Daimon Hellstrom/Hellstorm

Subject Facts

Full Name: Daimon Hellstrom
Codename: Hellstorm
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Archetype: Neutral
Aliases: Son of Satan, Prince of Lies, King of Hell
Marital Status: Single
Affiliation: Doctor Strange, Midnight Sons

Subject Attributes

Superhuman Abilities: Daimon's various powers are the product of many different sources. To assign them to different categories would be impossible. Those are: being a human/Hell-Spawn hybrid; a sorcerer of terrible power; the offspring of one of Hell's strongest demons; possessor of a Darksoul; and position as a Hell-Lord.

His physiology is radically superior to that of a human, with him being able to comfortably bench around 750 lbs - these physical traits can be augmented through his other powers. Hellstrom is nigh impervious to most forms of damage, be they magical or scientific in nature. He's gone toe-to-toe with physical powerhouses in the past.

Daimon most iconically conjures and controls fire (normal or hellish; named hellfire, balefire or soulfire interchangeably).

Daimon is also a sorcerer nearly without compare. He was a candidate for Sorcerer Supreme and is a long-standing colleague and equal to Doctor Strange. Conceivably, Hellstrom powers his magic through demonic energies and, since he is such a conduit for them, that reservoir is impossibly deep. He can accomplish mystical feats too numerous to count, but his forte is in enchantments or spellwork associated with demons or hell, exorcisms, etc.

Hellstrom has dominion of his own layer or realm of Hell, an underworld molded by the subconscious expectations of those souls that he would receive. Within his Hell Daimon's powers are vastly augmented, and his will absolute.

Standard Abilities: Occultism - He has vast knowledge on the paranormal and is called up quite often by various members of the superhero community when they encounter trouble of a mystic nature.

Demonology - Daimon's knowledge of demons and the hierarchy of Hell is incredible, and fellow sorcerers will defer to his expertise on the matter. He's been majoring in the study of this field of the arcane his entire adult life and has immense experience in the matter.

Paraphernalia: Daimon's most frequent prop is a trident which he uses both as a martial weapon and conduit for his magic. During his debut as a superhero, Hellstrom possessed an especially powerful trident stolen from his father that had special properties and gave unique abilities. He has long since transcended the need for tokens, though, and if he ever wields a trident it is of his own making for comfort.

Subject Weaknesses: Prince of Lies - Hellstrom's relations with the superpowered community is tentative at the best of times, made so entirely by his own meddling and inconsistency. He's aided and sided with villains multiple times, but more regularly with heroes, making each community - lawful and lawless - regard him skeptically and warily.

Arrogance - Daimon is tremendously powerful. Over the years that power has gone to his head a bit, and he tends to condescend to others (there are a handful of people he genuinely respects, but the list is small) and regularly under-estimates his allies and enemies both.

Temper - Hellstrom struggles with rage, generally. This personality flaw is blown wildly out of proportion because, whenever he experiences rage, it manifests spectacularly through his powers. That doesn't mean that it's not still an issue though.

The Law - Despite his abilities, there are many steadfast, immovable, insurmountable rules that frame the magical and divine world that Daimon is powerless to circumvent just like everyone else.

Mortal - He is, despite appearances, capable of injury and death, and has even perished at least once historically. Of course, the strength of his spirit and his power in the Underworld mean that it's highly improbable to get rid of him definitely.

Subject History

The demon Marduk Kurios, who had once been Lucifer, effectively Satan desired a half-human child for its uses as a gateway for greater power over the mortal realm. To that end, he created all the trappings of a mortal life for himself in Greentown, Massachusetts and courted and married Victoria Wingate. Daimon was their first child, born with a birthmark in the shape of a perfect pentagram on his chest. His sister, Satana, was born three years later.

Daimon always gravitated more toward his mother, while Satana did likewise with their father. When Daimon was an adolescent, his mother stumbled upon a ritual that Marduk and Satana were conducting in the basement. Horrified to the point of a mental break, Victoria was institutionalized and, Marduk having fled to his Hell, the two Hellstrom children were put into different orphanages.

Ironically, Daimon found himself at a monastery on the path to becoming a priest. Before he could take his vows, he was notified of the inheritance of his father's estate. He ventured back to it, where he found a diary of his mothers that recorded the truth about his ancestry and his father's nature (particularly the Darksoul that Daimon inherited from him). Marduk, sensing Daimon's discovery, brought him to Hell and tried to convince him to disregard Victoria's warnings and join his fiendish efforts.

Daimon immediately decided to dedicate himself to oppose his father's villainy. Hellstrom's first act was instant, and he went to Hell to fight his father. Though he failed in defeating Marduk outright, Daimon weakened his standing with many of his demonic underlings, causing revolts, and managed to steal the Trident and Chariot of Satan. Once back on earth, Daimon dedicated the next few years battling evil - specifically his father's - that manifested on earth or in other realms, including his sister Satana, who had become a succubus under her father's sway.

Daimon maintained a civilian identity as an occult investigator and guest professor at a St Louis college. He encountered and worked with several superheroes, including Ghost Rider, before becoming more permanently associated with the Defenders. This association bled into a membership where he met and fell in love with his teammate Patsy Walker/Hellcat. Soon after this cementation Daimon confronted his father again and was triumphant over him, which caused the purging of his Darksoul - subsequently stolen by the Miracle Man, then passed into a snake. Having lost most of his supernatural abilities with its absence, Daimon retired his superhero identity.

With the retirement, Daimon finally married Patsy and the two left the Defenders, moving to San Francisco. There he and Patsy became renowned as occult specialists and Daimon specifically as a demonologist. He created another costumed persona "Hellstorm" to maintain a secret identity and he and Hellcat helped several heroes against demonic threats, particularly the West Coast Avengers. Separation from his Darksoul had increasingly negative effects on Daimon, until he was catatonic and on death's door. Patsy summoned Marduk and bartered for the return of the Darksoul. Marduk acquiesced but Hellcat's witness of the event drove her insane. Not long after, her mental sickness drove her to summon the entity Deathurge, who killed her, though it appeared as a suicide.

After this tragedy, Daimon threw himself wholeheartedly against his father's schemes and trespasses. He gathered a small group of associates around him and briefly dabbled in romance again. Using knowledge hard-fought for, Daimon eventually was able to truly slay Marduk. He claimed the Black Halo and leadership of Hell, where he endeavored to keep a cosmic balance that would allow humanity to shape its own destiny. Unfortunately Daimon discovered that Marduk had manipulated him long before into preparing a host body in which he, Marduk, was reborn.

Following his aid in opposing Blackheart and Selene's attempt to found a demonic version of the Hellfire Club, Daimon joined the Club's ranks for a short time as its White King to maintain the balance of good and evil within it. Daimon discovered that Hellcat's soul had ended up in the Arena of Tainted Souls within fellow Hell-Lord Mephisto's realm. He set off a series of manipulations that had Hawkeye and his team of Thunderbolts brave Mephisto's domain and return Patsy to life (believing at the time they were resurrecting Hawkeye's late wife, Mockingbird, who was also stuck in the Arena).

When Dormammu, a fellow Hell-Lord, endeavored to overrun the other dimensions of the underworld by force, Hellcat managed to bring Daimon, Hela and Pluto in order to defeat him. During the events, Daimon knowingly (and secretly) played into tricks that Dormammu was playing to drive Hellcat away from him - for her own good. Daimon then played a moderate part in the shifting sands of power in the landscape of the Hell-worlds. He was briefly recruited by Kyle Richmond for the Defenders as part of the Fifty State Initiative, but it was soon disbanded by HAMMER.

Hellstrom was then brought to ARMOR, where he joined the Midnight Sons to face an interdimensional zombie threat. He also assisted in Ghost Rider's defeat of the renegade angel Zadkiel and his assault on Heaven. After Doctor Strange abdicated his position of Sorcerer Supreme, Daimon assisted in the search for his replacement, which ended up being Jericho Drumm/Brother Voodoo. Unfortunately, Jericho perished not long after assuming the role in an effort alongside the New Avengers (and Daimon and Stephen) to protect the world from Agamotto. Shortly thereafter Daimon was killed by the spirit of Jericho Drumm's dead brother inhabiting the body of Victoria Hand as revenge for Jericho's demise.

Daimon didn't remain dead for long, rising from the pit, he joined the God Squad to oppose the Chaos King, who had overwhelmingly conquered every layer of the Hell-worlds. Following the Serpent's attack on earth, Hellstrom assisted Kid Loki in combatting the Fear Lord, Nightmare. He was next seen as part of the Shadow Council's incarnation of the Masters of Evil. Operating out of the infamous, criminal haven country of Biagla, Hellstrom oversaw the group's magical affairs and shepherded a young Cullen Bloodstone in the control of his demonic parasite. This all fell apart when the Avengers and MI-13 arrived and battled the Masters of Evil.

Though his motives for being part of the Masters of Evil was never revealed, the next event of note for Daimon transpired soon enough. He allied with his sister, Satana, the Daywalker Blade and the Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze to thwart a mortal sorcerer's attempt to kill Archangel Michael during the Covenant - a meeting between ambassadors of Heaven and Hell held every one-thousand years to air grievances and make petitions in the great war.

Subject Interview

The brazier flickered and snapped full of flames that burned without fuel. Standing before it, Daimon Hellstrom scowled deeply, his eyes radiating a steady, crimson light. To unknowing eyes watching the scene, with him curling his fingers and gesturing articulately over the fire, he may have looked insane. But to the wise, Daimon was scrying the globe through that bundle of light and heat, making minute reaches, scans and communications with the subtlest twitch of a finger or wave of an arm.

Since its revitalization, magical phenomenon had been much more prevalent in the mortal realm. That, in and of itself, was of no consequence or interest to Daimon. No, it was the particular uptick, just in the past week or so, in phenomena of a distinctly other-dimensional variety. Not the demonic sort, as was his usual focus. These came from all sorts of different planes of existence, but ones intimately linked: those Ten places ever bound by Yggdrasil.

The curiosity of the events might have been passing enough for Hellstrom, had Stephen not asked for assistance in looking into the matter. Daimon hoped that the Sorcerer Supreme's anxieties were baseless, but his history with the other magician weighed against that likelihood. Mid-gesture, Daimon scowled and reversed the motion. Then his lips split in a chilling grin and his eyes blazed brighter still. "Got you," he purred.

- - - -

The spirits of Muspelheim crawled over the baseball arena like termites. Their red skin sent the air around them to wavering, and quick motions would make them spontaneously combust for a moment before fizzling out. Daimon hadn't the faintest idea to their purpose - the arena was empty, not even the overhead lights on. The rampant destruction that they were causing didn't have a plain rhyme or reason.

Hellstrom materialized in a flash of flame on the pitcher's mound, propping his hands on his hips. The pentagram on his bare chest sizzled like liquid copper. "Midgard is closed for the foreseeable future," he said, voice booming over the scene with inhuman volume. The fire spirits froze in their acts and looked at him with empty, blazing sockets. "You have ten seconds to vacate the dimensional premises." Daimon looked down his nose at the nearest trespasser.

Rather than fear or caution, the creature bared pointed teeth and vomited a globule of plasmic heat at him. Hellstrom allowed the molten substance to splash over his chest, not phased in the slightest. "Really?" he asked. "Do you know who I am?" Daimon's temper flared, burning the already impossibly hot stuff off of his body. "You want to burn, vermin? Fine. Allow me to-"

Daimon was so bent on his warpath he didn't notice a parting in the fabric of space behind him, nor the monolithic shadow that the creature left in its wake cast over him. Not until it was too late did Hellstrom look up to see a large, ice-encrusted, azure-skinned fist hurtling down onto him like an avalanched. "Aw, ****."

Author's Notes

Player Alias: Di

Other Characters: Wanda Maximoff

How did you find MFT?: Creator/founder