Antonio Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas. He was given superhuman strength and durability by Dr. Karl Malus. This process involved having his human genes combined with the genetic material of an armadillo which gave him the appearance of a humanoid armadillo. The Armadillo's original motivation during his criminal career was to get enough money to be able to pay a doctor to discover a way to cure his girlfriend Maria of an unspecified terminal illness. When she was cured from her treatment, Maria abandoned him because of his appearance. Since that time, his motive has been to secure enough money to pay the Power Broker or some other scientist to reverse the process which transformed him. As part of the Armadillo's first encounter with superheroes, he was dispatched by Dr. Karl Malus to break into the West Coast Avengers Compound and free Goliath. There, the Armadillo battled Captain America who released him after learning of the sacrifice he made for the comatose Maria.