El Águila protects others from corruption with his swashbuckling demeanor and mutant powers. Acting as The Eagle of the people, he soars through the skies with his trusty grappling hook and blasts away villains with his natural abilities and steel sword.
A Mutant Hero in the Making
Alejandro Montoya is born in Spain to his parents David and Rosario. When he is a teenager, his mutant powers manifest in the form of bioelectric energy blasts but they can only be released through a conductive metal. As such, he carries a sword to control his energy. He later travels to America, dons a pirate-like costume, takes the name “El Águila” (Spanish for “The Eagle”) and becomes a hero for the poor in New York City.
Bioelectric Energy Blasts
El Águila wields a double-edged steel sword which channels his bioelectric energy endowed upon him by his mutant genes. The effects of his shock blasts are temporary while his blasts at full force can disable the strongest heroes in New York, such as the bulletproof Luke Cage. Trained in the art of fencing, he also uses his sword as a formidable weapon and is an expert hand-to-hand combatant and acrobat.
He is also in possession of suction-cup devices that attach to his hands and feet, which allow him to scale high rise buildings and escape unnoticed by the passersby below. On his waist, he carries a grappling hook which he uses to swing from one place to the next and ascend to high places. He also employs the electricity from his body to magnetize the hook and shoot energy from it.
Natively from Spain and living in America, El Águila speaks Spanish and English fluently.
Stealing from the Corrupt
As a vigilante of the people, El Águila often goes up against those that take advantage of others such as slumlords, drug dealers, especially those that deal to kids, and even corrupt cops. He often steals their booty for the greater good.
He also goes up against sorcerer Master Khan and mercenaries hired by ruthless businessman Ward Meachum as well as veteran Avenger Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye.
Heroic Allies and Alliances
While El Águila is at first enemies with the Heroes for Hire, they prove time and again to save his life and support his cause to protect others. He ends up allying with them, including Luke Cage, Danny Rand, AKA Iron Fist, Colleen Wing, and Misty Knight.
A Swashbuckler's Story
While at Club 51 in New York City, Alejandro Montoya changed into his El Águila persona after Mr. Hayes made an entrance, a man known for selling drugs to kids. Wielding his sword that channels his bioelectric energy, he fired powerful blasts at Hayes’ bodyguards. El Águila attempted to steal jewelry from Hayes’ ladies claiming the jewels paid for by the tears of others would mar their loveliness. Able to dodge bullets from a nearby officer of the law but not from oncoming fire from Hayes’ crony; instead it was the Heroes for Hire, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, who stepped in to protect him and the crowd. Cage threw himself in front of El Águila to shield him from additional shots and while El Águila admitted that he owed Cage his life, he could not leave without the booty he came for. He blasted Cage back with his sword which allowed him to escape but also created an enemy in Cage.
Meanwhile, El Águila became a household name as he struck at a variety of targets, making procurers and drug dealers jump at shadows. The police were not even immune to his wrath especially when they made a “legal” if not brutal arrest. While Cage and Iron Fist sought him out, the neighborhood seemed to be thankful and brightened at the mention of the vigilante. El Águila began hitting higher-priced neighborhoods moments before Cage and Fist would arrive on a scene but he would escape silently into the night.
Slumlord J.P. Preston, who had Cage and Fist on retainer, directed them to catch and stop El Águila. As El Águila attacked Preston, Cage and Fist took him down, but they found Preston to be a racist, dangerous threat and in attempting to stop him from killing El Águila, they find themselves at the end of Preston’s gun who fired them and fired at them. They survived Preston’s attack and in defending themselves, El Águila escaped again with Preston’s precious goods.
El Águila later encountered the two heroes in Canada and thought they were connected to bad business. He first attacked their friend Jeryn Hogarth but soon found out that Hogarth’s staff were responsible for the corruption and became an ally of Cage and Fist. Invited to join the Heroes for Hire, El Águila declined on account that if they affiliate themselves with anyone who meets their price, they’ll likely face off as enemies again. Before he left, he kissed Hogarth’s secretary, Jennifer “Jennie” Royce.
While El Águila investigated Cross Technological Enterprises, he came up against Hawkeye (Clint Barton) of the Avengers, who was working as the company’s head of security. Angry that the company was founded by a monster who stole human hearts, they face off until El Águila accidentally electrocutes himself. Though he only pretended to be stunned to get closer to his target. Once he found the company’s nucleonic radiator, a device that emits killing radiation at short range, he destroyed it to protect future dictatorships from getting their hands on it. As he left the premises, Hawkeye shot an arrow at him but missed allowing him to escape unscathed.
One of his investigations led him to ally again with Cage, Fist, and their affiliates Colleen Wing and Misty Knight when Knight is captured along with D.W. Griffith. El Águila fought off Fera and the heroes discovered that the true enemy behind their troubles was the age-old sorcerer, Master Khan, and mercenaries hired by Ward Meachum. El Águila along with the Heroes for Hire liberated Knight and defeated Khan.
Montoya as El Águila once returned to Spain to help his cousin Migdalia whose village was being ravaged by the mutant villain Conquistador.
El Águila was later one of the many mutants depowered during M-Day but still considered a recruit by the Initiative, thanks to his skills in fencing and hand-to-hand combat. He later served on the board of directors of the Penance Corps alongside Black Tiger, Crime-Buster, Justin Alphonse Gamble, and Thunderbolt.
