Satana (Marvel Comics)
Satana | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Vampire Tales #2 (October 1973) |
Created by | Roy Thomas John Romita Sr. |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Satana Hellstrom |
Species | Human/demon hybrid (succubus) |
Team affiliations | The Avengers of the Supernatural[1] Nick Fury's Howling Commandos The Legion of Monsters The Thunderbolts The Witches |
Notable aliases | The Devil's Daughter Judith Camber Melissa Ramos |
Abilities |
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Satana Hellstrom (/seɪˈtænə/) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roy Thomas and John Romita Sr., she first appeared in Vampire Tales #2 (October 1973). Satana belongs to the species of magical beings called demons, who are born with supernatural abilities, as a human-demon hybrid. She is the younger sister of Daimon Hellstrom and the daughter of Marduk Kurios.[2]
Satana, renamed Ana, made her live action debut in the Hulu television series Helstrom, played by Sydney Lemmon.
Publication history
Satana was created by Roy Thomas and John Romita Sr.,[3] and made her debut in Vampire Tales #2 (cover dated October 1973), one of a number of black-and-white magazines Marvel was producing for parent company Magazine Management at the time. The strip was a brief twist-in-the-tale teaser – a sinister, ragged thug stalks a young woman through city back alleys before cornering her against a wall – only for her to harvest his soul, and reveal herself as "Satana...the Devil's Daughter!".[4] The following issue she graduated to a longer feature – "Satana, the Devil's Daughter" – written by Gerry Conway, with art from Esteban Maroto. Satana then jumped to another of Marvel's black-and-white magazines, The Haunt of Horror (vol. 2), which featured a prose story by Conway (illustrated by Pablo Marcos in issue #2; both a Tony Isabella/Enrique Romero strip and a Chris Claremont text piece (illustrated by Pat Broderick) in issue #4 and a Claremont-written strip drawn by George Evans. However, The Haunt of Horror (vol. 2) was cancelled with issue #5 at the start of 1975 as Marvel drastically reorganized their black-and-white magazines, cancelling the horror titles. This would lead to Satana making only a scattered handful of appearances over the next few years.[5]
After a brief flashback in her brother's
Satana would stay dead until 1994, when after a few spectral appearances she was resurrected by
Fictional character biography
Satana and Daimon Hellstrom were born in the fictional town of Greentown,
When Satana was still a child, her mother, Victoria Wingate Hellstrom, discovered her husband and children's true nature and was driven insane. Daimon was raised by servants, while Satana was taken to her father's particular
As an adult, Satana was banished to Earth by the Four as a succubus, draining the souls of men. When she does this, the victim's soul transforms into an ethereal butterfly; Satana then consumes its essence by eating it. She also possesses the ability to gain strength through the use of weapons that were used to kill a living being. In order to do this, she merely places a portion of her own blood on the chosen weapon. She used both her magic and sexual wiles to get the victims she needed.
As a succubus, she stalked victims in New York City, and then in Los Angeles she befriended a Satanist named Ruth Cummins. When Ruth was killed, Satana avenged Ruth's death by destroying Darkos Edge and Harry Gotham.
Eventually, however, the demon to which she had been bonded began to desire its freedom. The Basilisk managed to put a
As a supernatural being, however, Satana's death was not permanent. Her spirit returned to her father's realm of Hell for a time, until she and a cabal of demons arranged to have her soul (among others) placed into a soulless body on Earth. There she began to build her powers again, preparing to return to Hell and conquer her father's realm.[19]
At some point, she apparently died again. In the four-issue miniseries Witches, Satana is resurrected again by Doctor Strange and teamed with two other magic-wielding women to defeat a powerful mystic enemy called the Hellphyr, which was a front for her father Marduk Kurios. According to that miniseries, Satan's and the two witches formed a coven in order to protect The Tome of Zhered-na (a powerful Book of Shadows belonging to the Kale family) from would-be thieves such as Doctor Strange.[20]
After a brief cameo in
In the course of Marvel's Deadpool Team-Up series, Satana loses her soul to four geeks in a high-stakes poker game,[25] and she subsequently seeks out Deadpool's help to get it back.[25] Deadpool discovers the poker-playing geeks are actually demons debating which one will marry Satana in order to become the heir to Hell.[25] Deadpool comes up with a plan to swindle Satana's soul back from the demons: he marries her, binding their souls together. Satana strengthens Deadpool's katana swords with his own soul power to make the inevitable fight with the demon suitor more evenly matched. When the demon comes to take Satana as his bride, Deadpool produces the marriage certificate, denying the demon his bride.[25] The demon then points out the loophole — marriage is only valid until death; therefore, he decides to kill Deadpool.[25] In the ensuing battle, Deadpool uses his soul-enhanced swords to easily dispatch the demon.[25] Afterwards, Satana slips off and leaves Deadpool a letter explaining the inevitable divorce.[25] She indicates she will be keeping half of his soul — her entitlement in the divorce settlement.[25]
She later was involved in a battle with several Hell-lords, attempting to take control of new territories within Hell.[26] She was killed in battle by the mutant / Asgardian god hybrid Tier.[27]
Powers and abilities
Reception
Critical reception
Marc Buxton of Den of Geek referred to Satana as one of the "greatest monstrous creations that ever sprang from the nightmares of the House of Ideas," writing, "The devil’s daughter herself, Satana, burst open the Marvel black and white scene in the early seventies and was a nice tribute to cleavage laden, Technicolor Hammer Horror of the era. Satana is a succubus who seduced sinners and reduced their souls into butterflies, which she then kept in a little box and at times devours. Some of the finest artists of the Bronze Age worked on Satana’s early adventures starting with Roy Thomas and John Romita Sr. and moving on to Chris Claremont and Estaban Moroto. Her adventures were clearly cut for the same cloth as the Vampirella/Harris Comics stable of fright characters but they were also adult oriented, sexy, and atmospheric."[31] Georgeof Chrysostomou of Screen Rant asserted, "Satana is another classic Marvel character who has been around for a long time despite not becoming widely recognized. She may be another powerful member of the Thunderbolts, but she is one that is traditionally used to working solo, to follow her own self-interests. More of an anti-hero, Satana comes from a Hellish background. With demon parents, not only does Satana carry with her satanic powers, but she is often mistrusted because of her origins. She's manipulative, a sorceress, and incredibly dangerous. Her odd human and demonic heritage certainly makes the character unique."[32]
Accolades
- In 2015, Den of Geek ranked Satana 20th in their "Marvel’s 31 Best Monsters" list.[31]
- In 2019,
- In 2020, CBR.com ranked Satana 9th in their "Deadpool: 10 Of His Love Interests" list.[35]
- In 2021, Screen Rant ranked Satana 5th in their "10 Strangest Members Of The Thunderbolts" list.[32]
- In 2022, WhatCulture ranked Satana 10th in their "10 Supernatural Heroes We Can’t Wait To See In The MCU" list.[36]
- In 2022, CBR.com ranked Satana 6th in their "10 Best Members Of Marvel's Legion Of Monsters" list.[37]
Other versions
The Supernaturals
In a four-issue alternate reality miniseries called The Supernaturals, Satana is Melissa Ramos, a Catholic girl who is possessed by a demon. She is recruited by a magician named
In other media
Television
- Satana Hellstrom, renamed Ana Hellstrom, appears in Helstrom, portrayed by Sydney Lemmon.[38]
Video games
- Satana makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Morrigan's ending in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.[citation needed]
- Satana appears as a boss and unlockable playable character in Marvel Avengers Alliance.[3]
- Satana appears as a boss and unlockable playable character in Marvel Avengers Academy.[39]
- Satana appears as an unlockable playable character in
Notes
- In Tales to Astonish #3, there is a character called Princess Satana.
References
- ^ Uncanny Avengers Annual #1
- ^ Markstein, Don. "Satana". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ a b Dickens, Donny (January 11, 2018). "Everything You Need to Know About Marvel's Satana". Nerdist. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
- ^ a b "Everything You Need to Know About Marvel's Satana".
- ^ "Get Behind Me, Satana". February 11, 2021.
- ^ "Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Satana". www.toonopedia.com.
- ^ "SATANA READING ORDER: The Devil's Daughter (1973-2015)".
- ^ Comments, Rich Johnston (March 30, 2018). "After 20 Years, Marvel to Publish Warren Ellis's 2 Issues of Satana". Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.
- ^ "Hulu's 'Helstrom' Is Very Different From The Comics". Bustle. 16 October 2020.
- ^ "Satana: the Devil's Daughter's Reading Order". sensationalshegeek.weebly.com.
- ^ Hellstorm: Prince of Lies #12
- ^ birth and childhood recounted in Marvel Spotlight #13
- ^ Vampire Tales #2–3
- ^ The Haunt of Horror (vol. 2) #2, 4
- ^ The Haunt of Horror (vol. 2) #5
- ^ Marvel Spotlight #24
- ^ Marvel Preview #7
- ^ Marvel Team-Up #80–81
- ^ Hellstorm: Prince of Lies #8, 10, 12 and 20–21
- ^ Witches #1–4
- ^ Nick Fury's Howling Commandos #6
- ^ Legion of Monsters: Satana #1
- ^ Dark Reign: The Hood #2
- ^ Thunderbolts #155
- ^ New York, NY: Marvel Comics.
- ^ X-Factor (vol. 2) #250–256
- ^ X-Factor (vol. 2) #256
- ^ a b O'Brien, Megan Nicole (2020-11-07). "Marvel: 10 Sorceresses You Had No Idea Existed". CBR. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
- ^ C. B. R. Staff (2019-01-12). "The 21 Most Powerful Sorcerer Supreme Candidates, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
- ^ a b White, Chris (2019-09-30). "10 Daughters Of Marvel Supervillains That Are More Dangerous Than Their Parents". CBR. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
- ^ a b Buxton, Marc (2019-10-25). "Marvel's 31 Best Monsters". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
- ^ a b Chrysostomou, George (2021-07-10). "Marvel: 10 Strangest Members Of The Thunderbolts". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
- ^ Wilson, John (2019-11-05). "The 10 Most Powerful Earthbound Demons and Devils In Marvel History, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
- ^ C. B. R. Staff (2019-01-12). "The 21 Most Powerful Sorcerer Supreme Candidates, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
- ^ Milanese, Jarod (2020-08-25). "Deadpool: 10 Of His Love Interests, Ranked From Worst To Best". CBR. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
- ^ Crawford, Dustin (2022-04-29). "10 Supernatural Heroes We Can't Wait To See In The MCU". WhatCulture.com. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
- ^ Kennedy, Cole (2022-08-04). "10 Best Members Of Marvel's Legion Of Monsters, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
- ^ Flook, Ray (October 8, 2019). ""Marvel's Helstrom": "The Royals" Tom Austen, "FTWD" Sydney Lemon, 5 More Join Hulu Series". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
- ^ "Avengers Academy Halloween UPDATE: Episode 4 Details". The Marvel Report. October 21, 2016. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- ^ "MARVEL Future Fight Team Building Guide". BlueStacks. Mar 5, 2018. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- ^ Dinh, Christine (January 9, 2018). "Marvel Legacy Heads to 'Marvel Future Fight'". Marvel. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
External links
- Satana bio at Marvel.com
- Satana at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017.
- Satana at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- Exiter at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- To Hell With Spandex - retrospective at Den Of Geek Archived 2008-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Satana on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki