Blackheart (Earth-616)

History

Centuries of murder in a locale named Christ’s Crown, in New York, drew the attention of the demon-lord Mephisto, who used the energy of the accumulated evil there to create a “son,” Blackheart. Blackheart explored the nature of evil under his father’s tutelage, clashing with and failing to corrupt Daredevil and Spider-Man.^[9] Mephisto and Blackheart once tormented Daredevil, Brandy Ash, the genetically engineered Number Nine, and the Inhumans Gorgon, Karnak,^[10] and Ahura,^[11] manipulating their emotions and tricking them. They were soon drawn into Hell for worse torments.^[12] Brandy Ash did not survive.^[13]

In an attempt to be free of captivity, Blackheart made contact with Misha, from the group Warheads, and became the source of her precognitive visions. Eventually Misha’s squad, the Kether Troop, invaded Hell itself and freed Blackheart, who was temporarily in the disguise of Doctor Strange.^[14]

Mephisto sent Blackheart to Earth with his powers diminished to make him learn humility. Blackheart returned to Christ’s Crown and lured the Ghost Rider, the Punisher, and Wolverine to the town in an attempt to corrupt them. The group eventually followed Blackheart back into his own realm for a final confrontation.^[1] He would once again attempt to commission their services, using them to help him finally destroy Mephisto and take over his portion of Hell.^[8]

Alongside the Grim Reaper, Blackheart brought Wonder Man to Mephisto’s Realm to fight his father.^[15]

Blackheart later created a group of Spirits of Vengeance in order to oppose the Ghost Rider, who recently found out he was Noble Kale. In the hopes of killing him, Blackheart tricked and recruited him as a member of his group of Spirits of Vengeance, promising Kale the power to rule in Hell alongside Blackheart. In the end, the Ghost Rider double-crossed and killed him, freeing the other Spirits of Vengeance, and gaining rule of Blackheart’s portion of Hell.^[16]

He was later seen alive and attending a meeting with Mephisto, Satannish, Hela, and Dormammu about a disturbance created by the newly resurrected Magik, who was looking for the Soulsword and the original Bloodstone amulet. Belasco’s daughter, Witchfire, appeared during the meeting and revealed herself as the current owner of the original amulet and vowed to take her father’s place as ruler of Limbo and seat at their table.^[17]

Circle of Four

After being cast out of Hell and left powerless on Earth by Mephisto, Blackheart and his partner, the gargoyle Gari Oyle, began plotting a way to bring Hell to Earth so Blackheart could overthrow his father. To accomplish that, they needed to perform a ritual that required, among other things, one hundred human souls signed over of their own volition. Therefore, they disguised themselves as humans and opened a casino in Las Vegas named “The Devil’s Den,” intending to make those who would be in debt to it give their own souls as payment.^[6]

Expecting his father to try and harm them, Blackheart killed Pat Mulligan to acquire the Toxin symbiote and purchased a vial of X-23’s blood to create a set of symbiote-clad clones to protect him: the Symbiote Warriors. The Toxin symbiote was later stolen by Venom and Jack O’Lantern at the Crime-Master’s behest, but Blackheart had already secured a piece of its flesh to use in the ritual by then.^[18]

With all the ingredients at hand, Blackheart and Gari Oyle initiated the ritual and tricked the unexperienced new Ghost Rider, Alejandra, into powering the Hell Centrifuge they had built. A doorway opened and Hell started to spread through Las Vegas; however, Johnny Blaze left a magical amulet at the city limits that halted the expansion. Ghost Rider then joined forces with Venom, Red Hulk, and X-23 to stop Blackheart. Upon being confronted by the four heroes, Blackheart used the H’elian’s Mirror Cauldron to create Antitheses of them.^[6] Both the heroes and their Antitheses died in battle,^[19] but Mephisto gave the fallen heroes a second chance at life in order to stop his son.^[20]

Following Alejandra’s death, Gari Oyle captured Zarathos and delivered it to Blackheart. He wanted to bond with the Spirit of Vengeance^[21] and use the power he would gain to destroy his father,^[22] but Red Hulk and Venom managed to steal it from him. The Spirit and the Venom symbiote then bonded to Red Hulk,^[21] who used the H’elian’s Mirror Cauldron to create an antithesis of Blackheart, defeating him and returning Las Vegas to normalcy. In Hell, Mephisto gave Blackheart and Gari Oyle a new chance to try and take over his realm, but this time beginning from a point lower than the last.^[22]

Back with a Vengeance

Some time later, Blackheart, who had somehow acquired back his demonic powers, manipulated Eternity into kidnapping his sister, Mistress Death, and trapping her outside himself, making dying impossible across the entire universe. With the chaos caused by Death’s disappearance, Blackheart possessed Black Talon, who was helping Deadpool and Thanos in their quest of saving Mistress Death, in order to invade Hell without his father’s knowledge. When the time came, he got out of Black Talon and battled Mephisto to take control over his realm. However, his plan eventually failed as Deadpool rescued Mistress Death, returning the universe to its natural order.^[23]

Chicago’s Gang War

Blackheart attempted to claim the Earth as his own, fighting the Avengers and defeating them effortlessly. His plan was thwarted by Spider-Man, whose venom blast attack took Blackheart by surprise, and forced him to retreat.^[24] Blackheart’s subsequent approach to world subjugation was much more subtle. He disguised himself as the mayor of Chicago, and worked in secret with Dray, the leader of one of the city’s biggest gangs, the Southstone Rangers, to incite and exacerbate violence. Blackheart’s endgame was to turn the city into the epicenter of humanity’s downfall, causing mankind to destroy itself and leave the planet ready for reaping.^[25]

Blackheart was opposed by Falcon and his apprentice Patriot, who attempted to control the riot. Blackheart used his disguise as the mayor to have Falcon and Patriot arrested,^[26] and tried to dispose of them after revealing his true nature. However, they were rescued by Doctor Voodoo. When Falcon confronted Blackheart again, the demon unceremoniously ripped his soul straight from his body and sent him to Hell.^[27] He was saved by the combined efforts of his allies.^[28] During Falcon’s third confrontation against Blackheart, Dray turned against his ally, and killed himself, using the Key of Abbadon gifted to him by Blackheart himself to force Blackheart back into Hell, putting an end to his scheme and the magically-fueled riot. Blackheart was taken by Mephisto’s lackeys for punishment, but his father ensured him he was already planning Falcon’s death, since Mephisto also had a feud with him for escaping his domain.^[5]

Against the Champions

Being held by Mephisto, Blackheart became privy to his father’s latest scheme as he had given the younger Spider-Man and his Champions teammate Brawn a chance to go back in time and save their teammates Ms. Marvel and Viv Vision from dying at the hands of Zzzax, knowing the guilt of letting an innocent die because of it would tear them up inside.^[29] However, Blackheart wasn’t satisfied and went after the other Champions, starting with Ironheart, who had been pushing away Viv due to the synthezoid apparently having feelings for her. As he took control of the newer members of the team, he had them attack the original members.^[30] The plan ended up backfiring as it ended up strengthening their bonds as Ms. Marvel revealed her identity to Spider-Man and the repowered younger Nova while Spider-Man and Brawn overcame their grief over making their decision. The Champions freed their teammates and united to defeat Blackheart. Furious over having his plans for the younger Spider-Man thwarted by his son’s ineptitude, Mephisto captured and dragged Blackheart back to his realm.^[31]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Blackheart’s powers are drawn from misdeed.^[22] His vast supernatural powers includes:

• Superhuman Strength: Blackheart is incredibly strong and can lift in excess of 100 tons.^{[citation needed]}
• Superhuman Speed: Blackheart is capable of running and moving at speeds greater than even the finest human athlete.^{[citation needed]}
• Superhuman Durability: The tissues of Blackheart’s body are considerably tougher and more resistant to injury than the tissues of a human being.^{[citation needed]} Blackheart’s body is virtually invulnerable to conventional injury.^{[citation needed]} He is capable of withstanding great impact forces, high caliber bullets, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury.^{[citation needed]}
• Telepathy: He has some telepathic powers.^{[citation needed]}
• Levitation^{[citation needed]}
• Interdimensional Teleportation: He can enter and leave different dimensions at will.^{[citation needed]}
• Size Alteration: Blackheart has the ability to alter his size.^{[citation needed]}
• Physical Alteration: Blackheart has the ability to alter his physical form.^{[citation needed]}
• Regenerative Healing: Despite his superhuman durability, it is possible to injure Blackheart; however, his unique physiology and mystical energies enable him to rapidly recover from almost any form of injury at a sub-molecular level.^{[citation needed]} He is capable of regenerating almost any damaged or destroyed tissue, even missing limbs.^{[citation needed]}
• Energy Generation: Blackheart can generate various forms of energies for destructive purposes such as powerful concussive blasts of black energy.^{[citation needed]}
• Soul Capturing: Unlike his father, Blackheart can capture a soul against the will of the person he is stealing it from.^{[citation needed]}
• Mind Control: Blackheart has demonstrated the power to control millions of minds at once while in Hell.^{[citation needed]}
• Immortality: As a demon, Blackheart is functionally immortal.^{[citation needed]} He is immune to the effects of aging and is immune to all known Earthly diseases and infections.^{[citation needed]} Blackheart is also beyond the need of food, water, or oxygen.^{[citation needed]}
• Penance Stare Immunity: Ghost Rider’s Penance Stare doesn’t affect Blackheart, to the contrary, it makes him stronger, due that power makes its victim relive all misdeeds at once, being misdeeds Blackheart’s source of power, it makes them increase.^{[citation needed]}

Abilities

High Intelligence: Blackheart possesses high intelligence that makes him near-omniscient.^{[citation needed]}

Trivia

• Mephisto has sometimes taken the form of his son Blackheart, but red in color.^[32] However, it could also be that when creating Blackheart Mephisto modeled him after himself.

See Also

• 56 appearance(s) of Blackheart (Earth-616)
• 6 minor appearance(s) of Blackheart (Earth-616)
• 13 mention(s) of Blackheart (Earth-616)
• 31 image(s) of Blackheart (Earth-616)
• 7 quotation(s) by or about Blackheart (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Blackheart (Earth-616) on Wikipedia.org
• Blackheart (Earth-616) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe

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