Publisher Los Comex Alter ego Same Notable aliases God of Death
Mick Affiliation Tezcatlipoca | Created by Javier Hernandez Team affiliations Tezcatlipoca Creator Javier Hernandez | |
Abilities Supernatural
Superhuman strength First appearance Numero Uno Edition (Daze of the Dead, 1998) | ||
Mictlantecuhtli is a fictional character appearing in the independent comic book series, El Muerto: The Aztec Zombie, published under the Los Comex imprint. Based on the god of the same name from Aztec mythology and created by Javier Hernandez, the character made his first appearance in the first issue of El Muerto titled "Daze of the Dead: The Numero Uno Edition" in 1998.
Contents
Fictional character history
The Aztec god of death, Mictlantecuhtli, was displeased at the outcome of the Spanish Conquest. The rebirth of Mexico left the gods behind and removed him from his seat of power. He, along with Tezcatlipoca, hatched a plot in order to regain his throne. Eventually, their plans led them to kidnap 21-year-old Diego de la Muerte. Diego was a Mexican-American living in Whittier, California. He was anticipating the upcoming Dia de Los Muertos festival and had purchased an undead Mariachi suit. He also applied the traditional facial markings and had recently gotten a tattoo for the occasion. The tattoo was of a skull or Calavera of sorts inspired by a design on an Aztec temple.
Little did Diego know, the tattoo was actually an ancient death symbol and paid homage to the god of death. While driving to the festival, he is struck by lightning and veers off the road into a tree. The crash ended his life on this world.
He soon awakened in Mictlan to be sacrificed in an ancient ritual, in which his heart is ripped out with an obsidian blade and placed in a clay pot. Surprisingly, Tezcatlipoca attempted to delay or even prevent the sacrifice. He offered to test the brightness of Diego's flame to be sure- but the god of death could not be reasoned with and continued with the ritual as planned. After tearing Diego's still beating heart out of his chest, Mictlantecuhtli burnt his facial markings into his face. Afterward, Diego was returned to earth via lighting bolt, exactly one year after his death.
Film adaptation
Mictlantecuhtli appears in the 2007 live-action film El Muerto written and directed by writer-director Brian Cox with Javier Hernandez as the associate-producer.
In the film, Mictlantecuhtli is depicted as a large skeletal figure, wearing more traditional Aztec attire than his comic book incarnation and speaking entirely in Nahuatl. Just as in the comic book, Mictlantecuhtli personally performs the ritual sacrifice upon Diego. However, the ritual portrayed in the film was dedicated to Tezcatlipoca, who plays a more prominent role to the film's plot.