In comic books, the Devil comes in many a form.
Whether that’s Marvel’s very direct interpretation, Mephisto, or one of the slew of sinister demons
that have crept into the DC universe, all of these malevolent supernatural forces have
at one point or another attempted to lure virtuous superheroes into striking up a deal
in order to get what they want, or, quite commonly, help the greater good.
So today, we’re taking a look at a handful of heroes who have found themselves in that
position, with our list of the top 10 superheroes who made a deal with the devil.
Let’s jump in!
10 Batman Considering the dark nature of the caped crusader,
it should be no surprise that Bruce Wayne has found himself starring into the hellish
face of a demon from time to time.
But the Batman we’re looking at specifically in this number ain’t Bruce.
Oh no, it’s his son Damian.
Damian Wayne, in a story that dove into an alternate possible future in Batman issue
666 (hah), would find himself needing to step up as Batman after his father’s death.
While Bruce might’ve been dead, Batman was still needed in Gotham, so the night after
Bruce had died, Damian sold his soul to the devil in order to protect Gotham.
He proves to be a much more violent Batman than his father, and ends up becoming immortal
in order to keep Gotham safe forever.
9 Doctor Strange When it comes to selling one’s soul, Doctor
Strange ain’t no stranger to that.
But rather than selling his soul to the likes of Mephisto, Strange has a whole other roster
of demons that he can strike up a deal with.
Once upon a time, he made a deal with an entity called the Resolute Throne, who for a fifth
of his soul will give him the fifth of the power of a god.
So Strange is like, what about for my entire soul?
This is all for the sake of saving the multiverse from the Beyonders, a higher dimensional alien
race.
The Throne has been visited by three Sorcerers Supreme in the past, with only Strange leaving
it with his life.
In addition to that, in World War Hulk, Strange also made a deal with Zom in an attempt to
take on the Hulk, but the demon’s powers caused him to lose control and ultimately
he was defeated by Hulk.
8 Shazam Back in late 1995, DC had a cross over event
called Underworld Unleashed in which the new ruler of Hell, a demon named Neron, decided
to offer up a bunch of villain and superheroes deals in which they’d be given their greatest
desires in exchange for their souls, or for doing something Neron wanted.
Shazam is one of those heroes; Neron wanted to steal the purest soul on Earth.
And of course, that soul belonged to Billy Batson, the child who turned into a superhero
when saying the word Shazam.
Shazam confronts Neron and offers him a deal of his own instead; if he gives Neron his
soul, Neron must release all of the other souls he’s collected and leave Earth alone.
Neron accepts, but turns out because Billy offered his soul out of pure altruism, Neron
can’t actually keep his soul, and gets stuck having to keep his end of the bargain regardless.
7 The Fausts Naturally a character with the name Faust
will inevitably broker some sort of deal with a devil-esque character.
And here’s two of them, with one making a deal with a demon and the other being the
result of said deal.
Sebastian Faust is a DC character who fell into obscurity, first appearing in Outsiders
Volume 2 issue 1 back in 1993.
He’s the son of villain Felix Faust, an ancient wizard who returned in the 1920s when
a foolish magician summoned him and Felix killed him and possessed his body.
Felix had sold Sebastian’s soul to a demon in order to gain more power, but in spite
of Felix, the demon gave Sebastian the power he sought out instead.
Sebastian would later go on to use his powers as a member of the Outsiders, and even take
on daddy dearest from time to time.
6 Loki Loki, the trickster god and brother of Thor,
has conducted his fair share of schemes and plots over the years.
This one, that occurred during the Siege story event, in his own Siege one shot, it’s no
different.
Its a complicated plan of his that involved Loki making a deal with Mephisto in order
to make a deal with Hela, all so Loki could secure his freedom from Ragnarok, freeing
him from the cycle so that he would not be accounted for.
He is stricken from the Books of Hel, and when he dies he is no longer Hel-bound, giving
him absolutely freedom.
5 Spawn Al Simmons was a former Marine who worked
for the CIA.
While questioning the ethics of their missions, Simmons was betrayed by his superiors, and
his best friend, and ended up in Hell thanks to all of the innocent lives he had taken
while working for the government.
Tough luck.
So what does Simmons do?
He makes a deal with Malebolgia, trading his soul to the demon in order to see his wife
again.
But, like most other demons on this list, there is some level of trickery involved;
Simmons is sent back to the land of the living, but five years later, to discover his wife
is shacking up with his best friend.
That isn’t the only thing that’s changed; Simmons has been given powers, turning him
into Spawn, and takes a vow to fight both the forces of Hell and Heaven.
Spawn was one of the most beloved anti-heroes of the 90s, having been a bit of a flagship
character for Image Comics.
4 Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze literally got his powers thanks
to the devil, or rather, Mephisto.
As an orphan, he was adopted by his father’s best friend Crash Simpson when his parents
passed away.
The whole gang were in the stunt daredevil industry.
Things got worse from there; Crash was diagnosed with cancer, so Johnny decides that in order
to save him, he’ll strike up a deal with Mephisto, selling his soul to the demon.
Of course, this backfires big time, and Crash ends up dying shortly afterwards in a stunt
gone wrong.
When Mephisto comes to collect what he’s owed, aka Johnny’s soul, he ends up binding
his soul to the demon Zarathos, which ultimately turns him into the Ghost rider.
3 Frank Castle - Cosmic Ghost Rider Speaking of the Ghost Rider, there’s perhaps
an even more tragic version of him who made the same exact deal with Mephisto.
From Earth TRN666, here we have Frank Castle, the cosmic ghost rider, who debuted back in
2018.
This version of the character is The Punisher, who ends up getting killed in a battle against
Thanos when a piece of debris accidentally hits his head.
When he wakes up in Hell, he makes a deal with Mephisto to come back and seek revenge
on Thanos, which turns him into the Ghost Rider.
But when he returns to Earth, thanos is long gone.
Typical Mephisto trickery.
Except it gets to the point that Frank, the only individual left on Earth, goes mad from
being alone and unable to do anything about the planet’s destruction, that he annoys
the hell out of Mephisto, who eventually begins to ignore him.
Luckily for Frank, Galactus eventually arrives on the planet, and the two team up, with him
becoming his herald, known as the Cosmic Ghost Rider.
2 Spider-Man Spider-Man has perhaps one of the most memorable
deals with the devil because of how absurd the whole story was.
During the One Day More story arc, after Aunt May is put into a coma after an attack by
Kingpin, Peter, who exhausts all other options in order to save her, he is approached by
Mephisto, who sees an opportunity arise from the situation.
Mephisto offers to save Aunt May in exchange for Peter’s marriage to Mary Jane Watson.
Peter, despite all of the advice directing him to do otherwise, accepts, which also results
in him selling the soul of his and MJ’s unborn child.
Yeah, dark.
1 Constantine John Constantine actually scored a pretty
darn good deal with the devil.
For real.
Constantine is a DC anti-hero, a working class occult detective and con man, a chain smoker
and a cynic, cunning and ruthless, all with the slightest bit of a humanitarian that secretly
wants to do some good with his life.
John, who had already pissed off the First of the Fallen, is slowly dying of cancer due
to his heavy chain smoking problem.
Since the First plans on making his eternal life in hell a, well, living hell, John decides
to sell his soul to the other two rulers of hell, with the First only ruling 1/3rd of
it.
So what does that mean?
Well, when he dies, this would spawn a full blown war between all three rulers for his
soul over who gets to own it.
In order to avoid that, he manipulates the First into curing his cancer.
And, to further make things more convenient for himself, Constantine would go on to black
mail God in order to avoid dying and going to Hell.
All in all, seems like those deals worked out in his best interest.
There we have it friends!
What other heroes and villains do you know of in comics that made a deal with a devil-esque
entityy?
Give us a shout in those comments below, and perhaps we’ll do a part two!
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