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History

Early Life[]

Morris Bench was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. He began working as a crewman on a cargo ship.[5]

Accident[]

He was accidentally knocked overboard by Spider-Man while a powerful experimental generator was being lowered into the ocean for testing. Exposed to the energy conversion process of the generator while being bombarded with volcanic gases, Bench's cellular structure was altered. When he was rescued from the depths, his body began exuding great quantities of a watery substance, which Bench first thought was perspiration. Annoyed by the incessant dripping, Bench went to a local pub to stir up trouble. Finding none, he was astonished to learn that he could convert his entire physical form into a watery liquid.[6]

Becoming Hydro-Man[]

Soon after discovering his powers, Hydro-Man set out to find those he held responsible for his condition in order to make them pay. He eventually encountered Spider-Man, and on their second altercation, was defeated when Spider-Man managed to splatter the nucleus of his body sufficiently far enough apart that Hydro-Man could not reform himself before evaporating.[6]

Mud Creature[]

A few weeks later, Hydro-Man reintegrated his form in a water tower on a Manhattan rooftop where apparently the majority of his body particles had fallen as rain. Returning to his favorite pub, he was chagrined to find William Baker, alias the Sandman, romancing his sometime-girlfriend Sadie Frickett. The two criminals soon began fighting over her until Spider-Man came along to try to stop them. Turning their attentions to him, the two joined forces against their mutual foe. Spider-Man, however, tricked the two into running into each other, each in his altered particulate state. Collapsing into the harbor, the two soon emerged from the brine as a composite sand-water creature containing both of their substances but neither of their full intelligence. Dimly recalling their desire for Sadie Frickett, the mud-being sought her out at her apartment. After getting over her initial shock, Frickett decided to exploit the creature's devotion to her and through a theatrical agent, arranged for a special exhibition of the mud-thing. The creature inevitably went berserk but was stopped when a special gas sprayed from police helicopters dehydrated it and caused it to crumble. The soggy sand was scooped up by the authorities and taken to a police laboratory where researchers tried to restore the men to life by various stimuli, including chemicals and radiation. Believing the task was hopeless, the police dumped the canister containing them. A short time later, Hydro-Man and Sandman managed to integrate themselves into their separate rightful forms. Wanting no more of each other's company after their humiliating ordeal, the two went their separate ways, with Hydro-Man heading out of town.[7]

Sinister Syndicate[]

He was recruited into the Sinister Syndicate along with the Beetle, Boomerang, Rhino, and Speed Demon. At Coney Island, Spider-Man and Silver Sable, who were working together to catch Jack O'Lantern, battled the villains and only managed to defeat them with the help of Sandman.[8]

Hydro-Man battled Spidey at a construction site, but was forced to flee when Spider-Man combined him with cement.[9]

Frightful Four[]

Hydro-Man joined The Wizard's new version of the Frightful Four, which also included Titania and Klaw.[10] The Wizard allowed the Fantastic Four to defeat them and his team retreated. When the Fantastic Four tracked their evil counterparts to their hideout, they fell right into the Wizard's trap. The Wizard had discovered that Aron the Rogue Watcher was observing the Fantastic Four. Aron incapacitated the Fantastic Four and arrived with his minion the Dragon Man.[11] However, Aron was only interested in collecting the Fantastic Four's DNA samples and quickly teleported away. With the Four defeated, the Wizard and his minions placed them in cryogenic suspension tubes. However they were located by Ben Grimm, who freed his comrades and they quickly defeated the Frightful Four.[12]

Assembly of Evil[]

Some time later, Hydro-Man joined the Assembly of Evil. The Assembly confronted a small contingent of Avengers who were holding a press conference regarding the "Acts of Vengeance."[13] The Avengers defeated the Assembly with the help of Cloak and Dagger, who had only agreed to join the villains so they could foil their plans. The Assembly was remanded to custody and the various members have never since banded together again.[14]

He was easily defeated by the Captain Universe enhanced Spider-Man.[15]

Rejoining the Sinister Syndicate[]

Hydro-Man rejoined the Sinister Syndicate.[16] He became a regular visitor to the Bar with No Name.[17] Along with the other Sinister Syndicate's members, Hydro-Man went up against the New Warriors.[18]

Black Cat was asked by Lester Cromwell to test his security system at his estate. However Hydro-Man was hidden inside the swimming pool. He followed her into the building disguised as a puddle. He then attacked her with a blast of water. She used a medieval tapestry like a towel to soak up Hydro-Man. She put the tapestry inside an airtight and bulletproof case where he was trapped.[19]

The Sinister Syndicate was confronted by the Wild Pack, led by Silver Sable.[20]

A.I.M. Weapons Expo[]

Hydro-Man was among the many criminals to visit the A.I.M. Weapons Expo on Boca Caliente, but the event was however crashed by Captain America.[21]

The Vault[]

Under unknown circumstances, Hydro-Man was sent to the Vault, but he managed to escape from there alongside many other villains.[22]

Maggia[]

He was one of the many villains recruited into the Maggia.[23]

Villain's Wedding[]

He attended the wedding of Absorbing Man and Titania.[24]

Rejoining the Sinister Syndicate Part II[]

He later joined the Sinister Syndicate again to battle Spider-Man.[25]

Masters of Evil[]

Hydro-Man was one of many super-criminals employed by corrupt billionaire Justin Hammer for a time, and later served in the Masters of Evil, assembled by Hammer's daughter Justine, alias the Crimson Cowl.[26] However, after Justine's arrest and the apparent death of Justin, Hammer Industries phased out its criminal enterprises and Bench, along with fellow employee the Shocker, was laid off.[27]

Shocker[]

The Shocker and Hydro-Man then teamed-up for one last crime, seeking enough money to retire, but Hydro-Man's thirst for revenge against Spider-Man led to their defeat.[28]

Morris Bench (Earth-616) from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Spider-Man 2005 Vol 1 1 0001

Enhanced Hydro-Man

Return to the Frightful Four[]

The Wizard also re-recruited Hydro-Man onto his team after he was defeated in a battle against Spider-Man and the Human Torch. Hydro-Man had his powers boosted by the Wizard, but was also made dependent of him to live.[29] During a battle against the Fantastic Four, Hydro-Man, Salamandra, the Wizard and Cole seemingly perished when Cole increased her mass to a massive level, causing them to slam into the waters outside of New York City.[30]

Raft[]

He was one of the 46 villains to escape Raft when Sauron was broken out by Electro. He attempted to drown the New Avengers.[31]

Puppet Master & Mad Thinker[]

Hydro-Man was among a group of super-villains who were gathered by the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker, who were attempting to gather an army of villains to battle the Fantastic Four. This was a failed endeavor as none of the gathered villains wished to participate and left, unknowingly leaving the DNA samples that the two organizers of this plan really sought. These DNA samples ended up in the hands of the Fantastic Four who came to believe that they would die within two years unless they permanently incarcerated their foes.[32] Hydro-Man was among those captured and placed in a new Vault prison built in the Negative Zone.[33] When the Mad Thinker staged a massive breakout, they were opposed by the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk and Hercules.[34]

Sinister Twelve[]

Hydro-Man later joined the Green Goblin's Sinister Twelve, but was defeated and the team disbanded by Spider-Man.[35]

Civil War[]

Hydro-Man watched TV in disbelief when Spider-Man revealed his identity to the world.[36]

He, along with the Sinister Six, went up against the new hero Guiding Light, who was working with Spider-Man.[37]

After the Civil War, Hydro-Man worked with Shocker and Boomerang to try to rob Bailey's Auction House, but was stopped by Spidey. However they escaped when War Machine and Komodo arrived to arrest Spider-Man regarding the Superhuman Registration Act. They were later tracked down by the Scarlet Spiders.[3]

Frightful Four[]

He rejoined the Frightful Four when they went up against the FF, led by the Black Panther and his wife Storm.[38] The two teams battled, however, the Wizard had a surprise of his own: a fifth member he had hidden, Klaw.[2] The Frightful Four's secret weapon was defeated by the Thing thanks to some Vibranium earplugs that made him immune to Klaw's powers. Hydro-Man and the rest of the group were then easily defeated.[39]

Hood's Gang[]

During the Dark Reign, he was recruited into the Hood's criminal gang.[40]

Spider-Island[]

Previous to the events of the Spider-Island, Morris tried to rob a jewelry store and defeated the Young Allies, then Spider-Man arrived and, using a special spider-tracer, turned Hydro-Man into ice and left him into the custody of the Young Allies until the authorities appeared.[41]

Dying Wish[]

Hydro-Man was one of the many villains who got a message from Doctor Octopus (in reality Spider-Man whose mind was swapped with that of Doctor Octopus by a special Octobot, leaving him to die in the Doc's decaying body) to get him out from the Raft, but was one of the only three who took the job, the others being the Trapster and Scorpion. After they successfully broke him out of the Raft, they took him to one of Doc Ock's many secret hideouts, where Peter planned a way to return to his body with the villains' help. During the final confrontation between the body-swapped Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, Hydro-Man found all of Peter Parker's colleagues hidden in a room and tried to drown them, but the Horizon gang siphoned his water body into a tank and contained his "soul molecule."[42]

Dirty Job[]

Morris Bench (Earth-616) from Spider-Man Deadpool Vol 1 1 001

Planning to drown New York City in its own filth if he wasn't given the amount of money he wanted, Hydro-Man went to the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant to absorb the wastewater and put his plan into motion. However, Hydro-Man was confronted by Spider-Man and almost had his plan foiled by him, if not by Deadpool, who dragged Spider-Man away. After absorbing the wastewater, Hydro-Man went back to the city and crossed paths with Spider-Man and Deadpool again. This time, however, Spider-Man threw Deadpool inside Hydro-Man and detonated Deadpool's grenades, blowing his plan to bits.[43]

Oasis Spring Water[]

Hawkeye and an alternate version of Red Wolf later encountered Hydro-Man who was working for a group called Oasis Spring Water, which was illegally draining the water supply of the Sweet Medicine Indian Reservation.[44] Hydro-Man captured Hawkeye and Red Wolf, but the pair escaped and were aided by Silas and Frank Fireheart. Silas knocked out Hydro-Man by electrocuting him.[45]

Invaders[]

Hydro-Man became a prisoner of Atlantis and was under the control of Namor, who somehow managed to take his hydrokinesis powers for himself.[46] He was later freed by Captain America and Winter Soldier.[47]

Boomerang Revenge Squad and Sinister War[]

At some point Hydro-Man regained his hydrokinesis powers and joined the Boomerang Revenge Squad.[48] The squadron intercepted Spider-Man and Boomerang as they were about to retrieve the final piece of the Lifeline Tablet but were defeated by them, then Boomerang himself freed them and they ambushed Spider-Man and defeated him.[49] The demonic being known as Kindred forced Hydro-Man and the Superior Foes to participate in a hunt for Spider-Man along with other teams of the hero's enemies, in the hopes that the villains would finally kill him. However, Octopus managed to emit a signal that killed the centipedes Kindred was using to control them all, rendering most of the villains unconscious and foiling the demon's plan.[50]

Death[]

Imprisoned in a tailor-made cell at a supermax prison, Morris was approached by the Carnage symbiote and assumed it had come to bond to him after parting ways with Cletus Kasady, saying he accepted. As Morris wondered how it could bond to him given his aqueous state, the Carnage symbiote impaled and restrained him with tendrils, saying it didn't want to bond to him but take his power for itself. Ripping Morris apart, the Carnage symbiote asked if he wanted it to show him the true meaning of its name before he died.[51] Morris was left suspended in a warehouse with symbiote matter;[52] Carnage ripping out his core and assimilating it, causing Morris' body to destabilize into a vortex of blue-and-red energy before exploding.[53]

Attributes

Power Grid[62]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Some Training:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Medium Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Peak Human:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Normal

Powers

Water Transformation: Hydro-Man possesses the ability to bodily transform himself, in whole or in part, into a watery liquid substance of unknown composition. While in this state, his consciousness can control every droplet that comprises his body. Thus, he can will himself to turn liquid whenever struck. (Presumably, if he were to will just his torso to turn liquid, his still solid head and arms would fall to the ground. It is not known if this would cause injury to his solid parts or not. Hydro-Man can also propel the liquid particles of his body at great pressure in the same style as water shooting through a fire hose. It is not known how he generates the pressure to create this effect. Also, he can harden his fist as if it were ice hard.[54]

  • Apparently Hydro-Man's liquid particles each possess some form of attraction for one another so that his disintegrated consciousness can draw all of the particles back into cohesion after total dispersal. It is not known if there is a limit to the particles' ability to attract one another. Nor is it known if there is a limit to how long Hydro-Man can remain in a completely aqueous state. Although he can merge with ordinary water, or use if to increase his mass, he does not gain mental control over this liquid as he does his own. Apparently, he has no difficulty reforming his solid physical state, even while fully immersed in water.[55]
  • Hydro-Man consciousness either resides in each of the billions of droplets that his body becomes, or exists in an intangible perhaps gas-like state. Since Hydro-Man can convert his entire head into water, and his brain is still capable of rational motivated thought, his brain can no longer be organic. It is probably that even in its solid state when it appears to be made of flesh, tissue, and bone; the Hydro-Man's body is no longer truly organic, it is not known if the Hydro-Man needs to eat, sleep, or eliminate waste products anymore.[56]
  • Recent alterations of his powers by the Wizard have given him a finer degree of control over his own fluid form.[57]
Hydrokinesis: The alterations by the Wizard also enabled Bench to mentally manipulate water sources outside his own body, but this power has apparently been stolen by Namor,[46] but later restored by unknown means.[48]

Weaknesses

Soul Molecule: When Morris transforms into water, one molecule in his body contains his mind and tells the other molecules what to do. If this molecule is separated, the rest of his body becomes ordinary water.[58][59]

Hydro-Man can be easily defeated if he is turned into ice and kept frozen, such as when Spider-Man used an Ice Pellet to take him out effortlessly.[41] Being made of water, he can also be defeated through electrocution.[45]

Trivia

  • Hydro-Man was one of the candidates on Steve Rogers' list of supervillains to enroll in Luke Cage's Thunderbolts roster.[60]
  • Spider-Man has stated that with his power Hydro-Man should be a major threat but his low intelligence holds him back and keeps him as a henchman or thug.[59]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5
  2. 2.0 2.1 Fantastic Four #548
  3. 3.0 3.1 Avengers: The Initiative #3
  4. Marvel 2-In-One #3
  5. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #11
  6. 6.0 6.1 Amazing Spider-Man #212
  7. Amazing Spider-Man #217
  8. Amazing Spider-Man #280281
  9. Amazing Spider-Man #315
  10. Fantastic Four #326
  11. Fantastic Four #327
  12. Fantastic Four #328336
  13. Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #8
  14. Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #9
  15. Spectacular Spider-Man #160
  16. Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #14
  17. Marvel Comics Presents #97
  18. New Warriors Annual #2
  19. Web of Spider-Man Annual #8
  20. Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #1718
  21. Captain America #411412
  22. Venom: Deathtrap: The Vault #1
  23. Spider-Man: Power of Terror #13
  24. Avengers: Unplugged #4
  25. Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #1718
  26. Thunderbolts #64
  27. Thunderbolts #6769
  28. Peter Parker: Spider-Man #5153
  29. Fantastic Four #512514
  30. Fantastic Four #516
  31. New Avengers #2
  32. Fantastic Four: Foes #1
  33. Fantastic Four: Foes #5
  34. Fantastic Four: Foes #6
  35. Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #611
  36. Amazing Spider-Man #533
  37. Spider-Man and Power Pack (Vol. 2) #1
  38. Fantastic Four #547
  39. Fantastic Four #549
  40. Dark Reign: The Hood #4
  41. 41.0 41.1 Amazing Spider-Man #666
  42. Amazing Spider-Man #699700
  43. Spider-Man/Deadpool #1
  44. Occupy Avengers #1
  45. 45.0 45.1 Occupy Avengers #2
  46. 46.0 46.1 Invaders (Vol. 3) #2
  47. Invaders (Vol. 3) #10
  48. 48.0 48.1 Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #61
  49. Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: King's Ransom #1
  50. Sinister War #14
  51. Carnage Forever #1
  52. Carnage (Vol. 3) #1
  53. Carnage (Vol. 3) #2
  54. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #6
  55. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #12
  56. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #6
  57. Marvel Encyclopedia #Fantastic Four
  58. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #3
  59. 59.0 59.1 New Avengers Most Wanted Files #1
  60. Heroic Age: Villains #1
  61. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5
  62. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 5
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