Don Fortunato
Don Fortunato is a male comic villain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Vincente Fortunato
As a young boy, he was given the duty of watching over the family's sheep herd at night. Alone in the field, he stared into the sky and dreamed about what he would do when he was grown up. He came to witness a meteor shower filling the sky with this taking his attention when wolves came where they killed many of the sheep. The next morning, he feared his father's reaction but he simply told the young Fortunato that he was disappointed in his son. Since that day, Forunato had claimed that he came to know the meaning of fear and true pain. (Spider-Man v1 #71)
At some point, his wife gave birth to his son Angelo Fortunato though he was always disappointed in his child. (Marvel Knights: Spider-Man v1 #7)
Ben Urich at one point looked to reveal the existence of the mysterious Don Fortunato who was considered an urban legend to the public. (Spider-Man: Made Men v1 #1)
Later on, Wilson Fisk fell from his position as the Kingpin of Crime leaving a void in the underworld of New York that Fortunato looked to replace. (Spider-Man v1 #70) He dispatched some of his captains with the task of eliminating Hammerhead but they failed in their task. As a result, he decided to have his two underlings killed by dropping them in a basement within New York City to have them mauled by wolves. His orders were for the two punished captains to be left there for a few minutes to be mauled by the wolves whereupon they were to be recovered and their injuries treated. He then had new orders dispatched to his men to redouble their efforts to kill Hammerhead and also for them to find Jimmy-6. He had also been told that photographs had been taken of their operations against Hammerhead with him wanting the pictures and photographer taken care of to avoid any public exposure. (Spider-Man v1 #71) Fortunato stepped into the power vacuum by using his ties with HYDRA, forcing the other crime lords, such as the Slug and Hammerhead into accepting him. (Spider-Man v1 #73) Among the tasks he gave his captains was the elimination of Hammerhead and to recover Jimmy-6 but both assignments failed. (Spider-Man v1 #71) His elder son Giachomo Fortunato was present at the meeting where Fortunato portrays his power. The Don brings out Tombstone to be executed and also brought out random civilians from each of the crime lord's territories. The plan was to have each crime lord kill a civilian, showcasing how Fortunato would punish disobedience by civilian massacres. (Spider-Man v1 #74)
Detective Garon Lewis of Task Force Seven later met with Fortunato at his Staten Island retreat who was investigating the rising gang violence as well as growing conflict between the Black Tarantula and the Rose. Fortunato though claimed to be ignorant of such incidents and denied any knowledge of such events. He then had a meeting arranged with the Rose where he expressed his displeasure over current events and that he wanted to avoid another gang war. To expedite events, he decided to lend the Rose assistance against the South American bandit. The Rose though politely declined stating that he had gathered enough power to crush the Black Tarantula and his army. Don Fortunato wished the Rose well in his endeavours warning him that it would pain him to see the masked crime boss fail as he was one of the few who knew the identity of the man behind the mask. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #422)
The horrified Jimmy-6 pulled out a gun on his father in front of the crowd of people. The spectators did not intervene, wishing to see how Fortunato would handle this, but the second Spider-Man intervenes and is soon joined by Daredevil. The innocent civilians are freed but they and the heroes are cornered, pursued by various members of the meeting. Jimmy-6 shows up in an attack helicopter, killing the pursuers and rescuing the civilians and the superheroes. Jimmy eventually reconciles with his father, but extends his debt to Ben Reilly to Peter Parker. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #255)
The actions of Spider-Man continued to impede on the criminal activity in the region with Fortunato looking for the hero to be eliminated. By this point, the Rose requested an audience with the current Boss of Bosses where he brought up the matter of the Black Tarantula targeting his holdings. As such, the Rose wanted Fortunato's aid in eliminating this threat but the Black Tarantula had arrived at the scene to request from the Don to expand his own operations in the region. Fortunato sensed an opportunity and agreed to allow the Black Tarantula to expand into New York on the condition that he eliminate Spider-Man. The Black Tarantula managed to defeat the Wall-Crawler but allowed him to live but warned him against being a hero again. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #432)
A gathering of the crime lords was called with Fortunato present at the scene where Caesar Cicero accused Don of failing in his duties to keep the peace. This angered Fortunato as a result who looked to make an example out of Cicero. It was then that their boat was struck disrupting the meeting and forcing the crime bosses to evacuate. By this point, Wilson Fisk had returned to the city and looked to reclaim his former position as Kingpin of Crime. (Spider-Man: Made Men v1 #1)
Later on, a reporter for the Daily Bugle named Jake Conover came to Fortunato after falling on hard financial times and asked for help from him. This saw the man setting up a masked crime lord identity for Conover who came to operate as the new Rose and managed his territory. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #436)
Later, the elderly Fortunato re-emerged and bought the Venom Symbiote at an auction for his awkward younger son Angelo Fortunato who attempts to kill the original Spider-Man, but the Venom symbiote rejects Angelo as unworthy and sent him to fall to death. (Marvel Knights: Spider-Man v1 #8)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Fortunato had a fierce reputation with those daring to speak of him doing so in hushed secretive tones as all feared his withering gaze. (Spider-Man v1 #70) He came to be regarded as an urban legend that made men spoke to frighten children into behaving with them saying "You better be good or One Eye is going to get you". (Spider-Man: Made Men v1 #1)
He was known to punish his subordinates such as dropping them into rooms filled with wolves who mauled them. They were not killed as their injuries were tended to but he felt that such a punishment was needed for failure. (Spider-Man v1 #71) According to him, only animals and amateurs violated the unwritten rule whilst striking at cops, innocent bystanders or newspeople only brought more attention to their criminal operations. Thus, he believed that force should only be applied on their own. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #422)
Publicly, he claimed to only be a simple honest businessman though many in law enforcement knew him to be a a boss among the New York families. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #422)
Time meant nothing to him with all that mattered for Forunato being family and power. It was said that he would stop at nothing to protect his family and attain more power. Family meant everything to him with him saying that he would never place them in harm's way. (Spider-Man v1 #73)
One of his children was a son who operated in the mob and went by the name of Jimmy-6. (Spider-Man v1 #73) Another one of his children was another son by the name of Angelo Fortunato. (Marvel Knights: Spider-Man v1 #7)
It was shown that he kept with him his pet wolf who he named Angel. (Spider-Man v1 #70) The ever loyal Angel was shown to be almost always at his side. (Spider-Man v1 #73)
Powers and abilities
His contacts were noted to go far and wide. (Spider-Man v1 #70)
Under his workman guise, he oversaw the most ruthless criminal organisation that had ever hit New York City. (Spider-Man v1 #70)
The Staten Island retreat was noted for being both luxurious and highly fortified. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #422)
Notes
- Don Fortunato was created by Howard Mackie and John Romita Jr. where he made his first appearance in Spider-Man v1 #70 (July, 1996).
Appearances
- Spider-Man v1: (1996)
- Amazing Spider-Man v1:
- Spider-Man: Made Men v1:
- Marvel Knights: Spider-Man v1:
External Links
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