Hydro-Men

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Hydro-Men
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Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Sub-Mariner #61 (May 1973)
Created by	Bill Everett Steve Gerber Win Mortimer
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The Hydro-Men is a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe.

The fanatical scientist Herman Frayne (alias Dr. Hydro) used mutagenic Terrigen Mist to transform himself into a green, scaly-skinned humanoid. He and his men began diverting airplanes to his artificial island called Hydro-Base, using the Terrigen derivative to transform hundreds of kidnapped ordinary humans into amphibious humanoids called the Hydro-Men. The Hydro-Men saw returning to the surface world as futile, and lived on Hydro-Base serving Dr. Hydro. When the plane carrying Namorita was also hijacked, Namor came to rescue her but was captured by Dr. Hydro's agents. Dr. Hydro wanted to capture Atlantis, so he took the opportunity to send the Hydro-Men to attack. Namorita escaped and freed Namor, and they returned to Atlantis to capture and defeat the Hydro-Men. Dr. Hydro was injured in the fight, and as he died he revealed there was no cure for the Hydro-Men.

Namor realized that the Hydro-Men were really just the victims of Dr. Hydro, so he set them free. Two Empire State University professors among the Hydro-Men, Dr. Henry Croft and Dr. Joseph Jennings, introduced themselves to Namor and offered to help him build a force field to protect Atlantis, as well as create an antidote for a nerve gas that a number of Atlanteans had been exposed to. As the professors worked on a cure, Hydro-Base was attacked by Tiger Shark, Attuma, and Dr. Dorcas, and the Hydro-Men helped Namor repel the invaders. The Hydro-Men were finally turned back into ordinary humans by an anti-Terrigen compound isolated by Reed Richards and Inhuman scientists.^[1]