He's demonic, diabolical, and literally the son of Satan. Yet for all that evil, Daimon
Hellstrom is actually a decent dude. This is the story behind Marvel's most unlikely
king of Hell, set to enter the MCU with his very own Hulu series, Helstrom, in 2020.
The 1970s were a spooky time for Marvel. After decades of censorship forbidding stories of
the supernatural, a few cracks had started to appear in the Comics Code, and Marvel was
quick to capitalize. With new titles like Werewolf By Night and The Tomb of Dracula,
they were drawing horror fans into their universe, and it was going well enough that Stan Lee
came up with an idea that would take the genre to new heights, or lows, as the case may be.
If people liked reading about Dracula, why not go all the way to the biggest bad guy
of all time?
"Oh I don't know, could it be Satan?"
Lee's idea was called The Mark of Satan, a comic that would star the devil himself, which
would've been interesting, but pretty difficult to sell to kids on a lunchbox. Editor Roy
Thomas convinced Lee that people just wouldn't buy a comic featuring Satan as the main character,
even if he was the bad guy, like Dracula had been in the first few issues of his comic.
Instead, Thomas proposed the comic feature the devil's half-human child, who, in classic
Marvel style, could be torn between his demonic powers and his life on Earth. Lee loved it,
and so the Marvel bullpen set to work.
The son of Satan was given the completely unsubtle name Daimon Hellstrom, and made his
debut in 1973's Ghost Rider #1.
We're about to go deep into the weeds of comics, so strap yourself in. Sometimes, in the world
of Marvel, things aren't quite what they seem, especially when it comes to demons. Such is
the case with Daimon Hellstrom, whose father is less "the" Satan and more "a" satan.
See, in the Marvel Universe, Hell is ruled by committee, which anyone who has spent a
lot of time in meetings will tell you sounds pretty accurate. The Hell-Lords promote the
idea of a singular Satan who reigns over them all, but actually acts as a group. Different
versions of Hellstrom's origins get a little fuzzy on the details, each Hell-Lord might
have their own version of Hell, and there really might be an actual Lucifer running
around out there. But for now, there's one demon directly responsible for Daimon: An
ancient creature named Marduk Kurios, who is ruler of at least one realm of Hell.
Daimon didn't actually know who and what his father was until he came across his mother's
diary as an adult. He later rejects his father's offer to battle against humanity, and, in
fact, begins aiding humanity's fight against the forces of Hell. Talk about a turnaround.
When it comes to Marvel's demonic characters, their powers are often pretty inconsistent.
One thing that does seem to hold true is that they're exponentially stronger in their own
realm. Hellstrom, who is actually a ruler of his particular dimension of Hell, is a
prime example. In his own fiery underworld, his power is nearly infinite. Outside of his
dimension, well, he has superhuman strength and speed, but he's not going to beat Hulk
in an arm-wrestling match any time soon. Fortunately, he has some other talents to rely on, and
also wields a trident made of "netheranium," a "psychosensitive" metal found in Hell that
can amplify his abilities.
Perhaps most uniquely, Hellstrom can control "soulfire," a power that burns one's very
soul. It can be blasted through his trident as an attack. He has also spent a good amount
of time studying the darkest arts of sorcery. Because really, why not just throw some wizard
powers on top of being the devil's kid, just in case you really need to burn something
to the ground.
As for what he's burning, Daimon's biggest fights have been exactly as demonic as you
might expect as he frequently finds himself defending humanity from his father's side
of the family. While inheriting rulership of a hell dimension has occasionally led him
to team up with devilish villains for the greater good, it's also made them his most
frequent sparring partners, as he's one of the few standing in the way of demonic big
bads like the Dread Dormammu.
The Defenders may not get the mainstream buzz that the Avengers enjoy, but there are several
iterations of the scrappy team that could stand up to Earth's mightiest heroes. Usually,
though, they're a little too busy handling the weirder threats to the Marvel Universe.
You'd think with Doctor Strange as a founding member, the team wouldn't need more magical
heavyweights to get the job done, but Hellstrom has aided the Defenders against plenty of
heavyweight villains, including the demon Satannish. Strange has even consulted the
Son of Satan on other matters, Daimon's firsthand knowledge of Hell's hierarchy, alongside his
powerful magical abilities, have proven invaluable time and time again.
Perhaps his most important team-up came from his sister, who has the very subtle name "Satana."
Unlike Daimon, she was raised in Hell, but has also fought for good more often than not.
It turns out that being the spawn of Satan doesn't mean you have to be evil, it just
means you have a pentagram-shaped birthmark on your chest.
Daimon Hellstrom is headed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it seems. Helstrom, an upcoming
Hulu series, will be the first entry into Marvel's new Adventure Into Fear franchise.
The series, starring Tom Austen, will follow the sibling pair of Daimon and Ana Helstrom,
children of a serial killer who track down bad guys on their own. Given their comic book
pedigree, it seems likely that the duo will eventually discover their serial killer parent
is a bit more complicated than they realize.
We don't yet know how closely this show will tie into the MCU, although the upcoming Doctor
Strange sequel is certainly going to be ramping up the supernatural content of the universe.
What we do know, however, is that the series has plenty of sinister and spectacular source
material to draw from.
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