Lucifer (Marvel Comics)
Encyclopedia
Lucifer is the name of two unrelated comic book characters from Marvel Comics
. One is an alien supervillain of the X-Men
and the other is a villain of Ghost Rider
and is referred to as the Prince of Darkness.
, an alien supervillain
in the Marvel Comics
universe
. His first appearance was in The X-Men
(Vol.1) #9.
Lucifer is an agent of the Quists, an alien race who are also known as the Arcane.
, the being known as Lucifer was born on the planet Quistalium, in the Quistraa star system in the Milky Way Galaxy, who had invaded many worlds. He first came to Earth as an advance agent for the invasion of Earth by the Arcane (also known as the Quists), and succeeded in placing some humans under hypnotic control, allowing him to take control of a small area. This invasion, however, was foiled by the young Charles Xavier (later Professor X
, leader of the X-Men
). In retaliation, Lucifer dropped an enormous stone block on Xavier, leaving his legs crippled so that he would need a wheelchair.
Lucifer made several later attempts to conquer Earth, all foiled by the X-Men or other heroes, although one of his attempts did force the first X-Men team to confront the original Avengers
due to a misunderstanding.
Lucifer returned to Earth years after crippling Xavier, and battled Professor Xavier once again in the Balkan Mountains, where he revealed a device attached to his heart would set off a bomb if he was killed. Lucifer later manipulated the Blob
and Unus
into framing the X-Men as criminals. He revealed how he rendered Xavier a cripple years ago. He was thwarted by the X-Men who defeated his robot, and teleported from Earth by the Quistalian Supreme one for punishment.
Lucifer was exiled to an alternate realm known as the "Nameless Dimension." There, he somehow used "ionic energy" to give himself superhuman strength and the ability to project force beams from his hands, in addition to his apparently pre-existing telepathic powers. He continued to try conquering Earth by using his "dimensional transmitter" to imbue humans with ionic energy and turning them into his minions. He first "fused" with Charlie Gray, although Gray fought and defeated Lucifer. Lucifer later fused simultaneously with criminal Rafe Michel and Aries of the Zodiac
crime cartel. Michel and Aries fought Captain America
and the Falcon
. Lucifer became trapped in the "Nameless Dimension" again when both hosts died. Lucifer's masters ultimately apparently "terminated" him for his failures, and replaced him with the computer Dominus
.
Lucifer has acquired the ability to manipulate ionic energy for various effects, including enhancing his physical strength and leaping ability to superhuman levels, creating protective force fields, and projecting powerful concussive bolts. Lucifer could also "fuse" his physical and mental "essence" with another sentient being. In doing so, Lucifer created a psychic link between himself and his "host." The "host" retained his own will but was in constant psychic contact with Lucifer. The "fusion" endowed the host with some of Lucifer's superhuman powers for as long as the merger lasted. Lucifer could fuse with at least two hosts simultaneously. Lucifer also had limited telepathic abilities, and had the ability to created and maintain a psychic link with his host or hosts while fused with them.
Lucifer used a ray gun firing unknown forms of destructive energy. He later made use of Dominus
, a highly advanced computer complex created by the Arcane that could blanket a world with mind-deadening rays, enabling the Arcane to enslave its populace. Dominus was operated by "Ultra-robots," which could fly and project destructive energy beams. Lucifer also used teleportation devices for transportation. All of this paraphernalia was designed by Lucifer himself and Quistalian scientists.
in Marvel Comics
and mostly associated with Ghost Rider
.
Lucifer possesses a vast array of powers, on a par with Mephisto
or Thog
. Deception, suggestion, and manipulation are quite appealing to this creature, but he is not above tearing his opponent apart with his bare claws.
Lucifer has kept his true history mysterious throughout the years through deceit and deception. It is believed that he was once an angel who led other angels in banishing the N'Garai from Earth and led a group of followers in a rebellion against God during the great war in Heaven, thus essentially representing the true "devil" in the Marvel Universe of Christian theology. Following his defeat, Lucifer and his lieutenants Beelzeboul, Kazann, Malachi, Pazuzu, Xaphan and others were all cast down to Hell as punishment. During this time, he became the demon known as the Prince of Lies, ruling a realm in Hell.
In Hell, Lucifer looked nothing like the angel he once was. He and all of his Lieutenants had degenerated into demons, some through instruction, others adapted more naturally. But they had all over time changed into twisted creatures of evil.
A long battle has been fought between the demon Ghost Rider and the Prince of Lies. Lucifer believed (as have others) that if he could extinguish the human soul that lives within the Ghost Rider
, the latter could be made into a soulless killing machine that could be used to extinguish all humanity. Later he introduces many more reasons to defeat Johnny Blaze
. For years, Lucifer with the aid of the other Hell-lords had made many attempts on Ghost Rider's soul. All failed. Lucifer had decided to take matters into his own hands. Satan wanted to capitalize on this particular demon as well as to join in for his own purposes. But in the end Ghost Rider proved he was a very strong demon indeed.
Lucifer is ultimately defeated by Blaze and exiled back to Perdition, and senses Zadkiel's apparent triumph over Heaven from Hell. However, after Zadkiel is unable to truly control Creation and the ultimate power that sparked it, the one true God
returns in wrath and condemns the renegade Archangel to Hell for all eternity, to be forever tortured by a pleased Lucifer. As the Chaos King launches his invasion of the divine and infernal realms associated with Earth, the last surviving bastion of Creation, Lucifer, along with the other powers of Hell, confronts Mikaboshi, only to be defeated and consumed by the overwhelming might of his primordial darkness.
, the alien Lucifer is revealed to be alive, capturing Professor X and replacing him with an ionic energy duplicate, while trapping Xavier in the Nameless Dimension with him (The Nameless Dimension being depicted as a featureless realm filled with a thick liquid-like substance that Lucifer and Xavier can 'breathe' as though they are still inhaling oxygen). Using the original X-Men as his agents to satisfy Lucifer's twisted sense of irony, the duplicate Professor dispatched them to acquire three components from Quistalian outposts around the globe, intending to use them to alter the machine that had sent the Professor into the Nameless Dimension so that it could be used to allow Lucifer to return to Earth. Fortunately, although the dimensional distance prevented the Professor from telepathically contacting his students directly- although he could penetrate the dimensional barrier, his weakened powers were subsequently unable to penetrate the complex minds of his students-, he was able to make contact with Jeffery Saunders, the mentally handicapped grandson of a recently-deceased friend of his, whose mental state meant that he lacked the conflicting thoughts that had prevented the Professor reaching the X-Men.
Using Jeffrey's physically superior body- the young boy being an exceptional athlete despite his mental state-, the Professor was not only able to alert the X-Men to the deception- thanks to Iceman
(The only member of the team to see how the real Professor treated Jeffrey, having recently accompanied the professor to the funeral of Jeffrey's grandfather before Lucifer abducted him) realizing that the duplicate was acting out-of-character in his dealings with Jeffrey-, but later defeated an ionic duplicate of Archangel that could have allowed Lucifer to use the newly-modified portal to return to their dimension. Although Xavier was briefly tempted to destroy the machine when he thought that Lucifer might be able to reach the exit portal before him, Jeffrey was able to help him escape by 'sending' the Professor his own youthful energy back along their psychic link, giving Xavier the strength to beat Lucifer to the portal. With Xavier's return, the machine is destroyed by Cyclops
and the duplicate Professor is found to have ceased to exist, leaving Lucifer to fume and plot his revenge in the Nameless Dimension once again.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. One is an alien supervillain of the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
and the other is a villain of Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (comics)
Ghost Rider is the name of several fictional supernatural antiheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Night Rider and subsequently to Phantom Rider.The first supernatural Ghost Rider is...
and is referred to as the Prince of Darkness.
Lucifer (Quists)
Lucifer is a fictional characterFictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, an alien supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
in the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
. His first appearance was in The X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
(Vol.1) #9.
Lucifer is an agent of the Quists, an alien race who are also known as the Arcane.
Fictional character biography
An alienExtraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
, the being known as Lucifer was born on the planet Quistalium, in the Quistraa star system in the Milky Way Galaxy, who had invaded many worlds. He first came to Earth as an advance agent for the invasion of Earth by the Arcane (also known as the Quists), and succeeded in placing some humans under hypnotic control, allowing him to take control of a small area. This invasion, however, was foiled by the young Charles Xavier (later Professor X
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
, leader of the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
). In retaliation, Lucifer dropped an enormous stone block on Xavier, leaving his legs crippled so that he would need a wheelchair.
Lucifer made several later attempts to conquer Earth, all foiled by the X-Men or other heroes, although one of his attempts did force the first X-Men team to confront the original Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
due to a misunderstanding.
Lucifer returned to Earth years after crippling Xavier, and battled Professor Xavier once again in the Balkan Mountains, where he revealed a device attached to his heart would set off a bomb if he was killed. Lucifer later manipulated the Blob
Blob (comics)
The Blob is a Marvel Comics supervillain, an adversary of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men #3 ....
and Unus
Unus the Untouchable
Unus the Untouchable is a fictional character from the comic book X-Men and part of the Marvel Comics Universe. A mutant, Unus is named for his ability to consciously project a force field which protects him from harm.-Origin:Angelo Unuscione was born in Milan, Italy...
into framing the X-Men as criminals. He revealed how he rendered Xavier a cripple years ago. He was thwarted by the X-Men who defeated his robot, and teleported from Earth by the Quistalian Supreme one for punishment.
Lucifer was exiled to an alternate realm known as the "Nameless Dimension." There, he somehow used "ionic energy" to give himself superhuman strength and the ability to project force beams from his hands, in addition to his apparently pre-existing telepathic powers. He continued to try conquering Earth by using his "dimensional transmitter" to imbue humans with ionic energy and turning them into his minions. He first "fused" with Charlie Gray, although Gray fought and defeated Lucifer. Lucifer later fused simultaneously with criminal Rafe Michel and Aries of the Zodiac
Zodiac (comics)
Zodiac is the name of four groups of fictional characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. The first version appears in Avengers #72 and was created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema. The second version first appear in Defenders #49 and were created by David Kraft and Keith Giffen...
crime cartel. Michel and Aries fought Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
and the Falcon
Falcon (comics)
The Falcon is a fictional comic book superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics.Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan, and introduced in Captain America #117 , the character is mainstream comics' first African-American superhero...
. Lucifer became trapped in the "Nameless Dimension" again when both hosts died. Lucifer's masters ultimately apparently "terminated" him for his failures, and replaced him with the computer Dominus
Dominus (Marvel Comics)
Dominus is a fictional character, a villain appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. It is a sentient super-computer, created by the alien Quists and sometimes controlled by Lucifer.-Publication history:...
.
Powers and abilities
Lucifer has a gifted intellect, and extensive knowledge of advanced Quistalian science and technology, and talent as an inventor using this technology.Lucifer has acquired the ability to manipulate ionic energy for various effects, including enhancing his physical strength and leaping ability to superhuman levels, creating protective force fields, and projecting powerful concussive bolts. Lucifer could also "fuse" his physical and mental "essence" with another sentient being. In doing so, Lucifer created a psychic link between himself and his "host." The "host" retained his own will but was in constant psychic contact with Lucifer. The "fusion" endowed the host with some of Lucifer's superhuman powers for as long as the merger lasted. Lucifer could fuse with at least two hosts simultaneously. Lucifer also had limited telepathic abilities, and had the ability to created and maintain a psychic link with his host or hosts while fused with them.
Lucifer used a ray gun firing unknown forms of destructive energy. He later made use of Dominus
Dominus (Marvel Comics)
Dominus is a fictional character, a villain appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. It is a sentient super-computer, created by the alien Quists and sometimes controlled by Lucifer.-Publication history:...
, a highly advanced computer complex created by the Arcane that could blanket a world with mind-deadening rays, enabling the Arcane to enslave its populace. Dominus was operated by "Ultra-robots," which could fly and project destructive energy beams. Lucifer also used teleportation devices for transportation. All of this paraphernalia was designed by Lucifer himself and Quistalian scientists.
Lucifer (Prince of Darkness)
Lucifer is a fictional character, a supervillainSupervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
in Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and mostly associated with Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (comics)
Ghost Rider is the name of several fictional supernatural antiheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Night Rider and subsequently to Phantom Rider.The first supernatural Ghost Rider is...
.
Lucifer possesses a vast array of powers, on a par with Mephisto
Mephisto (comics)
Mephisto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Silver Surfer #3 and was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema, loosely modeled on Mephistopheles - a character from the Faust legend.Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books,...
or Thog
Thog
Thog the Nether-Spawn, Overmaster of Sominus is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. He is a demon from the extra-dimensional world of Sominus who has clashed with the Man-Thing.-Publication history:...
. Deception, suggestion, and manipulation are quite appealing to this creature, but he is not above tearing his opponent apart with his bare claws.
Lucifer has kept his true history mysterious throughout the years through deceit and deception. It is believed that he was once an angel who led other angels in banishing the N'Garai from Earth and led a group of followers in a rebellion against God during the great war in Heaven, thus essentially representing the true "devil" in the Marvel Universe of Christian theology. Following his defeat, Lucifer and his lieutenants Beelzeboul, Kazann, Malachi, Pazuzu, Xaphan and others were all cast down to Hell as punishment. During this time, he became the demon known as the Prince of Lies, ruling a realm in Hell.
In Hell, Lucifer looked nothing like the angel he once was. He and all of his Lieutenants had degenerated into demons, some through instruction, others adapted more naturally. But they had all over time changed into twisted creatures of evil.
A long battle has been fought between the demon Ghost Rider and the Prince of Lies. Lucifer believed (as have others) that if he could extinguish the human soul that lives within the Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (comics)
Ghost Rider is the name of several fictional supernatural antiheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Night Rider and subsequently to Phantom Rider.The first supernatural Ghost Rider is...
, the latter could be made into a soulless killing machine that could be used to extinguish all humanity. Later he introduces many more reasons to defeat Johnny Blaze
Johnny Blaze
Johnny Blaze may refer to:* Ghost Rider , second Marvel Comics character called Ghost Rider* Johnny Blaze, ring name of John Hennigan, professional wrestler better known as John Morrison* Johnny Blaze, alter-ego of American rapper Method Man...
. For years, Lucifer with the aid of the other Hell-lords had made many attempts on Ghost Rider's soul. All failed. Lucifer had decided to take matters into his own hands. Satan wanted to capitalize on this particular demon as well as to join in for his own purposes. But in the end Ghost Rider proved he was a very strong demon indeed.
Lucifer is ultimately defeated by Blaze and exiled back to Perdition, and senses Zadkiel's apparent triumph over Heaven from Hell. However, after Zadkiel is unable to truly control Creation and the ultimate power that sparked it, the one true God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
returns in wrath and condemns the renegade Archangel to Hell for all eternity, to be forever tortured by a pleased Lucifer. As the Chaos King launches his invasion of the divine and infernal realms associated with Earth, the last surviving bastion of Creation, Lucifer, along with the other powers of Hell, confronts Mikaboshi, only to be defeated and consumed by the overwhelming might of his primordial darkness.
Novel
In the novel Shadows of the Past by Michael Jan FriedmanMichael Jan Friedman
Michael Jan Friedman is an author of nearly sixty books of fiction and nonfiction, more than half of which are in the Star Trek universe. Ten of his titles have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list...
, the alien Lucifer is revealed to be alive, capturing Professor X and replacing him with an ionic energy duplicate, while trapping Xavier in the Nameless Dimension with him (The Nameless Dimension being depicted as a featureless realm filled with a thick liquid-like substance that Lucifer and Xavier can 'breathe' as though they are still inhaling oxygen). Using the original X-Men as his agents to satisfy Lucifer's twisted sense of irony, the duplicate Professor dispatched them to acquire three components from Quistalian outposts around the globe, intending to use them to alter the machine that had sent the Professor into the Nameless Dimension so that it could be used to allow Lucifer to return to Earth. Fortunately, although the dimensional distance prevented the Professor from telepathically contacting his students directly- although he could penetrate the dimensional barrier, his weakened powers were subsequently unable to penetrate the complex minds of his students-, he was able to make contact with Jeffery Saunders, the mentally handicapped grandson of a recently-deceased friend of his, whose mental state meant that he lacked the conflicting thoughts that had prevented the Professor reaching the X-Men.
Using Jeffrey's physically superior body- the young boy being an exceptional athlete despite his mental state-, the Professor was not only able to alert the X-Men to the deception- thanks to Iceman
Iceman (comics)
Iceman is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero, a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men vol. 1 #1, ....
(The only member of the team to see how the real Professor treated Jeffrey, having recently accompanied the professor to the funeral of Jeffrey's grandfather before Lucifer abducted him) realizing that the duplicate was acting out-of-character in his dealings with Jeffrey-, but later defeated an ionic duplicate of Archangel that could have allowed Lucifer to use the newly-modified portal to return to their dimension. Although Xavier was briefly tempted to destroy the machine when he thought that Lucifer might be able to reach the exit portal before him, Jeffrey was able to help him escape by 'sending' the Professor his own youthful energy back along their psychic link, giving Xavier the strength to beat Lucifer to the portal. With Xavier's return, the machine is destroyed by Cyclops
Cyclops (comics)
Cyclops is a fictional character, the leader of the X-Men superhero team in the . A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes...
and the duplicate Professor is found to have ceased to exist, leaving Lucifer to fume and plot his revenge in the Nameless Dimension once again.
External links
- http://www.marvel.com/universe/Lucifer
- http://www.comicvine.com/lucifer/29-20086/