Origin
Martin Preston was an actor who made money on screen for over twenty seven years. Preston loved the fame, attention and rewards for being the man he was. One night after some drinking, he crashed his jag while cruising the canyon roads. His seatbelt saved his life as he hung there in a state of shock. Preston was on the brink of death after he realized his right arm was ripped off from the crash. The super-demon known as Mephisto appeared and Preston offered his soul to him if he could save his life and give him his arm back. Mephisto agreed and replaced his limbs with demonic parts. Preston woke up the next morning with his human limbs and discovered that his arms would twitch on their own accord. Preston ripped open his pajama top and discovered a gaping hole in the shape of a five pointed star in his stomach. Mephisto reappeared in his room and told Preston that was where his soul was. Mephisto told Preston that his soul was torned into five pieces and he gave them to five different demons. Preston would be one of the grandest villains the world would ever known because he was willing to do anything to retrieve his missing soul. Preston with his new body and new abilities would transform himself to Master Pandemonium which meant abode to all demons.
Creation
Master Pandemonium was created by Steve Englehart, Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott in 1986 and first appeared in West Coast Avengers #4.
Soul Search – The Five
Pandemonium would come into conflict with members of the West Coast Avengers and Firebird during his search of the Five. Pandemonium thought Firebird was one of the five demons that possessed a piece of his soul and had his demonic bird from the Azmodeus amulet attack the Ranger in her room. Firebird survived the attack and seeks help from the Avengers. Master Pandemonium would also attack the Thing because he believed he was also one of the Five.
Wonder Man called the rest of the Avengers and they confronted Master Pandemonium. Master Pandemonium unleashed the endless hordes of the Rakasha from his star shaped hole and a fierce battle ensued. Pandemonium escaped during the chaos and returned to his refuge. Pandemonium would come into conflict with the West Coast Avengers after Mockingbird disguised herself as Shooting Star. The Avengers saved Shooting Star from the demon that was possessing her body and decided to set a trap for Pandemonium. Master Pandemonium captured Shooting Star thinking she could be one of the Five and teleported themselves to his secret lair.
Tigra called upon Balkatar of the Cat People to help locate Master Pandemonium. Balkatar told the Avengers that they were located in the abandoned Anvil Pictures Studios. The studio was laced with booby traps and magical enchantments which trapped the Avengers in one room. Mockingbird revealed herself to Pandemonium after she took away his amulet which allowed the Avengers to escape. The amulet prevented Pandemonium from releasing the demons inside him and was taken down by Mockingbird in hand to hand combat. Tigra secretly kicked Mockingbird from behind and she dropped the amulet. Tigra told Pandemonium that she had to kill him in order to release her feline soul from her body. Pandemonium was able to retrieve his amulet and use it to escape.
Master Pandemonium could not find the Five as he stayed in his sanctum. Azmodeus came forth from his amulet and told him that demons have appeared. Master Pandemonium had Azmodeus take him to the demons and found out that one of Mephisto’s messengers demons named Allatou was fighting his arch-enemies, the Avengers. Allatou captured Henry Pym and Greer Nelson and took them back to her demonic realm. The Avengers seeked the aid of Hellcat and Daimon Hellstorm to help locate their missing friends. Hellstorm teleported the Avengers to Allatou’s lair and all hell broke loose. Master Pandemonium appeared and asked if Allatou was one of the Five. Pandemonium’s horde of demons were fighting Allatou’s army of demons and the Avengers were caught in the middle. Allatou would split the rock where Pandemonium and the Avengers stood on. Pandemonium and the Avengers landed inside a mystic boat on the River of Death and were trapped on that vessel until it reached a safe spot. The floating prison would crashed through a wall and land upon the shores of the Cat People. Pandemonium could feel that one of his soul parts was in the Cat People’s realm. The King of the Cat People was upset at Tigra for failing to kill their hated enemy, Master Pandemonium in order to get rid of her feline soul. King Gerark ordered some of his soldiers to hold down Master Pandemonium and remove his four limbs. King Gerark offered Tigra one last chance to slay their hated enemy but she refused and her feline soul was removed. The Avengers eventually escaped their prison and fought the Cat People. Pandemonium’s demon limbs were left unguarded and Preston was able to reform himself. He smashed the soul jar that possessed one of his soul-shards and placed that one piece into his stomach. He had one-fifth of his soul back and left the realm by swimming away in the River of Oblivion.
Master Pandemonium would encounter members of the Fantastic Four when they are teleported to the planet that Pandemonium was stranded on. Pandemonium ended up on the Fourth World of the star-sun Arcturus after he leapt into the River of Oblivion after fleeing from the Cat People and the West Coast Avengers. Pandemonium found out from a stone tablet that Michael Morbius was once stranded on the same planet but was able to escape through a spacecraft. After a brief skirmish, Pandemonium and the Fantastic Four decided to work together and figure a way back to Earth. Pandemonium took them to these deep trenches he discovered when he first arrived on Arcturus. The Human Torch took flight and noticed the inside of the trenches were charred and found more trenches he believed were caused by some type of landing craft. Suddenly a giant comet was heading towards them and it turned out be a spacecraft from the Comet Man, Stephen Beckley and his companion Max. Pandemonium and the Fantastic Four would return to Earth with Max’s help.
Dr. Doom would assemble an army of super powered individuals that included Master Pandemonium, Hulk, Absorbing Man, Dormammu, Attuma, Kang and Hobgoblin to take back control of Latveria from Kristoff. They would battle Kristoff and his army of super criminals that included Rhino, Mysterio, Sandman, Electro, Abomination and Annihilus. Pandemonium has his demons take down the Rhino during their encounter.
West Coast Reunion
Master Pandemonium would attack the West Coast Avengers and Agatha Harkness at their compound. During the battle, Pandemonium would escape with the Scarlet Witch’s two children, Thomas and William. He claimed those two children were two missing pieces of his soul so he mystically mutated the twin boys and grafted them onto his arms. The children were invigorated with the mutant energies from their mother and it increased Pandemonium’s power a thousandfold. Mephisto would reveal that he was using Pandemonium as an unwitting gudgeon to restore his soul and that Thomas and William were actually two severed shards of Mephisto’s soul. Jim Hammond would save the Avengers by giving Pandemonium the real two missing fragments provided by Agatha Harkness. Pandemonium snatched the two fragments and placed them inside his body. However, Pandemonium was still missing a piece in the center of the star and his body began to implode. Pandemonium’s entire body collapsed inside the hole until he disappeared.
Master Pandemonium would return years later when the Scarlet Witch goes to a New England ghost town called Unity to seek answers about her past. Pandemonium’s form changed from the torment he suffered from Mephisto and the demons he once contained and controlled. Mephisto was very eager to make Pandemonium pay for his failures and unleashed tremendous pain and suffering onto him. Pandemonium’s love for the Scarlet Witch provided him the strength and will to survive. Pandemonium was free to return to Earth and that’s when he set the trap for the Scarlet Witch. Pandemonium had captured some of her Avenger teammates and transformed them into demons. Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness saved her friends and placed Pandemonium in magical constraints. His mystic restraints were broken when the Scarlet Witch battled a nexus being from another dimension named Lore. Pandemonium was struck with a magical blast from Lore and he disappeared.
Pandemonium would later encounter Wiccan and Speed when the boys search for their real mother, the Scarlet Witch. William and Thomas return to Cresskill, New Jersey which is where their mom used to live with the Vision and the place the boys were born. The two Young Avengers notice a shadowy figure through a window and Speed rushes into the home. Speed would end up in a demonic realm while Wiccan enters the house with a protection spell to ensure he doesn’t suffer the same fate as his brother. Pandemonium was a squatter in their old home and comes into conflict with Wiccan. Pandemonium stops the fight when he recognizes that Wiccan’s magic is just like his mother’s magic. Pandemonium takes Wiccan to his brother and they return to the earthly realm. Pandemonium tells the twins that he went into hiding after becoming Mephisto’s pawn and was at their home to seek peace and solitude.
Heaven’s on Fire
A renegade angel named Zadkiel has conquered Heaven and plans to compose the end of the world as he sees fit. In order to fulfill his plan, Zadkiel must hunt down the Anti-Christ which is a young man named Anton Satan but the Ghost Riders and other mystic players are trying to reach the kid first. Danny Ketch finds a pathetic looking Master Pandemonium in a sleazy hotel called the Desert Inn. Pandemonium was being tormented by his own demon limbs and he just wants to die. Ketch breaks both of his arms with a baseball bat and tells Pandemonium to open the gateway to Hell in his belly so he can make a deal with his boss.
Master Pandemonium later reveals himself as an ally or servant to Anton Satan. The Anti-Christ sets a trap and captures Sister Sara who is last of the Caretakers. Sister Sara is special because her body can be used as a doorway to Heaven. Anton orders Pandemonium to unleash his demons and command them to enter Heaven through Sister Sara’s body. Master Pandemonium and his demons were eventually taken down by Jaine Cutter and Daimon Hellstorm during the battle in Heaven. Zadkiel is eventually defeated and Anton Satan with Pandemonium’s hordes of demons are eliminated by an army of Ghost Riders in Heaven.
Fear Itself: The Fearless
The Thule Society and DOA aka Department of Occult Armaments have united under the leadership of Sin as they attempt to retrieve the seven mystic hammers after the Serpent and the Worthy were defeated. Daimon Hellstorm has joined Sin and tells her and Crossbones that he would like the DOA at his disposal to settle a personal feud and they needed an occult specialist like him. Crossbones tells Hellstorm that he may not be needed since a number of recruits specializing in the occult and dark arts were showing up in this gathering including Master Pandemonium.
Powers & Abilities
Master Pandemonium’s body is a dwelling place for a horde of demons. He has the ability to expel numerous demons from the inverted five-pointed star shaped hole in his stomach. An object or fist can go through this star shaped hole without causing any harm or injury to him. It is possible that his body is a nexus to another dimension where the demons reside or could also be a portal to Hell. His limbs have been replaced with demon parts and they can detach at command. When detached, these demons regain their full demon bodies. Pandemonium also has some magical powers that include flight, teleportation, project rays of concussive force and he can also spew mystic fire from his mouth.
Power Item
Master Pandemonium also wields the Amulet of Azmodeus which is a mystical power object that enables him to teleport himself and an undisclosed amount of additional weight. A demonic bird that has the ability to speak he calls Azmodeus can come forth from the amulet. Pandemoniun can ride this demon bird as a form of transportation or command it to attack his enemies.