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Cover: John Romita Jr. & Al Milgrom

The Amazing Spider-Man #212

Name: The Amazing Spider-Man #212
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jan 1981 · Marvel · 0.50 USD

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“The Coming of Hydroman!”

★ 1st appearance — Morrie Bench

About this Issue

The Amazing Spider-Man #212 is the debut of Morris 'Morrie' Bench, the water-manipulating villain who would go on to haunt Spider-Man's rogues' gallery for decades under the name Hydro-Man. The issue introduced a genuinely novel physical challenge for the wall-crawler: an opponent whose body dissolves conventional punches and who can traverse the entire water infrastructure of a city. Its legacy extends well beyond the Bronze Age page — the character was adapted for the beloved 1990s animated series, appeared on the roster of multiple villain teams in print, and served as the direct inspiration for a major set-piece villain in the 2019 MCU film Spider-Man: Far From Home. For collectors and historians alike, it stands as a textbook example of how a single, self-contained Bronze Age issue can plant a seed that grows across generations of media.

writer Denny O'Neil · artist John Romita Jr. · inker Jim Mooney · colorist Bob Sharen · letterer Jim Novak · cover John Romita Jr., Al Milgrom

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Raw (Fine) $16

CGC 9.8 · 556 in census $191

CGC 9.6 · 530 in census $120

CGC 9.4 · 344 in census $81

CGC 9.2 · 177 in census $81

CGC 9.0 · 166 in census $56

CGC 8.5 · 131 in census $56

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CGC 8.0 · 74 in census $46

CGC 7.5 · 59 in census $44

CGC 7.0 · 51 in census $33

CGC 6.5 · 26 in census $33

CGC 6.0 · 15 in census $33

CGC 5.5 · 12 in census $33

CGC 5.0 · 14 in census $21

CGC 4.5 · 6 in census $20

CGC 4.0 · 3 in census $20

CGC 3.5 · 5 in census $20

CGC 3.0 · 2 in census $20

CGC 2.5 · 1 in census $20

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CGC 9.8 ▾ $225–$320 9 listings

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History

The issue was written by Denny O'Neil — who was then the primary scripter on Amazing Spider-Man — and penciled by John Romita Jr., with inks by Jim Mooney and a cover by Romita Jr. and Al Milgrom. Milgrom also served as the book's editor, with Jim Shooter credited as editor-in-chief. The story grew organically out of the preceding Namor crossover: Spider-Man was already aboard a cargo ship finishing a battle with the Sub-Mariner when the freak accident that transforms Bench occurs, giving the new villain a built-in grudge rooted in a plausible, if fantastical, industrial mishap. The issue shipped with a January 1981 cover date at the standard Bronze Age cover price of fifty cents, placing it squarely in O'Neil's tenure on the title before Roger Stern took over with issue #224.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance and full origin of Hydro-Man (Morris 'Morrie' Bench), published with a January 1981 cover date as The Amazing Spider-Man #212.
Written by Dennis 'Denny' O'Neil; penciled by John Romita Jr.; inked by Jim Mooney; colored by Bob Sharen; lettered by Jim Novak; edited by Al Milgrom (editor-in-chief: Jim Shooter).
Story title: 'The Coming of Hydroman!' — Bench is knocked overboard from the cargo ship U.S.S. Bulldog by Spider-Man during the aftermath of a fight with Namor, and exposure to an experimental undersea generator transforms him into a being of living water.
The issue contains cameo appearances by Daily Bugle supporting cast J. Jonah Jameson and Joe Robertson, as well as a supporting role for Debra Whitman.
Hydro-Man's debut arc continued across issues #213–214, and he returned to merge with the Sandman into the composite 'Mud-Thing' creature in issue #218.
The character was reimagined for the 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series — voiced by Rob Paulsen — where he was recast as Mary Jane Watson's obsessive ex-boyfriend.
A Hydro-Man-inspired water Elemental served as a major villain set-piece in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), with director Jon Watts explicitly citing the comics character as the creative source; the film also includes a dialogue Easter egg referencing Morris Bench by name.
The issue falls in the late Bronze Age of Marvel Comics and has been collected in Essential Amazing Spider-Man trade paperback volumes as well as referenced in retrospective Omnibus editions covering O'Neil and Romita Jr.'s run on the title.