Falcon

Joaquín Torres came to the United States of America with his mother and grandmother when he was six years old. He lived in Sonoita, Arizona, and he graduated from high school in the honor roll. Joaquín also cared for the Mexican community, especially those trying to come to the United States. He would leave water, food and medicine for the people trying to cross the border.

Joaquín was later kidnapped by the Sons of the Serpent, as part of their agenda to capture people on the border to send them to Karl Malus for experimentation. Captain America (Sam Wilson) was informed of Joaquín's disappearance by his grandmother Mariana, and the hero investigated the case and ultimately came to face Malus. Cap found Joaquín in Malus' New York base, where he had been experimenting on and turned into a falcon/human hybrid using Cap's own avian partner, Redwing. After Malus' defeat, Joaquín was rescued, and remained under Cap's care.

Unlike the conditions of the others experimented on by Malus, Joaquín's mutations didn't revert. Claire Temple discovered that, because Redwing himself was vampiric, some of the aspects of that condition were transferred over into Torres; most notably a regenerative factor that prevented the regression of his condition.

Following the defeat of the Serpent Society, Joaquín decided to become Captain America's sidekick, and assumed the mantle of "Falcon".