Real Name: Morris "Morrie" Bench
Occupation: Criminal
Identity: Known to the authorities
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with a criminal record
Former Aliases: None
Place of Birth: Bronx, New York
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: Sinister Syndicate
Base of Operations: New York area
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #212

History: Morris Bench, a crewman on a cargo ship, 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. 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. He then set out to find those he held responsible for his condition to make them pay. Calling himself the Hydro-Man, he eventually encountered Spider-Men 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.

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 Fricke. 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's 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, Hydro-Man heading out of town. He has since joined the criminal organization called the Sinister Syndicate.

Height: 6 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 265 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Light brown

Strength Level: Hydro-Man possesses slightly superhuman strength as a consequence of the process that gave him his powers. He can lift (press) about 550 pounds under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: 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 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. The Hydro-Man can also propel the liquid particles of his body at great pressure like water shooting through a fire hose. It is not known how he generates the pressure to create this effect.

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.

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.