NESTOR AYALA

Real Name: Nestor Ayala

Identity/Class: Human;
    American citizen

Occupation: Unrevealed, although he worked three jobs simultaneously to the point of exhaustion

Group Membership: None known

Affiliations: None known

Enemies: Gideon Mace and his men

Known Relatives: Maria Ayala (wife, deceased);
    Awilda Ayala ('Wilda; older daughter/oldest child), Hector Ayala (White Tiger; older son, deceased), Filippo Ayala ("Pito"; younger son, deceased), Ava Ayala (White Tiger, younger daughter/youngest child);
    Angela Del Toro (White Tiger, granddaughter), Rey Del Toro (grandson), Marisol Del Toro (granddaughter), Mr. Del Toro (son-in-law) plus extended Del Toro family;
    Soledad Ayala was Hector's wife some time after Nestor's death, so it's debatable whether she would be considered his daughter-in-law;
    note: Previous entries have noted Hector Ayala to have an "unidentified younger sister (deceased)" - don't know if Ava is meant to be this sister, indicating she apparently only appeared to have died, but survived...or perhaps she is a previously unseen sister who had gone her separate ways and was never mentioned before...?
    it is further unrevealed whether Hector is of any relation to Carlos Ayala, one of the "caterpillar" (children of superhumans) agents of Nick Fury

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly an apartment in the South Bronx, New York City, New York
    formerly San Juan, Puerto Rico

History: (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#22/2 (fb) - BTS) - Nestor worked for five years to get his family from Puerto Rico to New York. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#20/2 / Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#27/2 (fb) - BTS / ) - Nestor had three children (oldest to youngest): Awilda, Hector and Filippo. (Avengers Academy#21 (fb) - BTS / Avengers Academy#24 (fb) - Awilda already had kids of her own when Nestor and Maria had their youngest daughter, Ava. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#22/2 (fb) - BTS) - To take care of his family and to keep them in the USA, Nestor worked three jobs, which exhausted him and made him immune to most things. He neither wanted nor needed surprises.   (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#20/2 - BTS / Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#20/2 - BTS) - He was bothered by his youngest son, Filippo, apparently becoming a drug addict (he was secretly a high-ranking member of the criminal organization known as the Corporation), but he lacked the energy to do anything about it. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#22/2 - BTS) - After Hector had gotten into trouble with the police (for the murder of Manny "Kid" Lopez, who had actually been killed by concussed security guard), despite being released as innocent, Maria lamented that Hector was now in trouble, just like his older brother, Nestor, who was a drug addict (and secretly a criminal mastermind).     Maria asked her older daughter, Awilda, what she was going to tell their father (the rest of Hector's family were unaware that Hector had secretly become the White Tiger). (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#22/2 - BTS) - Having read of Hector's arrest and being under suspicion of murder, Nestor left work work and trudged home. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#22/2) -  As he returned home, Nestor was confronted and startled by the White Tiger, who told him he needed to speak to him about his son, and whom Nestor recognized from his recent publicity (much of which painted him in a poor light). Nestor asked what his son could have to do with one such as him, and Hector replied vaguely, "More than you may want to know," but also told him that Hector wished him to know that he was well. Nestor asked him why Hector didn't tell him himself, and who was the White Tiger to speak for his son? Nestor further demanded to know "What have you done with him....Who are you?" However, by that point, the White Tiger had already vanished back into the shadows.     When Nestor returned home, Awilda greeted him, and he was thankful when she told him that she had finally gotten her mother to lie down and sleep. He thanked her when she offered and brought him coffee, and when he started to ask if she had heard from Hector, she told him that she had not heard from him since the White Tiger business. When Awilda denounced the White Tiger as a pig who had caused a great amount of trouble, Nestor told her that he had met and spoken with the White Tiger, that he had told him that Hector was alright and that he believed him.     However, distraught of her brother's absence, Awilda insisted that the White Tiger had done something to Hector and that the Tiger was pig and she hated him.

(Spectacular Spider-Man II#23) - Noticeably more balding, Nestor read the newspaper at the dinner table in his apartment, barely noticing as Hector and Awilda bickered.     When Hector said Awilda had a big mouth, Awilda asked her father if that was any way for Hector to speak to his loving sister, but Nestor kept reading his paper, and mumbled only, "Umm!"     He responded similarly after Hector stormed out and slammed the door.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen.

    Nestor was behind the scenes as various actions happened with Hector and Filippo during the White Tiger/Sons of the Tiger feature in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu series. You can check out their profiles for further information, but he probably minimally reacted because he was exhausted from his three jobs.

    Some Ayala family history/retcons:

    Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #27 establishes Awilda is the eldest child, yes, and it appears Ava wasn't born yet as of that story as it's stated Maria at that point had only three children at that point. It could be assumed that Filippo is the third child as that issue shows a framed photo of the then-three Ayala children as kids with Filippo looking noticeably younger than Hector, but that may be up to interpretation.
--Chris McCarver

    Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#27 talks about three children. They are specified as Awilda "Wilda" the eldest. Then Hector. Then Filippo "Pito" the youngest.
They show pictures of the 3. They talk about how the mother is the mama of three.
    Then - Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon came along which included Ava.  Christos Gage was asked to include her in Avengers Academy #20 (2011) as the 4th sister.  
--MF

    I don't know how old Ava is supposed to be, but since the sliding timescale means there hasn't been 15 years since the Fantastic Four's space flight/FF#1, Ava had to have been born by the time of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#27. The first 3-4 years of the MU were closer to real time, and then like 1 year of Marvel Time per 5-6 years so that would mean she couldn't be more than 8-9 when she first appeared (Avengers Academy#20 (2011) if she hadn't been born yet.
    Ava's obviously a retcon, but it makes sense that the kids were younger in that picture, which may have been taken when they were much younger, and they just didn't show a family picture that included her...and she was just never on-panel in the previous stories.
    Similarly, Angela Del Toro, Awilda's daughter, seems to be significantly older than Ava. So, it must be that she was also around at the time of the DHoKF stories, just off-panel and never referenced.
--Snood

    Avengers Academy#21 revealed Ava to be Hector's sister.
    Avengers Academy#21 confirmed Ava to be the youngest of Hector's siblings and also confirmed that Awilda had already had her own kids (plural) when Ava was born.
--Chris McCarver

    When Angela Del Toro first appeared, Awilda had apparently perished at the hands of Gideon Mace and there was no evidence that she had had kids during the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu series. I also presumed that Hector was 18-years-old (probably because he subsequently attended Empire State University as a freshman). The implications seemed to be that Awilda had had a baby after her Deadly Hands of Kung Fu appearances and that Angela Del Toro, who seemed be at least in her late 20's, simply couldn't be that old (with Spider-Man still in his 20's, only 5-6 years Marvel Time would have occurred between her Deadly Hands of Kung Fu appearances and Angela's first appearance)...and that Bendis or whoever confirmed Angela's relation to Hector simply didn't get or just chose to blow off the sliding timescale.
    However, I don't think their ages were ever given, and I think Hector could have been 20-25 years or older when he became the White Tiger, and Awilda could have been 25-30-years-old or older.
    So, the information provided by Christos Gage confirmed/explained how both Angela and Ava could be related to Hector as new information that is not contradictory.

    Another interesting twist is that the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#13 (May, 2010) entry on the White Tiger (Hector Ayala, which I co-wrote), notes another unidentified sister for Hector.

    Awilda's death was depicted in a flashback, but she got better. Maybe Blackbyrd lied about her death to underworld informant Lou Gunther to protect her.
    --Markus Raymond

   This profile was completed 01/01/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Nestor Ayala has no known connection to:

• AYALA, PROFESSOR - female teacher at ESU, associate of Misty Knight--Daredevil V#1
• AYALA, CARLOS - one of Nick Fury's "caterpillars." Telekinetic--[Secret Warriors#1/2]
• other Ayala characters, groups, items, events, races or places...
  

First posted: 09/26/2026
Last updated: 01/17/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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