Satannish (Earth-616)

Satannish is one of the most powerful demons Earth has ever known. He was created by Dormammu, who placed him as an undercover agent inside the Hell-Lords.^[8]

Satannish lives in a dimension adjacent to Earth of which he is the ruler. In spite of not dwelling on Earth, Satannish has had contact with humans throughout the centuries. The demon promised superhuman powers to his followers in exchange for their souls. Some of these followers formed a cult that was dedicated to the demon known as the Sons of Satannish, while others formed the organized crime syndicate named the Maggia.^{[citation needed]}

The Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, Doctor Strange, could invoke Satannish by means of enchantment, but Strange prefers not to do it since Satannish is too powerful. Thus, the first occasion in which Satannish and Strange met was as a result of the acts of the wizard Lord Nekron. Lord Nekron had reached an agreement with Satannish, by means of which the demon would increase Nekron's powers during one year until finally he became immortal. In return, Nekron would give his soul to Satannish. Nevertheless, Satannish said to him that if Nekron obtained the soul of another wizard, in return he could conserve its powers and become immortal anyway. The last day of the year, with his powers at their peak, Nekron faced Doctor Strange. Nekron hoped to give Strange's soul to Satannish instead of his own. The wizard and Strange fought in a dimension where time could be manipulated differently than Earth's. Strange soon gained the advantage in the battle and altered time so that the twenty-four hours of the last day of Nekron's year passed more quickly than normal, causing Nekron's power to run out. As the year had now finished, Satannish demanded the soul of Nekron and imprisoned the wizard in his dimension.^{[citation needed]}

Sometime later, a faction of the Sons of Satannish led by Asmodeus, which was allied with Dr. Charles Benton, a respected doctor of New York, began to conspire against Doctor Strange. Asmodeus mystically controlled Clea, the friend of Doctor Strange, and used her to steal the Book of the Vishanti from Strange's collection. The Sons of Satannish captured Strange, and they expelled him and Clea to another dimension. With the Book of the Vishanti, Asmodeus knew of the existence of the Enchantment of the Fire and the Ice with which he could invoke the fire-demon Surtur, and the ice-giant Ymir so that they would destroy Earth. Seeing that he no longer needed the Sons of Satannish, Asmodeus exiled them to the dimension governed by Tiboro. On the other hand, Strange and Clea escaped from the dimension where they had been imprisoned, and Strange faced Asmodeus in mystic combat, which was too much for Asmodeus' heart. Nevertheless, before falling he invoked a spell and summoned Surtur and Ymir. Doctor Strange and Dane Whitman, a.k.a. the Black Knight, rescued the Sons of Satannish from the dimension of Tiboro. Then, while the Avengers fought against Ymir in Wakanda and another group of Avengers fought with Surtur in the Arctic, Strange discovered that by using certain crystals, he could access enough of the power of the Sons of Satannish to use against Surtur and Ymir, defeating the pair.^{[citation needed]}

Satannish was united shortly afterward with other demons, including Mephisto. The great rival of Doctor Strange, Baron Mordo, agreed with both Mephisto and Satannish, so that they gave him the power to be able; as a result, both demons demanded for themselves the soul of Mordo, and both were arranged to destroy Earth in their dispute. Both Satannish and Mephisto got involved mystically in a brutal battle in Manhattan hidden from the inhabitants of the city. Finally, Doctor Strange cast a spell by means of which both demons would finish the battle by being united into a single being if they did not leave Earth. Refusing to lose their individuality, both demons left Earth and resigned to obtain the soul of Mordo.^{[citation needed]}

Satannish, as the demon Mister Cloot, was invoked by Charlie Ronalds to slay Guido Carosella and X-Factor.^[9]

Intending first to kill him, Mister Cloot eventually gave him the access to his realms and the souls therein, claiming that there was a lot of them with hatred for X-Factor and that he had no sympathy for them since their association with the Hulk.^[9]

He then transformed Ronalds into his Charon, as a deal to carry souls to Mister Cloot's realms against power, and leave.

Hearing that Charon intended to kill Guido without having his soul, he came back and told him the truth about his parents, his mother being a "high-price hussy" and his father her "manager" who were now residing in Mister Cloot's realm. He then absorbed Charon in his dimension and left.^[9]

Satannish contacted with Jason Roland, who would be known as the Hangman.^[10] Satannish wanted to use the Hangman to rob the souls of Earth's inhabitants using television. The Hangman, by order of Satannish, recruited the Night Shift, which increased his powers in exchange for their souls. The West Coast Avengers then defeated the Night Shift.^[11]

Later Satannish, wishing to take revenge on the West Coast Avengers, offered Roland the possibility of recovering his soul. Satannish offered four allies to him, in the form of four super-powerful beings animated by four of the souls that inhabited their kingdom. They were the souls of Josef Stalin, Lucrezia Borgia, Lizzie Borden, and Heinrich Himmler who, with the Hangman, formed the Lethal Legion. This incarnation of the Lethal Legion fought the West Coast Avengers and kidnapped one of them, the Mockingbird, taking her to Satannish's kingdom. The West Coast Avengers travelled to Satannish's kingdom to release the Mockingbird, making a brief involuntary shutdown in Mephisto's kingdom that the demon took advantage of to occupy the body of Hawkeye, and to be able to travel thus to Satannish's kingdom. When they got there, the West Coast Avengers fought against the Hangman and his men and finally were captured. It was then when Mephisto arranged to take control of the souls of the Lethal Legion, then a battle began between both demons, which the West Coast Avengers took advantage of in order to escape.^[12]

The mystical forces unleashed by both demons threatened to reach Earth, and in order to finish the battle, the Scarlet Witch cast a spell that threatened to merge the kingdoms of Mephisto and Satannish; to keep this from happening, both demons stopped fighting immediately and returned to their kingdoms. At the end of the conflict the Mockingbird, who had only just been rescued from Satannish's kingdom by the West Coast Avengers, was killed.^[13]

When Dormammu planned to seize several infernal kingdoms for himself, Satannish met with Pluto, Hela, Daimon Hellstrom and Mephisto to plan a counterattack. Hela and Pluto, who were both part of divine pantheons, rejected the alliance of the other three infernal governors. Satannish and Daimon Hellstrom ended up betraying Mephisto, praising themselves/pairing off in favor of Dormammu, since the being had said that he had been the creator of Satannish and the father of Daimon Hellstrom. Nevertheless, their plans of conquest were thwarted thanks to the intervention of the Hellcat. Apparently, all of these revelations were lies.^[14]

Satannish was seemingly killed by Mephisto,^[15] but it was revealed that when a Hell-Lord dies, he is sent to his personal Hell-realm again.^[16]

As a Class Two Demon, Satannish is one of the most powerful known demons, seemingly second only to Mephisto.^[17] He possesses great mystical powers that allow him to open portals, send mystical rays, create mystical barriers, and multiple other abilities. He is stronger in his own dimension.

• Even though his first appearance was in Doctor Strange #174, Satannish was first mentioned more than two years before that, when Tazza mentioned his name in Strange Tales #144.

• Satannish claimed to have invented political correctness, using the name Geecees to designate mutants.^[9]