Daimon Hellstrom, also known as the Son of Satannote and Hellstorm, is a Marvel Comics character, created by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Herb Trimpe and first appearing in Ghost Rider #1 (September 1973)note .
With the popularity of Ghost Rider and The Tomb of Dracula, Stan Lee decided it was only logical to take things one step further and have a comic book starring Satan himself. Roy Thomas convinced Lee to dial things back a bit and test the waters with an offspring of Satan character first. Daimon quickly caught on with fans, becoming increasingly featured in Marvel Spotlight before getting his own solo comic book series, The Son of Satan, in September of 1975 right before Halloween. Hellstrom's first solo outing would attract unwanted backlash for Marvel due to it's shallow depictions of Satanism and Wicca, so the series was canceled at issue #7.
The company was far from done with Daimon Hellstrom after the cancellation of The Son of Satan. He continued to make recurring appearances across the Marvel Universe, most prominently in Ghost Rider, The Tomb of Dracula, The Defenders, and West Coast Avengers, while also showing up in more unusual titles such as The Incredible Hulk, Cloak and Dagger, Howard the Duck, and even a swimsuit special. These appearances allowed Marvel to keep the character in circulation, develop his backstory, and explore his ongoing struggle with his demonic heritage, building a fanbase that would support future solo efforts.
In 1993, Marvel returned to Daimon with Hellstorm: Prince of Lies, a new solo series that ran three times as long as his original series and expanded his role as a morally complex anti-hero navigating the forces of good and evil. Although the series was not a major commercial hit, it firmly established Hellstrom as a regular figure in Marvel's supernatural corner of the universe. In 2000, he received a third solo series, Hellstorm Son Of Satan, which further explored his battles with his father’s legacy, his alliances and rivalries in the supernatural community, and his ongoing quest to balance humanity with the demonic powers he inherited.
Throughout his history, Daimon has shifted fluidly between hero, anti-hero, and villain, depending on the circumstances and the stories being told. He has been a member of the Midnight Sons, a frequent ally of Doctor Strange, and even a member of the Masters of Evil. More recently, he joined Strikeforce, teaming up with Blade, Wiccan, Angela, Spider-Woman, Spectrum, and the Winter Soldier, reflecting his continued relevance and adaptability within the broader Marvel Universe.
In 2019, it was announced that Hulu was making a Helstrom television show (having dropped the second l), written and showrun by Paul Zbyszewski. Daimon will be played by Tom Austen, with his sister Ana played by Sydney Lemmon, and their mother Victoria played by Elizabeth Marvel. In the show, they are described as the "children of a powerful serial killer" who "hunt the worst of humanity." All episodes of the series premiered in October 16, 2020. The series is ostensibly set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, yet has no Marvel branding whatsoever in its advertising.
Daimon Hellstrom has appeared in the following works:
- The Son of Satan (1975–1977)
- Hellstorm: Prince of Lies (1993–1994)
- Hellstorm Son Of Satan (2006–2007)
Daimon Hellstrom's comic appearances contain the following tropes:
- Always Someone Better: Daimon was originally the someone better to John Blaze as Ghost Rider. Daimon Hellstrom was more powerful, more in control, could choose when to "transform", and just knew more all around that Witch-Woman, who he had to save Ghost Rider from, who then proceeded to teach Ghost Rider what she knew that he didn't, as Hellstrom was saving her too. Hellstrom is also the one to exocise Blade from on of Deacon Frost's creations when the vampire hunters of The Tomb of Dracula couldn't do it. The exception was The Defenders, where Hellstrom was better in a few but not many of his areas of expertise than Doctor Strange, master of the mystic arts.
- Anti-Anti-Christ: Daimon Hellstrom is at odds with his father from his introduction, however, Daimon can be an Antichrist in the sense he can cause more than enough problems without his fathers help. Hellstrom is a positive to neutral force in the setting more often than not.
- Amplifier Artifact: The "psychosensitive" Netheranium Trident, surpassing even the Sacred Sword of Satan in power and presitige, increasing Hellstrom's demonic might significantly
- Bash Brothers: Daimon with Johnny Blaze. Although they've had their disagreements in the past (depending on Daimon's characterization at the time), the two hell-forged anti-heroes tend to get along for the most part and have teamed up with each other time and time again.
- Big Damn Heroes: In Marvel Spotlight #12, Hellstrom arrives from the sky in his chariot to save Roxanne Simpson, the girlfriend of John Blaze, from a biker gang known as the Ruthless Riders, as Ghost Rider tries to defend Roxanne's soul from Satan in hell.
- Birthmark of Destiny: The pentagram on Daimon's chest changes color when he uses his powers and inverts on his birthday
- Blessed with Suck: In Daimon's early stories, he got more antisocial the more he used his various demoic powers, no matter how much he really wanted to help anyone deep down
- Claimed by the Supernatural: Daimon's darksoul manifests itself as a pentagram shaped birthmark on his chest that glows red when he uses his power. The Hellmark, as it is known, is bestowed upon those who have the potential to become a Hell Lord. It grants its bearer control over lesser demons and grants the ability to use Hellfire, but slowly corrupts its user over time.
- Continuity Snarl:
- Daimon is strangely prone to this; due to his relative obscurity it's not uncommon for him to be very inconsistently written, with entire character relationships coming and going on a whim. While this results in typical Depending on the Writer situations like if he's a Nice Guy who's also a Deadpan Snarker or if he's an Hair-Trigger Temper Jerkass and lecherous Casanova Wannabe, it also results in him strangely showing up as a member of the Masters of Evil and being depicted as a straight-up villain, only to then show up at other times as a hero without any reference to the fact he's been breaking bread with Baron Zemo. Writers who try to make sense of this have came up with some interesting handwaves (such as Daimon making a bunch of duplicates of himself, or Daimon seeing good and evil as an outdated binary).
- Another thing is his father. Though it's long established that his true father is Marduk Kurios, a high-ranking demon who had posed as Satan, some writers aren't as aware and so 'Satan' is often depicted as his and Satana's father, despite Marvel not even having an actual Satan. In The Falcon (2017), he was even depicted as the son of Mephisto.
- Cool Horse: Daimon can summon a flying chariot that he has pulled by three flying horses, Set, Amon and Hecate
- Demon Lords and Archdevils: Daimon rules a region of Hell.
- Demon Sorcerer: Daimon is half-demon and is trained in black magic.
- Devil's Pitchfork: Daimon wields a wicked trident.
- Devilish Hair Horns: Daimon's hair tends to curl up to resemble horns when he starts using his powers
- Distressed Dude: Daimon Hellstrom is a frequent target of abduction and even Demonic Possession himself because of his dark soul, or by those who just want his trident. It doesn't help that his power on Earth is usually willfully suppressed. Often times he saves himself once he starts getting serious, but sometimes one has to call Doctor Strange and The Defenders
- Endearingly Dorky: In The Son of Satan, Daimon finds teaching a college course scarier than handling ghosts, demons, devils, sorcerors and gods, even briefly losing control of his dark soul during his first lecture at District University
- Enemies with Death: Daimon's gone a few rounds with Anubis, with no clear winner. Techically Anubis is the guardian of the dead, but Hellstrom shouldn't be expecting any protection when he dies
- Experienced Protagonist: Unlike John Blaze, who had no idea what he was doing when he became Ghost Rider, Daimon Hellstrom had been studying the occult years before his first case and was presented as more powerful and knowledable than Blaze in his first appearance despite Daimon not just being a new character, but a supporting character. Even more son when Hellstrom got a solo comic book series after two straight years of comic books showing off how much he could do.
- Fiery Redhead: Daimon has red hair and is often literally fiery.
- Genius Bruiser: Daimon also has a degree in theology and is self taught in demonology. He was even part of the University of the District of Columbia Parapsychology Department and now teaches at Strange Academy.
- Happily Married: For a while, Daimon was happily married to Patsy Walker, with both of them retired. Then he lost his "Darksoul" and in order to get it back and not die, Patsy made a deal with his father. Unfortunately, this ended up driving her insane and she killed herself, driving Daimon to overthrow his father and take over Hell.
- Henshin Hero: Originally his "Son of Satan" powers came with their own haughty, violent, abrasive personality Daimon would call on when he needed to deal with demonic activity. Satan caused a Split-Personality Merge to make Daimon more agreeable.
- Home Base: Daimon's was originally a house on Fire Lake, which acted as one big buffer against the powers of hell, with Daimon dealing with demons in the basement the way most would deal with rats and mice. Two demons named Possessor eventually destroyed it in an effort to conquer the realm of Hellstrom's father, but that hell itself ended up becoming Daimon's new home base
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: There's a lot of writers who have worked for Marvel over the years who loved turning Daimon evil for no reason, even though there are plenty of reasons to have him lose control or whatnot that would make perfect sense if one decided to bring them up. He never stays evil for too long regardless
- Hellfire: One of Daimon's powers was that he could project "soulfire" or "hellfire." He can do this better with the trident.
- Hell Has New Management: Daimon once took over Hell as its new ruler. He still rules a Hell dimension, although it's only a part of Hell, as most of Hell is still in Mephisto's realm.
- Hero Killer: Daimon shares responsibility with Nekra Sinclair in the role of Dr. Druid's murder. While Nekra was the one who actually killed Druid, it was Hellstrom who planned it.
- Human-Demon Hybrid: Daimon and his sister are the offspring of a human woman named Victoria Wingate and a high-ranking demon named Marduk Kurios. Originally, their father was Satan but this was retconned.
- I Lied: In Marvel Spotlight #14, Ikthalon, a demon from the realm of Boreas, escapes to Earth and takes Hellstrom's employer, Katherine Reynolds, hostage, demanding safe passage on Earth in exchange for her safety. Hellstrom agrees, but then incinerates Ikthalon once Reynolds is freed, because Daimon is the son of the Lord of Lies and obeys no pacts with lesser demons!
- Jerkass: In The Son of Satan, using his "Son of Satan" powers causes Daimon to become rude, harsh and even cruel to those he is actively trying to help, let along random bystanders. For this reason he actively keeps his power suppressed when he doesn't have any good reason to be using them. It was even worse when the "Son of Satan" was a completely different personality from Daimon Hellstrom, but Satan merged the two personalities together in a bid to get Daimon's help
- Legacy Character: Of Marvel's Human Torch variety. Marvel's original Son of Satan was a villain of their Venus comic book, and his name was a misnomer, as he was really the son of Loki, who even back in the 1940s was just pretending to be Satan.
- Mark of the Beast: The pentagram on Daimon's chest represents his "Darksoul."
- Mind Over Matter: The demon Mindstar uses his Psychic Powers to make Daimon believe his own trident is painful to touch, so Hellstrom uses his own psychic powers to attack Mindstar with the trident while not touching it.
- Mr. Fanservice: By virtue of being a Walking Shirtless Scene, typically when Daimon is being depicted heroically, he'll also be depicted as very hot.
- Must Make Amends: Daimon's first reunion with his sister resulted in him slaying her, as he believed her to be the source of demonic corruption in an area. Upon learning his mistake, Daimon tried to make things up to her, but she refused his apology, vowing to take his soul if their paths crossed again.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Daimon's "Darksoul" allowed him access to numerous superpowers, some of which he only used once. One time, it let him travel through time to ancient Atlantis.
- Occult Detective: In Hellstorm: Prince of Lies, he eventually sets up shop as one of these under the name "Hellstorm Investigations." He had nomally been such a detective from the start, but originally he did very well in the way of actual investigating, mostly just fighting demons and performing exorcisms
- Only the Chosen May Wield: Daimon's trident burns Katherine Reynolds when she tries to use it. Unfortunately, more powerful demons and evil sorcerers can handle that little defensive measure
- Our Demons Are Different: Daimon's technically half-demon (or half-Satan), since his mother was human.
- Our Souls Are Different: Daimon had a normal soul and a "Darksoul" from his demonic half. The Darksoul manifested as the pentagram on his chest and allowed him access to numerous superpowers. When he lost his Darksoul, he ended up almost dying.
- Religious Bruiser: In Daimon's first two appearance he is seen praying before attempting exorcisms and embarking on demon hunts. Exactly what his faith is, is unclear, but it's definitely not directed at his dad
- Religious Horror: Often what the original stories were presented as. His partner Saripha Thames was able to produce magic from her Wicca faith that helped Hellstrom, however, so religion wasn't just there to be scary
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Daimon's early conflict with his sister, Satana, began with them Working the Same Case but him convinced she was the source of the problem. She didn't take dying very well, and was then convinced Daimon was a problem that needed solving. It didn't help that both of their powers had the unwanted side effect of making them antisocial
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In Marvel Spotlight #15, Daimon claims Satan was a Domestic Abuser, and it was for his mother's sake that he first decided to take a stand against his father
- Rogues Gallery: A really bizarre one. On paper, Satan and his court seem simple enough, but exactly who Satan and his court are is subject to change. There's also Daimon's sister, Satana, but she's just as likely to be an ally. Then there's Father Darklyte and his Legion of Nihilists, who just want Daimon to destroy the world already.
- Satanic Archetype: Daimon's father, when he's not literally Satan.
- Save the Villain: In The Son of Satan, he ends up saving Satan from possessor, to Satan and Daimon's mutual disgust
- Sibling Rivalry: Anton Satan of Project Blackheart, an effort to create an Antichrist, consideres Daimon Hellstrom his "brother", but the two do not get along at all. Daimon and Satana are often at odds as well. To what length those odds go varies wildly, however.
- Sidekick: He is frequently assisted by the friendly witch...ahem, wiccan, Saripha Thames, in his first solo series
- Sigil Spam: Daimon tends to leave behind ankhs as a means of suppressing demonic activity, often physically in the form of jewelry for thos under his impression or paint in areas he does want them in or getting out of. He learned to make them from an ankh bracelet his mother used to ward off his father, once she learned who he really was and what he planned for their children
- Summon Magic: As both the Son of Satan and an associate of the Defenders, Daimon himself can be summoned by magic. Luckily for him, not just any spell caster can do this.
- Super Team: Daimon has been apart of a number of superhero teams, most commonly the ever rotating roster of The Defenders. He was also a key player on Blade's Strikeforce.
- Surrounded by Idiots: When in full burning "Son of Satan" mode, Daimon Hellstrom has this opinion about the staff of Gateway University communications building, which he is trying to purge of demonic activity. To him its staff are too stupid to handle things on their own, and worse, not smart enough to stay out of his way while he works. He's still stern but more polite about it when he's powered down.
- The Unchosen One: The first issue of his solo series has Satan and his Legions of hell approaching Daimon Hellstrom for help stopping Possessor from conquering hell. Daimon refuses to lend them aid but ends up saving Satan from Possessor in the end, anyway, when Possessor actively makes himself Hellstrom's problem. He also see why Hellstrom was so unwilling to help his father at first, as if we hadn't been given enough reason already, as Satan proves to not only be ungrateful but angry that Daimon saved him, even though Satan requested help in the frist place.
- Tragic Keepsake: Daimon's mother was driven insane from the burden of having to deal with a marriage to Satan, but Daimon was able to learn how to do magic from her discarded diary
- Unwitting Pawn
- In Marvel Spotlight #16, he's attacked by the Legion of Nihilists, who want to use his power to summon Kometes and bring about The End of the World as We Know It. In defending himself he causes a chain reaction that gives the Legion exactly what they want.
- In Marvel Spolight #20, evil sorceress Madame Swabada poses as a fake fortune teller, so she can goad him into "exposing" her with his real powers, that she can then take for herself
- In Marvel Spolight #24, Demon Queen Kthara possesses his friend Gloria Hefford before killing Gloria's father Doctor Lewis and blaming it on Satana, so that the two children of Satan will weaken each other in battle and she can finish off whatever is left of them. Kthara is defeated, but does create a rift between the siblings
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Daimon likes being shirtless, showing off his dark soul mark for all to see. At least when his powers are in full burn
- Wrong Context Magic: In Defenders #32, Hellstrom is contacted to get Nighthawk back in his right mind, but Daimon cannot do anything to help because Chondu the Mystic's Mind Manipulation is not demonic in nature. Then again, letting them know that much was a help
