EL TORO NEGRO
Real Name: Sergio Torres
Identity/Class: Human mutate technology user
Occupation: Agent of Justin Hammer and James Johnsmeyer, probable mercenary
Group Membership: None;
formerly player in the Great Game
Affiliations: Slapstick (Steve Harmon);
former employee of Chi Huan Associates, Justin Hammer;
formerly el Tenor (Ferraro Colon)
Enemies: Cardiac (Elias Wirtham),
Carlos Cardinale,
Chance (Nicholas Powell),
el Tenor (Ferraro Colon),
Green Goblin (Phil Urich),
J. Jonah Jameson, Joystick (Janice Olivia Yanizeski),
Nightwatch (Kevin Trench),
Poison (Cecilia Cardinale),
Polestar (Thomas Duffy),
Prowler (Hobie Brown),
Rocket Racer (Robert Farrell),
Scarlet Spider (imposter, Chu Chi Huan), Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly), Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
uhm...let's just say he didn't
have a lot of friends;
formerly Slapstick (Steve Harmon)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: The Black Bull (English translation of his name)
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: Amazing Scarlet Spider#2 (December, 1995)
Powers/Abilities: El Toro Negro possessed superhuman strength (at least Class 10, probably around 15 tons or so), speed, durability, and agility. The source of these powers remains unknown. He also carried a small arsenal of conventional weaponry, including grenades, sniper rifles, machine guns, pistols, and even a leather whip. He was a skilled combatant with or without weaponry, and wasn't a bad actor either, by all accounts.
A large Latino male, El Toro Negro favors black leather and bandoliers. His skin tone changes from story to story.
History:
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#14 (fb)) - Virtually nothing is known of the past of El Toro Negro
before he became involved in the Great Game, a competition in
which various wealthy individuals placed bets on the outcomes of
battles between various superhumanly powerful individuals. The
players in the game fought other sponsored players as well as
designated superhuman beings, many of whom were unaware of the
game's existence, in hopes of winning the "ultimate
prize" promised by the game's supposed architect, James
Johnsmeyer.
(Amazing Scarlet Spider#2) - El Toro Negro was defeated and unmasked by Joystick in a match, after which Joystick traveled to the United States to fight the Scarlet Spider. El Toro Negro, not the most graceful loser, assaulted Henri, one of the Game's agents, demanding Joystick's whereabouts.
(Green Goblin#3) - Having hospitalized Henri, El Toro Negro began tracking Joystick through her cellular phone frequency. Though Joystick was warned about El Toro Negro's arrival in New York City, she arrogantly went on with a plan to lure the Scarlet Spider to a power plant and battle him for points. El Toro arrived to find Joystick battling the semi-heroic Green Goblin, but wasted no time pounding on Joystick. The Goblin tried to save her, but El Toro easily batted him into the high voltage lines. As the Goblin struck back with his electronic laugh (don't ask), the Scarlet Spider arrived on the scene and the two reluctant allies pummeled El Toro. The Scarlet Spider left him webbed upside-down for the police.
(Spider-Man I#64) - El Toro was sent by Paris Scott of the Great Game to focibly recruit the super-hero Poison into the Game, by taking her son hostage. Poison nearly agreed to his demands, but Spider-Man arrived, and convinced her not to trust him. Ultimately, Poison helped Spider-Man defeat El Toro Negro.
(Spider-Man Unlimited I#14) - Some weeks later El Toro Negro began killing everyone linked to "the Great Game," player or sponsor, starting off by killing Chu Chi Huan (OHotMU 2006#5 revelation), whom he dressed as the Scarlet Spider. Naturally, the Ben Reilly Spider-Man began tracking him, but was several steps behind him. El Toro interrupted a battle between Polestar and Nightwatch, and helped kill Nightwatch before promptly turning to slay Polestar as well. He then kidnapped Nolan Morelle, a child who had recieved benefits from he same project that empowered Nightwatch.
That night, J. Jonah Jameson foolishly allowed himself to be talked into sponsoring Spider-Man in the Great Game. Elsewhere, El Toro attacked Spider-Man's allies the Rocket Racer and the Prowler as they conducted a sham battle in the Game to pick up some extra cash. El Toro fired a bazooka shell at the two, leaving the Rocket Rcer mildly injured and breaking the Prowler's back. Reilly, more determined than ever to track the Black Bull down, found the killer lining up a sniper shot at J. Jonah Jameson and stopped him from shooting. Before anything more could happen, the mercenary Chance and the vigilante Cardiac appeared on the scene. The melee led all concerned to Johnsmeyer's headquarters, where Joystick arrived to aid Reilly in battling El Toro Negro. El Toro revealed that he had intentionally lost in battle with Joystick, and that he was actually killing off the Game's sponsors so that Johnsmeyer and Johnsmeyer could easily move in on their businesses.
However, Reilly had linked video hookups in Johnsmeyer's headquarters and transmitted El Toro's admission to all the sponsors, who promptly ended the game. Chance, never one to miss an opportunity, snatched the webbed-up El Toro away and delivered him to Justin Hammer, who'd been behind the whole thing. Hammer had El Toro strapped into some sort of device, and ignored El Toro's cries for mercy. El Toro wanted the Great Prize, the elimination of his weaknesses and the boosting of his strengths. Hammer replied that El Toro's weakness was his brain, and promptly activated a device that sawed through El Toro's head.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Spider-Man/Deadpool#20 (fb) - BTS) - El Toro Negro survived the ordeal, but it left him lobotomized.
(Spider-Man/Deadpool#20) - Cuban criminal el Tenor hired el Toro Negro as a henchman. He ordered him to kill Slapstick, but the hero quickly realized that el Toro Negro was very susceptible to any kind of command when Slapstick asked him to stop killing him and Toro Negro stopped. El Toro Negro explained how he became this way.
(Spider-Man/Deadpool#20 - BTS) - Slapstick formed an alliance with el Toro Negro, who freed him.
(Spider-Man/Deadpool#20) - Slapstick knocked out el Toro Negro's former employee el Tenor while el Toro Negro was standing next to him. El Toro Negro was all smiles.
Comments: Created by Tom Defalco and Mark Bagley; possibly fleshed out by Glenn Herdling.
Spider-Man Unlimited#14 wraps up loads of Clone-era stories, wiping out Nightwatch and the Great Game, and using dozens of the Spider-verse's lesser known characters to do so. An obscurantist's dream, in many respects. However, it makes you wonder how much of the Great Game story wrap-up was part of DeFalco's original idea. The story is dedicated to him, but was written by Glenn Herdling, who was mostly an editorial type at the time.
>Toro Negro's last name was revealed in OHotMU 2006#5.
Profile by Omar Karindu (with additions by Prime Eternal).
Update by Markus Raymond (Spider-Man/Deadpool).
Clarifications: El
Toro Negro should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Spider-Man Unlimited I#14 (El Toro Negro interrupts a fight)
Amazing Scarlet Spider#2, p23, pan3 (El Toro Negro attacks a Great Game agent)
Spider-Man Unlimited I#14 (El Toro Negro gets punished by Justin Hammer)
Spider-Man/Deadpool#20, p18, pan4 (post operation)
Appearances:
Green Goblin#3 (December, 1995) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Scott McDaniel (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Spider-Man I#64 (January, 1996) - Howard Mackie (writer), John Romita
Jr. (pencils), Al Williamson, Dick Giordano & Al Milgrom (inks),
Eric Fein (editor)
Spider-Man Unlimited I#14 (November, 1996) - Glenn Herdling (writer),
Joe Bennett (pencils), Joe Pimentel & Tim Dzon (inks), Ralph
Macchio (editor)
Spider-Man/Deadpool#20 (October, 2017) - Jushua Corin (writer), Will Robson (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Devin Lewis (editor)
First Posted: 05/26/2002
Last updated: 12/13/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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