Origin
On a distant planet called Dakkam, a scientist named Hektu had come to believe that their sun was going nova, thereby threatening to destroy his world. In a last effort to save his family, he and his wife Soja planned to save their infant son named Wundarr from their world’s destruction. They placed him aboard a ship that would maintain his life support as long as necessary, and launched him into outer space. Hektu and Soja later made flight and were captured and executed by the Internal Security Force to prevent them from alarming the populace. To his dismay Hektu found his apocalyptic prediction would be incorrect, and that he had sent his son away into the stars needlessly.
Creation
Wundarr the Aquarian is a Marvel Comics character created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik in Adventure into Fear #17 in October 1973. His first appearance was written to be a parody of the origin of the D.C Comics iconic hero Superman.
The Aquarian was one of four characters to be relaunched in 2005 as Marvel.com presented them as choices. The Aquarian took second place to the character Death’s Head. Steve Gerber asked his fans on the Howard the Duck Yahoo! Group to vote against a revival of the character, since he would have neither creative control nor receive financial compensation from such a relaunch.
The character also stands out for being the single character ever to withstand a zombie-bite and filtering the disease out of his body, thus not becoming a zombie. Not even Wolverine has been able to do this.
Major Story Arcs
Earthfall
It would later be found out that Hektu’s apocalyptic prediction was incorrect, and that he sent his son away for nothing. In July 1951, Wundarr’s ship was caught by Earth’s gravitational pull, and passed through a layer of cosmic rays before entering Earth’s atmosphere and crashing in a Florida swamp. An elderly couple known only as Maw and Paw observed the crash from their car. Paw considered checking out the crash site, but Maw insisted that it might’ve contained Martians or Communists and demanded that he ignore it. (Maw and Paw being possible parodies of the couple that found the crashed Superman). He therefore stayed in the ship for a number of years, growing to physical maturity, though keeping the mind of a child.
Twenty years later, Wundarr was released, and the first creature he sees is Man-Thing, which he is convinced is his mother. He learns very quickly of his amazing strength, and bests Man-Thing in battle. Man-Thing’s continued attempts to be left alone result in Wundarr eventually deciding that Man-Thing is not his mother.
With his great leaping ability, he eventually reaches the base that once belonged to Dr. Hydro, where Namor and Namorita are trying to rehabilitate the population of transformed humans. Namor believes that he is a malicious intruder, and quickly scares him off. Two Dakkam officials, Tuumar and Zeneg, despite their belief that Wundarr is stupid, believe that he may seek to avenge his father, and send a Mortoid robot to assassinate him. Wundarr’s leaps bring him down in New York City, where he encounters Ben Grimm walking home from a screening of Five Fingers of Death. Landing in the middle of traffic, Wundarr is hurt, and lashes back childishly, throwing cars around. Ben pulls no punches trying to stop him, but quickly realizes he is not dealing with a supervillain. Namor and Namorita, having followed Wundarr, try to restrain Ben, which leads to fisticuffs between Namor and Thing. Wundarr also found himself menaced by the Tiger Shark. Tuumar and Zeneg use this as the opportunity to kill Wundarr “for tranquility”. When Ben and Namor team up and destroy the Mortoid, Tuumar and Zeneg flee, and Grimm is left to be “Unca Benjy” to Wundarr, whom Reed Richards determines to be of high intellect, but with the knowledge and experience of a child. Reed built Wundarr a containment suit that enabled his body to expel small amounts of energy so that his body would not overload.
The Aquarian
Wundarr was captured by the Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. leaders in order to test his abilities. During these tests, the project leaders decided to use his energy-dampening abilities to probe the Cosmic Cube, a device of great cosmic power. While probing, the Cosmic Cube overloaded Wundarr’s mind and body, sending him into an autistic coma (though his energy-dampening field still functioned). This overload of energy greatly boosted his abilities, both mental and physical, giving him his power-dampening ability. Being in communication with the Cube, though for but a short time, he was granted great knowledge and a sense of purpose.
He awoke from his coma, and was further transformed by the Cosmic Cube. In light of his new knowledge, he renamed himself “The Aquarian”. His new power allowed him to defeat the Nth Man. Since then, he roams somewhat aimlessly, seeking to bring peace and enlightenment to the Earth. For a time, he led the Water-Children, a philosophical cult dedicated to pacifism and awaiting the coming of the Celestial Messiah. Aquarian served as a psychic nesting place for the Cosmic Cube, just before it awoke to sentience. Aquarian was attacked by fellow Dakkamite Quantum, but was saved by the hero Quasar. Aquarian also aided Doctor Strange in preventing planet-wide disasters on Earth.
The Initiative and Marvel Zombies
Wundarr is currently a member of The Command, the official Initiative team of Florida. When on a mission to the Florida swamplands with his team, they were attacked by zombies from another reality. He and Jennifer Kale are assaulted by the Deadpool from the zombified reality and is infected, but with Jennifer Kale’s help they are able to kill zombie Deadpool. Wundarr believes he can purge himself of the infection but has to put himself in suspended animation inside a force-field, regretfully leaving Jennifer Kale on her own until he’s done. Aquarian managed to heal himself, making him, so far, the only Marvel hero that survived the bite of a Marvel Zombie.
Powers and Abilities
Wundarr’s exposure to cosmic rays granted him his superhuman powers. The radiation from the Earth’s sun causes all Dakkamites to undergo further mutagenic effects.
Initially, Wundarr could absorb energy directly into his body. This energy was converted into kinetic energy which could be used to increase his physical strength, allowing him to bench up to 15 tons. he could also utilize the kinetic energy in leaping, or in energy projection. To keep him from building up more energy than his body could handle, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four built him a suit that would allow him to “drain” the energy in his body.
As the Aquarian, his exposure to the energies of the Cosmic Cube his body generated a field around him that nullified nearly all forms of energy (kinetic, electrical, magnetic, gamma, gravitational, etc.). This field would generate energies that are higher than a certain preset level which he calls his “null field”. This field naturally resides five feet from his body, and he cannot disable it; it is active at all times regardless of whether he is conscious or not. With concentration, however, he can contract this field to within five inches (127 mm), or expand it to 500 feet (150 m). He can also use the field to fly by projecting it behind him.
The field can stop energy attacks, including blasts from a Cosmic Cube, as well as kinetic energy. He was, for instance, able to shrug off an attack by Captain America, or lower the kinetic energy from a bunch of tentacles so that they had to let go of him. Captain America was, however, able to stop him using an akido hold, since that did not involve the direct expenditure of energy.
After being in contact with the Cosmic Cube, he is left with an unimaginable knowledge which he calls “Everything and Nothing”. He appears to have a strong grasp on the properties of life and death, as well as peace and discourse. He is sometimes shown transmitting (through touch) this knowledge to other beings, often in order to create harmony.