If Mephisto is obviously the devil, then Blackheart is the quintessential son of Satan. Blackheart is Mephisto‘s son, an evil mystical creature that plots to take his father’s throne and rule all of Mephisto’s Realm!
Origin
A certain area, Christ’s Crown, was filled with evil over the years. There were many murders, rapes, muggings-for some reason, it was filled with it. This drew the attention of Mephisto. The Hell-Lord had been looking for a partner anyway, so he had an idea-he used the combined evil in the area to create a divinely empowered son- Blackheart. Blackheart wasn’t as powerful as his father, but was amazingly strong and had the same penchant for gathering souls of the innocent. Mephisto taught him in his brand of evil, teaching what evil was and how to do it right. For example, killing innocents is easy, getting an innocent to kill is truly evil.
Blackheart gained power and knowledge quickly, and attempted to corrupt Daredevil. He was almost successful in tempting Daredevil to kill him but Spider-Man stopped Daredevil from ruining himself. He also tried Spider-Man, too, but was unsuccessful. Disappointed in his son, Mephisto captured Daredevil, Number Nine, Brandy Ash, Gorgon, Karnak, and Ahura (the latter three being Inhumans), so Blackheart could observe the mortals and learn about evil. However, the plan backfired, as his son rebelled.
Creation
Blackheart was created by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr and first appeared in Daredevil #270 (1989).
Major Story Arcs
Daredevil and Hearts of Darkness
Observing the heroes was a mistake for Mephisto. It caused the Black Prince, instead of becoming more useful and evil, to rebel against him. Blackheart changed his form of evil and tried to destroy his father but failed. Mephisto diminished his powers as a result and sent him off. But Blackheart was not done. He worked on corrupting anti-heroes (who were more susceptible to turn evil or corrupt), specifically Punisher, Wolverine, and his father’s old rival, Ghost Rider ( Dan Ketch version), to join his rebellion against his father and be evil. All three attempts failed. An attempt to team up with Wonder Man to take Mephisto down also failed. His three antihero enemies also stopped him from collecting the soul of a totally pure young girl. Mephisto appeared to berate his son and express his disappointment, but that was a mistake, as Blackheart stabbed him with a magical dagger stained with the girl’s blood that looked like it killed him. Blackheart got to full power again, and Mephisto was banished from his dimension.
After enjoying finally being the ruler of Hell, Blackheart’s move was to try and corrupt the Ghost Rider ( Johnny Blaze version). He created a new Spirits of Vengeance team consisting of-Black Rose (Roxanne Simpson, who was Johnny’s love before her temporary death), Verminus Rex (one of Ghost Rider’s old enemies from long ago), Wallow (a former criminal and suicide attempter before being stopped by Blaze on both counts. He was later successful in both), Doghead, and Pao Fu (who Ghost Rider had tried and failed to save). Blackheart agreed to lift the curse on Ghost Rider‘s family if the Spirit of Vengeance would lead his team. It lasted a short time before the Rider and Son of Mephisto fell out, as Blackheart was banished from Hell and the curse was put back on the family. Without a leader, Mephisto made a timely appearance in his dimension, gaining his throne and his power back.
X-Force
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 sorceress Selene. After banishment from Hell, Blackheart allied with Selene as the temporary Black King of the evil Hellfire Club. After defeating Selene’s enemy, Alyssa Moy, Blackheart battled the Fantastic Four, Mechamage, Hellstorm, and others; they beat Blackheart, locking him beneath New York’s Hellfire Club. Trapped there, he continued to aid Selene, opposing X-Force in an attempt to corrupt Sunspot.
Blackheart may be there, he may be “assumed dead” (by his dear dad), he may be in hiding, or he could be anywhere. Most likely he’s in Mephisto’s Dimension, in his eternal war to spread evil capture the souls of the innocent-and rule the Hell that he believes is his. One thing we know- Blackheart is not gone. He may not ever be. He is confirmed to be alive as he attends a meeting of Hell Lords concerning the recent resurrection of Magik and the implications of her search for her soulsword and the Bloodstone amulet. This meeting is interrupted by Witchfire, the daughter of Belasco, who tells the gathered Hell Lords that she will take her father’s place at their table.
Fear Itself
Blackheart can be seen as one of the demons at The Infinite Embassy, more precisely he was at the Devil’s Advocacy, inside the Embassy, arguing with the other demons who should be the true Satan.
Venom – Circle of Four
Blackheart takes the human form of a Mr. Degli, who runs a casino in Las Vegas called the Devil’s Den. He plans to bring Hell to Earth to torment his father Mephisto. With the necessary components in his possession; the blood of someone who has been to hell and back, flesh of a symbiote, and 100 human souls, Blackheart is ready to begin his plan. Blackheart tricks Ghost Rider into spinning his Hell Centrifuge thus activating it. A small chunk of Hell is brought to Las Vegas but the full take over is halted by Johnny Blaze. Blackheart and his accomplice, Gari Oyle, contact Mephisto to gloat, however he is unimpressed. Blackheart is infuriated as X-23, Red Hulk, Venom and Ghost Rider arrive to stop him. Using H’Elians Mirror Cauldron, Blackheart creates inversions of each of them. He spectates as X-666, Encephalon, the Evangelist and Ichor take down their counterparts. Ghost Rider is able to defeat Ichor so Blackheart offers her the Nicaraguan souls she seeks for her services.
Powers and Abilities
Blackheart is the son of Mephisto possessing vast supernatural powers and immense magical and mystical powers over reality and dimension including energy projections and manifestations, magical shields, intangibility, invisibility, control over the elements and matter as well as darkforce energy, summoning legions of demonic hordes and creatures, healing and repairing matter and living tissue, manipulating minds by telepathic means, and even telekinesis, casting illusions, teleportation, dimensional travel, and cast shape-shifting.He is believed to be omnipotent and mystically linked to the Darkforce dimension. He can steal souls without one’s approval unlike his father. Blackheart is able to lift over 100 tons.
His power is weakened if viewed in his true form. He only shows his true self to worthy opponents.
Other Media
Video Games
- Marvel Super Heroes (1995) – Blackheart is a playable character in the arcade and home console versions.
- Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems (1996) – Blackheart is a boss character in this SNES game.
- Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter (1997) – Blackheart is a playable character in arcade and home console versions.
- Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000) – Blackheart appears as a playable character in the arcade game and home versions
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006) – Blackheart was one of the bosses in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance video game. He has Nightcrawler and Jean Grey has prisoner in Mephisto Realm and you have to beat him in order to choose which of the X-Men to save.
- Ghost Rider (2007) – Blackheart appears as the final boss in the video game movie adaption. Unlike in the film, Blackheart actually transforms into his classic comic form.
- Marvel Avengers Alliance (2012) – Blackheart appears as a boss character.
Film
Ghost Rider (2007)
Blackheart was the main villain in the film, portrayed by Wes Bentley. This version of Blackheart is greatly different to his comic book counterpart, taking a more human form, but shows that he has some hidden demonic features (such as sharp teeth) He was looking for the contract to the thousands souls of San Vanganza so that he can be all powerful. Mephisto wanted the contract so he gets Johnny Blaze to become Ghost Rider and get him to stop Blackheart.
When Blackheart found out about Roxxane Simpson, he kidnaps her and threatens to kill her if Ghost Rider doesn’t find and give him the contract of the thousands souls. When Ghost Rider does what he says, he and Blackheart fought until Blackheart gets the contract and gains possession of the fallen souls. But when Ghost Rider uses the stare on Blackheart, he is defeated.
With Blackheart out of the way, Mephisto wanted the demon back from Johnny. And Johnny said no and Mephisto goes back to his realm and takes his son Blackheart with him. This version of Blackheart demonstrates the quintessential super strength, as well as the ability to turn mortals to brimstone or sulfur. He is also called Legion in the movie during the scene where he has all the souls in him.
Merchandise
- Blackheart was part of the Marvel Legends Onslaught Build-a-Figure wave from Hasbro. The figure included a copy of Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Punisher: Hearts of Darkness #1. The edited version omitted many of the original’s gorier scenes.
- Blackheart appeared in the HeroClix figure game.
- The movie version of Blackheart appeared in Hasbro’s action figure line for the film.
- Diamond Select released a bust based on the movie version of Blackheart.
- Blackheart appeared in Diamond Select’s Minimates line.
- Eaglemoss created a Blackheart figurine.