Esteban Corazón De Ablo (Earth-616)

Esteban Corazón De Ablo was born the son of a nobleman in Spain during late 9th century (or 19th century upon some). A curious, inventive and insatiable young lad, De Ablo was fascinated when researching the ancient science of alchemy.

When his father died, De Ablo managed his state to get funds and travel through Europe looking for documents and artifacts about alchemy, and for potions and herbs he intended to use to perform experiments. In ten years, De Ablo became the greatest living authority in alchemy in the world, having discovered, re-discovered or invented countless potions with strange properties.

Arrogant and cunning, De Ablo began to use his knowledge for personal profit. Eventually, he became too powerful and the Order of Deacons banished him from Spain.

De Ablo traveled to Transylvania to continue his researches. He decided to settle there and build a permanent laboratory. He bought a specious castle (upon some historians in suspicious circumstances) and began working. De Ablo was worried because most of his potions had a transitory effect, although no secondary effects.

Apparently, De Ablo sold his own soul to the demon Mephisto in exchange for the secret of eternal life. De Ablo thus eventually discovered an elixir that could hamper aging. He drank it and slowly became mad. Calling himself Diablo (a clear perturbation of his surname, and also a Spanish word meaning "devil"), he began a reign of terror on Transylvania and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the peasants eventually rebelled, took him by surprise and buried him at a massive crypt. Fortunately, he could access to his long-live serum from the crypt.

De Ablo was buried until the 1950s, when he was freed because of the actions of superhero team First Line and Doctor Strange, but he was returned to the crypt soon afterwards.

Later, De Ablo managed to mesmerize another superhero, Thing of the Fantastic Four, and forced him to open the crypt. De Ablo had not aged appreciably although he had spent one century trapped. He then began planning new alchemy schemes.

De Ablo explained the Thing that he had been trapped and needed a very strong person to free him. He also rewarded the Thing by partially returning him to his human form. He offered the Thing a permanent return to it, in exchange for his help during one year. The Thing agreed, even as the rest of Fantastic Four objected.

Mister Fantastic stole a sample of the serum De Ablo had used on the Thing and discovered that De Ablo's potions were dangerous and temporary. Meanwhile, De Ablo performed "miracles" all over the world with his potions, and secretly amassed an army. Then, the Thing unexpectedly returned to his rocky form, breaking De Ablo's control over him. The effects of his other potions over the world also vanish. The Fantastic Four, including the Thing, confronted and defeated De Ablo.

De Ablo was famous as a patient villain who does not want to conquer a world too advanced for his time. He commonly acts ons his own or using alchemy servants such as the Primary Elementals, five creatures he himself created (Water, Air, Earth, Fire and the Trans-Mutant). He does not trust in human allies, and became obsessed with the destruction of the Fantastic Four.

At some point of his career, De Ablo took a woman as his apprentice and lover, Lillian von Loont, alias Gilded Lily. Probably Lily was a accomplished alchemist way before meeting De Ablo - she seems to enjoy the style of the 1920s and De Ablo only awoke in the 1960s. Apparently, Lily and De Ablo parted ways at some point.

As a part of one of his schemes, De Ablo took control of a giant, lifeless android built by Professor Gregson Gilbert. Using alchemy, De Ablo gave live to the android and dubbed it Dragon Man. Dragon Man was incapable of speech, but he understood De Ablo's order and became a foe of the Fantastic Four. Being easily manipulated and provoked to violence, Dragon Man gave them a good fight, but was eventually defeated. De Ablo abandoned Dragon Man, who would eventually serve other super villains, and escaped. Notice that the serum that gave life to Dragon Man is permanent, unlike most of De Ablo's serums.

Diablo also met Desmond Pitt, a USAF pilot who had been genetically mutated by Doctor Doom to resemble a demon called Darkoth, and memory-wiped to believe he was the legendary demon, rescued from the Netherworld. Diablo enhanced Darkoth's powers. Later, Darkoth would became Doctor Doom's enemy and the Thing's ally, but kept no contact with Diablo.

Meanwhile, Diablo used his powers to transform Baru, the deposed king of Canaan, into living Vibranium.

He eventually tried to retire from a criminal life and went to prison to serve his time - not very important for him, being immortal.

Meanwhile, Lily had been apparently destroyed in a battle with Alpha Flight, but she came to consciousness again and craved for revenge. Manifesting only as an alchemical mist, Lily recruited the help of Diablo, summoning him with electricity from a NY prison and forcing him to create a potion which would allow Lily to possess the body of Aurora.

During the battle with Alpha Flight, Diablo gravely injured Madison Jeffries. Jeffries' girlfriend Diamond Lil remained with him even risking her own life, and they confessed their mutual love. Jeffries asked Lil to marry him "if we make it out alive", which they would.

The battle with Alpha Flight ended in disaster because Aurora grabbed the potion and forced Lily to take it. This canceled Lily's immortality potion and thus Lily died. Diablo left, swearing not to trust another living being, specially an alchemist, ever again.

Recently, sorcerer Nicholas Scratch summoned to Earth demon Shuma Gorath. Scratch intended to offer his services in return for his life, and Barbados. Understanding that Shuma Gorath was a threat to himself and to all life on Earth, Diablo allied with his former enemies the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange and the Salem's Seven. Together, the expelled Shuma Gorath.

Other Earths

On Earth-982, an alternate future version of Diablo imprisoned Kristoff, the new Doctor Doom, and released the Elementals of Doom. However, he was defeated by the Fantastic Five (MC2); after this, Kristoff joined the Fantastic Five.

On the Earth of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Diablo was insane and imprisoned in the Stockade. He met Charlie-27, who had suffered a beating, and healed him with some potions. He intended to use the same potions to control him. Charlie-27 left and Diablo remained in the Stockade, patiently waiting for the Dragon Man to rescue him. Probably this rescue operation was only a delirium of Diablo, and the Dragon Man was unavailable for it.

During the Age of Apocalypse, Diablo was aligned with Apocalypse. Alongside the Absorbing Man, Diablo was warden of a prison camp in the Aztec ruins of Mexico.

On the Earth of Amalgam Comics, a combination of Diablo with DC Comics character The Volcano Man, known as Diablo the Volcano Man, was an enemy of the Challengers of the Fantastic.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Due to his use of alchemy potions, Diablo is apparently immortal, or at least does not age. He also has a greater stamina than could be expected, and has shown some kind of telepathic hypnosis.

Abilities

Alchemy. Fluent in Spanish and English languages. He has a genius intelligence and probably is a gifted hypnotist (although this could be one of his powers).

Strength level

Diablo possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Diablo always carries an arsenal of alchemy potions and pills he discovered or invented, in the hidden pockets of his suit. Although the range of his power is wide, all of the feats are temporary unless Diablo provides a second dose. The only exceptions are the elixir he used on Dragon Man and his longevity serum.

Diablo can affect his own body by changing his appearance to look like a different person, or by becoming a nerveless protoplasm blob, which protects him from certain forms of damage.
Diablo can control other people with gas pills, including nervous gas or hypnotic gas, or even a pill to resist death through cell regeneration. Some potions knock down people by reducing their body temperatures, and of course he has pills to increase the susceptibility of people to his hypnotic orders.
He can also perform temporal molecular transmutation (stones to feathers), modeling surface features and cause explosions equivalent to 56 pounds of TNT. He can create objects from nothing or transform an object from one state to another (water to ice, for instance) He can also animate inanimate matter and control items and beings formed from alchemy elements (earth, air, water and fire).

Trivia

Diablo is a Spanish word meaning "devil".
Originally, Diablo's real name was "Esteban Diablo". In Spain, it would have been impossible to have a surname such as Diablo - even more in the 9th century, when religion was so powerful - and anyhow he could not belong to any noble family with such a surname. Thus, his real name was recently retconned to "Esteban Corazón del Diablo" (literally Esteban Devilheart), which was not really a great progress. More recently, Diablo has been treated by Spanish artists such as Carlos Pacheco and his surname has been readapted as De Ablo: Prefix "De" was a sign of nobility in Spain, and "Ablo" is not an existing word, but could be a perturbation of Pablo, the Spanish name of apostle Paul.
It is still unclear whether Corazón is Diablo's first surname (being De Ablo his second surname, or his mother's surname) or, alternatively, Corazón is his second name. Anyhow, Corazón is not common as a first name or as a surname in Spain.
Originally, Diablo's place of birth was listed as Saragossa in sources such as the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 3. Currently, the proper name in English for this place is Zaragoza (same pronunciation).
The Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe (and related publications) list Diablo's Legal Status as "Spanish citizen with a criminal record in the United States", which is extraordinary considering that citizens older than 1000 are usually legally deceased.

Appearances in Other Media

Heroclix Diablo

Diablo first appeared in the third episode of Fantastic Four (1967 TV series), "Diablo", which mainly adapted "The Dreaded Diablo!" (Fantastic Four #30), Diablo's first appearance.
Diablo appears as a figure in Heroclix's fourth set, Critical Mass (released Dec 2003, retired Sept 2005).
Diablo appears in Fantastic Four (2005 video-game), voiced by Andre Sogliuzzo, but is not the main villain.
Cartoon Network TV series Dexter's Lab feature a character called "Dr. Diablos", an enemy of the Justice Friends. Dr. Diablos is an amalgam of Diablo, Dr. Doom and the Green Goblin. The word "diablos" is the plural form in Spanish for "diablo".

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