Falcon (Joaquin Torres)

A young man who became the new Falcon after being experimented on by Doctor Mallus.

History
Joaquín Torres came to the United States with his mother and grandmother when he was six years old. He lived in Tucson, Arizona,[1] and he graduated from high school in the honor roll.

Joaquín also cared for the Mexican community, specially those trying to come to the United States. He would leave water, food and medicine for the people trying to cross the border. He was kidnapped by the Sons of the Serpent,[2] as part of their agenda to capture people in the border to send them Karl Malus for experimenting.[3]

Captain America was informed of Joaquín's disappearance by his grandmother Mariana,[2] and the hero investigated the case and ultimately came to face Malus. Cap found Joaquín in Malus' New York base, where he had been experimenting on and turned into a falcon/human hybrid using Cap's own avian partner, Redwing. After Malus' defeat, Joaquín was rescued, and remained under Cap's care.[4]

Unlike the condition of those experimented on by Malus, Joaquín's mutations didn't revert. It was discovered by Claire Temple that because Redwing himself was vampiric, some of the aspects of that condition were transferred over into Torres, most notably a regenerative factor that prevented the regression of his condition.[5]

Joaquín played an important role in Captain America's fight against the Serpent Society. When the hero was kidnapped and thrown off a building, Redwing detected that his owner was in danger. Because Joaquín shared the same psychic bond with Redwing as Sam did, he received the message, and flew to Captain America's location, successfully catching him in mid-air.[1] However, the Serpent Society soon ganged up on Joaquín. Using the shared psychic link with Redwing, Cap transmitted to Joaquín the moves he would use, allowing the young boy to hold his own against the serpent-themed villains.

Following the defeat of the Serpent Society once reinforcements arrived to help Cap and Joaquín, mainly in the form of Misty Knight and D-Man, Joaquín decided to become Captain America's sidekick, and assumed the mantle of the Falcon.[6]

Powers
Human/Bird/Vampire Hybrid: As a result of Karl Malus' experiments, Joaquín was turned into a hybrid between a falcon and a human. However, the falcon used to transform Joaquín was in turn vampiric, giving the young man additional abilities which mostly manifested in being unable to revert his transformation.[5]


 * Flight: Joaquín can fly by flapping his arms, which have been partially turned into wings.[5]
 * Regenerative Healing Factor: Because avian carriers of vampirism don't suffer from a lot of the side effects that afflict humans, only some aspects of that condition were transferred to Joaquín. The most notable of this abilities is a regenerative healing factor which prevents Joaquín from turning back to human. Claire Temple theorized that this regenerative abilities could even regrow parts of Joaquíns body.[5] This healing factor has also allowed Joaquín to survive fatal wounds, he has been able to return from the dead after having his head bitten by Cottonmouth.[6]

Psychic Link: Similarly to Sam Wilson, Joaquín shares a psychic link with Redwing. Because of that, Joaquín and Sam indirectly share a mental link, as they can use Redwing as sort of a messenger to share thoughts with each other.[6]

Trivia

 * In Captain America: Sam Wilson #5, Joaquín was stated to be 17 years old.