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Hydro-Man

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For the Golden Age hero, see Hydroman.
Hydro-Man
Morris Bench as Hydro-Man, as seen in the interior artwork from The Amazing Spider-Man #212 (January 1981).
Art by John Romita Jr.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #212 (January 1981)
Created byDennis O'Neil
John Romita Jr.
In-story information
Alter egoMorris Bench
Team affiliationsThe Assembly of Evil
Frightful Four
Maggia
Masters of Evil
Sinister Six
Sinister Syndicate
Sinister Twelve
AbilitiesExpert street fighter
Superhuman strength and durability
Water manipulation

Hydro-Man (Morris "Morrie" Bench) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of the superhero Spider-Man.[1] Once an ordinary crewman, Morris Bench was accidentally knocked overboard while stationed on his ship during a battle between Spider-Man and Namor, and fell into the ocean, where a powerful experimental generator was being tested. This led to his transformation into Hydro-Man who, blaming Spider-Man for what happened to him, turned to a life of crime while seeking revenge against the web-slinger.

The character has appeared in several media adaptations over the years, including animated series and video games. A creature based on "Hydro-Man" appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). IGN ranked him as Spider-Man's 25th greatest enemy.[2]

Publication history

The Morris Bench version of Hydro-Man made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #212 (January 1981) and was created by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist John Romita Jr.[3]

Fictional character biography

Morris Bench

Morris "Morrie" Bench gained his superpowers while working as a crewman on the cargo ship the U.S.S. Bulldog, having been knocked overboard accidentally by Spider-Man (right after the hero finished a fight against Namor) while a powerful experimental generator is being tested in the ocean. The combination of unknown radiation and his immersion in a deep ocean-dwelling bacteria turns him into Hydro-Man.[4] When he realized that he had become a man-of-water, he blamed Spider-Man for his accident and started to hunt him (through many showers, sewers and water valves), in order to get revenge on the hero, but was defeated in combat.[5]

Soon after that in the story arc "Eye of the Beholder", he teams up with and briefly becomes merged with the Sandman into a composite mud monster called Mud-Thing. In this form, Hydro-Man and Sandman had limited intelligence and they did not have the ability to use their shape-shifting abilities as well as before. Although it was composed of the two aforementioned villains, it showed no indication of either villain's persona outside of an infatuation with Sadie Frickett, the current love interest of both villains. Soon after, a theater agent named Travis Rave proposed that Sadie and Mud-Thing be in a show, which Sadie gladly accepted at the prospect of stardom. Unfortunately, when the show proved to be a huge success, Sadie accidentally kissed Travis out of excitement, thereby enraging the jealous Mud-Thing. Mud-Thing ended up going on a rampage and carried Sadie with him to the top a sky-scraper. The creature was eventually defeated with a special gas that dried it out and caused it to crumble apart. Spider-Man managed to save Sadie from her plummet, but she ended up being genuinely upset over the loss of Mud-Thing, knowing that all it had ever done wrong was simply love her. After its defeat by Spider-Man and the police, Sandman and Hydro-Man separated from this form when the police were cleaning up Mud-Thing's remains.[6]

Hydro-Man is a typical low rent super-criminal, joining supervillain teams such as the Sinister Syndicate,[7] including that of the Frightful Four. While working with the Sinister Syndicate, Hydro-Man demonstrates a willingness to put up with just about anything in the name of financial gain. He ignores the constant politicking of the other members and looks past the Beetle's betrayal of the group to the Kingpin in the belief that the group was economically beneficial to him. Hydro Man was a member of Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil, and battled the Thunderbolts.[8][9] After the disintegration of the group, he began to cooperate with the Shocker.[10] He was hired by the Green Goblin to be part of his Sinister Twelve to help kill Spider-Man, but he was defeated again.[11] He was also recruited by the Wizard to be a member of a new Frightful Four, the Wizard enhancing his powers while also implanting various security protocols that would allow the Wizard to trap Hydro-Man in a liquid-but-conscious state if he did anything that the Wizard disapproved of.[12]

Morris was one of the 46 villains to escape the Raft when Sauron was broken out by Electro. Before escaping, he attempts to drown Jessica Drew, Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, and Luke Cage.[13] After the "Civil War" storyline, he is seen alongside Shocker and Boomerang. This group attempts to rob Baily's Auction House but are interrupted by Spider-Man and then Initiative members War Machine and Komodo. The latter are there to neutralize Spider-Man. The trio escapes, but they are later defeated by the Scarlet Spiders.[14] When a member of Wizard's Frightful Five, Hydro-Man received a costume from Wizard that is made from the same material as the Human Torch's costume. In the Frightful Five's fight with the Fantastic Four, Hydro-Man was frozen in Titan's atmosphere.[15] Hydro-Man is hired by the Hood to take advantage of the split in the superhero community caused by the Superhuman Registration Act.[16]

Hydro-Man appeared in Brand New Day as one of the villains in the Bar with No Name.[volume & issue needed] During the "Spider-Island" storyline, Hydro-Man battles the Young Allies as Spider-Man shows up to help defeat him.[17] When Spider-Man, his mind swapped with Doctor Octopus, sends a message to various supervillains to capture "Spider-Man" alive and bring him to "Doctor Octopus" in the Raft, Hydro Man is among the supervillains that receives the message.[18] He is defeated and captured by employees of Horizon Labs.[19] In a plot to drown New York City in its filth as part of a ransom demand, Hydro-Man absorbed the wastewater from the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant. His plan was thwarted by Spider-Man with the help of Deadpool, where Spider-Man threw Deadpool inside of him with active grenades.[20]

Hawkeye and a displaced version of Red Wolf from Earth-51920 later encounter Hydro-Man who is working for a group called Oasis Spring Water that has been draining the underground reservoir that's on the property of the Sweet Medicine Indian Reservation. He managed to defeat Hawkeye and Red Wolf.[21] After getting themselves free, Hawkeye and Red Wolf fight Oasis Spring Water again. While Red Wolf fights against the militia, Hawkeye engages Hydro-Man in battle. As the Fireheart family joined the fight, Silas Fireheart used electricity to help Hawkeye defeat Hydro-Man.[22] Hydro-Man later encounters a scientist named Dr. Rachna Koul who is working on "curing him." When Hercules arrived with Human Torch and Thing, Hydro-Man lashed out at them thinking it was a trap. Dr. Koul then activates a machine that electrocutes Hydro-Man enough for him to retreat. After resurfacing in a pond, Hydro-Man sees someone by the campfire and plans to rob him only to discover that the man was a somehow-revived Wolverine.[23]

Hydro-Man would skulk about in the shadows for a while until the Wakandan criminal Nakia would turn up in New York City. Hyrdo-Man was spelunking around an abandoned A.I.M. base when running into the former Dora Milaje, she quickly used her jufeiro herb to enthrall him, leaving Bench to guard over the base to cover her tracks in the event her old colleges managed to follow her. When the rest of the Adored Ones accompanied by Spider-Man did infiltrate the undersea facility where a potential WMD of the wives in waiting's design was kept. Hydro immediately set about his preprogrammed task, but was quickly dispatched by Okoye's quick thinking and useful Wakandan Tech engineering.[24] At some point, Hydro-Man was captured and imprisoned in Atlantis. Somehow, Namor managed to siphon Hydro-Man's power over water into himself in order to aid Namor's latest war effort on the surface world.[25]

Unnamed criminal

Following Spider-Man's fight with Goblin King, it was revealed that Roderick Kingsley sold one of Hydro-Man's costumes to an unnamed criminal as he was seen with the other former Hobgoblin minions at the Bar with No Name where they have an encounter with Electro.[26]

Powers and abilities

Hydro-Man is able to bodily transform himself into a watery liquid substance; he can access secure areas and small openings with relative ease; when his bodily mass is dispersed in this form it simply reforms, albeit slowly depending on how far apart the mass was. All of Hydro-Man's cells remain fully under his control when he is in his liquid state. Hydro-Man can also merge with and manipulate larger bodies of water when he is in his liquid form. He can increase his mass and cause tidal waves and tsunamis. He can turn parts of his body to liquid while retaining the rest of his human form, allowing him to slip from a foe's grasp or have projectiles like bullets harmlessly pass through him. Through great mental exertion, Hydro-Man can also turn into steam. Other examples of manipulating his watery form include firing off small streams such as a fire hose, shaping parts of his body into 'solid-water' constructs, and mixing himself with other compounds for different effects. However, this last example to defeat Hydro-Man can be using other compounds against him, since certain substances can either harden him (like cement or concrete), or make him feel sick (such as fire-extinguishers and chlorine). The Wizard enhanced his powers, through the use of sophisticated equipment.[27] These artificial enhancements granted him increased and more precise control over bodies of water and moisture near him, which he demonstrated by absorbing nearly all the moisture in the Trapster's body.[28] He's had his abilities further augmented through use of re-purposed super community technologies processed by Damage Control from the corrupt and deranged former CEO of the company; Walter Declun.[29] However, Spider-Man teamed up with Iceman and used Iceman's powers to solidify him into ice.[volume & issue needed] Hydro-Man claims that he has not aged since he gained his powers.[30] Hydro-Man possesses a certain degree of superhuman strength, and has been shown to be an exceptionally skilled fighter, and adept at using his powers for that purpose. In some incarnations, depending on the writer, Hydro-Man can form his forearms into weapons such as Sandman does, except that Bench's weapons are made of water.[volume & issue needed] Bench has extensive experience in street-fighting techniques due to his experience as a criminal before his transformation. Though cunning, he has been consistently depicted by writers as a low tier henchman with little formal education and is often tricked into using his powers in ways that incapacitate him (as explained above). His normal attire consists of a black shirt and blue or green pants, as well as a costume invented by the Wizard.

Other versions

Spider-Man: Reign

Hydro-Man appears in Spider-Man: Reign as a member of the Sinner Six. They are in the control of the tyrannical mayor of New York. Hydro-Man dies when he comes into contact with Electro during an attempt to kill Spider-Man.[31]

In other media

Television

  • Hydro-Man appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Rob Paulsen.[citation needed] He was utilized in place of Sandman, who was unavailable for use in the series as he was being considered for inclusion in James Cameron's attempted Spider-Man film at the time.[32] This version of Morrie Bench is portrayed as Mary Jane Watson's ex-boyfriend. After being expelled from school, his parents enlisted him in the Navy to keep him out of trouble. While in the special research unit working as a crewman, Bench was knocked overboard into the ocean, whereupon his body was covered in a strange chemical that altered his cellular structure, allowing him to control any liquid at will and turn into water. Debuting in his self-titled episode, Hydro-Man attempts to win Mary Jane back, but as she repeatedly rejects his advances, he becomes more desperate. In fact, he comes to see Spider-Man as a romantic rival. After robbing a museum and stashing its riches inside a water filtration plant, Hydro-Man kidnaps Mary Jane and keeps her there as well. Upon discovering the plant, Spider-Man fights Hydro-Man until they end up on the rooftop, where the latter dissolves into water and evaporates as he had no water sources nearby. A clone of Hydro-Man created by Professor Miles Warren later appears in the two-part episode, "The Return of Hydro-Man", wherein he kidnaps a water-based clone of Mary Jane and battles Spider-Man inside Warren's underwater base until both clones dissolve into water and evaporate.
  • Hydro-Man appears in the Fantastic Four animated series episode "And the Wind Cries Medusa", voiced by Brad Garrett.[citation needed] He is shown as a member of the Frightful Four.
  • Morris Bench appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series episode "Shear Strength", voiced by Bill Fagerbakke.[citation needed] This version is a demolition expert working for Norman Osborn.
  • Hydro-Man appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man vs. the Sinister 6 animated series, voiced by James Arnold Taylor.[33] Introduced in the episode "Forces of Nature", he sends a distress signal from an abandoned Queens mall. Spider-Man, Kid Arachnid, Iron Spider, and Scarlet Spider come to investigate and almost release him after he reveals Nick Fury had trapped him there until Iron Spider discovers Bench's criminal record. Hydro-Man gets free and fights the Web Warriors until they use their web cartridges to absorb him. Following the battle however, Hydro-Man's transport jet was intercepted by Doctor Octopus so he could recruit the villain for his HYDRA-backed Sinister Six. In the two-part episode "The New Sinister 6", Hydro-Man returns as a member of the team when they attack the Triskelion. Amidst the battle, Cloak uses his abilities to send Hydro-Man to the Atlantic Ocean, where the latter becomes strong enough to generate a tidal wave, though he is defeated by Sandman.

Film

A member of the Elementals inspired by Hydro-Man appeared in the live-action film Spider-Man: Far From Home.[34] Director Jon Watts described his take for creation: "There’s so many Spider-Man villains from the rogues gallery that I wanted to dig a little bit deeper than what anyone might be expecting... villains like Hydro-Man and Molten Man, who may not be on the highest list. But that opened up such amazing visual possibilities and poses really dangerous challenges for Spider-Man".[35] Identified as the Water Elemental, it emerges from the canals of Venice. After Peter Parker and Mysterio defeat it, Flash Thompson reads a BuzzFeed article about a sailor named Morris Bench and how he was supposedly transformed into a water being due to an experimental water generator. It is later revealed that all of the Elementals were illusions created by Mysterio and his fellow ex-Stark Industries employees to obtain Tony Stark's technology and fraudulently establish Mysterio as a superhero.

Video games

Attractions

Hydro-Man appears in The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride in the Marvel Super Hero Island section of the Islands of Adventure theme park, voiced by Bill Fagerbakke.[citation needed] He appears as a member of the Sinister Syndicate, using his abilities to throw water at guests and Spider-Man before knocking them away. He later attacks Spider-Man on New York's rooftops before Electro collides with him and seemingly kills Hydro-Man as he is not seen with the rest of the Syndicate during the final scene.

Toys and collectibles

In 2012, Bowen Designs released a bust sculpture of Hydro Man sculpted and designed by the Kucharek Brothers. In 2020, Hasbro released a Marvel Legends action figure of the character.

References

  1. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 7. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  2. ^ "Top 25 Spider-Man Villains". IGN.
  3. ^ Manning, Matthew K.; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2012). "1980s". Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. Dorling Kindersley. p. 118. ISBN 978-0756692360. In this issue, award-winning writer Denny O'Neil, with collaborator John Romita, Jr., introduced Hydro-Man. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Brevoort, Tom; DeFalco, Tom; Manning, Matthew K.; Sanderson, Peter; Wiacek, Win (2017). Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. DK Publishing. p. 200. ISBN 978-1465455505.
  5. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #212. Marvel Comics.
  6. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #217–218. Marvel Comics.
  7. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #280–281. Marvel Comics.
  8. ^ Thunderbolts Annual 1997. Marvel Comics.
  9. ^ Thunderbolts #67. Marvel Comics.
  10. ^ Peter Parker: Spider-Man #51–52. Marvel Comics.
  11. ^ Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10–11. Marvel Comics.
  12. ^ Fantastic Four #514. Marvel Comics.
  13. ^ New Avengers #1–4. Marvel Comics.
  14. ^ Avengers: The Initiative #3. Marvel Comics.
  15. ^ Fantastic Four #547–549. Marvel Comics.
  16. ^ New Avengers #35. Marvel Comics.
  17. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #666. Marvel Comics.
  18. ^ Amazing Spider-Man #699. Marvel Comics.
  19. ^ Amazing Spider-Man #700. Marvel Comics.
  20. ^ Spider-Man/Deadpool #1. Marvel Comics.
  21. ^ Occupy Avengers #1. Marvel Comics.
  22. ^ Occupy Avengers #2. Marvel Comics.
  23. ^ Marvel 2-In-One #3. Marvel Comics.
  24. ^ Spider-Man: Wakanda Forever #1 (June, 2018). Marvel Comics.
  25. ^ Chip Zdarsky (w), Carlos Magno, Butch Guice (p), Carlos Magno, Butch Guice (i). Invaders, vol. 3, no. 2 (February 27, 2019).
  26. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #1. Marvel Comics.
  27. ^ Fantastic Four #514-516
  28. ^ Fantastic Four #514
  29. ^ Black Panther Vol 5 (2009) #11-12
  30. ^ Peter Parker: Spider-Man #51
  31. ^ Spider-Man: Reign #1–4 (December 2006 – March 2007)
  32. ^ "Jim Krieg Talks Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Marvel Animation Age. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  33. ^ a b "Voice Of Hydro Man – Marvel Universe - Behind The Voice Actors". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2019. Check marks indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  34. ^ Hullender, Tatiana (May 8, 2019). "Confirmed: Spider-Man: Far From Home's Elemental Villains Based on B-List Villains". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  35. ^ Small, Gretchen (May 8, 2019). "Who Are the Elementals in SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME?". Nerdist. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
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