Hammerhead began his career as a junior hit-man, working for the Maggia. When his head was shattered in a brawl, Jonas Harrow discovered him in an alley, and operated on him - replacing his broken skull with one made of steel. Hammerhead clearly had mental and emotional problems prior to his injury, and they were exacerbated by the trauma.
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History
FIRST APPEARANCE: Amazing Spider-Man #113 (October, 1972)
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As a young boy, Joseph and his family fled the Soviet Union with the help of a man known as The General.
Growing up, his father would berate him for speaking Italian in their Russian household, and would beat the boy with a hammer when punishing him. In school he would lie and say he was Italian, only for a bully named Rico to reveal his lie and steal the hat he wore showing the ugly scars on his head from frequent hammer blows.
Rico and his girlfriend would be the kills Hammerhead needed to join the mob. Hammerhead convinced the mob that he was Italian, which was necessary since they did not take 'inferior stock'. He eventually killed his father with a much bigger hammer than his father had ever used on him.