Blackheart

Created by Mephisto from centuries of murder, sorrow, and pain, Blackheart follows in his father's demonic footsteps. He often works to prove his worth and step out from his devilish dad's shadow by trying to corrupt the likes of heroes that toe the line between good and evil.

Born of Sin

The Christ’s Crown area in New York is saturated with evil due to being host to centuries of murder, until the attempted rape of a young girl named Sarah draws Mephisto to create a “son,” Blackheart, from the accumulated wrongs.

Slaying both rapist and victim, Blackheart explores the nature of evil under his father’s tutelage, clashing with and failing to corrupt Super Heroes, such as Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, and Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man.

Hellish Powers

Blackheart can regenerate from most physical harm; levitate; teleport extradimensionally; change the size and physical form of himself and willing others; generate concussive blasts of black energy; and survive without food, water, or sleep. 

Though he can assume human form, Blackheart usually appears as a black spine-covered humanoid with a long tail. He smells unpleasantly of burning ink and roses, and has no discernible heartbeat. He likely possesses further unrevealed abilities.

When Mephisto transforms Blackheart into a mortal man, he still has access to some of his supernatural powers and can manipulate Hellfire.

Potential Recruits Who Fight Back

Blackheart makes many attempts to corrupt the goodness in Super Heroes, such as Daredevil, Spider-Man, Dan Ketch, AKA Ghost Rider, Sam Wilson, AKA Falcon, and the teenage group of heroes, the Champions. Oftentimes, he plays on people’s doubts as a way to reel them into evil, and oftentimes they resist.

Tenuous Allies

Often focused on outdoing and dethroning his father, Mephisto, and conquering Earth, Blackheart mostly works on his own. Though, he has the occasional ally and his followers are known as the Corrupt. For a time, Blackheart is leader of the Hellfire Club, and he creates his own version of the Spirits of Vengeance with empowered beings to carry out his diabolical plots.

When he’s turned into a human by his father, he joins the Avengers Academy as a student. Most of the students readily accept the demon but the Dhampir Brielle Brooks, AKA Bloodline, does not trust him and keeps him at a distance.

A History of Hellfire

Mephisto and Blackheart soon drew Daredevil, Brandy Ash, the genetically engineered Number Nine, and Inhumans Gorgon, Karnak, and Ahura into Hell. 

Observing these mortals led Blackheart to rebel against his father and seek a newer form of evil; in retaliation, Mephisto diminished Blackheart’s powers. Focusing on those who walked the line between good and evil, Blackheart tried and failed to recruit James Howlett/Logan, AKA Wolverine, Frank Castle, AKA Punisher, and Dan Ketch, AKA Ghost Rider, to his rebellion. 

Blackheart also aided Simon Williams, AKA Wonder Man, against Mephisto and helped Misha of the mercenary Warheads as her telepathic “Voice,” using Mys-Tech’s Rathcoole to obtain a mystic sword which could harm Mephisto. Returning to Christ’s Crown, Blackheart altered his followers into the Corrupt, and employed Wolverine, Punisher, and Ghost Rider as a feint to allow him to anoint the sword with an innocent’s blood. He apparently slew Mephisto, banishing his “father” from Hell and restoring his own powers to full strength.

As Hell’s ruler, Blackheart focused on corrupting the Ghost Rider, aiding the Furies to possess mortal bodies to torment Ghost Rider and resurrecting Ebenezer Laughton, AKA Scarecrow, to send after Ketch. From his palace in the Burning Flesh district, Blackheart created his own Spirits of Vengeance: his consort and deceased Roxanne Simpson, AKA Black Rose, who was also the ex-wife of Ketch’s brother, Johnny Blaze, AKA Ghost Rider; Verminus Rex, a spirit who had battled the Ghost Rider during World War I; Max Pressman, AKA Wallow, a homicidal mortal suicide whom Ketch had thwarted; Francisco Fuentes, AKA Doghead, a downtrodden immigrant; and Lian Goh, AKA Pao Fu, who had died in the arms of Ketch as he tried to save her. Blackheart bargained to free Ghost Rider’s relatives from their curse; in return, Ketch agreed to lead Blackheart’s Spirits. However, the pair fell out and Ketch destroyed Blackheart, banishing him from Hell.

While ruler of Hell, Blackheart had tormented the soul of the mutant Stryfe by manipulating the X-Force group, which attracted the attention of the mutant sorceress Selene. After banishment from Hell, Blackheart allied with Selene as the Hellfire Club’s temporary Black King. After defeating Selene’s enemy Alyssa Moy, Blackheart battled the Fantastic Four, Mechamage, Daimon Hellstrom, AKA Hellstorm, and Margali Szardos; they ultimately defeated Blackheart, binding him beneath New York’s Hellfire Club. Trapped there, he continued to aid Selene in an attempt to corrupt Roberto Da Costa, AKA Sunspot, despite opposition from X-Force, while awaiting his inevitable release.

Blackheart has been known to sit on the council of Hell-Lords alongside his father, Mephisto, Satannish, Belasco, Dormmamu, and Hela, such as the time when Belasco’s daughter, Ananym, AKA Witchfire, made claim over the dimension of Limbo, currently occupied by Illyana Rasputin, AKA Magik, in her Darkchylde form.

When Blackheart created his own satanic kingdom in Las Vegas, he tricked the Ghost Rider into powering his centrifuge that created a portal in which Hell could spread across Earth. But former Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze used a magical talisman to cast a protective barrier over Las Vegas, containing the dimensional breach to the city’s limits. Blackheart celebrated his slice of Earth with his lover, Gari Oyle, but his devilish dad did not pat him on the back, driving Blackheart mad with rage. He endeavored to continue Hell’s spread over Earth, gain more power, and torment Mephisto for eternity. But a troop of heroes arrived to stop them, in the form of Flash Thompson, AKA Venom, Thunderbolt Ross, AKA Red Hulk, Laura Kinney, AKA X-23, and Alejandra, AKA Ghost Rider. 

Blackheart used H’elian’s Mirror Cauldron to summon the Antitheses, hellish warriors representing each of the hero's opposites to exploit their greatest fear. Though he wanted Zarathos, AKA the Spirit of Vengeance, that powered the Ghost Rider for himself. The Antitheses seemed to kill the heroes and in Alejandra’s dying moments, she destroyed the talisman in a deal with Blackheart to undo her sins, destroying the barrier in the process. Enter Mephisto, who captured all their souls and offered them a second chance at life to defeat Blackheart. Meanwhile, Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, and Hellstorm kept the demons at bay on Earth. But Blackheart now possessed the Spirit of Vengeance and thought nothing could stop him. He planned to bond with it and gain the power he so desired, but the heroes returned, taking a stand as the Venom Symbiote and the Spirit of Vengeance merged with their new host, Red Hulk. The battle raged between them until Red Hulk used the cauldron to summon Blackhearth’s opposite, an angel of light who beckoned him to enter the light. Blackheart and Gari Oyle returned to Hell at Mephisto’s feet who offered them a chance to run his new casino on Earth, but they had to start at the bottom first.

In another plot to gain power over his father, Blackheart tricked Eternity into kidnapping his sister, Death. Without Death in her proper place, dying became impossible on Earth. Blackheart used the opportunity to possess Samuel Barone, AKA Black Talon, while he was working with Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, and Thanos in a plot to save their love, Death. Once the trio invaded Hell, Blackheart revealed himself to his father only to be outdone by Deadpool who saved Death and returned things to normal. 

Attempting to conquer Earth, Blackheart faced off with the teenager Miles Morales, AKA Spider-Man, over his fallen Avengers comrades. Though Miles’s unique venom blast sent him packing. To dominate the planet Earth and earn a seat at the Table of Power where the most powerful entities in the universe gather once a year, he takes on Sam Wilson, AKA Falcon, and Rayshaun Lucas, AKA Patriot, and Jericho Drumm, AKA Doctor Voodoo. Posing as Chicago’s mayor and manipulating both sides of warring gangs, Blackheart engaged in peace talks with Falcon and Patriot. But a confrontation led Blackheart to hurl Sam’s soul into Hell. When Sam escaped with the help of his allies, one of Blackheart’s collaborators on Earth whom he offered the world to, and leader of the Southstone Rangers’ gang in Chicago, Dray, betrayed him. Dray realized that the world belonged to the people, and used the Key of Abbadon, a gift from Blackheart, to send him back to Hell. Blackheart was taken to Mephisto for punishment. His dark father revealed that he shouldn’t worry as he plotted against Falcon for escaping his realm.

When the teenage Super Heroes the Champions lost their teammates Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel, and Viv Vision, in a battle against Zzzax, Mephisto bargained with Champions members Miles and Amadeus Cho, AKA Brawn, knowing the guilt of such a bargain would torture them. Blackheart found out and thought he could do better, so he turned Riri Williams, AKA Ironheart, and other members against them. But the plot failed and the team only grew stronger from it. Seeing that his son thwarted his plot, Mephisto took Blackheart back to Hell.

When Lilith, Mother of Demons, attempted to take Mephisto’s throne, which was usurped by Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze, Blackheart stepped up to take back what he felt was rightfully his. Blackheart infected the souls of Emma Bothma and Detective Stacy Dolan as leverage over Ketch, forcing him to join his plan to protect the throne from Lilith. 

Meanwhile, Mephisto was chained up by Blaze, the latter of whom was trying to stop an invasion of Hell demons on Earth. Though another invasion occurred at the same time with the arrival of the God of Symbiotes, Knull, and his symbiotes, which had Blaze distracted. Blackheart, Sara, AKA Caretaker, and Ketch, now called the Dark Rider, caught up with Blaze and Mephisto to bargain for Mephisto’s life. Blaze was against it since the Hell-Lord was behind his death, but both Caretaker and Ketch reminded him that Hell could only truly be controlled by its original ruler and the threat of Lilith and Knull to the rest of the planet was a much greater threat. Meanwhile, Blackheart had opened a portal to Hell, impressing his father. Blaze understood and relinquished the throne to Mepisto, and Blackheart and his father returned home, as Mephisto took a symbiote as a sign of good faith to dispose of it in the Cauldron of the Infinite Cosmic Flame. Once in Hell, Blackheart was about to take the symbiote to the cauldron, but Mephisto had other devious plans with it for a later day.

Blackheart was soon summoned by Mephisto to retrieve his other sons, the time-lost twins Billy and Tommy Maximoff–fragments of Mephisto previously taken by Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch. Billy and Tommy had been stowed away in a safe place by the Angel of History M’Kraan, Mephisto’s granddaughter and daughter to Billy and Tommy. Blackheart saw them as innocents, souls beyond life yet not living, and when he questioned his father, Mephisto violently demanded he retrieve them. 

Arriving at a hospital at the Avengers Academy, Blackheart insisted the boys come home with him, but there were protectors to contend with: the Dhampir Brielle and Shela Sexton, AKA Escapade, who can swap circumstances with others. Blackheart chased them all through a labyrinth, getting burned by Bloodline’s cross. When he caught up with them, Shela traded places with Blackheart, revealing to her that he never had a chance to have a life of his choosing. When Shela switched back, Blackheart let them go. For failing his father, Mephisto made him mortal and gave him a human form, so that he would experience pain and suffering the way mortals do.

On the night before Christmas, Blackheart’s naked body was found outside of the Avengers Academy by Justin Jin, AKA Kid Juggernaut. Some of the Academy students were against offering the demon a place to stay, including Brielle, where others were more accepting. Justin gave Blackheart clothes and the demon-turned-human could smell the demon Cyttorak on him, suggesting that he retained some of his supernatural powers. Blackheart soon flirted with both Justin and Brielle, which grossed her out. When the Academy’s Headmaster, Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel, arrived, she allowed Blackheart to stay seeing that it was Christmas and all.

At the Avengers Academy Masquerade Ball, Blackheart attended along with the other students. When introduced to Doctor Strange, he called himself Gabriel but soon revealed his true identity as Blackheart. Strange thought he had infiltrated the Academy and prepared for an assault. Blackheart defended himself against Strange’s magic, which he saw as child’s play. Blackheart soon blasted Hellfire from his hand but Carol put a stop to the fight. She reminded them all of her promise to the Academy students, that they’d all be safe no matter who they are and regardless of their past misdeeds. Blackheart did not understand, calling her a fool, and Carol went on to explain that he deserved a chance to be good and that she’d never stop fighting for him. 

One night, Gabriel visited a church and confessed to a priest, or rather vented his frustrations about being human. But in the broken window at the top of the church, he found who he was there to see, an old foe: Daredevil. He punched him at first and used his supernatural abilities against him, but then suddenly stopped. They then shared a long conversation about forgiveness and God. Gabriel wasn’t sure if he could be forgiven for all the evil he had done.

Blackheart started skipping classes to hang out in a greenhouse and Headmistress Danvers called him out on their deal: sanctuary for scholastic excellence. But he didn’t appreciate that she was speaking to him like he was one of her younger students as he had lived lifetimes and committed many evils. She put a hand on his shoulder and he blew her back, but apologized for his bad manners. She offered him ice cream, an experience he had never had, and he enjoyed it with his fellow Academy students. 

On Valentine’s Day, a spurned Amora, AKA Enchantress, cast a spell on the Avengers Academy, forcing all the students and Headmaster Danvers to reveal their true feelings. Blackheart and his fellow Academy student and teenage Guardian of Time Nathaniel “Nate” Richards, AKA Immortus, both questioned their personhood, and then Blackheart asked if he wanted to make out. But the M’Kraan Crystal that ran the school suddenly cracked. Blackheart and Immortus gathered the other students and announced that an apocalypse was coming in the form of a fissure in time and an object of great power would be pulled across time and touch each of their timelines. The goal for each of them was to travel to a key point in their timelines and set right what went wrong and fix the timestream. 

For Blackheart, the fissure caused him to be summoned to his hometown, Christ’s Crown, and to a hedge witch. To his surprise and delight, the witch was Abigail Housman, his mother. She shared that she learned her spell craft from her grandmother’s book, the Brighthold, the key to all white magic written by Twin Fingers of the Demiurge. He then witnessed her beauty, knowledge, and grace. Gabriel thought he could change her fate, but Immortus appeared to remind him that he could not tamper with time. Abigail was soon burned at the stake as a witch at the suggestion of Esteban Corazón de Ablo, AKA Diablo. Corazón informed Gabriel of her death but he had already felt it and revealed himself as Blackheart. He left Corazón with a message for his father that he was taking Brighthold to a place Mephisto could never grasp it and also took Abigail’s dog, Thomas, back through the timestream. He later took on the surname Housman.

Back at the Academy in the present timeline, Blackheart and the others found out that America had been taken over by the new Sorcerer Supreme Victor von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom. Acting as an arm of Doom’s reach, a Hydra cell led by Sinthea Shmidt, AKA Sin—who was going by the moniker “Cherry Crane”—kidnapped people they deemed in violation of Hydra directives. Blackheart opened an extradimensional portal to a Hydra transport train so that the Academy students could ambush the train and liberate all those Hydra had captured. Blackheart kept the portal open for everyone to escape, but Doom sent his Doombots to capture Blackheart, seeing him as trespassing illegally in Earth’s reality and as the son of his mother’s torturer. Blackheart fought them off with blasts of energy as the rest of the Academy students kept the Hydra goons at bay while liberating everyone, but Doom himself appeared and Blackheart doubted that they could take on a Sorcerer Supreme. 

Taking out his personal vendetta on Blackheart, the team rallied around him, though Brielle was hesitant and reminded the group that he was a demon. Eventually Doom had Blackheart nearly defeated. But Blackheart reminded him that he was an outcast of Hell, just like he was once cast out and cursed. He asked if Doom would hold his father’s sins against him, and Doom, thinking about his own past as an outcast and his mother, had a change of heart. Doom departed but not before warning the other students that Blackheart was in their charge and they were responsible for him.