El Gato Negro
Not to be confused with real-life luchador Ángel Blanco, who once wrestled as El Gato Negro in the early '60s.
Agustin Guerrero, better known as El Gato Negro is a fictional character, a comic book superhero and luchador created by Richard Dominguez and appearing in publications by Azteca Productions. The character made his debut appearance in El Gato Negro #1 (Oct. 1993) as a major supporting character.
Profile
| El Gato Negro (The Black Cat) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fictional character biography
Agustin Guerrero was raised entirely by his mother in Edinburg, Texas, his father having abandoned him at a young age. Agustin grew up knowing very little of his father other than his ambiguous title of "El Hombre del Gato". Later in life, Agustin enlisted in the Korean War with the Texas Battalion. Agustin became separated from his battalion while on a raid, and he became lost in the jungles of Korea. There he was discovered by an exiled Japanese warrior and assassin known as Kuro Neko ("黒い猫" - "The Black Cat"). Forming an alliance, the Black Cat taught Agustin how to survive in the harsh wilderness and trained him in the martial arts. After being rescued and discharged from the military, Agustin returned to South Texas to begin a career in Lucha Libre as a masked luchador. Having recognized a recurring cat motif in his life, Agustin chose the identity of El Gato Negro, promising to bring bad luck to his opponents. His popularity and mystique as a wrestler led him to further adventures outside the ring, often using his talents to fight crime.
Although his son, Francisco Guerrero, had learned of his father's former identity as El Gato Negro, he abdicated the title, preferring to lead a normal life. Francisco later died in a traffic collision with his wife, leaving Agustin to become the legal guardian of the couple's only son, Francisco Jr. Years later, his grandson adopted the mantle of El Gato Negro to avenge the death of his best friend Mario Bustamonte and become the new protector of South Texas.
Film adaptation
Richard Dominguez is currently in talks for an El Gato Negro film adaptation, and in late November of 2008, he revealed both he and a friend had wrapped on the film's initial story treatment.
