Hydro-Man | |
Aliases: | Hydro-Man Morrie Bench Mud-Thing |
Continuity: | Marvel Universe |
Notability: | Antagonist |
Type: | Supervillain |
Gender: | Male |
Race: | Altered human |
Location: | The Bronx, New York City, New York |
Status: | Alive |
First: | Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1 #212 |
Hydro-Man is a fictional supervillain featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is part of the mainstream Marvel Universe and is associated with the Spider-Man family of comic book titles. He first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 1 #212 in January, 1981.
Biography[]
Origin[]
Morrie Bench was a cargo worker and small time criminal who worked aboard a freighter called The Bulldog. A government contractor named Whitman hired The Bulldog to lower an experimental generator system into the river off the coast of New York City. This particular region however, was known to have underwater volcanic vents, so placement of the device was a precarious task. Spider-Man was on board the ship during delivery of the item. As they were lowering the generator into the water, an electrical cable snapped and several wooden crates toppled over, knocking Morrie Bench into the river. Spider-Man dove into the river and scooped the unconscious Bench up and brought him back on board.
Morrie revived shortly thereafter and went to shore. Initially, the only visible side effect of his exposure to the volcanic gases and the electrical discharge appeared to be profuse sweating, which was not at all surprising since New York was currently suffering from the worst heat wave it had known in years. Soon after however, Bench discovered that the accident affected him to a significantly larger degree. The energy conversion of the generator combined with the volcanic gases gave him hydrokinetic powers. Blaming Spider-Man for his condition, Morrie began calling himself Hydro-Man and swore vengeance against him. [1]
Versus Spider-Man[]
Hydro-Man combed the streets of New York looking for Spider-Man. Able to turn himself into any volume of water desired, he traveled through sewer pipes and drainage lines into people's homes, interrogating one after another as to where he could find the wall-crawler. Eventually, word of Hydro-Man's exploits reached the staff of the Daily Bugle, and Joe Robertson was the first to bring him to the attention of photographer Peter Parker. Changing to Spider-Man, Pete swung through the city looking for this strange new villain until eventually finding him in the office building of an unscrupulous businessman named Easton Kibosh. He found Hydro-Man terrorizing Kibosh and the villain responded by blasting Spidey with a spout of water right out of the window. By the time Spider-Man got back inside, Hydro-Man had already escaped down a drain.
Peter returned to the Daily Bugle and asked J. Jonah Jameson (on behalf of Spider-Man) to print an open challenge from Spidey to Hydro-Man to meet him atop the Katen Building. Bench accepted the challenge and the two fought one another again on the rooftop. Spider-Man's enhanced agility enabled him to avoid the Hydro-Man's water bursts this time. He then baited him into pursuing him, leading Hydro-Man to charge through several clothes lines and even a newspaper rack. These materials absorbed enough of his moisture that he began to grow weaker. Come high noon, the heat wave was so intense that Hydro-Man could no longer maintain his form. He began to evaporate, but made one more rage-filled lunge for Spider-Man, who punched him right in the mid-section. The blow was so powerful that it completely dispersed Hydro-Man's form. [2]
Mud-Thing[]
Powers[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Morris Bench was created by writer Dennis O'Neil and artists John Romita, Jr. and Jim Mooney.
Appearances[]
- Morris Bench appearances
- Morris Bench cameo appearances
- Morris Bench reprint appearances
- Morris Bench flashback appearances
See also[]
Spider-Man Media
The World of Spider-Man
External Links[]
- Hydro-Man at MDP
- Hydro-Man at Wikipedia
- Hydro-Man at Comic Vine
- Hydro-Man at the Marvel Universe
- Hydro-Man at the Marvel Animated Wiki
- Hydro-Man at the Avengers Alliance Wiki