Demogoblin

Advertisement

Background

Powers and Abilities

Demogoblin is unnaturally fast, strong and tough. It also has a *very* long and powerful tongue which secretes fuming acid of supernatural origin. Like many demons, it’s pretty hard to kill and can regenerate physical damage.

Demogoblin continues to use much of the paraphernalia associated with the various Goblins over the years. But it forms its pumpkin bombs, razorbats, blasts and gliders out of thin air.

Whatever form its attacks take, they are quite powerful. With extra effort, it is able to burst free of a hardened web cocoon spun by Spider-Man. Its accoutrements tend to be coated in fire and reek of brimstone, as they are made of hellfire.

Advertisement

Demon magic

Demogoblin also has ill-defined mystical abilities, such as the telepathic link it established with the Doppelgänger. The demonic infection also allowed it to trigger telepathic hallucinations in Moon Knight, fighting him in a sort of astral  space.

At one point, it threw a black pumpkin grenade which, instead of exploding, turned to living darkness. It engulfed Spider-Man, briefly breaking his spirit (in DC Heroes RPG terms, Magic Blast – but Spidey did a Desperation Recovery with the help of a nearby priest). While held in Rykers, it also disintegrated its restraints with eyebeams despite being in a neutralizer field.

Demogoblin does not seem to have any stock “Gothic evil supernatural” weakness. For instance it’s unaffected by churches, holy symbols, daylight, silver, minor fires, etc.

Personality

At first, Demogoblin was uncertain of what its mission should be on Earth. It was torn between contradictory impulses and considerations.

It eventually became a psychotic zealot obsessed with the eradication of “sin”. This obsession was grotesque, simplistic and incoherent. Demogoblin’s one-demon crusade to rid the world of “sinners” imperilled everybody it met except children, some priests and obviously holy figures.

It routinely butchered people who dealt drugs, got into fist fights, or just looked at it wrong… because, as far as it was concerned, every adult was a sinner.

Demogoblin particularly wanted to purge demons. Its general plan seemed to destroy itself, the “reformed” demon, once it had destroyed every other demon on this and other planes.

History

Demogoblin first appeared after the hardened mercenary Jason Macendale, formerly known as Jack o’ Lantern, found an Hobgoblin costume and arsenal and became the new Hobgoblin. While quite skilled and thoroughly ruthless, Hobgoblin II remained a minor player and Goblin-wannabe until the demonic invasion of New York, called the Inferno .

Having recently been defeated by Harry Osborn (as the new, sane, Green Goblin) and Spider-Man, Macendale was fuming with frustration. After having been attacked by Inferno demons, he came up with the notion of selling his soul for demonic power. It is quite probable this decision was taken under the influence of the Inferno magicks.

Running down that hill

Macendale reached the Empire State Building to meet the mastermind behind the invasion, the Limbo demon N’astirh. When Jason Macendale offered his soul to N’astirh in exchange for power, N’astirh rejected the soul as being way too icky even for him. But he went ahead with the possession thing since Macendale amused him.

Thus, an unbalanced devil was welded to Macendale’s soul, mutating his body and give him demonic features.

The two cohabited in Macendale’s body for some time. That gave Macendale highly increased physical abilities (almost comparable to Spider-Man’s) but forced him to fight an intense mental and physical battle for control. His face and body oscillated between human and demon. He swiftly sunk into ever-increasing insanity, developing religious fixations and hearing voices.

The semi-demonic Hobgoblin tortured and captured at least 30 people in his crusade, deciding hat his demonic face was a sign of salvation and that Spider-Man was the Devil.

He apparently infected a small boy with a demonic virus to make his face start looking like his own, but the kid was killed during a clash with the Ghost Rider and Spider-Man. During that fight, the semi-demonic Hobgoblin started demonstrating magical powers. He later fought with Darkhawk, then was defeated in a further confrontation with Spider-Man and the Ghost Rider.

Don’t need a shrink but an exorcist

The demon continued to assert itself. Hating Macendale, it decided it would kill him somehow. This led to a further obsession about killing Macendale’s kind — mercenaries. This led it to try to kill Moon Knight and Frenchie (who had been comrades-in-arms for Macendale years before). The demon believied that destroying pieces of Macendale’s past would make the human fade away.

The composite entity infected Moon Knight with a demonic virus (though it would only be realised much later). It even seized a moment when his body was in flux between human and demon to try to strangle the human half. At the end of that clash, Macendale seemingly reverted to being human. He was imprisoned in the prison known as the Tombs.

However, he started mutating again. Freed and manipulated by Richard Fisk, he was sent to kill Spider-Man. During that fight, the demon and Macendale finally split into two distinct entities. Spider-Man named the demon “Demogoblin”.

Splitting for good

Demogoblin immediately tried to kill Macendale in revenge, but was thwarted by Spidey. Claiming it needed time to clear its head, Demogoblin stayed around New York City but went inactive for a time.

Macendale eventually recovered and retrained himself, but was still haunted by demonic nightmares. He decided to kill Demogobin. But as the fight raged on he realized he would soon be outclassed by his inhuman opponent. On its end Demogoblin decided its mission would become clear to it if it killed Macendale.

Events got complicated as Spider-Man and his doppelgänger from the Infinity War  events got mixed up in the fight. Eventually Macendale gunned Demogoblin down with a special energy pistol.

However Demogoblin soon recovered, and flew away with the seriously wounded Spider-Man doppelgänger. The demon thought that the mindless creature could be of use. Demogoblin stuffed the creature into a freezer as it healed. Somehow the Spider-Man doppelgänger did not disappear when the others of its ilk did.

War on sinners

For a time, Demogoblin decided it was evil and only held back by memories of Macendale’s (relative) humanity. But it was taken down by NYPD’s Code Blue unit, and locked up in a special cell while awaiting a transfer to the Vaults.

Howbeit the demon somehow telepathically contacted the Spider-Man Doppelgänger. Now healed, the mindless creature was its servant, and it busted it out of prison. The pair started killing “sinners” and tried to take the Hobgoblin and Spider-Man out once again.

The situation soon become rather complex as the fight spilled over. It came to involve the Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Hag, Troll, Venom and the deathspawn (the demonic servants of Deathwatch). In the ensuing chaos, Demogoblin nearly managed to execute Macendale, whom it was hunting down to purge his demonic blood. It was taken down, however.

Demogoblin was imprisoned in Brinkstone Prison in Hartford, Connecticut.

Escape

During this time, Moon Knight discovered he had been infected by Demogoblin while it was still possessing Macendale. A demonic virus was now eating his body from the inside and turning him into a demon. It was similar to how certain insects inject their spawn into living creatures for gestation and nourishment.

Moon Knight upgraded his body armour to contain the massive damage he was suffering. But by that point he was little more than a zombie with his full intelligence and prowess.

Moon Knight confronted Demogoblin at the prison, intending to gain tissue samples Reed Richards and Doctor Strange could use to formulate a cure. Using the infection as a conduit, Demogoblin engaged the Knight in psychic combat but was eventually defeated. However Demogoblin later managed to escape, disguised as a riot helmet-wearing guard, while Moon Knight was quelling a prison riot.

Resuming its quest to kill sinners, Demogoblin tracked the Spider-Man Doppelgänger down. It discovered it was now with Carnage and Shriek.

Maximum Carnage

As Demogoblin was attacking, Carnage offered an alliance, since they intended to continue their killing spree until New York City was empty. Demogoblin accepted, seeing how it would expedite its job. The alliance was shaky, as the chaotic evil  Carnage and the lawful evil Demogoblin clashed over philosophical matters. But Shriek held it together.

The gang continued to accumulated body count. It soon reaching a level that might have been the worst attack on the city ever, triggering a panic. They repeatedly clashed with a group of local heroes lead by Spider-Man and Venom, but always managed to escape and strike again. Eventually, Carrion joined them.

However, the villains were defeated after Dagger returned from her seeming death at the very beginning of the crisis.

Midnight Sons

Demogoblin escaped, and resumed its activities. While hunting down a sorcerer, it learned that Blade had been possessed by the Demogorge. Hoping to ally itself with the Demogorge, Demogoblin flew to him. But the possessed Blade would have none of it, and intended to destroy Demogoblin like he would annihilate any supernatural creature.

Demogoblin even saved Blade from Ghost Rider and Frank Drake, and brought him the witch he was chasing as an offering. But the possessed warrior would not accept it.

When Ghost Rider confronted Blade anew, Demogoblin jumped on his back to restrain him so Blade could finish him. But Blade ran his blade through the both of them, killing Demogoblin but not inflicting much damage on the Rider. As per the Demogorge enchantment, Blade took on the powers of Demogoblin, greatly increasing his might.

Blood of the damned

Somehow, Demogoblin came back. It was ashamed of having given to the evil dwelling in its soul when it allied with Carnage. Demogoblin decided to return to its true mission and concentrate on sinners, starting with… Jason Macendale. Spidey found them fighting in Kraven’s old house. He defended Macendale, then jumped free with Demogoblin as Macendale turned against him.

Spider-Man swung away with the spent Demogoblin. But the demon said that it hadn’t come to kill Macendale, but to forgive him. Demogoblin was thrown into Ryker’s Island Prison until it could be transferred to the Vault. But it escaped from its cell within hours and decided to kill all the “sinners” within the prison.

When Spider-Man confronted it, he was attacked by Alfredo Morelli, one of the inmates – but Demogoblin caught Morelli in a Byrne hold. Demogoblin then tried to convince Spider-Man that the only way to deal with evil men was to kill them, since otherwise they would come back time and again, as all of his foes did.

Although Spider-Man faltered due to previous events, he soon rejected its words. But Spidey could could not prevent Demogoblin from escaping.

Revenge of the Hobgoblin

Soon, Demogoblin slaughtered several members of two street gangs for having a fist fight in front of a cinema. It then found out that Macendale had returned to New York City as the Hobgoblin.

The Hobgoblin rejected Demogoblin’s forgiveness, and asserted he was a sinner. He then attacked Demogoblin using his newly-gained superhuman strength and prowess. They fought into yet another church, but the Hobgoblin was now too powerful for Demogoblin. Even Spider-Man’s intervention only resulted in Spidey getting beaten up by Macendale.

As the church started collapsing from the superhuman fight, Demogoblin spotted a child who was about to get crushed by falling debris. With a superdemonic effort, it fred itself from the Hobgoblin’s bear hug and held a pillar, preventing the building from collapsing.

The Demogoblin yelled to the shocked kid to get out, as it considered children not to be sinners. The Hobgoblin started tearing Demogoblin apart, but Spider-Man managed to take the kid and her badly wounded mother out of the church, then take Macendale out. At this point the pillar broke and crushed Demogoblin to a paste.

Although the corpse was thoroughly mangled, Demogoblin has regenerative abilities and may eventually come back.

Description

Originally, its glider was simply a replica of the Hobgoblin’s goblin glider. But it eventually became the sort of flaming bird pictured in this profile.

Since Demogoblin has specific (and repetitive, due to its obsessions) speech patterns, I have put in a fair bit of quotes to help GMs do their best impersonation.

Quotes

“Thank you, Lord ! I am at last free from the sinner [Macendale]. Free to do your works unimpeded ! I knew I would be rewarded by you, Lord !”

“Feel honored ! Today my Lord had been generous !” (summons and throws a pumpkin)

“Yes ! The time is here ! All the sinners must fall !”

“Come, my mindless one. Now my holy mission can begin anew. First Macendale, and then all sinners will suffer at my hands.”

“Yes, Hobgoblin… it is I ! The most holy of all sinners. The one who will triumph over all sinners. The one who was forced to suffer the indignity of sharing your body… your soul ! And now, the one who shall once again assume the path of righteousness. I will see you, all of your kind, and any who seek to protect you burn for all eternity in the fiery pit !”

(Seeing the Ghost Rider): “I have been blessed ! Tonight, one of the true demonkind shall fall by my hands. Die, Zarathos !”

“That was no ordinary bomb, Spider-Man ! It was meant to give you a taste of what all sinners must eventually face : the despair and unending hopelessness of eternal torment !”

“It’s too late to pray, sinners ! Revelation is at hand !”

“I … reject your twisted gospel, Carnage ! The universe is nothing but pattern and plan ! A plan veiled from us by the sins of a corrupted world !”

“Run, sorcerer, run ! Where are the demons with whom you so frequently speak and deal ? You have sold your soul to them for the petty tricks they perform for you ! I too am a demon ! But I will see all others destroyed ! And I will wipe the taint that they create from the face of this, and all other dimensions. You have been tainted by them, sorcerer. For that, you will die !”

“Do not categorize me with the likes of [Carnage and Shriek] ! My cause is a righteous one ! I have been misguided, lately, but now, once again, I walk a pure path ! None will stand in my way… not even you !” (BLAST)

“Come, sinners ! Hiding is useless ! The road to salvation can be yours… through death ! I will help you find this road !”

(Words burned on a nearby wall after he slaughtered half a dozen people) “Sinners repent ! Judgement day is upon you !”

“Run, child ! Save yourself and remain untainted by the evil that infests so many in this world !”

DC Universe History

The best way to introduce Demogoblin would be to retcon the Green Goblin as a classic Bat-villain, which works very nicely. You then just have to slightly adapt the whole history of the various Goblins, and lessen their physical abilities.

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Helper(s): sigma.net, Roy Cowan.

Source of Character: Spider Man (Marvel Universe).