American Knight

Real Name: Miguel Sanchez

Identity/Class: "Normal" Human

Occupation: Toy designer, Spokesmodel; former Marine Recon

Affiliations: The Guard, Chuck the Danger Boy, Lucky

Enemies: The Great Red Pecker, Long Haul, Strong Arm, The Dandy, The Irregulars

Known Relatives: Roberto Sanchez (cousin), unnamed uncle

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The Keep; An Office at Atlas Toys

First Appearance: (mentioned) Actionfolksinger #1; (seen) Actionfolksinger#3

Powers/Abilities: Miguel is as strong, as agile, as quick and has as much endurance as a human being can without having super powers. Even before his time in the military he studied Jeet Kun Do extensively. While with the Marines he learned electrical engineering, wilderness survival, and military tactics. He is also a dead shot with a sniper rifle but has given up the use of fire arms.

History: Miguel Sanchez grew up in East L.A. Wanting to serve his country and not having enough extracurricular activities to get into college he enlisted in the Marine Corps. His plan was to serve his tour get his G.I. grant and get out. His commanding officer played on his natural patriotism and convinced him to stay in and join Marine Recon. His natural physical and mental abilities allowed him to rise quickly through the ranks and soon he was participating in covert operations in South America. The violence and bloodshed was too much for him so he resigned his commission and went to work for his Uncle's toy company.

It was there he created the action figure AZ-tech. He hoped it would be a heroic figure that Latino children could look up to but it didn't market test well as was changed into the American Knight. Since the company didn't have money to pay a model to make public appearances the naturally fit Miguel was coerced into playing the part. On his first outing he was attacked by a new super villain trying to get media attention. He managed to defeat him by luck but this began the public perception that he was a "real" super hero.

After that incident he found himself falling into one situation after another that required him to act like a hero. His exploits fueled sales of his action figure line and allowed Atlas to turn a nice profit. Once he realized that the workers at his company (many of whom were undocumented workers) could finally make a living wage he went along with the P.R. department and even began acting more like a hero.

Over the years he gained a sidekick (Chuck), helped start the premier west coast super hero team and gained a reputation in the super hero community as someone you could count on. He stood out amongst the many west coast heroes, most of whom where merely doing it for kicks.

Despite all this he still felt like a fraud. He felt like he was being molded into something he really wasn't. Something gaudy and artificial. He considered stopping but there where too many people depending on him.

It was at this time that he and Chuck where attacked by an 8 foot tall robot during a public appearance. Chuck, was nearly killed and he was badly injured. He and the robot faced off in an abandoned tenement. He had sent Chuck to evacuate the squatters while he tried something desperate. As Chuck got the last of them out there was a terrible explosion. No remains of the robot or Miguel where recovered.

Atlas toys tried to Replace Miguel with Lee Stanley, a stuntman. Chuck, considering this an affront to Miguel’s memory attacked Lee at a press conference claiming he was a super villain trying to taint the Knight's memory. He exposed the fake and confirmed for the press that American Knight was indeed dead. Since the American Knight action figures where the only thing they made that sold well Atlas toys folded in a year. Chuck gave up being a super hero and the mystery of what really happened to the American Knight is still unsolved.

Comments: Created by Enrique Acosta, who also supplied the above profile.

Visit the ActionFolksinger Website.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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