MACHETE
Real Name: Alfonso Lopez
Identity/Class: Human weapon user
Occupation: Mercenary
Group Membership: Batroc's Brigade
Affiliations: Albino (Seger), Batroc the Leaper, HYDRA, Poundcakes, Power Broker (Curtiss Jackson), Senator Warkovsky, Zaran
Enemies: Elektra, Firestar, Hawkeye (Barton), Justice (Astrovik), Kali Vries, Monique Rosenblatt, Spider-Man (Parker), S.T.A.R.S., Taskmaster, USAgent
Known Relatives: Ferdinand Lopez (brother, deceased), Mariano Lopez (brother)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile;
formerly San Diablo, South America
First Appearance: Elektra I#7 (May, 1997)
Powers/Abilities: Machete wielded armaments similar to those used by his brothers, including twin blades and firearms, but also wore specialized armor and used an energy-powered blade. Machete possessed an undefined level of combat training.
History:
(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z: Update#3 (Batroc)) - Alfonso was recruited into Batroc's Brigade following the death of his brother Ferdinand, becoming the second Lopez brother to take the name Machete.
(Spider-Man: Gathering of the Sinister Six (fb)) - Machete committed a series of crimes, including art theft and kidnapping, at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the Museum of Modern Art, an apartment building on Sutton Place, and a casting agency on Twenty-fifth Street. Encountering Spider-Man each time, Machete evaded capture by badly injuring civilians, forcing Spider-Man to stop and help them.
(Elektra I#7) - Machete was one of many assassins to accept the offer to kill the Architect, finding himself facing off against Taskmaster for the opportunity to fulfill the contract at the "Death and Architecture" art show.
(Spider-Man: Gathering of the Sinister Six) - Spider-Man encountered Machete once more, their fight taking them into the basement of an abandoned building where he was holding celebrity Monique Rosenblatt captive. Avoiding Machete's energy-generating sword, Spider-Man tore Machete's backpack, the power source for both the sword and his armor, into pieces. Although realizing his defeat was immanent, Machete continued to fight, but was soon defeated and smothered in webbing. Spider-Man freed Monique and left Machete on the hood of a NYPD squad car.
(Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman#1/1 (fb) - BTS) - Machete was freed and rejoined Batroc's Brigade.
(Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman#1/1) - Batroc's Brigade was hired by Augusta Seger to ambush Hawkeye on their arrival to her "lab." Taking advantage of Hawkeye's disorientation after Batroc's surprise attack, Machete threw a string of blades at Hawkeye. Hawkeye stunned Machete with a "sonic" arrow, although he soon recovered, running at Hawkeye with his twin blades. Outmatched by Hawkeye, Machete was left unconscious.
(Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman#1/2 - BTS) - Seger, now calling herself Albino, freed Machete, Batroc and Zaran from prison, paying them extra to leave without taking their revenge on Hawkeye and the others.
(New Thunderbolts #8 (fb) - BTS) - Machete told his brother Mariano about Batroc and his Brigade, telling him to trust in Batroc's leadership.
(USAgent II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Machete began selling extraterrestrial weaponry on the black market (see comments).
(USAgent II#1) - Machete arranged a meeting at HYDRA's fortress in Northern Italy to sell extraterrestrial mind control devices. USAgent, dispatched by S.T.A.R.S. to bring Machete in, reached him in the middle of a transaction. Machete defended himself with his twin blades, but was left unconscious when USAgent pressed his electrified club against the blades, sending a charge of electricity through Machete. Carrying Machete back to his pick-up amid a sea of fire from HYDRA and S.T.A.R.S. operative Kali Vries, USAgent discovered that Machete was dead, having taken five bullets in the crossfire.
Comments: Created by Peter Milligan (writer) and Mike Deodato Jr. (pencils).
Alfonso Lopez is misidentified as Ferdinand Lopez in both the recap fold-out in Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman#1 and USAgent II#1. In the latter, USAgent even refers to Machete as Ferdinand Lopez when speaking to Dum Dum Dugan, ignoring Ferdinand Lopez's death in Captain America I#442. The identities of the various Machetes were finally clarified in the 2004-present Marvel Handbooks, which identified the second Machete as Alfonso Lopez.
The Spider-Man: Gathering of the Sinister Six novel was the first part of a trilogy set after Ben Reilly's death, but before Norman Osborn's takeover of the Daily Bugle. There's no clear evidence in either the novel or Elektra I#7 that Machete's appearances are tied together, but the time-frame fits together and the reference to Machete's "attempts at contract murder" fit with the events of Elektra I#7.
Many, many, many thanks to Tommy Wilson from Spiderfan.org for the information on Machete's appearance in Spider-Man: Gathering of the Sinister Six.
Poundcakes was selling the same kind of extraterrestrial mind-control devices as Machete, presumably acquired following the "Maximum Security" event (which the USAgent mini-series was a spin-off of).
The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z: Update#3-4 entries for Batroc and Zaran referred to their appearances in Gambit III#16-19 as part of Batroc's Brigade, despite Machete's absence.
The other assassins in Elektra I#7 included Blacklash, Boomerang, Bushwacker, Shatterhead and Zaran, among others. Machete was only shown to have fought Taskmaster on-panel, but it's possible he fought any of the others still standing by the time he arrived.
The third Machete, Mariano Lopez, mentioned how his brother, the previous Machete, told him Batroc was a "master strategist" and that he would "help him." It wasn't specified which Lopez brother told him this, so it's included in the profile tentatively.
The main image was the only full-body image of Alfonso Lopez in his three comic appearances, so you take what you can get.
It was a real treat to write this profile, since Alfonso Lopez represents everything great about Marvel continuity. Here's a character who was essentially created because Peter Milligan didn't know the character was killed off-panel, was identified as this deceased character several more times, and then got killed off again. But rather than let that gaffe be, Marvel writers went out of their way to specify this was a unique character years after his death and at the same time, reaffirm the death of the original Machete. Just think that's pretty cool, is all.
Thanks to David A. Zuckerman for a small correction.
Profile by G Morrow.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Machete should not be confused with:
Machete has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
Elektra I#7, p7, pan1 (main image)
Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman#1, p6, pan3 (close-up)
USAgent II#1, p10, pan1 (Machete's death)
Appearances:
Elektra I#7 (May, 1997) - Peter Milligan (writer), Mike Deodato Jr.
(pencils), Deodato Studios (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman#1
(October, 1998) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Jeff Johnson, Dave Ross, Mark
Bagley (pencils), Scott Kolins, Tom Weggrzyn, Al Milgrom (inks), Glenn
Greenberg (editor)
Spider-Man: The Gathering of the Sinister
Six novel (March, 1999) - Adam-Troy Castro (writer)
USAgent II#1 (August, 2001) - Jerry Ordway
(writer/pencils), Karl Kesel (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 01/01/2008
Last updated: 01/01/2008
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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