Blaze and Satanus

Blaze and Satanus
Blaze and Satanus as seen on the cover of DC Universe Special: Reign in Hell #1 (August 2008), art by Ryan Sook.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Blaze Action Comics #655 (July 1990) Satanus The Adventures of Superman #493 (August 1992)
Created by	Blaze Roger Stern (writer) Brett Breeding (artist) Satanus Brett Breeding
In-story information
Alter ego	Blaze & Satanus
Species	Demon/Human hybrids
Place of origin	Hell
Team affiliations	Satanic Triumvirate
Partnerships	Black Adam
Notable aliases	Blaze Angelica Blaze the Night Eagle Satanus Collin Thornton
Abilities	Demonic hybrid physiology grants both of them degrees of superhuman strength, agility, etc. Both are capable of varying levels of demonic sorcery for a variety of feats including: altering appearances, size manipulation, control over souls, and hell-fire manipulations. Virtually all-powerful in their respective netherworld.

Blaze and Satanus are twin fictional demonic siblings appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Blaze first debuted in Action Comics #655 (July 1990), created by Roger Stern and Brett Breeding and first pencilled by Bob McLeod. ^[1] Later, Satanus was created by Brett Breeding and debuted in The Adventures of Superman #493 (August 1992) by Jerry Ordway and Tom Grummett. The twin duo originally starred as Superman villains associated with the supernatural but were later revealed to be the children of the Wizard Shazam, Blaze respectively depicted as a powerful enemy of the Marvel Family.

Fictional character biographies

Origin

Blaze and Satanus are demonic hybrid children of the Wizard Shazam and an unnamed Hellhound demoness who assumed human form in order to seduce Jebediah during his time as Champions of the Cannite gods, calling himself Vlarem or the Champion. Shortly after their birth, the twin children would be banished by the Cannite gods along with their mother back to their home netherwolf, having found his act to be displeasing as Jebediah learned the lesson to resisting sexual temptation. However, the two would embrace their demonic heritage and forsake their humane one, with Blaze holding the most hatred for their father. ^{[2] [3]}

Conflicts with Superman and other heroes

Blaze and Black Adam standing over Shazam as seen in The Power of Shazam! #10 (December 1995).
Art by Jerry Ordway.

Later in her life, Blaze is involved in the creation of Superman's enemies the Silver Banshee and Skyhook. A red-skinned demoness with horns, she disguises herself as Metropolis nightclub owner Angelica Blaze in order to steal souls. In one altercation, Superman follows her to Hell to fight for the souls of Jimmy Olsen and Perry White's son Jerry (who, in fact, was the son of Perry's wife Alice and Lex Luthor). Superman manages to save Jimmy Olsen, but Blaze succeeds in killing Jerry White, whose selfless sacrifice saves his soul. ^[4]

Conversely, Satanus resembles a traditional demon, with large horns that protrude from the front of his head and dark red skin. He wears a heavy Roman-style helmet which buries his face in shadow. Blaze and Satanus fight each other for possession of Blaze's domain, using Superman as a pawn. Satanus has an Earthly identity and disguises himself as Collin Thornton, the publisher of Newstime magazine, who had previously hired Clark Kent as editor. ^[5] At one point, Blaze also clashed with Jared Stevens. ^[6]

In the Powers of Shazam!, Blaze appears as the main antagonist in the first few arcs of the book, being responsible for the creation of Sinclair Batson, the rich cousin of Billy Batson who vehemently denies relations, through the wishes of his corrupt uncle, Ebeneezer Batson. She also plots to extract her revenge on her father as well as release the ultimate evil entity dwelling within the Rock of Eternity. She teams up with Black Adam but is foiled by the combined might of Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and many of his allies in the process. Satanus also appears as an ally to foil his sister although he later returns to rescue her from certain doom.

Underworld Unleashed

Main article: Underworld Unleashed

Blaze and Satanus are two of the many supervillains involved in the Underworld Unleashed crossover event. Both are pawns in the demon Neron's plans to give many of the DC Universe's supervillains and superheroes their heart's desires in exchange for their souls or for completing a task for him. ^[7]

Day of Vengeance

Main article: Day of Vengeance

Satanus reveals to Superman that he is Collin Thornton when the Spectre arrives in Metropolis as part of his mission to destroy all evil magic during the Day of Vengeance miniseries as part of Alexander Luthor Jr.'s plot. ^[8]

Reign in Hell and afterward

Main article: Reign in Hell (comics)

Blaze and Satanus are major characters in the Reign in Hell miniseries. In this story, they have become the rulers of Purgatory and lead a rebellion against Hell by offering "hope to the hopeless", which has never happened before. They are opposed by Neron, other demons and the magical superheroes of the DC Universe. ^[9]

Blaze contacts Mary Marvel, offering to restore her lost powers in exchange for killing Freddy Freeman so that she can have his powers. Mary appears to go along with it, seemingly poisoning Freddy; however, when Blaze arrives, Freddy gets up and fights her, eventually impaling her on an iron statue and using his lightning to send her back to Hell. Now, Blaze seems to be interested in manipulating Osiris. ^[10]

Satanus sends the Justice League to Hell, where the League thwarts Satanus' plans to get the nine pieces of Dante's mask. Satanus attempts to use the mask to become all-powerful, but is prevented by Plastic Man, who is possessed by the mask. The mask is then destroyed by the combined efforts of the League and Zauriel helps the League escape from Hell. ^[11]

The New 52

In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. Blaze and Satanus' histories of the characters changes. Unlike the previous iterations, it is unknown if the character's relationship with the Wizard Shazam remains intact, as the character is changed to be an aboriginal deity whose real name is Mamaragan. The nature of their abilities and characterization differs; Blaze is portrayed capable of speaking in simplified language and Satanus is portrayed as a supreme overlord of an extra-dimensional demonic underworld correction the Dark Realm. Relations between the characters also isn't specified.

Supergrl: Red Daughter of Krypton

Blaze is revealed to be an inmate at the block, having previously been trapped in a xeno-containment unit by Dr. Shay Veritas, who felt forced to trapped her due to her hostility when the Block accidentally brought her aboard the research facility alongside a portion of her home realm. She is later set freed when Veritas attempted to persuade Blaze to defeat Supergirl and Lobo. While the two were later teleported out of the Block to prevent further damage, Blaze escapes after using a transmuted computer terminal to determine the location of Supergirl and track her down and uses her magic to teleport out. ^[12]

Powers and abilities

In the DC Universe, both siblings are recognized as major demons with significant magical power, holding high-ranking positions in the infernal hierarchy within DC Comics' version of Hell. ^{[13] [14] [15]} The pair can also share power with one another in given circumstances to bolster one another. ^[9]

Blaze is a major demon in terms of supernatural power. ^[14] She possesses abilities such as superhuman durability, demonic sorcery, heightened senses, and shapeshifting. ^[14] In modern continuities, her magical abilities include transmutation, invisibility, superhuman strength, and spatial manipulation. It is speculated that she is capable of contending with powerful beings like Supergirl and Lobo. ^[12] In her realm, called the Nether Realm, her power is nearly limitless, allowing her to animate rock, control fire and lava, manipulate souls, traverse dimensions, and alter her size and appearance. Those who fall under her demonic influence become her servants. ^[15] In personal combat, she is strong enough to engage in battle with Captain Marvel, with her strength being compared to that of the demigod Hercules. ^[10]

Satanus is, similarly, recognized as a demon lord with significant mystical power, placing him among the highest ranks of infernal authority in Hell. ^[13] He possesses demonic sorcery and a diverse range of magical abilities, including illusion creation, shape-shifting, manipulation of eldritch energies, dimensional travel, and the ability to alter his size and appearance at will. He is occasionally seen wielding a gnawed, forked staff capable of emitting blasts of mystical hellfire. ^[16] Following the New 52, Satanus's powers have undergone some changes. He possesses supernatural physical prowess derived from his demonic nature and has abilities such as dimensional travel, reality alteration, and flight. ^[17] Unlike his sister, he retains a fraction of his father's powers, allowing him to invoke "Shazam" for supernatural effects. This power was demonstrated when he transformed Neron into a weakened, depowered state. ^[9]

Other versions

An alternate version of Blaze and (presumably) Satanus appear as creations of Lex Luthor to use against Superman in Superman: Red Son . ^[18]

See also

• List of Superman enemies

References

1. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 231. ISBN   978-1476665993.
2. Ordway, Jerry (1995). Powers of Shazam!. DC Comics.
3. Greenberger, Robert; Pasko, Martin (2010). The Essential Superman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. p. 217. ISBN   978-0-345-50108-0.
4. Action Comics #655 (July 1990). DC Comics.
5. The Adventures of Superman #493 (August 1992). DC Comics.
6. Fate #12. DC Comics.
7. Their appearances in the crossover event are, in approximately chronological order, Fate #13 (November 1995), Fate #14 and Underworld Unleashed: Abyss-Hell's Sentinel #1 (both December 1995), Primal Force #13-14 (November–December 1995) and Underworld Unleashed #3 (late December 1995). DC Comics.
8. Action Comics #832 (December 2005). DC Comics.
9. DC Universe Special: Reign in Hell #1 (August 2008) and Reign in Hell #1-8 (September 2008-April 2009). DC Comics.
10. Shazam! (vol. 2) #1 (January 2011). DC Comics.
11. Justice League of America 80-Page Giant 2011. DC Comics.
12. Red Daughter of Krypton. Tony Bedard, Robert Venditti, Charles Soule, Frank J. Barbiere, Yildiray C̦inar, Ben Caldwell, Alessandro Vitti, Emanuela Lupacchino, Billy Tan, Ray McCarthy, Rob Hunter, Dan Brown, Alex Sinclair, Gabe Eltaeb, Ben Caldwell, Rob Leigh, Dave Sharpe, Taylor Esposito, Kenneth Rocafort, Hi-Fi Colour Design. New York. 2015. ISBN   978-1-4012-5051-5. OCLC   890080225.
13. Bulmer, Darren; Chang, Leon; Ciechanowski, Walt; Huff, Chris; Johnson, Seth; Kaiser, Matthew E.; Kenson, Steve; McGlothlin, Christopher; Melchor, Alejandro (2012-05-08). DC Adventures RPG: Heroes & Villains Volume 2. Diamond Comic Distributors. ISBN   978-1-934547-39-7.
14. Bulmer, Darren; Ciechanowski, Walt; Huff, Chris; Johnson, Sean; Kenson, Steve; McFarland, Matthew (2011-10-25). DC Adventures Heroes & Villians, Volume 1: Allies and Enemies from the DC Universe. Diamond Comic Distributors. ISBN   978-1-934547-38-0.
15. Who's Who in the DC Universe #4. DC Comics. 1990.
16. Who's Who in the DC Universe Update 1993. DC Comics. 1993.
17. Manning, Matthew K. (2021). The DC Comics encyclopedia : the definitive guide to the characters of the DC Universe. Alan Cowsill, Jim Lee (New ed.). London. ISBN   978-0-241-43953-1. OCLC   1260845288.
18. Superman: Red Son #3. DC Comics.

External links

• DCU Guide: Blaze
• DCU Guide: Satanus
• Superman Homepage: Lord Satanus