Aquarius can transform into a supernaturally powerful bottlenose dolphin ; he is nearly bulletproof, can breach ship hulls by ramming them with his rostrum, and can communicate with all other cetaceans. Aquarius retains many delphin characteristics in his human form. He is highly dependant on immersion in water — after half an hour out of water he dehydrates rapidly, his skin visibly beginning to tighten and crack.

History

See the Wild Cards Background write-up for an introduction to this fictional universe; see the Captain Trips write-up for details concerning Aquarius’s connection to Mark Meadows. Aquarius’s imaginary history has never been addressed in detail. All that is known is that his human form was originally a French-Canadian sailor.

Description

Aquarius is a huge man with the broad musculature of an Olympic weightlifter. He is gray-skinned and completely hairless, with a large swollen forehead. He only wears a pair of Speedos with the same gray tone as his skin. In his animal form he looks like an unusually large (16‘) bottlenose dolphin.

Personality

Aquarius is laconic and dour, having little interest in land dwellers and their foolishness. He has a particular disdain for those who hail from nations that still conduct whaling, whether or not they are personally involved in it. His only desire is to live his life in the sea among the dolphins. He would have swum off into the ocean depths long ago, except that he realizes that in an hour he would transform back into Mark Meadows and promptly drown. He grudgingly cooperates with Mark’s goals as he recognizes that their survival is mutually dependant.

His personality becomes even more alien while in dolphin form. He perceives the world in four dimensions — the usual three plus the flow of the water — and his sensory input is distinctly inhuman. Mark Meadows is often disoriented after spending a lot of time as Aquarius as a result of memories of this dissonant sensory input.

DC Universe History

See the Captain Trips write-up for Aquarius’ DC History in conjunction with Mark Meadows. With Mark living in Opal City, Aquarius would only have manifested on an occasional trip to the coast, and would be virtually unknown.

For a DCU history incorporating Aquarius as an independant entity, he could be another subject of the same alien experimentation that was inflicted upon Dolphin. The experiments conducted upon him had different results — Aquarius lacks Dolphin’s raw power, but enjoys somewhat greater versatility. He would undoubtedly spend most of his time foiling whaling efforts. He could do this most easily by simply warning his fellow cetaceans of the imminent threat, but would certainly also sink ships as the opportunity presented itself. He might also get involved if he discovered dolphins or whales being captured for experimental purposes.