El Valiente
El Valiente (The Valiant One), is a fictional character, a comic book superhero created by Ray Ramos and published under the Adversary Comix imprint. The character made his first appearance in La Leyenda de El Valiente (May 2005).
A former masked luchador from Texas, El Valiente was murdered in the wrestling ring by his arch-nemesis Professor Terror and later resurrected by a group of benevolent space aliens who bestowed upon him superhuman abilities. Resolving to use his new-found powers for the good of his community and the world at large, El Valiente became a crime-fighter and monster hunter. Operating in El Paso, he FACES an assortment of villains ranging from common criminals, megalomaniac supervillains, and mythical monsters. While the general public lovingly refers to him as "The Big Red V" and his allies know him as "El Val", in true Lucha Libre tradition, El Valiente's secret identity has never been revealed.
El Valiente has proven to be a popular character after his introduction, garnering media attention and becoming the star of his own self-titled series The character's popularity has earned him guest-starring roles in several other publications, including 2008's War of the Independents saga.
Powers, abilities and resources
Other than his fighting ability, the space creatures blessed El Valiente with super strength, super speed and agility. While unable to fly, El Valiente is able to leap great distances. These are sometimes referred to as El Valiente's "meat-head" powers. In addition to his extraordinary strength is a high endurance and threshold to pain. The more damage he receives, the more powerful he becomes and he begins to build what is described as "kinetic energy". He can use this energy to heal himself or others, on one occasion resurrecting the recently deceased. He can also discharge the force of the energy build up to attack his foes, which is made audible by his battle cry, "¡ARRIBA LOS TECNICOS!" ("Rally the heroes!")
Another powerful tool in El Valiente's arsenal is his large data bank and library which is filled with various villains he has faced along with old apocryphal texts on monsters and crypto-zoological creatures.
Supporting characters
El Valiente's best known supporting character is his young ward, El Niño Heroe, who has been a recurring character since his introduction. He has also been known to join forces with other superheroes such as Tigre de Oro, DeSantiago, and the Los Meksmen group. The War of the Independents, features El Valiente fighting demons alongside Azteca Productions' El Gato Negro and Geronimo Press' Aym Geronimo characters.
Enemies
El Valiente's fiercest foe is that of Professor Terror. Other recurring antagonists in his rogues gallery include Malvado Desgraciado, La Muerte, Dracula, and even the Loch Ness Monster.