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Blaze and Satanus

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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
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceBlaze
Action Comics #655 (July 1990)
Satanus
The Adventures of Superman #493 (August 1992)
Created byBlaze
Roger Stern (writer)
Brett Breeding (artist)
Satanus
Brett Breeding
In-story information
Alter egoBlaze & Satanus
SpeciesDemon/Human hybrids
Place of originHell
Team affiliationsSatanic Triumvirate
PartnershipsBlack Adam
Notable aliasesBlaze
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 vastly-high levels of demonic sorcery for a variety of feats including: altering appearances, warp reality, size manipulation, control over souls, command legions of demons, 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 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

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Origin

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Blaze and Satanus are demonic hybrid children of the wizard Shazam and an unnamed Hellhound demoness who assumed human form to seduce him. Shortly after their birth, the twin children would be banished by the Cannite gods along with their mother back to their home world, 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

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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. She disguises herself as Metropolis nightclub owner Angelica Blaze 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 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 exact 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

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Main article: Underworld Unleashed

During the Underworld Unleashed event, Blaze and Satanus gain increased power from the demon Neron in exchange for their souls.[7]

Day of Vengeance

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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

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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. 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 obtain Dante's mask. Satanus attempts to use the mask to become all-powerful, but is prevented by Plastic Man. The mask possesses him before the League destroys it and escapes from Hell.[11]

The New 52

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In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. Blaze and Satanus are reimagined as the overlords of the Dark Realm and unrelated to Shazam. In Supergirl: Red Daughter of Krypton, Blaze is imprisoned by Shay Veritas before being freed.[12]

Powers and abilities

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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

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Alternate universe variants of Blaze and Satanus created by Lex Luthor appear in Superman: Red Son.[18]

In other media

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Blaze and Satanus appear as character summons in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.[19]

See also

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References

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  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. ^ a b c DC Universe Special: Reign in Hell #1 (August 2008) and Reign in Hell #1-8 (September 2008-April 2009). DC Comics.
  10. ^ a b Shazam! (vol. 2) #1 (January 2011). DC Comics.
  11. ^ Justice League of America 80-Page Giant 2011. DC Comics.
  12. ^ a b 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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Bulmer, Darren; Ciechanowski, Walt; Huff, Chris; Johnson, Sean; Kenson, Steve; McFarland, Matthew (2011-10-25). DC Adventures Heroes & Villains, Volume 1: Allies and Enemies from the DC Universe. Diamond Comic Distributors. ISBN 978-1-934547-38-0.
  15. ^ a b 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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. ^ Superman: Red Son #3. DC Comics.
  19. ^ Eisen, Andrew (October 2, 2013). "DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide". IGN. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
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