paying is not a major concern: they have special fail-safes secretly installed to make sure anyone trying that would regret it, leaving them wounded and immobilized.
- Paraplegic (formerly): After being tracked down by the Punisher, he was spared an untimely death because he technically did not commit any crime and was merely guilty of working for criminals. So the Punisher let him off "light" by severing his spinal cord with a screwdriver; the Punisher version of "a warning." He later regained the use of his legs under unknown circumstances.