Real Name: Antonio Rojo
Identity/Class: Human; pointy-hat wearer
Occupation: Mercenary; former dictator
Group Membership: People's Defense Force (Beasts of Berlin, Madame X, Scarlet Beetles, Voice, unidentified communist agents)
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Giant-Man (Henry Pym), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Vision ("Victor Shade"), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), West Coast Avengers (Dr. Pym, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Mockingbird/Bobbi Barton, Moon Knight/Marc Spector, Tigra/Greer Nelson, Wonder Man/Simon Williams)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: The Bull (English translation of El Toro); the Deadly Tyrant of Santo Rico; Chubbins (as called by Giant-Man)
Base of Operations: Currently unrevealed;
formerly Hungary;
formerly the Central American nation of Santo Rico
First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#54/1 (April, 1964)
Powers/Abilities: Having no paranormal abilities, the chubby El Toro was an unskilled fighter; he wore a skullcap helmet with tiny little horns, which he used to head-butt opponents.
When he later joined the People's Defense Force, he coated his helmet's horns with a fast-acting poison which rendered his opponents unconscious.
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 297 lbs.
Eyes: Dark brown
Hair: Black
History:
(Tales to Astonish I#54/1 (fb) - BTS) - El Toro's past is unrevealed, but he put on his fancy horned helmet and set
himself up as leader of Santo Rico's communist party. When the tiny
democratic nation held its presidential election, the communists rigged
the results so that the tyrannical "strong man" El Toro won by a
landslide, allowing him to become dictator. Ruling
the country with an iron fist, El Toro stationed armed troops
everywhere, and Santo Rico soon became a repressive police state.
(Tales to Astonish I#54/1) - Suspecting electoral fraud and foreign interference, Giant-Man and the Wasp went to Santo Rico to investigate the suspicious communist victory; but although they were disguised as tourists, the heroic couple was quickly spotted by the secret police, and El Toro ordered them arrested. With a surprise attack, El Toro rammed Giant-Man in the back and stunned him, while the Wasp was taken into custody.
Giant-Man finally caught up with El Toro in the dictator's office (located several floors above ground); as El Toro charged at him, Giant-Man sidestepped his running approach, and El Toro inadvertently ran right out the window -- fortunately, the tyrant's vest got snagged on a conveniently located flagpole, which saved him from plunging to his death on the the street below.
Meanwhile, the Wasp found signed documents in El Toro's private files that proved he had cheated in the election and had bought votes with foreign communist backing. Giant-Man dropped the documents out the window to the people on the street below -- upon learning that they had been duped, the outraged citizenry deposed their traitorous leader and planned to have a new election.
(West Coast Avengers II#33 (fb) - BTS) - With his presidency over, El Toro was forced to flee Santo Rico in shame; he went to Hungary, where he joined that country's People's Defense Force.
(West Coast Avengers II#33-34, 36) - El Toro was part of a group of previous communist foes of Henry Pym, organized as part of a plot to capture Pym. They encountered the West Coast Avengers, and El Toro did a few more sneak attack rammings -- he gave Tigra a nice kidney-shot, and she was rendered unconscious by the poison on his horns; shortly afterward, he did the same to Moon Knight. But when Hawkeye later tricked El Toro into charging at him, El Toro ended up embedding his horns in a wall.
Eventually, El Toro was defeated along with the rest of his People's Defense Force allies.
Comments: Daringly Written by Stan Lee; Dramatically Drawn by Don Heck; Deftly Lettered by Artie Simek.
A statue of El Toro battling Giant-Man was seen in Santo Rico in Night Thrasher II#17, and again (with El Toro's head smashed off) in Thunderbolts I#11 (thanks Prime Eternal!). Madison Carter adds: The statue (with missing head) was seen again in JLA/Avengers #1, when members of the Justice League spotted it.
I always write "Hungaria," then I come to my senses (about the same time I spellcheck it).
If I remember correctly, the WCA issues ended with Pym finding his long lost wife, Maria Trovaya, who had been mutated by the commies into having a giant brain. "Maria" became SODAM (Specialized Organism Designed for Aggressive Maneuvers), which wisely and quickly was changed to MODAM (Mental Organism Designed for Aggressive Maneuvers), which was later revealed to have never been Maria at all. Is that right?
You can't get any more dangerous than a fat guy in a pointy hat! In fact, you can't beat the Ant-Man/Giant-Man series in Tales to Astonish -- classic comics, you can read all of them in black-and-white for $15.00 in Essential Ant-Man.
The group of old Tales to Astonish foes in West Coast Avengers was named the People's Defense Force in Hungary's profile in Marvel Atlas#1.
El Toro has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook. His real name was revealed in his profile in OHOTMU A-Z HC#12.
New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
El Toro (Antonio Rojo) has no known connection to:
images: (without ads)
Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook, p54, El Toro profile (main image - El Toro; refurbed version of Tales to Astonish I#54/1, p7, pan3)
Tales to Astonish I#54/1, p2, pan1 (headshot - El Toro, as seen on monochrome TV screen)
Tales to Astonish I#54/1, p6, pan1 (head shot - El Toro)
Tales to Astonish I#54, cover (El Toro charging)
West Coast Avengers II#33, p15, pan3 (El Toro reveals to fallen Tigra that his horns are poisoned)
Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#54/1 (April, 1964) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Don Heck (artist)
West Coast Avengers II#33-34 (June-July, 1988) - Steve Englehart (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Mike Machlan (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
West Coast Avengers II#36 (September, 1988) - Steve Englehart (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Mike Machlan (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
First posted: 03/19/2002
Last updated: 08/23/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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