Armadillo (comics)
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Armadillo (Antonio Rodriguez), is a fictional character, a minor former supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in Captain America #308.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Antonio Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas. He was given superhuman strength and durability by an organization of the Power Broker. Unfortunately, this process bonded his costume to his body giving him a freakish appearance.
The Armadillo's original motivation during his criminal career was to get enough money to be able to pay a doctor to discover a way to cure his girlfriend, Maria, of an unspecified terminal illness. When she was cured from her treatment, Maria abandoned him because of his appearance. Since that time his motive has been to secure enough money to pay the Power Broker or some other scientist to reverse the process which transformed him.
His appearances have been mostly limited to his incarceration in the Vault following a rampage after discovering his estranged wife with another man. Having been talked out of a criminal career by Captain America and his allies, Armadillo only wished to serve out the remainder of his sentence. To this end, he fought against various supervillains who wished to engineer large-scale breakouts, including Venom and later various supervillains released by the Thunderbolts as they broke out Moonstone.
After being released from the Vault, Armadillo became the regional champion of the Ultimate Fighting League (in the odd last issues of the first Thunderbolts series). After his defeat by Daniel Axum (formerly the villain Battler), Armadillo was reduced to begging in an alleyway. There, he talked Daniel Axum out of joining a Spider-Man Revenge Squad.
Having fallen on hard times, Armadillo proceeded to join the Constrictor and Jack O'Lantern in robbing an armored car. After his defeat by Hercules, Armadillo was incarcerated at The Raft, and chained to Tiger Shark. During the break-out initiated by Electro, Armadillo and Tiger Shark escaped and hid out in the town of Fairbury, Illinois. There, they were confronted by the New Warriors, resulting in a battle in which both fugitives were defeated. Afterwards, Armadillo joined Vil-Anon, a twelve-step group dedicated to helping individuals overcome their criminal tendencies.
Recently at the end of Civil War, he was spotted at the funeral of Stilt-Man, which occurs in Punisher War Journal, Issue # 4. Armadillo was also taking place in the 50-State Initiative, as a member of Texas' superhero team, The Rangers.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Due to a muscle-enhancing procedure performed on him by the villainous Power Broker, the Armadillo has superhuman strength and durability. Originally it was thought that his costume, a scaly nine-foot-tall orange armored hide with claws useful for digging through earth, was bonded to his skin by this process. It was later revealed that it was not a costume, but part of his body that had been mutagenically altered with the genetic material of an actual armadillo. His armor is bulletproof and his claws can tear through all but the most dense of substances.
The Armadillo is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant as he was a skilled street fighter prior to his superhuman transformation.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] List of titles
- Avengers Spotlight #26
- Avengers: Deathtrap, The Vault
- Captain America #308, 316, 340
- Fantastic Four #336
- Sensational She-Hulk #30
- Thunderbolts Annual '97
- Civil War #7
