Zorro, whose name in Spanish means “fox,” was likely based on Mexican folktales of a noble bandit who fought on behalf of the peasantry and indigenous peoples. The character first appeared in McCulley’s serialized five-part story “The Curse of Capistrano,” which was published in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly beginning in August 1919. Zorro’s true identity is Don Diego Vega (later changed to Don Diego de la Vega), a young nobleman who lived in Los Angeles, California, during the early 19th century when the area was still under Spanish rule. Don Diego became the swordsman Zorro in order to defend the people of Los Angeles from political oppression. Zorro famously uses the letter Z as his “mark,” using his sword to carve it into the clothes—or sometimes the bodies—of his adversaries in three swift strokes. Zorro is not only a master swordsman but a skilled marksman and horseman.