6 Latino and Spanish Superheroes You’ve Probably Never Heard Of (Did YOU Know Them?)
I love Superheroes… I could talk about mutants and powers and flying birds that are not birds all day long. I’m not just talking about the famous —and amazing— Marvel heroes; there are way more heroes and villains you’ve probably never even heard of!
In today’s article, we will go over 3 fictional Spanish superheroes and 3 Latin villains… and some chunks to talk about them in Spanish. Let’s see if they can conquer your heart as well…
Spanish Superheroes
1. El Zorro
The film El Zorro, with Antonio Banderas, made the hero a little bit more mainstream, but El Zorro (The Fox) is considered a symbol throughout Latin America and is also regarded como uno de los primeros héroes de la cultura moderna (as one of the first modern culture heroes).
El Zorro was created by American journalist and writer Johnston McCulley and los cómics de El Zorro eran tan populares (the comics about El Zorro were so popular) that it is said Batman was inspired by this popular Latin hero.
El Zorro tells the story of Don Diego de la Vega, a Spanish landowner who lived in the town of Alta California during the Spanish rule. He fought against the injustices committed by the authorities and defended the oppressed.
El disfraz de El Zorro es un traje negro, lo mismo que su máscara, sombrero y capa. (El Zorro’s costume consists of a black suit, black mask, hat, and cape).
El zorro monta su caballo Tornado, y carga una espada y un látigo como armas, aunque a veces usa una pistola. (He always rides his horse Tornado and carries a sword and a whip as weapons, although sometimes he uses a gun).
2. El Santo
Este es un caso curioso (this is a curious case): El Santo (The Saint) went from being a ring fighter to being a much loved and emblematic hero to finally become a Mexican national hero that is recognized worldwide.
Here, in Mexico, we also have wrestling: Máscara contra cabellera, rudos contra tècnicos (mask against hair, rude against technicians), you name it! Since the 1950s, in Mexico, El Santo was a popular hero and a symbol of justice for people.
El Santo faced all kinds of criaturas sobrenaturales, científicos locos, el crimen organizado, aliens, vampiros y momias (supernatural creatures, mad scientists, organized crime, aliens, vampires and mummies), to name a few.
El Santo es un superhéroe de pueblo, de la gente y para la gente (El Santo is a village Superhero, a hero from and for the people). El Santo es un luchador mexicano (El Santo is a Mexican fighter)
3. El Chapulín Colorado
Stay with me on this one! Chapulín is an edible bug, a cricket. Los comemos como botanas (we eat them as snacks) and they are very representative of Mexico, and Colorado means red. “The red cricket” would be the closest translation.
Muy popular en Latinoamérica (very popular in Latin America), El Chapulín Colorado has his own catchy phrase: ¡No contaban con mi astucia! (They didn’t didn’t know I’m so cunning!).
El Chapulín Colorado was created by Roberto Gomez Bolaños, who also plays the character and who invented his origin as el producto de la bondad de un científico que estaba moribundo (the product of the kindness of a scientist who was dying) and before dying decided to pass on certain powers to someone with a noble heart. That is why the shield of this much-loved character is shaped like a heart.
Este héroe tuvo cómics, películas y un show televisivo (this hero inspired comics, movies and TV shows).
Una de sus armas era un martillo rojo y amarillo, similar al de Thor (One of his weapons, was a red and yellow hammer, similar to Thor’s).
¡Muy bien! ¿Cuál fue tu Superhéroe favorito? (Which was your favorite superhero?) ¿Qué opinas de sus historias? (What do you think about their stories?) Let me know in the comments!
Por cierto, by the way, have you noticed you’ve been learning Spanish with chunks? This is the method we use at Spring Spanish, that gives YOU superpowers to have fluent Spanish sentences roll off the tongue, without having to worry about grammar rules!
So, sign up for our free Spanish training, where you will find out everything there is to know about this method that will help you to learn Spanish without vocabulary lists and grammar drills!
Spanish Villains
1. El chupacabras
La leyenda de un misterioso monstruo (the legend of a mysterious monster) that sucks the blood of cattle spread in Mexico, the southwestern United States, and even China since the mid-1990s, when the existence of el chupacabras was first reported in Puerto Rico.
The name comes from alleged blood-sucking habits of the creature, which is believed to attack animales domésticos, especialmente cabras (domestic animals, especially goats), sucking all the blood from their body.
Physical descriptions of the creature vary, but it is commonly described as a heavy creature, the size of a small bear and with a row of spines running from the neck to the base of the tail.
El chupacabras forma parte del folklore latino (The chupacabras is part of Latin folklore). Las representaciones del chupacabras dan miedo (Chupacabras depictions are scary).
2. La Gringa sin cabeza (The Headless Gringa), Ecuador
Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial (during World War II), the US military had a base in Galápagos, Ecuador. During this time, many soldiers lived on the island with their families and one day, a soldier’s wife cheated on him with a local man.
Cuando su esposo se enteró de lo que pasó (when her husband found out what happened), out of anger, he drove his wife to a cliff and threw her off it, but he lost his mind in the process.
Años después (years later), when the US military returned home, it was reported that a local man was seduced by what appeared to be a beautiful “gringa“, who took him to the other end of the island, where he was tied up. Soldiers at the military base have reported hearing calls from the Gringa.
Algunos soldados claman haber sentido la presencia de una sombra (Some soldiers claim to have felt the presence of a shadow).
La historia de la Gringa sin cabeza también es una historia triste (The Headless Gringa story is also a sad one)
3. Ucumar, Argentina
Ucumar o El hombre oso (the bearman) is represented in different degrees of hybridization: from a very hairy and terribly ugly bear, with slight humanoid features, to a beastly man, cubierto completamente de pelo (entirely covered with hair), a long beard and a narrow forehead.
It lives in caves, at the bottom of narrow valleys, but it sneaks around rivers and slopes, and bathes in them. Therefore, it is easy to find its footprints there, similar to those of a bear.
Además de ser fuerte, el Ucumar es ágil y puede trepar a los árboles más altos (In addition to being strong, the Ucumar is agile and can climb the tallest trees).
FREE SPANISH TRAINING
Y bien, ¿cuál villano da más miedo? (And well, which villain is scarier?). Let me know in the comments! El mío siempre será el Chupacabras (Mine will always be El Chupacabras).
If you liked this article, let me know in the comments… and don’t forget, if you want to discover the method we use at Spring Spanish to have you speaking Spanish like a superhero, sign up to our Free Spanish Chunking Training!
✔️ Cheat Sheet with 54 essential Spanish Chunks you’ll hear and use yourself in ANY Spanish conversation (and example sentences). Taken from our YouTube Teacher’s most popular videos!
✔️ 2 Bonus Cheat Sheets with Travel Chunks and Dating/Relationship Chunks
✔️ A Spanish Chunking Tutorial showing you the 1 technique that’ll help you make 100% of the Spanish from our videos roll off the tongue in just 5 minutes a day (you’re probably only using 50% of our lessons’ potential right now…)
