Satannish

As one of the most powerful demons in the Marvel Universe, Satannish rules over an other-dimensional netherworld where he draws energy from damned souls. Though not as well-known as his rival Mephisto, Satannish deserves a spot among the great supernatural villains in the Classic Marvel Figurine Collection.

First appearing in the pages of Dr. Strange #174 in 1968 (written by Roy Thomas and drawn by the Gene Colan) Satannish originally looked nothing at all like the version we see today. Basically he was a generic “devil” figure, with his features perpetually shrouded by flames (somewhat like Dormammu, who was later revealed to have played a role in his creation). Sometimes he appeared solely as a gigantic red hand scooping up unsuspecting souls.

Satannish's original form: flaming head and big red hand.

Over the next two decades Satannish appeared infrequently, mainly to torment Dr. Strange, but on one occasion he schemed with Marvel’s other manifestations of evil—at the time they were Mephisto, Thog, and Satan—in a complicated (and thankfully unsuccessful) plot to transport Hell itself onto the surface of Earth.

1989 was a key year in the history of Satannish’s evolution as a character. That year, two different writers showcased Satannish in separate but concurrent story arcs, and each writer completely re-invented him in their own way. In the pages of Incredible Hulk (starting with #356), Peter David gave Satannish a human guise as mob boss Nicholas Cloot; when he finally reveals his true form, he’s an enormous red devil, with horns and talons but otherwise no distinctive features. (Peter David in fact used this version once more, years after Satannish's design had been changed -- perhaps he always intended it to be a separate character.)

Nicholas Cloot, demon mob boss

Nicholas Cloot's true form? Or just another guise for Satannish?

Classic Satannish arrives in 1989.

The second version of Satannish from 1989 was the famous “Faust Gambit” story arc from Dr. Strange Sorcerer Supreme #5-8 (written by Roy and Dann Thomas and drawn by Jackson Guice). In this story Baron Mordo sells his soul twice to both Mephisto and Satannish, knowing that when they inevitably clashed, Dr. Strange would have to battle them both and hopefully be destroyed.

Visually Jackson Guice’s Satannish was a pretty radical re-invention. With his bulky, green-skinned reptilian body, double horns, and of course, the demonic second face embedded in his belly, Satannish had finally found his definitive look. Jackson Guice was able to canonize his new version in late 1989 when he drew Satannish for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update 1989 series, and this has been his look ever since (with the single exception of Peter David’s second use of Cloot on the occasion mentioned above). Small details like the placement of his horns and the number of fingers tend to vary quite a bit from artist to artist, but Satannish is, after all, a demon, and in the final analysis he can adopt whatever appearance he wants to.

As these stories already have shown, Satannish’s relationship with the other Hell Lords varies between cooperation and competition. Satannish and Mephisto seem to have a particular hatred for one another, battling on countless occasions over individual souls or contested territory. Earth and its heroes tend to get caught in the middle of these epic battles.

Satannish and Mephisto -- frenemies forever.

On other occasions, though, the Hell Lords (nowadays including Hela (ruler of the Asgardian underworld), Pluto (ruler of its Greek equivalent) and occasionally others) work together to achieve common goals. Perhaps surprisingly, Satannish in particular has a very staunch and unusual sense of honor: when Pete Wisdom freed him from magical confinement, Satannish reciprocated this favor by expelling all the invading Skrulls from the British Isles.

The Council of Hell Lords -- business attire optional, flames mandatory

Together with Dormammu.

Sad-sack Satannish.

After a decisive and humiliating defeat by Mephisto during Peter David’s awesome Hell on Earth War storyline in 2013 (in which the birth of the seven billionth soul on Earth triggers a massive war among the Hell Lords), Satannish seems to have been de-powered considerably, making only cameo appearances alongside a group of unremarkable supervillains in the underground criminal city of Bagalia. We can only assume this is one of his many ruses, and Satannish will no doubt eventually rise again to threaten the earthly plane of existence.

To make Satannnish, I toyed with several possible base figurines before deciding on the Parasite figure from the DC chess collection. The chess figurines do not always scale perfectly with the original CMFC figurines, and also they are made of resin instead of lead, and so are considerably lighter. But on the other hand, I enjoyed the bumpy, pebbly texture of the Parasite figurine, as well as his monstrous, bulky demeanor and intimidating posture, all of which work perfectly for Satannish. I knew from the start he would be my first oversize "Special."

I did, however, end up cutting the figure into several parts and straightening his overall posture, because otherwise the face in his belly would not have been as visible. Sculpting the belly-face was quite tricky, as I had to carve out a void in Parasite’s stomach and then carefully fill it with teeth, and sculpt some ghoulish eyes and lips around it. 

I like how the belly face turned out, but I’m less happy with the main face above—I had trouble converting Parasite’s features into Satannish and I never was able to get his horns exactly the way I wanted. Still, after painting him and mounting him on a Marvel base, I think he looks good enough to stand next to Mephisto, and raise hell among my Marvel Eaglemoss collection.

 For the Eaglemoss-style cover mockup, I used artwork from Legion of Monsters (vol. 2) #2, cover-dated January 2012, drawn by Juan Doe. The typeface is an online freebie called Char.

* ESSENTIAL READING *

1. Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #8 (Oct 1989). In the classic “Faust Gambit” story arc, Satannish feuds with Mephisto over the soul of Baron Mordo, with Earth as their battleground.

2. Avengers West Coast #77 (Dec. 1991). In the first of several battles against the Avengers West Coast, Satannish empowers a group of villains led by Hangman and threatens to take over the planet.

3. Hellcat #2 (Oct 2000). When Dormammu attacks their realms, Satannish betrays his old enemy Mephisto and reveals that he and Dormammu have a closer connection than anyone suspected.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Hell, human!

Next up: Marvel's indestructible clown, Madcap!