| Blaze and Satanus | |
|---|---|
Blaze from The Power of Shazam! #10, art by Jerry Ordway. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Blaze Action Comics #655, (July 1990) Satanus Action Comics #527, (January 1982) |
| Created by | Blaze Roger Stern (writer) Bob McLeod (artist) Satanus Marv Wolfman (writer) Curt Swan (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Demon |
| Place of origin | Hell |
| Notable aliases | Blaze Angelica Blaze Satanus Colin Thornton |
| Abilities | both siblings are experts in maleficium |
Blaze and Satanus are fictional demonic siblings published by DC Comics. Blaze debuted in Action Comics #655 (July 1990); she was created by Roger Stern and Bob McLeod. Satanus debuted in Action Comics #527 (January 1982); he was created by Marv Wolfman and Curt Swan.
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Satanus first appeared in Action Comics #527 (January 1982), and was created by writer Marv Wolfman and Curt Swan, as Satanis. Blaze first appeared in Action Comics #655 (July 1990), and was created by writer Roger Stern and Bob McLeod.
Blaze first appeared in Action Comics #655 (July 1990).
Blaze and Satanus are the half-demon children of the wizard Shazam and an unnamed demoness.
Lord Satanis is powerful sorcerer from a million years in the future. Lord Satanis battles his wife, Syrene, for Merlin's runestone. The artifact will make one of them extremely powerful and allow them to rule Earth.[1]
Later, Lord Satanis and Syrene split Superman in half and separate the two Supermen by sending one to the distant past. After one of the Supermen is killed, Lord Satanis possesses the body and uses it to fight Syrene and Superman's other half. Superman defeats Satanis and sends Satanis and Syrene back to their own time.[2]
Lord Satanus is a brother to the demon Blaze. Lord 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 Colin Thornton, the publisher of Newstime magazine, who had previously hired Clark Kent as editor.[3]
Blaze is involved in the creation of Superman's enemies Silver Banshee and Skyhook. A red-skinned demoness with horns, she disguises herself as Metropolis nightclub owner Angelica Blaze to steal souls. 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]
Blaze later appears in Fawcett City, where she takes a new mortal guise as a mob boss. Her plans for the city (and the Rock of Eternity connected to it) are foiled by Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family. It is revealed Blaze and Satanus are only half-demons, their father being the wizard Shazam who had been seduced by a demoness thousands of years ago, and that it was Blaze who corrupted Black Adam and made a deal with Set to get him powers from Egyptian gods (this was later retconned).
Lord Satanus creates DMN, a magical drug that transforms people into demons. He arranges to be sent to areas of the world where people are in dire straits. After the Fall of Metropolis, the city becomes one of these areas. Horrified by what has befallen his home, Satanus sends a disguised magical message to Zatanna, who uses Perry White and Superman's knowledge of the city to restore it. Satanus uses the DMN addicts again, however, to distract Shazam from detecting his presence when the wizard visits Metropolis.
Following Brainiac-13's recreation of Metropolis, Satanus makes an ambitious effort to capture the soul of the entire city. Superman offers his own soul in exchange, but eventually thwarts Satanus with the help of a young psychic and a mysterious shaman named Night Eagle who, it was implied, might be Blaze in disguise.
Lord Satanus later appears in the Reign of Emperor Joker arc of the Superman titles. In this story, he dwells in that reality's Hell (a literal flaming place accommodated to include annoying songs) where he offers the angelic Supergirl and the somewhat-brainwashed Superboy their heart's desires in exchange for their souls after they are killed by a blast fired by the monstrous Ignition. Satanus comments that, much like God, he is forced to live in all realities and dimensions simultaneously. At the end, when Supergirl annoys him with her incessant prayer, he shunts them to life, saying there were not many Hells he could send them to that were worse than the Joker's world.
Satanus revals to Superman that he is Colin 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's plot.
Blaze and Satanus are major characters in the Reign in Hell storyline (June 2008). 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, and other demonic characters from the DCU.
At the conclusion of the story they appear triumphant. Blaze then betrays her brother, and is now sole ruler of Hell.
Blaze later appears to Eddie Bloomberg, who had recently lost his Neron-spawned powers, and offers him a new contract, with his demonic powers now irrevocable, but with the same price of servitude as Neron's contract. Kid Eternity intervenes and summons Eddie's Aunt Marla, who convinces Eddie not to take the contract.
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 lighting to send her back to Hell. Now Blaze seems to be interested in manipulating Osiris.[5]
Satanus sends Justice League to Hell, where the League thwarts Satanus' plans to bring the nine pieces of Dante's mask. Satanus attempts to use the mask to become 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 Hell.[6]
An alternate version of Blaze and (presumably) Satanus appear as creations of Lex Luthor to use against Superman in Superman: Red Son.
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