Hellstorm



Denying his infernal heritage, the Son of Satan uses his abilities for the betterment of mankind, but has at times succumbed to his darker, demonic side, even clashing brutally with the forces of both Heaven and Hell.

Origin
One such demon lord, calling himself Satan, Marduk Kurios, seduced and sired a son with a woman named Victoria Hellstrom. The Hellstrom line were a family of dark satanic bent for generations, and sold Victoria to the Chapel of Dresden. This twisted cult sought to dominate mankind by the creation of a half-demonic child who would eventually lead the Chapel of Dresden to mastery of the Earth. To this end Victoria’s womb was tattooed with occult symbols which were to draw Satan to her. The demon lord, Satan, married her in pursuit of his own diabolical ends, and the two produced a child, Daimon Hellstrom.

Daimon appeared to live a fairly normal early life to outward appearances, though in place of baby formula he was raised on human blood. When Daimon was three years old, his mother, Victoria, gave birth to his sister, Satana. During Daimon and Satana's childhoods, Daimon tended to grow close to his human mother and Satana to her demonic father, as Satana was more drawn to her father's unholy teachings. Throughout his childhood, Daimon never knew of his dark heritage, instead believing that Satan was merely a child's story. A short while after Daimon's thirteenth birthday, his mother was driven mad by the mere sight of her husband's true visage. After Victoria was placed into an insane asylum, Daimon and Satana were separated, the brother being raised in an orphanage, while the sister descended to the infernal realm of her father. While visiting her in the asylum, Daimon had thrust upon him an ankh by his mother, who tells him only it can protect him from his father. Shortly thereafter Hellstrom joined the seminary in a monastery, with the intention of entering the priesthood. When his mother died, Daimon inherited his family's mansion. Within it's walls, he discovered his mother's diary, wherein he learned the truth of his origin. Soon afterward, Satan contacted Daimon, offering him a place to rule by his side, as well as a near limitless source of power and eternal life.

History
The Hell-Lords have long desired to sire a child with a human woman for use as a gateway to gain further power. A demon calling himself "Satan" took human form and established the trappings of a mortal life for himself near Fire Lake, Massachusetts. Keeping his true identity a secret, he married a young woman, Victoria Wingate. Daimon was born to the "Hellstroms" a year later with a strange pentagram-shaped birthmark on his chest. His sister, Satana, was born when Daimon was three.

When Hellstrom was a young adolescent, Victoria interrupted a ritual sacrifice "Satan" had staged in their basement involving the participation of Satana. Traumatized to the point of hysteria, Victoria was institutionalized. She eventually regained enough of her sanity to write a full diary describing her life with the demon before she died. Hellstrom and his sister meanwhile were placed in separate orphanages, and "Satan" disappeared to his netherworld domain, where he eventually brought Satana.

Daimon learns the truth
Hellstrom ultimately entered a monastery, hoping to become a priest. Shortly before being ordained, however, Hellstrom received legal notification of his inheritance of his father's house, where he found his mother's diary and learned the truth about his birth. At that point, "Satan", aware of his son's new knowledge, directed him telepathically through the house's secret basement interdimensional passageway to the demon's netherworld domain, or "Hell". Hellstrom's father beseeched his son to disregard his mother's diary's warnings and serve him in Hell. However, when "Satan" transported Hellstrom back to Earth, Hellstrom decided to dedicate himself to fighting his father's evil. He immediately returned to Hell in an attempt to battle "Satan". Although he failed to defeat "Satan" outright, Hellstrom managed to pit many of "Satan's" slaves against their master as well as to steal the satanic trident of "Satan" and a demon-drawn chariot before returning to Earth. Hellstrom also discovered the powers of the Darksoul that he had inherited from his father. He declared himself the Son of Satan, and for the next several years battled many manifestations of demonic evil on Earth as well as other realms.

During this period, the Son of Satan maintained his civilian identity of occult expert Daimon Hellstrom and was a visiting specialist professor at a St. Louis college. Hellstrom battled many adversaries of his father, and he even battled his sister, Satana, who had become a succubus. On several occasions, Hellstrom aided the hero team Defenders in their battles with demonic possessions and threats, eventually becoming a member. During his Defenders membership, Daimon Hellstrom met and fell in love with his teammate Hellcat.

It was during this period, too, that he finally confronted his father and defeated him. Shortly afterward, the Son of Satan declared himself triumphant over his father and his father's influence. Then, the Miracle Man, a superhumanly powered criminal who had masqueraded as a monk, stole the Darksoul from Hellstrom in battle. The Miracle Man himself was subsequently defeated and the Darksoul was sent into a snake. Daimon Hellstrom was finally liberated from his partial possession by demonic evil, and, with much of his powers gone, he retired his costumed identity of the Son of Satan.

Daimon Hellstrom thereupon married Hellcat and the couple left the Defenders, moving to San Francisco. He and his wife soon earned a reputation as supernatural investigators based there. Hellstrom continued to publish regularly in scholarly occult journals and became considered a leading demonologist. Daimon Hellstrom created a costumed identity of Hellstorm when battling supernatural menaces in public in order to preserve Daimon Hellstrom's professional reputation. In this capacity, they helped several superheroes in mystical problems, notably the Avengers West Coast branch.

Over time, however, Hellstrom grew increasingly weak, due to the separation from his Darksoul, until he lay near death. In desperation, Hellcat used an ancient, dark spell book in order to summon Hellstrom's father. She asked him to restore Hellstrom's Darksoul, provoking the demon by saying "Satan" needed Hellstrom as someone to test himself against. "Satan" agreed, restoring Hellstrom's Darksoul although Hellcat was driven insane at the sight of it. Hellstrom said he was grateful for his wife's actions, but if the situations were reversed, he would have left her to die. Hellcat, due to her insanity, eventually died by calling upon the entity Deathurge.

Hellstrom once more began battling his father and demonic agents. Hellstrom gathered around him several agents of his own, including the villainous Nekra, Gabriel the Devil-Hunter, and the Gargoyle. During this time, Hellstrom's friend Jaine Cutter had remained by his side, hoping that her presence would "bring out the best" in him, and the two formed a type of romantic relationship. He also made a deal with the witch LaVoisin, impregnating her to learn about his father, including his true name.

In Charge
Using this information, Daimon was able to slay his father. Hellstrom was given the 'Black Halo' and lordship of Hell. He claimed doing so would maintain the balance between Heaven and Hell, so neither could take control of the workings of the Universe and humanity could control their own destiny. He learned that LaVoisin gave birth to a son, whom he realized is the resurrected Marduk Kurios.

Turning over a new leaf?
Selene wished to create a demonic version of the world-conquering Hellfire Club. She began associating with Blackheart. Blackheart and the Queen clashed with the Fantastic Four, Margali Szardos, Hellstorm, and a mysterious new figure called the Mechamage. The Hellfire Club was defeated in that encounter, and Blackheart was mystically bound into the Club's basement. Hellstrom then joined the Hellfire Club as its new White King as the means to balance the forces of good and evil in the Club's Inner Circle. Hellstrom, Szardos, Moy and the Mechamage agreed to remain together to defend the Earth against other demonic threats, calling themselves the Shadow Hunters. However, Hellstorm later claimed that the formation of the Shadow Hunters was a ruse to placate the Fantastic Four as they parted company.

Hellcat's return
Hellcat's soul had ended up in the realm of the demon Mephisto, fighting an eternal battle in the so-called Arena of Tainted Souls, alongside fallen hero Mockingbird. The two discovered sketchy details about a plot that Hellstrom was developing. Mockingbird was able to send a warning to her husband, the hero Hawkeye, during a brief resurrection, and Hawkeye and his team the Thunderbolts confronted Hellstrom and then used their sorcerous connections to go to Hell in order to rescue Mockingbird. They were tricked, however, by Hellstrom, and the Thunderbolts rescued Hellcat instead, restoring her body to Earth as Hellstrom had planned.

Dormammu's Plan
The extradimensional sorcerer Dormammu later tried a direct invasion to invade and take over the regions of Hell, beginning with the realm of Mephisto. Mephisto joined with fellow rulers of Hell, Satannish The Supreme and obstenibly Hellstrom, to oppose Dormammu, but was ultimately betrayed by Satannish, who revealed his true origins as a "stalking horse" for Dormammu.

Dormammu and Satannish nearly succeeded in annexing Mephisto's realm, but the hero Hellcat, who had stumbled onto the plot, managed to bring together Hellstrom and the death-gods Pluto and Hela and ultimately defeat Dormammu. As it is now known, the several incarnations of Hell are shaped by the subconscious thoughts (and fears) of those who would dwell within them. This loophole allowed Hela, Pluto, Hellstorm and Mephisto to temporarily change the nature of Satannish and Mephisto's dimensions, ruled at the time by Satannish and Dormammu respectively, to frozen wastelands. This neutralized the power of Dormammu's Faltinian Flames rendering him too weak to fight. He fled to the Dark Dimension with Nicholas Scratch in tow.

Satannish, alone and demoralized at the rout of his master, was easily destroyed with a blast of mystical energy (in the back) from Mephisto as he reclaimed his world. During these events Dormammu had revealed, his supposed ace in the hole -- that Satannish was in fact a demon of his own creation and was the demon who had fathered Hellstorm. This was later exposed as a falsehood which Daimon had played along with in order to drive his former wife away for her own protection.

Hellstorm used this claim to assume control over Satannish's realm, and inherit Dormammu's right to rule as designated by the powerful "Flames of Faltine." However, without either Satannish or Dormammu backing Daimon, Mephisto was able to gain control of the vast majority of "Hell."

When the demon Olivier attacked the other realms, Daimon and Doctor Strange observed Frank Castle (who had been temporarily empowered by angels as repentance for his family's death) defeat the demon.

The Search for the Sorcerer Supreme
After Doctor Strange gave up his position as Sorcerer Supreme, Hellstrom was involved in the search for the next one. Brother Voodoo became the new Sorcerer Supreme, but eventually died protecting Earth.

The Fearless
Daimon betrayed the Avengers, joining forces with Sin in her plot to raze the world.

The Revenge of Daniel Drumm
He was killed by Victoria Hand, who was being possesed by the spirit of Brother Voodoo's brother in revenge for the death of his brother. It was later revealed that his spirit didn't die, as he appeared along the Ancient One when Doctor Strange regained his mantle as Sorcerer Supreme, telling Strange and the New Avengers that he would come back soon.

Powers
Even before becoming a Lord of Hell, Hellstorm possessed a vast degree and array of mystical powers, drawn from his half-demonic heritage, his Darksoul, and the Netheranium trident stolen from his father. He has the strength of a hundred men and is more durable than the average human, and he can use mystic energy to augment these attributes greatly. He commands both earthly fire and soul fire, which can be used as a force blast and to harm an entity’s spirit. He uses the trident to channel this energy, as well as to blast it behind him to enable him to fly. He has an impressive variety of spell-like powers. By inter-dimensional travel through Hell, he can affect teleportation of himself and others. He has shown an impressive though seldom used power over time; at least once traveling into ancient history, and on another occasion manipulating temporal flow to manifest sunlight when battling a vampire. He can also sense occult energies, heal himself and others, and ‘tear’ thoughts from the minds of others.

Since becoming a Lord of Hell, he is conceivably as powerful in his own realm as such beings as Mephisto, Satannish, or Thog.