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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

AquariusDarrenBentley

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 received 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

Aquarius Drebb

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
Paraphernalia
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. It is also unclear when and under what circumstances he joined the Zodiac, save for the fact that it was after Darren Bentley was arrested. Zachary is first scene plotting with the Zodiac to kill Jim Rhodes, whom they believe knows too much about the Zodiac to live. However, when Zachary and his henchmen were sent to face kill Jim Rhodes in person, they were defeated by Iron Man (who was, at this time, Jim Rhodes).

Later, Zachary Drebb was in attendance of a meeting of the leaders of Aquarius to discuss what to do about Scorpio, who was aiming to take over Zodiac. There he and the other members of Zodiac where killed by Scorpio's forces, an army of androids who became the new Zodiac.

Skills and Abilities

Criminal Leadership - Zachary Drebb was a career criminal who was likely very talented due to being specially selected by Van Lunt to become one of the members of the Zodiac cartel. He then was put in charge of the San Francisco branch of the Zodiac cartel, giving him many resources and his very own soldiers to do his bidding.

Paraphernalia

Zachary had several weapons themed around water, likely provided to him by the Zodiac Cartel when he joined.

Zodiac Field - Zachary Drebb was armed with an electro-magnetic weapon called the Zodiac Field powerful enough to knock Iron Man out of the sky. 

Water-Based Weaponry - Zachary Drebb and his men are shown wielding a variety of weapons that use water.

Aquarius (LMD)

Aquarius

Aquarius lmd

Real Name
Aquarius
First Appearance
Defenders (Vol. 1) #49 (July, 1977)
Creators
David Kraft, Keith Giffen
Team Affiliations
Zodiac
Aliases
None
Base of Operations
Unknown
Powers
LMD physiology
Skills and Abilities
Fighting Experience
Paraphernalia
Water Gun

After Drebb was killed, an android called a Life Model Decoy (or LMD) replaced him and all of the other members of the Zodiac, save for Scorpio.

Origin

Using SHIELD technology, the criminal known as Scorpio created android replacements for the Zodiac cartel he was working with, in order to have a criminal organization under his complete control.  Aquarius was one such android.

Biography

Aquarius was one of eleven androids created by Scorpio, a member of the Zodiac cartel.  When the superhero team The Defenders attacked Scorpio's base, his hand was forced to activate the androids, with designs to use them to usurp the 11 other heads of the Zodiac cartel.  Scorpio intended to use them to kill his brother, the super agent Nick Fury, but the Defenders defeated them with the help of the hero Moon Knight.  Surprisingly, Aquarius proved to be ineffective during this mission, as despite being an artificial lifeform, Aquarius wasn't inherently loyal to his creator and with the Scorpio sign being opposed to the Aquarius sign, Aquarius chose not to lift a finger to help him.  While he was planning to escape, he decided to watch the battle out of curiosity about who would win but was knocked unconscious by teammate Aries by accident. After their defeat, Aquarius and several other members of the Zodiac cartel were taken into custody by SHIELD.

Aquarius (Ecliptic)

Aquarius (Thanos)

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