Chato Santana (DC Extended Universe)

Chato Santana, also known as El Diablo, was a member of Task Force X. He was part of the team sent on the Midway City mission, and sacrificed himself to destroy Incubus and save the world.

History

Early Life

Chato Santana was born with pyrokinesis. As a teenager, he was drawn into gang activity, moving up the ranks stealing cars, dealing drugs, and selling handguns. His pyrokinesis became his most deadly asset. On the streets, Chato was nicknamed "El Diablo" due to his fire powers. He was suspected, although never charged, in the murder of fifteen men in East Los Angeles.^[1]

Chato Santana DCEU 001 — Born with the Devil's gift

Keeping his criminal life hidden, Chato married a woman named Grace, with whom he had two children and living a happy life with them. However, Chato's criminal activities were discovered by Grace, who berated her husband for what he has done, causing an argument, which made Grace decide to take the children, frustrating Chato, who accidentally released his powers, burning his house and murdering his family. Horrified and remorseful for the murder of his family, Chato finally turned himself in to the authorities, being sent to a federal prison, in which he used his powers again, causing him to be sent to Belle Reve, a clandestine prison, where Chato would never use his powers again.^[2]

Assassinating Enchantress

Task Force X DCEU 0002 — Joining the Task Force X

During his time at Belle Reve, Chato would be mistreated and humiliated by the guard Hunter Griggs and several guards, who would taunt other prisoners. In 2016, Chato was visited by the director of A.R.G.U.S., Amanda Waller, and Colonel Rick Flag, who tried to recruit him for the Task Force X, a black-ops team made up of criminals, in exchange for reducing their sentences, however, Chato was reluctant to the proposal. Despite refusing, Chato ended up being forced to join the team, which included Floyd Lawton, an embittered mercenary, Harley Quinn, a psychotic criminal, George Harkness, a petty thief, Waylon Jones, a criminal with the appearance Crocodile, Tatsu Yamashiro, Flag's bodyguard, and Christopher Weiss, a thief with whips.

After enlisting at the Midway City airport, the Task Force X contacted Waller, who gave them the mission order: Travel to Midway City and extract their ally "HVT1", stating that the city was in devastation from an attack military. Arriving in the city, Chato and the squad, led by Flag and a group of NAVY SEALs, explored the city, where they saw Christopher being killed by Flag with a nano explosive, which was implanted throughout the team in case they tried. to escape or betray them as Christopher did for George's deceit.

Chato Santana DCEU 002 — Fightning for the Squad

Over the course of the mission, the Task Force X and the military were involved in various conflicts with the mysterious Eyes of the Adversary, citizens who had been turned into creatures, but while his teammates fought, Chato refused to fight due to instability of his power, limiting himself to just accompanying them and entering the John F. Ostrander Building. Inside the building, another fight broke out against the Eyes of the Adversary, in which they were completely surrounded by the creatures, so Floyd began to provoke Chato, who, fed up with taunting him for not supporting, agreed to use his powers, killing all enemies with his pyrokinesis, saving his allies.

Chato Santana DCEU 003 — Bonding with his friends

After rescuing HVT1, who was actually Waller, Chato and the Task Force X were attacked on the rooftop by Harley's lover and criminal psychopath, the Joker, and his gang, taking Harley with them, an escape that was failed, before discovering that Waller had been kidnapped. Task Force X, with Harley returned, learned from Flag that Midway City was actually devastated by Enchantress, an ancient goddess who was inside Flag's lover, June Moone, and sought to destroy the world with a superweapon, information that was thwarted. to the team for cheating because no one will ever know what they did. In a bar, Chato bonded with his teammates, recounting the death of his family, for which he was totally sorry and fed up with using his powers, being judged by Harley for having killed children until being inspired by Flag and Floyd to finish with Enchantress and become heroes.

Chato Santana DCEU 004 — "Ya te chingaste, wey."

In the city subway, the Task Force X planned the attack on Enchantress, sending the NAVY SEALs and Waylon to blow up the base. The squad was manipulated by Enchantress into joining them, in exchange for giving her their greatest wishes. Despite the fact that he could get his family back, Chatos flatly refused, encouraging his friends to reject the proposal, ultimately confronting Enchantress. When Enchantress's brother, Incubus, showed up to fight the squad, Chato offered to fight the God to get him to the bomb, transforming into his ultimate form to face Incubus, managing to hold him until the bomb, losing his ultimate form while Incubus held him back. Chato, with no other options, asked Flag to activate the explosive, an action he did, causing the death of both Incubus and Chato, who sacrificed himself for his new family.^[2]

Legacy

Chato's honorable sacrifice allowed the Task Force X to attack Enchantress and her Eyes of the Adversary, being avenged by Harley, Floyd and Flag, who took it upon themselves to kill the witch, rescuing June and getting their sentences reduced.^[2]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Pyrokinesis: Santana possesses extreme pyrokinetic abilities; on one occasion, he was able to set half a prison yard on fire, killing dozens of inmates. However, he can also use it in a controlled manner, generating hologram-like flames^[2]
- Transformation: Santana can transform into a skeletal form that greatly resembles a tribal shaman seemingly made out of solidified flames. While in this form, he can use his powers to their fullest extent; his strength and durability both increase dramatically, and his pyrokinesis becomes even more powerful.^[2]

Abilities

Multilingualism: Native Speaker of English and Spanish.

Weaknesses

Power Instability

Notes

This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the DC Extended Universe and is an adaptation of Chato Santana/El Diablo. The original character was created by Jai Nitz and Phil Hester and first appeared in El Diablo (Volume 3) #1.
El Diablo was portratyed by Jay Hernandez.

Trivia

Chato Santana was born on June 3, 1981.^[2]
David Ayer's original cut of Suicide Squad would have seen El Diablo survive.^{[citation needed]}

Suicide Squad member
This character is or was a member of the Suicide Squad, a team of imprisoned super-villains who perform high-risk missions for the U.S. Government in exchange for commuted sentences, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Suicide Squad members" category.

[ARGUS-1] El Diablo's file (A.R.G.U.S.)

[SS-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 Suicide Squad (Movie)

[1]

[2]