HISTORY: The son of Latino rights activist and New York City Councilman Hector Rodriguez, young Nestor Rodriguez was an overachieving student in New York’s public school system who wanted to be just like his politically-active father. Dedicated to his neighborhood’s welfare, Nestor began working in soup kitchens and building housing for the homeless by age 13. When the crime rate skyrocketed within New York’s Latino community during the Cross Bronx Drug War, Nestor spearheaded the formation of the Street Angels, a controversial but effective watch group comprised of inner city youths whose popularity soared as the crime rate plummeted. But, unknown to Nestor, his father owed his political and financial success to  Wilson Fisk, New York City’s Kingpin of Crime. Acting on a hot tip, Nestor infiltrated a shipyard building one night and witnessed his father meeting with the Kingpin. When Hector disobeyed the Kingpin’s command to kill his son, the Kingpin killed Hector instead and left Nestor with his father’s body.Shortly after, Daredevil (Matt Murdock), who had recently begun operating as a costumed vigilante in Hell’s Kitchen, arrived on the scene — but a grieving Nestor informed him he was too late.

Over the next few months, Nestor answered police questions, avoided the media and secretly destroyed any evidence of his father’s involvement with the Kingpin. He then disappeared for several years and was introduced to Santeria, a religious system that fuses Catholicism with traditional Yoruba beliefs from the African continent, by a Santerian priest (Santero) he met at his father’s funeral. The priest conducts a religious ceremony that allows Nestor to become possessed by Eleggua (the Yoruba deity of the crossroads and communication), granting him the ability to see and understand multiple directions and thoughts, similar to Eleggua, Nestor also has the ability to cause acute confusion and alter the communication abilities of others. Nestor resurfaced as “NeRo” 5 years later, using the vast fortune inherited from his late father to begin his well-chronicled rise as a media mogul.

Today, at age 21, NeRo is one of New York’s most eligible bachelors and one of America’s top entertainment entrepreneurs, with an independent hip-hop music label, a line of trendy restaurants, a signature clothing line, and even his own cologne. Believing there were not enough vigilantes like Daredevil patrolling the streets to protect innocents, NeRo founded his own vigilante team, the Santerians, who had all served with NeRo’s Street Angels as teenagers. Each team member obtained powers through rituals honoring the forces of nature where they were similarly possessed by and named after one of the Orishas, the deities of the Santerian religion. As the team’s leader, NeRo took the name of his patron god, Eleggua,. The mischievous Chango, named after the Orisha of fire and passion, can generate electricity from his fingertips and is the most hot-headed member of the team. The giant but level-headed Ogun, named after the Orisha of war, exhibits phenomenal superhuman strength. Named after the Orisha of rivers and streams, Oshun can manipulate almost any form of liquid, even the blood within an organism’s body. Finally, Oya, named after the Orisha of the storms, can fly and and control the weather within small, localized areas. Secretly bankrolled by NeRo’s finances, the Santerians set out to rid New York’s streets of crime in the name of Ol dumarè, the skyfather of the Santerian belief system. An inexperienced, street-level team, the Santerians began learning the ropes and patrolling the city via a car and motorbike.

When the serial killer Johnny Sockets began a string of violent murders characterized by the removal of the victims’ eyes, Daredevil refused to get involved because the mystery killer had not yet struck in his neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen. Eleggia staged an intervention, hoping that his Santerians could convince Daredevil, whose secret identity was recently exposed by a tabloid, to help bring Johnny Sockets to justice. The intervention soon devolved into a fight, despite Eleggua’s efforts to calm the situation, and the Santerians defeated Daredevil. The next night, Daredevil struck back against the Santerians, but the battle ended with Eleggua and Daredevil calling a temporary truce. After the battle, Daredevil used his heightened sense of smell to deduce Eleggua’s true identity and confronted NeRo, who revealed the true circumstances of his father’s death. 

MEMBERS: Chango, Eleggua (Nestor “NeRo” Rodriguez), Ogun, Oshun, Oya
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Tribeca, New York City, New York
FIRST APPEARANCE: Daredevil: Father #2 (2005)

THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE A-Z #9 (SEPTEMBER 2005)

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