AZTEK (Uno)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Grant Morrison, Mark Miller and N. Steven Harris

Aztek (Uno)

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Uno
Aliases: Curtis "Curt" Falconer
Occupation: Champion of the Quetzalcoatl-Society; Adventurer; Medical doctor
Place of Birth: South America
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Emilio (father); Mrs. Rodman (mother); Lawrence Rodman (brother)
Base of Operation: Vanity City, USA
Group Affiliation(s): Q-Society; Formerly JLA
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 185 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
First Appearance: Aztek: The Ultimate Man #1 (August 1996)
Creators: Grant Morrison, Mark Miller and N. Steven Harris

Now I'm here in my new apartment, with my new job and a dead man's name. I don't know how long before they find out, but hopefully, by the time they do, I'll have a better plan. - Uno Quote taken from Aztek: The Ultimate Man #1 (August 1996)

OVERVIEW

Trained from birth to be the champion of Quetzalcoatl the god of Light, Aztek was the peak of human conditioning and abilities, backed up by a highly advanced occult engineered helmet he stood ready for the return of Tezatlipoca the dark god. Basing himself in Vanity he assumed the identity of the deceased doctor Curt Falconer. He had been trained by the mysterious Q-Society and seemed unwilling to just sit there waiting for the dark god so he became a superhero of note and severed for a time as a member of the new JLA. He later gave his life in the battle against Mageddon, thought to be an incarnation of Tezcatlipoca.

HISTORY

There are legends and there are prophecies that found the very lives and actions of many people across the universe, some tell of last judgments, others of divine creators and yet others still of the second coming of gods long departed. One such group of legends that originated in the Mexican area tell of two gods Tezcatlipoca the shadow god and Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent. Whether these beings exists as true gods is unknown (a being resembling Quetzalcoatl was observed during the War of the Gods leading to the conclusion that the two named deities are actually entities or being either different or beyond the normal Greco-Roman/New Genesian stylisation of so called gods).

What is known is that sometime in the ancient to near-historic past two beings fought, one named Quetzalcoatl defeated the other allegedly darker force named Tezcatlipoca. In the aftermath of the battle Quetzalcoatl departed to parts unknown leaving behind his battle helmet and a prophecy that Tezcatlipoca would return to destroy the world and that a chosen champion prepared and ready would become the vessel for the return of Quetzalcoatl. With their battle concluded the followers of Quetzalcoatl strayed from the teaching and he destroyed his human vessel as a gesture to them. Since that day an organization has existed in order to prepare and train the next vessel for the feathered serpent god on the day of his return, they are the custodians of his original battle helmet and have built up an elaborate conspiracy of influential figures and business men across the world. They failed unsuccessfully to recruit the father of Bruce Wayne and have multi-billionaire businessman and criminal mastermind Lex Luthor as one of their principal US contacts (Luthor albeit with his own agenda). They have been called many things, the Q Foundation, the Q Brotherhood, the Q-Society, they are all names each as meaningful or as meaningless as the next. They wait for the return of the ancient gods to an area of the America Pacific northwest that is today home to the city of Vanity.

It could be said that all cities have a soul, Gotham is dark and threatening, Metropolis is welcoming and light where as the city of Vanity is depression and hopelessness. Constructed largely by Clarence Vane, its unique architecture is said to be based on several bizarre European art movements - the effect has been likened to "sick building syndrome" by some. What is known however is that Vanity eats people with a suicide rate that is five times the US average. It was into this dark hole that the champions of the Q-Society are send to wait, they each have a back up equally trained and are closely monitored and supported by the Societies agents. The champions are bred and trained to be the perfect vessels for the returning entity. But they are not perfect.

The last champion a man by the name of Emilio arrived in Vanity some twenty years ago but unfortunately fell in love with a woman and before long the two had a son. The Q-Society was not happy with this development and ordered Emilio's backup was to execute Emilio but he refused and was then psychically maimed as punishment. The Society then killed Emilio themselves and brought Emilio's son, Uno, to the South American Andes where he was hurriedly raised to be Emilio's successor. Eno was raised to the peak of physical and mental perfection perhaps rivaling the Batman (minus the experience and shear determination) and initiated into the Society to be the next champion and potential vessel for Quetzalcoatl.

Recently the Q-Society sent Uno to Vanity to prepare for the return of the Shadow God. Aztek's first mission: setting up an identity, finding a job and a place to live, eventually led him to a local bank where he helped stop a bank robbery by a has-been criminal called the Piper (in secret Doctor Curt Falconer) who was being blackmailed by a criminal gang that held his daughter, the complication arose when the city's psychopathic hero Bloodtype arrived on the scene. Eno was forced to stop Bloodtype and indirectly blames himself for the death of the violent hero. With Bloodtype gone the media and citizens of Vanity looked for a new hero, a new protector and they chose the unwitting Eno who the media dubbed Aztek due to his stylized helmet.

With the death of Falconer, Eno took up almost by accident the dead man's identity as a Doctor at the local hospital but he started to arouse the suspicions of engaged couple Forbes Cleveden and Julia Frostick both doctors as the hospital. Over time Julia would come to be closer to Eno and would become to trust him after she found out that truth about him but she still remained loyal to Forbes despite his weird acting as if nothing was ever wrong about the new Dr Falconer (Forbes is an agent for the Q-Society). The new hero Aztek faced a shape shifting hitman impersonating Major Force with the help of Green Lantern, he also worked along side the Batman against the Joker and took down Doc Parasite by himself.

On a more personal level he had to face the death of a potential girlfriend at the hands of the insane Lizard King (Emilio's old number two who believed that only he was the true champion) who was killed when he tried on the Helmet only to have his mind scrambled. He has also faced the ex-partner of Bloodtype the equally violent Death-Doll (once they were patriotic hero Mr America and Liberty Lass but Vanity does something to people) she ended up accidentally impaled on Bloodtype tombstone.

The new Curt Falconer tries to maintain his true course but like his father is secretly doubting the actions of the Q-Society. He was seen to much in the dark of Vanity, too much death that he blames himself for he knows that he is being manipulated groomed by the Q-Society and helped by the financial backing of Lex Corp. Luthor is out to play Aztek, the Q-Society and anybody who gets in the way as instruments to destroy the JLA. Stage one was to get him onto the team, an action that Aztek managed all by himself, he passed the tests, the initiation scans and managed to battle Amazo while the League were trapped in there moon base.

After finishing the JLA's testing procedure Aztek was admitted in to the League shortly before the events of the Godwave Incident. He proved to be capable member and helped bring J'onn back from the dead during the rebellion of Azmodel in Heaven. However he found his position as part of the JLA compromised by his relationship with Lex Luthor, particularly when Luthor put together an Injustice Gang in an attempt to stage a "corporate take-over" of the JLA. Aztek was to have been his man inside the League but Curt refused to cooperate and resigned from the League at the end of the case.

Aztek once again came back to help the JLA as the entity known as Mageddon arrived on earth. Even the mightiest heroes of Earth were not enough to stop Mageddon and the entity was quickly getting the upper hand and it seemed that there was no way the beat it. Realizing that Mageddon was the entity he was created to oppose Aztek eventually unleashed the 4-dimensional energies in his harness. Although dying in the process Aztek's sacrifice weakened the entity and gave the heroes enough time to disarm the Mageddon warhead and thereby fight off the threat. Before dying Aztek asked Superman to tell his makers that he did his duty.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Aztek possessed no superhuman powers. However, he had been trained since birth by the Q-Society and elevated to the peak of human mental and physical potential.

The suit that Aztek wore was a masterpiece of occult engineering, the ancient Helmet provides the focus for the four dimension chest power source (that can only be recharged via special rituals) as well as containing the stored memories of all the past wearers (as part of the initiation the champion learns "mental puzzles" that keep the past personalities occupied without it a normal human mind cannot take the strain as seen by the death of the Lizard King).

The combination of occult helmet and four dimensional power battery supported a vast array of weaponry and devices built into the suit. It had standard sensory abilities (infrared and X-ray vision, etc.) as well as strength and flight capabilities. Other abilities have been demonstrated including invisibility, body heat camouflage, entrapment nets, plasma beams, advanced VR computer mainframe and an unknown variable density armor. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the armor is the AI nature of the mainframe, while not technically fully intelligent it possessed routines that allowed it to override the actions of the wearer and to "auto-pilot" should the wearer be incapacitated in any way.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Aztek in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

JLA Secret Files #1 (September 1997)