Friday, August 27, 2021

AQUEDUCT

 


AQUEDUCT

Real Name: Peter Van Zante
First Appearance: Ghost Rider (Vol. 2) #23, April 1977 (As Water Wizard); The New Warriors (Vol. 1) #7, January 1991 (As Aqueduct)

Powers: Peter Van Zante was a United States Army soldier who was injured in combat overseas and transported by ship back home while strapped into an experimental life support unit. Lightning stuck the ship and the energy was conducted through his body, somehow giving him the power to manipulate liquids. Turning to crime, he initially adopted the costumed identity of the Water Wizard and later Aqueduct after briefly working with environmental activists.

Aqueduct can psionically manipulate all liquids within 500 feet of him by stacking liquid molecules. Though he tends to manipulate water more than anything else, he has also affected oil and coolant fluids in the past.
He is able to shape liquids into different forms (such as giant hands, waterfalls, solid restraints, and even geysers) and create enough surface tension in the liquid that it feels like a solid mass.

His control over his liquid creations is absolute until it has dissipated or he loses focus, interest, or consciousness. Aqueduct can cool and condense moisture from the atmosphere in order to form a fresh supply of water for him to manipulate virtually anywhere. He can pull water and other liquids from many sources, including sprinkler systems, underground rivers, and nearby bodies of water. He can affect water molecules within both the human body and technology (such as vehicles and armored suits), and he can
dehydrate people and objects, extracting fluid from them and displacing it into the atmosphere.

He can make water flow and move about in mid-air, and direct it as highly-pressurized streams that carry a solid impact. Thus, he can create giant creatures made of water which are strong enough to shatter wood with their fists, or create a "jet ski" made of water and ride away sitting on top of it. He can propel himself forward on jets of liquid over vast distances at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, so long as water remains available for him to manipulate. After 30 minutes of steady water control, Van Zante experiences mental fatigue. Additionally, he cannot convert or control liquids once they've been transitioned to a solid or gaseous states, nor can he control the temperature of water (or combine hydrogen and oxygen to create water). His powers were briefly enhanced by the mystic Moondark, allowing him to make larger liquid constructs with hellfire immunity.

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