10 Actors Who Played Zorro, Ranked Worst To Best

From Douglas Fairbanks to Antonio Banderas, many actors have donned the black mask and sword of Zorro. The charming vigilante was introduced as the savior of the New Spanish commoners of California in pulp writer Johnston McCulley’s 1919 novel The Curse of Capistrano. The nobleman Don Diego de la Vega embraced this alter ego to defend the rights of his people from tyrannical officials and a corrupt law-enforcement system. A trendsetter in the swashbuckler genre, Zorro’s all-black costume with the mask, cape, Cordovan hat, and rapier also turned him into an early blueprint of future superheroes. In fact, the consensus remains that Zorro even inspired the creation of Batman.