Who Is El Diablo? Origin, Powers and Key Facts

El Diablo is a DC Comics comic book character, the alter ego of Lazarus Lane, with over 93 comic issue appearances. Originally, Lane was a bank teller but after almost being killed by thieves and then struck by lightning, Lane was revived by the Wise Owl who possesed him with a demon that emerges whenever Lane is asleep.

Who is El Diablo?

Origin When a colleague of his was gunned down during a robbery and as a result of his own inaction, Lazarus Lane felt the guilt of the world resting upon his shoulders. Seeking to redeem himself, Lane went in pursuit of those same thugs. Thrown into a shallow stream by those contemptuous bank robbers, Lane was suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning, leaving him on a coma from which there was no recovery. Carried back to his remote hacienda by Wise Owl , the elderly Apache shaman whom Lane had taken into his home after the Indian had been exiled by his own people, Lane sat seemingly lifeless before the fireplace, his eyes blank and staring, his heart beating only through some minor miracle. For the next two nights, Wise Owl did not leave Lazarus' side, ministering to Lane with strange herbs and root drugs of his own concoction, chanting ancient Apache prayers endlessly until, on the night of the third day, Lazarus awoke. Though he was not dead, neither was he truly alive, Lane explained, for the lightning should have killed him but instead had split his very soul asunder. Now he was two men, the husk of the man that was all that was left of Lazarus Lane and... someone else.

Key facts

El Diablo is of human origin and first appeared in "Draw Death". The character is published by DC Comics. With 93 recorded issue appearances, El Diablo ranks among the most featured characters in comics.