Aquarius

Aquarius is a the name of several villains in the Marvel Universe, many of whom are members of the criminal organization Zodiac.

Darren Bentley

Aquarius
Real Name	Darren Bentley
First Appearance	Avengers #72 (January, 1970)
Creators	Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema
Team Affliation	Zodiac
Alias	One-Man Zodiac
Base of Operations	San Francisco
Powers	Can access the abilities of the twelve Zodiac signs (as One-Man Zodiac)
Skills and Abilities	Criminal Leader
Tools and Weapons	None

Darren Bentley is the first Aquarius for the Zodiac.

Origin

A criminal recruited by Cornelius van Lunt, Darren Bentley came to rule the criminal underworld in San Francisco as Aquarius.

Biography

Darren Bentley, the first criminal to take on the identity of Aquarius, was a crimelord who was chosen by Taurus to be a member of his Zodiac Cartel for the purpose of working towards economic and political conquest. Based out of San Francisco (each member was in charge of crime in a different city), Aquarius, like all members of Zodiac, was leader of the group on the dates that fall under his titular Zodiac sign.

Eventually he, along with the other members of the Zodiac, were summoned by the member Scorpio when he captured the Avengers, with the promise that they would have the opportunity to execute them for the crime of interfering with their criminal work. However, it was revealed that Scorpio was in fact prominent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury, who staged a kidnapping of the Avengers (though they were not aware, causing them to facilitate their own escape) in order to get within striking distance of the group. However, once the betrayal was revealed, the leaders of the Zodiac cartel made a swift escape.

Aquarius and the rest of the Zodiac later plotted to control Manhattan, but were once more thwarted by the Avengers before making their escape once more.

Later, the Zodiac hired the Spymaster and sent four of their own, Aquarius included, to destroy Stark Industries and bring in Tony Stark, dead or alive. During their mission, they ended up running afowl of Iron Man, Nick Fury, Daredevil and Madame Masque. During the fracas, all of them were transported into the world of the Scorpio Key, which was being wielded by Nick Fury at the time and were forced to fight by the mysterious Brotherhood of the Ankh. Aquarius battled Fury, but their fight was interrupted after the Brotherhood was convinced to free them all due to Daredevil's actions. The fight was then finished in the real world and though Aquarius was able to defeat Madame Masque, he was overwhelmed by Daredevil and Nick Fury and was sent to jail.

When the Zodiac next regrouped, Aquarius was involved in a scheme to kill everyone in Manhattan born under the sign of Gemini. However, when Aries was frustrated with Taurus' actions, he recruited half of the Zodiac members to overthrow Taurus. These rogue Zodiac members then tried to convince their financier Cornelius van Lunt to come to their side, only to discover that he was actually Taurus. After Taurus used a trap to send these rogue Zodiac members and the Avengers (who had just shown up) to space, the Zodiac and the Avengers engaged in a short battle before deciding to work together to save themselves. However, once back on Earth, the fight resumed with the Zodiac as the losers. Once more, Bentley was sent to jail.

After prison, Bentley discovered that he had a unique lung conditioned that was worsened due to his experience in space. Learning that he only had one year to live, he cursed Cornelius van Lunt and declared that he would have his revenge. Soon, Bentley was approached by the demon Slifer (a servant of Mephisto) offered Bentley his chance at revenge: he would be given the powers of the Zodiac for one year, but that once his year was up, his soul would belong to Mephisto. Bentley accepted and changed his name to "the One-Man Zodiac",

At this point, he decided to strike at van Lunt where it would hurt most, his wallet, by attacking van Lunt's holding while transforming himself into different members of the Zodiac. Eventually, this brought him into conflict with Ghost Rider and the Stuntmaster. Bentley went toe-to-toe with Ghost Rider and was evenly matched, only to see Slifer re-appear to take his soul. When Bentley objected that it had only been a few weeks, to which Slifer responded that his "year" referred to his Zodiac powers and he had just taken his final form. Then Mephisto appeared to take his soul. Bentley has not been seen since, but it is very likely he is still trapped in Mephisto's Hell.

Powers

Zodiac Forms - For much of his career, Darren Bentley had no powers, but when he was demonically empowered, he could transform into any of the 12 Zodiac forms, each with enhanced strength and powers and abilities related to the chosen sign (though few of them were elaborated on). However, he could only assume each form once and when all of his forms were used up, he was damned to hell.

Skills and Abilities

Fighting Experience - Though how skilled Bentley is at fighting is unknown (or if he recieved training at some point), he was skilled enough to hold his own in one on one battles with Avengers members, implying that he is at least somewhat formidible.

Criminal Leader - Aquarius also ran a criminal operation in San Francisco as a branch of the Zodiac, so it can be assumed that he was selected by van Lunt for the skills and qualities that make a good crime boss.

Zachary Drebb

Aquarius
Real Name	Zachary Drebb
First Appearance	Iron Man (Vol. 1) #184 (July, 1984)
Creators	Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema
Team Affliations	Zodiac
Aliases	None
Base of Operations	San Francisco, California
Powers	None
Skills and Abilities	Criminal Leadership Experience
Tools and Weapons	Zodiac Field, Various Water-based Weapons

Little is known of Zachary Drebb, save that he replaced Darren Bentley as Aquarius in the Zodiac cartel.

Origin

After Darren Bently lost the title of Aquarius, criminal Zachary Drebb stepped into the role after being recruited by Zodiac.

Biography

Very little had been revealed about Zachary Drebb's past prior to become the second Aquarius though it can be assumed he has some form of criminal past to be recruited as a member of the Zodiac.