El Diablo

El Diablo is the name of several supernatural super-heroes in theDC Universe .

Lazarus Lane

El Diablo
Real Name	Lazarus Lane (first El Diablo) Rafael Sandoval (second El Diablo) Chato Santana (current El Diablo)
First Appearance	All-Star Western (Vol. 2) #2 (October, 1970) (Lazarus Lane) El Diablo (Vol. 1) #1 (August, 1989) (Rafael Sandoval) El Diablo (Vol. 2) #1 (September, 2008) (Chato Santana)
Creators	Robert Kanigher, Gray Morrow (Lazarus Lane) Gerard Jones, Mike Parobeck (Rafael Sandoval) Jai Nitz, Phil Hester, Ande Parks (Chato Santana)
Team Affliations	The Rough Bunch, Justice Riders (Lazarus Lane) Justice League (Rafael Sandoval) Suicide Squad, Checkmate (Chato Santana)
Aliases	None
Base of Operations	Mobile
Powers	Demonic possession (Lazarus Lane) Pyrokinesis (Chato Santana)
Skills and Abilities	Fighting Skills, Sharp Shooter, Whip Mastery (Lazarus Lane) Olympic level boxer and athlete (Rafael Sandoval)
Paraphenalia	Bullwhip

The first hero to be called El Diablo was a bank teller who became a crime fighter in the old west following a near death experience.

Origin

Lazarus Lane was a bank teller who was left for dead by a gang of thieves. After being struck by lightning, he was found and revived by a Native American shaman named Wise Owl.  Since then, he has fought criminals under the name El Diablo. According to Jonah Hex vol. 2, #11 (Nov. 2006) and #24 (Dec. 2007), Lazarus Lane is cursed to be the host of a minor demon which acts as a Spirit of Vengeance. Lane's body slumbers in a coma while "El Diablo" roams the Earth. His fate is similar to that of the current Crimson Avenger. In Swamp Thing vol. 2, #85 (April 1989), Wise Owl is shown in a more villainous light, with Lane/El Diablo his unwilling servant. In that story, set in 1872, a number of DC's western heroes (including the aforementioned Hex, Bat Lash, Johnny Thunder, and Madame .44) were employed by Otto Von Hammer and Jason Blood to defeat Wise Owl and recover from him an object of great power, which turned out to be a crystal containing the spirit of Swamp Thing, who had become lost in time. When the group killed Wise Owl, Lane's comatose body woke up, and El Diablo apparently vanished forever.

Rafael Sandoval

The second hero to be called El Diablo was a rookie member of the city council of Dos Rios, Texas.

Origin

As a boy, Rafael Sandoval heard the legends of the Devil himself bringing vengeance on the guilty from his father. Afterwards, Sandoval's father was killed in a construction accident, caused by unsafe working conditions and the wealthy owner of the company escaped with no punishment. Rafael was soon taken under the wing of a priest who taught him boxing. Years later, he went to college and became a lawyer after graduating. He returned to his home in Dos Rios, Texas, and was elected to the city council. However, the political machine worked against him, preventing him from making a real difference. Sandoval created his version of El Diablo (from a festival costume and an old boxing persona and local legends surrounding the Devil) after being stymied by officials while trying to pursue the case of a serial arsonist. Subsequent efforts involved battles with illicit drug smugglers using maquiladora covers for their activities, a hunt for a serial killer, conflicts with human-smuggling operations, and with Sandoval's own conscience over how best to serve the people of Dos Rios. Rafael Sandoval's character has subsequently made guest appearances in one of the Justice League titles, in which he is possessed by the spirit of an Aztec god-emperor and takes on an appearance reminiscent of the Lazarus Lane Diablo. He also appeared in the Villains United Special when he was pulled out of retirement by Oracle to serve in her de facto Justice League, whereupon he was attacked by a member of the Royal Flush Gang during a battle at the Enclave M prison in the Sonora Valley, Mexico. He was wounded in the battle, but saved from death by the warden of the facility.

Chato Santana

The third and most current hero to be called El Diablo is an ex-criminal named Chato Santana. Chato gained the power of Pyrokinesis after he encountered the spirit of the first El Diablo, Lazarus Lane, whose body was lying next to his bed in a comatose state, when he fought against death when his former fellow criminals came to kill him so he couldn't turn them in. With his new powers, he escaped and began his new life and career as the new El Diablo. In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Santana's El Diablo was a member of the Suicide Squad. He was later recruited into Checkmate under the leadership of Uncle Sam, until he realized that he was being lied to and abandoned them in search of the truth.

Media

In the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, the Lazarus Lane version of El Diablo was just a character similar to Zorro.