Aquarius (Marvel Comics)

Aquarius is the name of different fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The original human Aquarius, Darren Bentley, first appeared in Avengers #72 (January 1970), and was created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema. The character subsequently appears in Avengers #80-82 (September–November 1970), Iron Man #33-36 (January–April 1971), Daredevil #73 (February 1971), Avengers #120-124 (February–June 1974), and Ghost Rider #6-7 (June, August 1974). Aquarius appeared as part of the "Zodiac" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #20.

The second human Aquarius, Zachary Drebb, first appeared in Iron Man #184-185 (July–August 1984), and was created by Dennis O'Neil and Luke McDonnell. The character subsequently appears in West Coast Avengers #26 (November 1987), in which he is killed. Aquarius appeared as part of the "Zodiac" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #20.

Fictional character biography

Darren Bentley

Darren Bentley is a founding member of the Zodiac, and his base of operations was San Francisco, California.

The Zodiac was infiltrated by Nick Fury, posing as Scorpio; the Zodiac fought the Avengers and escaped.^[1] Aquarius, Capricorn, and Sagittarius sought to recapture the Zodiac Key, but lost it to the Brotherhood of the Ankh.^[2]

Led by Taurus, the Zodiac later attempted to kill all Manhattan residents born under the sign of Gemini as a show of power, but were thwarted by the Avengers. Taurus's faction attempted to kill the Zodiac dissident faction, but all twelve leaders were captured by the Avengers.^[3]

After learning he had cancer, Aquarius made a bargain with the demon Slifer: in return for his soul, Aquarius was granted one year of life and the supernatural ability to take on the forms of his fellow Zodiac leaders. However, after Aquarius took on the other Zodiac forms one time each (thereby representing a zodiacal year) while battling Ghost Rider, Slifer returned and claimed his body and soul.^[4]

Zachary Drebb

Taurus ordered Aquarius II and third Aries to kill Iron Man (James Rhodes), but both failed.^[5] A new android LMD version of the Zodiac appeared, led by Scorpio in a new android body, massacred the human Zodiac, and took over their criminal operations.^[6]

Aquarius (LMD)

An android Aquarius was a Life Model Decoy created by Scorpio (Jacob Fury) in his "Theatre Of Genetics" to be part of his Zodiac crime organization. Scorpio went after his brother, Nick Fury, with his new group, but was defeated by Defenders and Moon Knight.^[7] The Zodiac LMD's were recruited by Quicksilver during his bout with temporary insanity, and Quicksilver ordered the Zodiac LMD's to destroy Avengers for their imagined wrongdoings. The Avengers managed to defeat the group and most were remanded into federal custody.^[8]

The android Zodiac were soon released, and the Scorpio LMD rebuilt a number of them. Scorpio used the Zodiac Key to create LMDs that exemplified the forces and personalities inherent in each sign, hoping to create great strength in the combination of all twelve traits of the Zodiac. He arranged the ambush in which the android Zodiac killed all of the remaining human Zodiac leaders except Cornelius van Lunt, alias Taurus. It was later revealed the Libra had also survived the attack on the original Zodiac Cartel. Immediately afterward, Van Lunt sought out the services of the Avengers' West Coast branch to confront and defeat the android Zodiac. He was destroyed by Hawkeye in a battle with the West Coast Avengers.^[9]

The Zodiac Key immediately resurrected the Scorpio LMD. Claiming superiority and believing that the Zodiac would eventually kill the Avengers as the androids could never be stopped, Scorpio wanted to use the Key to transport everyone on the scene to the Key's native dimension where the conflict, he believed, could be prolonged indefinitely. However, when the androids were in the other dimension, they ceased to function because each of them were aligned with a particular zodiacal energy, energy that did not exist in the other dimension. The Avengers found Hawkeye and Tigra had been sent to the same dimension and, reunited, the team was sent back to Earth by the Brotherhood. However, secretly the Brotherhood waited so that someday they could also send the Key to Earth again and create new conflicts for them.^[10]

Aquarius (Ecliptic)

Aquarius was a later addition to the Zodiac. A man of few words, he tended to remain in the background despite his power. He was killed with the rest of the Zodiac by Weapon X.

Thanos' Aquarius

The fifth Aquarius is an unnamed male that Thanos recruited to join his incarnation of the Zodiac.^[11] He and the other Zodiac members perish when Thanos abandons them on the self-destructing Helicarrier where Cancer was the only survivor.^[12]

Powers and abilities

The first Aquarius had above-average fighting skills. As the One-Man Zodiac, he can transform into a representation of the other Zodiac signs.

The second Aquarius uses various water-related weapons.

The third Aquarius carried a gun that shot water and electricity.

The fourth Aquarius fired blasts of unknown energy from his hands and also possessed the standard Zodiac teleportation device.

The fifth Aquarius wears a special suit that enables him to assume a watery substance of unknown origin that can control water.

In other media

Television

• Aquarius appears in The Avengers: United They Stand voiced by Tony Daniels. He appears as a member of the Zodiac. Aquarius is depicted as an alien (just like the other Zodiacs in this show) with a fish-like appearance and water-based attacks.

References

External links

• Aquarius I at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Aquarius 2 at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe