Neron (DC Comics)

Neron
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Underworld Unleashed #1
(November 1995)
Created by Mark Waid (writer)
Howard Porter (artist)
In-story information
Species Demon
Place of origin Hell
Abilities superhuman physical attributes, shapeshifting, telepathy, teleportation, mastery of maleficium

Neron is a fictional demon appearing in stories published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Underworld Unleashed #1 (November 1995) and was created by Mark Waid and Howard Porter.

Publication history

Neron is a demon-lord of Hell and was first featured as the major antagonist in the DC Comics multi-title comic book crossover event Underworld Unleashed released by DC Comics in 1995. As well as the core storyline of the three-issue Underworld Unleashed mini-series (November 1995-late December 1995), most of the DC titles published in November and December 1995 (including two in October 1995 and one in January 1996) and a number of one-shot issues were also part of the storyline. Neron appeared in most of these. After this introduction, he was next used in several storylines simultaneously: the three-part Hell to Pay storyline in Flash (vol. 2) #127-129 (July-September 1997), by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #123-125 (July-September 1997) by John Byrne and a two-part story in JLA #6-7 (July-August 1997) by Grant Morrison, with art by Neron's co-creator Howard Porter. The last storyline was concluded in the three-issue mini-series JLA: Paradise Lost (January-March 1998), a key early story in the long process of reordering the position of Hell in the DC Universe.

Neron then appeared in New Year's Evil: Rogues (February 1998), part of the New Year's Evil storyline that ran in nine one-shot issues, followed by a two-page vignette featuring Etrigan the Demon in the one-shot anthology title DCU Villains Secret Files and Origins #1 (1999) and ended the year with a part in the five-issue weekly series Day of Judgement (November 1999) and a stand-alone tale by J.M. DeMatteis, 'Heart of Hell' in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #15 (Fall 1999), the last issue of that series, which is part of the Day of Judgement storyline and concludes it.

His next appearances came in the five-issue weekly series Deadman: Dead Again (October 2001) written by Steve Vance, a humorous Christmas story 'Merry Christmas Justice League, Now Die' , in JLA #60 (January 2002) and a brief encounter in 'On Duty In Hell' in Human Defense Corps #6 (December 2003), the last issue of the six-issue mini-series. Two years later he featured in the last four parts of the six-part Out Of the Past storyline in Richard Dragon #7-12 (January-June 2005), then during the DC crossover event 52 Neron was involved in Week 25 (October 25, 2006) and Week 42 (February 21, 2007), followed by 'Devil May Care' in Teen Titans vol. 3 #42 (February 2007). None of these stories were critical to his character development or storyline. This was left to Keith Giffen, whose eight-issue mini-series Reign In Hell (September 2008-April 2009) featured all-out war between Hell and Purgatory and redefined Hell in DC Comics continuity. Since then there has been one further vignette, a short non-continuity joke involving Ambush Bug in typical Keith Giffen style in issue #3 of the six-issue mini-series Ambush Bug: Year None #1-5 and #7 (September 2008-December 2009 (#6 is missing here)).

Fictional character history

Neron is one of the major demon-lords of Hell, a "Wishweaver",[1] the "King of Hate"[2] and the "Lord of Lies".[3] It is not known how old he is, but he has claimed 'I brought the very first couple together' [4] and he has told Wonder Woman 'I am among the first that walked abroad in this universe, and my influence has been known since humanity's first fall from grace' ,[5] although it should be remembered that he is the Lord of Lies. Although he is unknown to Earth's superheroes until the events of Underworld Unleashed, the ancient supervillain Vandal Savage is already long acquainted with him - 'Still making deals...collecting souls?' is his first seen greeting to Neron and then they discuss matters as if they are old acquaintances.[6]

He specializes in making deals with people for their souls in exchange for their greatest desires. 'Deals are your passion, Neron. You grant us the desires of our hearts-in exchange for our immortal souls' .[7] These deals are classic Faustian arrangements made only to further his own twisted aims; half-truths and treachery which lead to either misfortune for the dealmakers or their deaths, the latter either as a result of their own actions or by Neron claiming their souls when the deal is up or when they fail to keep their side of the deal. In other cases he achieves his aims by offering similarly treacherous information or by granting a person's greatest desires in exchange for the completion of a task for him — usually with similar results. To approach a victim, he will either appear before them directly or send them a carved black candle (a "demon stick" made from demon's blood[1]) which, when lit, either summons him to them directly in order for them to make a deal or brings them to Hell, where they then meet him and are offered a deal.

Neron appears to be unable to resist a chance to make a deal; he is attracted to dealmaking in order to corrupt and gain souls. He is also attracted to purity and wishes to corrupt and destroy it wherever he finds it. Both of these attractions have led to his downfall many times.

Underworld Unleashed

Neron's first appearance to Earth's supervillains and superheroes occurs during the Underworld Unleashed crossover event, when he plots to take over Earth by either enhancing the powers of, or offering their greatest desires to, dozens of supervillains and superheroes in exchange for their souls. When attempting to tempt Green Lantern V (Kyle Rayner), he offers to bring back his girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, from the dead; similarly he offers to bring Robin II (Jason Todd) back from the dead for Batman and to bring Flash II (Barry Allen) back from the dead for Flash III (Wally West).[8]

He tricks five members of Flash's Rogues Gallery (Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master II and Weather Wizard) into causing a series of explosions that kills them. When seen from the sky, the five explosions resemble the points of a pentagram and the symbol, combined with the deaths of the Rogues, creates a gateway which enables Neron to travel to Earth and to corrupt humanity. Many supervillains and superheroes are either approached directly with deals for their souls or given carved black candles which, when lit, either summon Neron to them directly in order for them to make a deal or bring them to Hell, where they then meet him and are offered a deal. About fifty supervillains have their powers enhanced to varying degrees as a result.[9]

Ultimately Neron is scheming to take over Earth and to obtain a "pure soul" that he can corrupt. Initially everyone assumes this refers to Superman's soul, but he actually seeks the soul of Captain Marvel. In the end, he is defeated by Trickster (who suggests that Captain Marvel should make a deal with him)[10] and the most powerful members of Justice League America, including Captain Marvel, though not before causing mass chaos and worldwide destruction on Earth, killing the alien despot Mongul with his bare hands and sending away a number of other supervillains who had refused his offer. Captain Marvel makes a deal with Neron to not conquer Earth and to release his fellow superheroes - and, by unspoken extension, all of the supervillains who had accepted his offer - from any and all debts they may have owed to him, in exchange for his soul. Neron accepts and tries to take Captain Marvel's soul, but it is too pure for him to touch; Neron, however, still had to honor the deal.[11] Critical to later events, he also makes a deal so that the Spectre-Force will not act against him and reveals that he wants Spectre as his slave and ultimately as his replacement in Hell.

After the Underworld Unleashed crossover event, an unknown number of Neron's candles still exist and cause major trouble for their owners, and others, in later years.

The Flash: Hell to Pay

Two years later, the soulless Rogues previously killed by Neron's treachery return to cause havoc in Keystone City, causing Flash III to challenge Neron for their souls after gaining an audience in Hell by using a candle that Pied Piper had kept, all of which Neron had supposedly planned.[12] Neron offers Flash III a deal for the Rogues' souls, but he refuses and is allowed to leave Hell with Jay Garrick, the original Flash, whom Neron had captured earlier. Knowing that the now almost-immortal Rogues are too powerful, Neron's ploy is that Flash III will be forced to make a deal to save Keystone City. Neron refuses Flash III's soul and asks for his love for news reporter Linda Park instead, because of its purity. He gets it, and Linda's soul also, which she made a deal for earlier in exchange for Neron not going after Flash III's soul. Neron planned this in order to use the Speed Force to enter and rule Heaven,[13] but the plan backfires and the essence of their love corrupts him, causing him to feel compassion for the damned souls in his realm and forcing him to frantically offer Flash III and Linda another deal to take their love back. Later, Flash III also succeeds in forcing Neron into bringing the Rogues back from the dead as well, with their souls returned to their bodies.[14]

Immediately afterwards he captures Wonder Woman and Artemis of Bana-Mighdall in Hell as part of a plan to bring about the downfall of his enemy Etrigan the Demon.[15] After being seriously hurt by Artemis in the ensuing battle, he kills Wonder Woman.[16]

JLA: Paradise Lost

Next, Neron's ambitions for Heaven are furthered when he notices chaos and 'strife between the orders of angels' when Asmodel, a King-Angel who has waited one million years to rebel against Heaven, and Zauriel, an angel who knows his secret, use Earth as their battlefield.[17] Asmodel makes a deal with Neron to have him help him in his plans to take over Heaven, but at the last moment of the assault on Heaven Neron abandons his support and returns to Hell.[18]

Immediately after this he is once again defeated by Trickster and is also defeated by an agent of Heaven.[19]

Day of Judgment and after

Etrigan the Demon causes trouble in Neron's realm by bonding Asmodel (who is bound in Hell and being tortured by Neron) to the Spectre-Force (which is awaiting a new host after its previous host Jim Corrigan's death and ascension into Heaven). Asmodel, who is trying to destroy both Heaven and Hell, uses the Spectre's powers to extinguish the hellfire font, causing Hell to freeze over. In the chaos caused by the inhabitants of all of Hell's realms invading Earth, Neron uses Superman's body as a gateway and once again tries to claim the Spectre-Force for himself. He is thwarted when Spectre chooses Hal Jordan, the former Green Lantern II, as his new human host instead and is punished by his fellow demon-lords for using Hell's power for his own pleasure. His royal status is stripped from him and he is demoted to the position of a Rhyming Demon[20] - which had been Etrigan's plan all along. Later it is revealed that Superman was not just used as a gateway to Earth, but was actually replaced by Neron in disguise while Superman's soul was battling for Lois Lane's soul in Hell.[3]

To regain his place in Hell's pantheon, Neron next tries to collect a number of dead superheroes' souls: Deadman, Flash II (Barry Allen), Robin II (Jason Todd) and Superman (who has been killed by Doomsday). Unable to enter Superman's body himself, he discovers that his surrogate Caldera is rejected by Superman's body also, so he uses Caldera's soul as the fourth of the four souls he requires. He then turns his attention to Green Lantern II (Hal Jordan), tricking Deadman into saving Green Lantern II from death during his battle with Mongul,[21] ensuring Neron will have the chance to tempt Green Lantern II later in his history after he has destroyed the planet Oa and thus win back his position in Hell. Neron erases Deadman's memory of him so he cannot prevent this from happening, but is thwarted when Spectre restores his memory and Deadman changes the future by ensuring Caldera dies before Neron can offer him a deal.[22]

Despite this setback, Neron appears to have somehow regained his position and powers within three years, after which the demon Calcabrina offers Neron the souls of sixty-six members of the Human Defense Corps in an attempt to deflect both the Corps and other Earthly forces from war with him (although the deal is never completed, as it is interrupted by the Corps launching a successful rescue bid in an attack on Hell).[23] Two years after this he tries to make a deal with Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter and fails.[24]

52

Under thrall to Neron, Felix Faust plots to deliver him Elongated Man's (Ralph Dibny's) soul at the moment of its greatest despair. Pretending to be Doctor Fate, Faust attempts to convince Dibny that he can resurrect his dead wife, Sue, and teaches him magical skills, but is tricked by Dibny, who has known for some time that he is not Doctor Fate and that Neron is responsible for the plot. When Neron appears, he is goaded by Dibny into killing him, but then discovers Dibny has tricked him and has established a circle of binding around Doctor Fate's home, the Tower of Nabu, which can only be undone by the person who originally created it. Neron is thus trapped in the tower with Faust, seemingly for all eternity.[25]

The binding does not last long; through some unknown method, Neron soon finds a way to escape[26] and makes a deal with Kid Devil,[1] granting him the superpowers he has always dreamed of in exchange for his soul when he reaches twenty years of age if his trust in his idol Blue Devil is broken. Typically Faustian, he then reveals Blue Devil was responsible for the death of Kid Devil's aunt, filmmaker Marla Bloom, and had hidden the truth from him. When Kid Devil confronts Blue Devil, he finds out that everything Neron had said was the truth.[27]

Reign in Hell

Neron is opposed by the demons Blaze and Satanus, the rulers of Purgatory, who attempt to take control of Hell while he is imprisoned in the Tower of Nabu. The hordes of Purgatory invade Hell under their command and influence Hell's demons against Neron by offering hope and redemption for the damned. To defeat the legions of the damned, Neron has Lilith, the Mother of Monsters, recall all of her children to Hell to fight on his side. Despite all of this, and just when Neron seems to be victorious, he is killed by Satanus, who had used the cover of war to infect Hell with a modified viral version of DMN, a magical drug in an airborne version that changes demons into soulless humans when combined with the magic word 'Shazam' . For Neron the infection turns him into a soulless human and causes the many demonic entities he had consumed over the millennia to be driven from him. No longer a match for Satanus, he is beheaded by his former rival, after which Satanus claims the throne of Hell for himself.[28] It all turns out to be for nothing, however, because Blaze, Satanus' sister, soon usurps her brother's position and claims the throne for herself.[29]

DC Rebirth

Neron is the one keeping Apollo (one half of the superhero team Midnighter and Apollo) as a prisoner in Hell.[30]

Powers and abilities

Neron is normally portrayed as being one of the most powerful magical beings in the DC Universe; almost invulnerable and able to warp reality and raise the dead. However, despite manifesting great strength and magical powers on occasion, he normally relies on a deal to obtain human souls and only claims them when the deal is up or when his victims fail to keep their side of the deal. He is able to give superheroes and supervillains magic-based powers (as he did with Kid Devil[1]), can greatly enhance a superhero or supervillain's existing powers and has the ability to assume a human-like appearance - although he sometimes uncontrollably reverts to a demonic form when angry. He possesses immense physical strength, as evidenced when he killed Mongul with his bare hands or when killing demons. He is also adept at creating items of power, for example Ocean Master's trident, or more common items such as the Secret Six's recently acquired Get Out of Hell Free card or a box of Cuban cigars for Joker. If killed, he returns to his own realm and is considerably more powerful while there, even at times depicted as near omnipotent while in his realm.

Neron appears to be unable to resist a chance to make a deal and has often been tricked out of the deals he has made with mortals (especially Trickster, who defeated him twice). He is also unable to deal with pure souls, such as those of Captain Marvel or Superman, and when he tries to take the love that Flash III and Linda Park have for each other, he discovers to his dismay that the purity of it begins to corrupt him to the extent that he begins to feel compassion for the damned souls in his realm, which forces him to frantically offer Flash III and Linda another deal to take their love back. He is also unable to 'alter the fundamental laws of the universe' .[31]

Other information

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Teen Titans (vol. 3) #42 (February 2007)
  2. ↑ Spoken by Ghast, one of the Demons Three, in JLA #6 (July 1997)
  3. 1 2 Superman, The Man of Tomorrow #15 (Fall 1999)
  4. ↑ Richard Dragon #10 (April 2005)
  5. ↑ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #124 (August 1997)
  6. ↑ The Ray (vol. 2) #18 (November 1995)
  7. ↑ Vandal Savage to Neron in The Ray (vol. 2) #18 (November 1995)
  8. ↑ Underworld Unleashed #2 (early December 1995)
  9. ↑ Underworld Unleashed #1 (November 1995)
  10. ↑ Ironically, as Flash III later points out in Flash (vol. 2) #127 (July 1997), Neron is defeated by 'of all people-the king of the con men.'
  11. ↑ A full list of the titles involved in the Underworld Unleashed storyline and the fates of the supervillains and superheroes involved in it is at Underworld Unleashed
  12. ↑ Neron claims that he knew that Pied Piper wouldn't use the candle. 'Why else send a candle to your friend, the Piper, all those months ago? I knew he'd never use it to light his way here. It was meant for you to find.' (Flash (vol. 2) #128 (August 1997)) But of course Neron is a liar, so this may not be true.
  13. ↑ Flash (vol. 2) #128 (August 1997)
  14. ↑ Flash (vol. 2) #129 (September 1997)
  15. ↑ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #123-125 (July-September 1997)
  16. ↑ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #125 (September 1997)
  17. ↑ JLA #6-7 (July-August 1997)
  18. ↑ JLA: Paradise Lost #1-3 (January-March 1998)
  19. ↑ New Year's Evil: Rogues (February 1998)
  20. ↑ The details of the demonic hierarchy in the DC Universe are at Hell (DC Comics)
  21. ↑ Green Lantern (vol. 3) #46 (October 1993); an unseen event retcon
  22. ↑ Deadman: Dead Again #1-5 (weekly series - October 2001)
  23. ↑ Human Defense Corps #6 (December 2003)
  24. ↑ Richard Dragon #7-12 (January-June 2005)
  25. ↑ 52 Week 25 (October 25, 2006) and 52 Week 42 (February 21, 2007)
  26. ↑ as narrated by the still trapped Felix Faust in Black Adam: The Dark Age #2 (November 2007). Note: the binding also does not appear to have been very effective; Faust also escapes within the year.
  27. ↑ In yet another failure, Blaze later revealed that Kid Devil's powers were not given to him by Neron as per the deal; he had unlocked a metagene already present in Kid Devil, so the deal was not binding-and, in fact, had been null and void right from the beginning.(Teen Titans (vol. 3) #68 (April 2009))
  28. ↑ Reign in Hell #6 (February 2009)
  29. ↑ Reign in Hell #8 (April 2009)
  30. ↑ Midnighter and Apollo #2 (November 2016)
  31. ↑ JLA #7 (August 1997)
  32. ↑ Showcase '95 #12 (December 1995)
  33. ↑ Starman (vol. 2) #70-72 (October–December 2000)
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