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Antonio Rodriguez (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

Character Template Help
Real Name
Current Alias

Identity

Alignment

Affiliation
The Rangers, Vil-Anon; Former minion of Dr. Karl Malus; former member of the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation and the Ultimate Fighting League

Relatives

Universe

Base Of Operations

Characteristics
Gender

Height


Eyes

Hair

Unusual Features
All his body has been transformed into an orange-skinned creature with a thick hide, claws and armor plates, similar to an armadillo's, his hair was formerly Black.

Status
Marital Status

Occupation
Former criminal and professional wrestler.

Origin
Origin
Mutate

Place of Birth
San Antonio, Texas


Contents

History

Origin

Little is known about the background of Antonio Rodriguez other than he had a criminal record and a wife named Bonita. His wife critically stricken with an undiagnosed disease, Rodriguez took her to every doctor who would see her but none was able to help her.

In desperation, Rodriguez sought the criminal scientist Dr. Karl Malus, an expert in the generation and bestowal of superhuman powers, whom he heard about while in prison. Malus agreed to try to cure her in exchange for Rodriguez agreeing to become his test subject and employee for an indefinite period of time. Malus subjected Rodriguez to an experimental process that combined genetic material from an armadillo with the man's human genes. Dubbing Rodriguez the Armadillo, he assigned him to break into the Avengers' West Coast compound to steal the comatose body of the villain Goliath, a former subject of Malus who was being held there. Malus provided Armadillo with a serum to reduce Goliath's immense body to something he could transport discretely.

Rodriguez agreed but found himself in combat with the visiting Avenger, Captain America. Although physically superior, Rodriguez lost to Captain America's superior combat skills. Trapped in a net due to Captain America, Armadillo decided to explain his situation (after all, he had been talking about a "life or death situation" during all the fight). Taking compassion on the Armadillo's plight, Captain America refused to turn him over to the authorities.

Armadillo had to leave because, during the fight, he had lost the serum. Captain America suggested that Armadillo could ask Malus for more serum; however, Captain America wanted to follow Armadillo to Malus' hide-out. There, Captain America injured Malus. Malus ordered Armadillo to attack Captain America, but Captain America advised Armadillo not to; they could inadvertedly damage some artifact that could be vital for Bonita.

After Malus cured Bonita, Rodriguez then joined the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation. The Armadillo became a major draw for the UCWF, and remained in his monstrous form to earn money for himself and his wife. Armadillo's manager was Lennie J. Feitler. He became a fan favorite and his victory over Doc Sawbones was seen by Captain America himself.

In and Out of Prison

However, when Rodriguez discovered Bonita was seeing another man, a person called Ramon, he went on a grief-stricken rampage, attacking even Feitler and Captain America, that was halted only when he jumped from the side of the Empire State Building. Gravely injured, he was reprimanded to police custody.

Rodriguez remained, serving time in the super-villain correctional facility known as the Vault. Truly repentant, he was awaiting his parole for the following years.

During the Armor Wars, and due to Iron Man attack on the Vault, the center suffered a power outage and many prisoners were freed from their cells. Armadillo tried to run away alongside fellow runaways Mister Hyde and Titania. However, she considered that Armadillo could slow the group and knock him away. Armadillo eventually escaped on his own, finding Captain America's van and a person protecting it: Vagabond, one of Captain America's allies. Vagabond convinced Armadillo to surrender willingly and return to the Vault. She also convinced him to abandon his original scheme to get revenge on his unfaithful wife.

However, years later, Loki in disguised appeared on the Vault to help the Wizard escape from the Vault. To do so, he set loose all of the prisoners. Iron Man tried to stop them, and he was attacked by many of the prisoners, including Armadillo. Eventually, Armadillo escaped the Vault before Iron Man could seal it off.

During the Acts of Vengeance, Armadillo fell under the mind control of Doctor Doom and was ordered, alongside many other villains, to attack the Fantastic Four on Washington D.C. while they were giving a speech to the congress. Armadillo and his pals were defeated by The Thing, Human Torch and the She-Thing. Armadillo probably returned to the Vault.

He was then summoned from his current moment by Isbisa, a super-villain with time-control powers. Isbisa wanted to distract the She-Hulk with some villains, including Caliban, Jack O'Lantern, Juggernaut, Master Mold, Rhino and Sabretooth - but the villains attacked each other instead of She-Hulk, and so Isbisa could be easily defeated. The villains returned to the moment they were taken from.

Again at his cell on the Vault, Armadillo decided he should remain on prison, serving his sentence. Venom engineered a new breakout from the Vault, but Armadillo did not support it. Alongside with Rhino and the Scarecrow, Armadillo fought Venom's allies Klaw and the Controller - being soundly defeated.

Armadillo tried to escape from the Vault during the following massive-breakout-used-as-diversion, this time engineered by the Thunderbolts as a means to free Moonstone. Later, he claimed to be trying to stop the escapees instead of escaping himself, and was convincing enough. He was released under parole.

Still a monster, Armadillo frequented the Bar With No Name after his liberation.

Ultimate Fighting Leaugue

Finally, Armadillo was contacted by Rey Trueno, owner of the Jersey branch of the Ultimate Fighting League. Armadillo trained under Coach Cody and became the regional champion in this new version of his former job. As a champion, he defeated a fighter know as Monster. However, he was mocked by the fans due to his monstrous aspect.

Looking for a new champion who could be more marketing-appealing, Rey Trueno hired Daniel Axum, formerly known as the villain Battler, and began grooming him. Coach Cady did not help Armadillo to prepare his fight with Axum. During the match, Armadillo felt betrayed and tried to kill Axum, but Axum won the fight and became the new champion.

Armadillo was left alone and became a beggar outside the building, ignored by his former partners. Axum saw him and bought him fast food. They talked and Axum discovered that Armadillo did not really hate him or any of the people who had defeated him. Armadillo was grateful to be alive and optimistic that the good times would come soon. With this speech, Armadillo unwittingly convinced Axum to stop his own plans for revenge against Spider-Man.

However, Armadillo worked again with super-villains Constrictor and Jack O'Lantern to rob an armored vehicle. They were defeated by Hercules and Armadillo was sent to the Raft.

Electro assaulted the Raft to release Sauron, and Armadillo was released from his cell - however, he was still chained to another prisoner, Tiger Shark. Spider-Man and Captain America went to the Raft to investigate the situation, and the prisoners, including Armadillo, battled them. Armadillo and Tiger Shark later escaped from the Raft and hide in Fairbury, Illinois.

There, he was identified by super-hero Speedball (of the New Warriors) posing as a pizza-boy. Not wanting to return to prison, Armadillo attacked. Armadillo was knocked down during the fight with the New Warriors, and rolled into a ball shape; Tiger Shark used him as a living mace. However, the New Warriors also defeated Tiger Shark, and the villains were re-imprisoned.

Armadillo joined Vil-Anon (also known as Villains Anonymous), where criminals worked a twelve-step program to overcame criminal tendencies.

Civil War

During the Civil War, he was spotted at the funeral of Stilt-Man. After poisoning the guests, the Punisher blew up the bar in which the wake had been held. They all had to get their stomachs pumped and were treated for third-degree burns.

Around this time, he was seen entering the office of The Consultant, a criminal PR agent of sorts who improves the reputation and occasionally powers of super-villains. Upon Armadillo's entering his office, the Consultant asked his secretary to cancel the rest of his appointments for the afternoon as he anticipated a lot of work improving Armadillo's image. The Armadillo later took place in the Fifty State Initiative, as a member of Texas's superhero team, The Rangers. However, he quickly decided he was not cut out to be a hero and quit.

MODOK's 11

He did lucha libre wrestling in Mexico for small cash, and was eventually recruited by MODOK. After being one of the few villains who did not betray MODOK, Armadillo gained more money than initially promised. He happily departed with Puma and Nightshade, with whom he'd developed a friendship, and showed a desire for them to remain as a team.

The Hood

The Hood hired him as part of his criminal organization to take advantage of the split in the superhero community caused by the Superhuman Registration Act. Armadillo was incarcerated at The Raft next to Doctor Doom prior to the breakout during the Skrull Invasion.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

  • Superhuman Strength: Armadillo is superhumanly strong and is capable of lifting about 25 tons.
  • Superhuman Stamina: Armadillo's advanced musculature generates consideraly bless fatigue toxins than the muscles of an ordinary human. He can exert himself at peak capacity for aobut 24 hours before fatigue begings to impair him.
  • Superhuman Durability: Armadillo's thickly scaled body possesses a high degree of resistance to injury. His body is capable of resisting high caliber machine gun shells, light anti-tank weaponry, temperature extremes, falls from great heights, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury.
  • Claws: Armadillo's four fingers end with extremely durable, non-retractable, claws. Coupled with his strength, his claws are capable of rending most known materials. They are also highly effective digging tools that he uses to dig tunnels, even though concrete.

    Abilities

Armadillo is a formidable hand to hand combatant, relying on a combination of street fighting and wrestling techniques that allow him to make full use of his size and strength.

Strength level

Armadillo is superhumanly strong and is capable of lifting about 25 tons

Trivia

  • In the non-canonical role-playing game adventure Mutating Mutants (which takes place between Armadillo's first appearance and Armadillo joining the UCWF), Armadillo is one of Karl Malus' bodyguards alongside with Goliath. The player characters (mainly Wolverine and the New Mutants) are supposed to defeat Armadillo before accessing to Malus' lab.

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