Crucible:Astonishing Hydraulic Man
The Astonishing Hydraulic Man
[edit] | |
| Real Name | Reuben J. Lipschitz |
|---|---|
| Identity | Public |
| Affiliation | None known |
| Base of Operations | New York City |
| Status | Active |
| Known Relatives | Unknown |
| First Appearance | BOOSTER #91 |
| Creator | Ed Messina |
“They laughed at little Reuben! But you're not laughin' now, are ya?”
— Hydraulic Man
Hydraulic Man is the armored criminal identity of inventor Reuben J. Lipschitz, a socially awkward scientific genius whose lifelong resentment over being overlooked eventually exploded into bizarre supervillainy. Using an enormous hydraulic battlesuit capable of extending hundreds of meters into the air, Lipschitz transformed himself from one of the shortest men in the room into one of the tallest threats in the modern era.
He remains one of the strangest enemies ever faced by Booster.
Early Life
[edit]Reuben J. Lipschitz spent most of his life being ignored.
Not dramatically ignored. Not tragically ignored. Just…overlooked.
Painfully short but not quite short enough for anyone to consider it remarkable, Reuben lived in the uncomfortable middle ground where people constantly noticed his height just long enough to dismiss him afterward. He was picked last for sports, mocked by classmates, patronized by taller men, and consistently unsuccessful with women.
According to Reuben, the world was designed for everybody except him.
Even his brilliance went unnoticed.
Though extraordinarily gifted in engineering and applied mechanics, Lipschitz struggled socially throughout his youth, retreating increasingly into science and invention as compensation for his feelings of humiliation and inadequacy.
Those feelings eventually became obsession.
The Breaking Point
[edit]The final emotional collapse reportedly occurred during a disastrous homeschool prom attended by Amanda Matthews. Reuben, already deeply infatuated with Amanda, finally gathered the courage to ask her to dance.
Unfortunately, his mother was serving as a chaperone.
According to several deeply embarrassed witnesses, she repeatedly interrupted the dance to pull Amanda away and dance with Reuben herself while loudly praising her son.
Something inside Reuben snapped permanently that evening.
Later accounts suggest he spent the following weeks in near-total isolation, redesigning experimental hydraulic technologies with manic intensity.
When he finally reappeared, he did so elevated hundreds of meters above the city streets.
The Astonishing Hydraulic Man
[edit]Using an elaborate hydraulic combat suit of his own design, Reuben transformed himself into The Astonishing Hydraulic Man, a towering mechanized figure capable of extending on colossal hydraulic stilts to impossible heights.
To Reuben, the symbolism mattered deeply.
No one would ever look down on him again.
Hydraulic Man’s first appearances involved bizarre rampages across the city skyline, during which he loudly announced grievances stretching back to childhood while crushing buildings, blasting traffic, and demanding respect from a terrified public.
Though undeniably dangerous, his melodramatic personality and wildly specific insecurities also made him difficult to take entirely seriously.
This infuriated him further.
Battles With Booster
[edit]Hydraulic Man became a recurring enemy of Booster, whose combination of confidence, athleticism, popularity, and effortless charisma represented everything Reuben believed the world unfairly rewarded.
Booster’s tendency to joke during fights only made matters worse.
Their confrontations often escalated into chaotic battles across rooftops and city streets as Hydraulic Man attempted to prove his superiority through sheer size and destructive spectacle. Despite repeated defeats, Reuben continually rebuilt and upgraded his hydraulic systems, convinced each new version would finally earn him the respect he deserved.
Or at least stop people laughing.
Skills
[edit]Despite his emotional instability, Reuben Lipschitz is a genuine scientific genius.
- Advanced hydraulic engineering
- Mechanical systems design
- Weapons engineering
- Robotics and armored systems
- Industrial-scale mechanics
Many engineers privately admit his hydraulic innovations are astonishingly sophisticated.
They just wish he had chosen literally any other use for them.
Technology
[edit]Hydraulic Man’s armored suit is a massive hydraulic exosystem capable of extraordinary extension and lifting power.
Known systems include:
- Extensible hydraulic stilts reaching enormous heights
- Heavy armored protection
- Built-in weapons systems
- Stabilization and balance controls
- Hydraulic crushing strength
- Defensive shielding and reinforcement systems
The suit effectively functions as a walking industrial disaster.
Personality
[edit]Hydraulic Man is insecure, theatrical, emotionally volatile, and strangely sympathetic beneath the madness. Reuben desperately wants validation, admiration, and acknowledgment after a lifetime of humiliation and invisibility.
Unfortunately, he seeks those things by becoming a giant screaming armored menace.
His bitterness toward attractive, confident, or socially successful people runs deep, though traces of vulnerability occasionally emerge beneath the bluster. At heart, Reuben is still the lonely kid nobody took seriously.
Now he just happens to be three hundred feet tall.
Legacy
[edit]Hydraulic Man became one of the more eccentric recurring villains of the modern era and a memorable foe of Booster. His stories combined Silver Age absurdity, modern psychological insecurity, and giant-scale mechanical mayhem into a character who was simultaneously ridiculous and oddly tragic.
Because in the end, Reuben Lipschitz really did achieve his dream.
The whole world noticed him.
That just turned out to be a problem for everybody else.