Zorro (Spanish: [?soro] or [??oro], Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante who defends the commoners and Indigenous peoples of California against corrupt, tyrannical officials and other villains. The character was featured in a total of five serialized stories and 57 short stories, the last one appearing in print posthumously in 1959, the year after his death.