ASMODEUS

Real Name: Dr. Charles Benton

Identity/Class: Human magic user

Occupation: Sorcerer, cultist; former physician

Group Membership: Sons of Satannish (Marduk, Tyrone D. Gus, others)

Affiliations: A.I.M., Hydra, Laurox the Lecherous, Satannish, Surtur, Ymir

Enemies: Ancient One (Yao), Avengers (Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Wonder Man/Simon Williams; possibly Beast/Henry McCoy, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Wasp/Janet Van Dyne, Yellowjacket/Henry Pym), Clea, Defenders (Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange, Hulk/Bruce Banner, Nighthawk/Kyle Richmond, Valkyrie/Brunnhilde), Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Iceman (Bobby Drake), Logan (James Howlett) of Earth-21923, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Son of Satan (Daimon Hellstrom), Wong

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: He Who Walks With the Night, Prince of Dark Magic, Scourge of Satan, Slayer of Angels

Base of Operations: 123 Bleeker Street in Jersey City, New Jersey;
   formerly imprisoned at the Cellar on Ryker's Island or the Raft (see comments)
   formerly Satannish's portion of Hell;
   formerly a base beneath a mausoleum in a New York cemetery

First Appearance: (As Benton) Doctor Strange I#169 (June, 1968); (as Asmodeus) Doctor Strange I#175 (December, 1968)

Powers/Abilities: Benton possessed some magical abilities granted to him by Satannish. Along with the other members of the Sons of Satannish he could combine these energies through the Crystals of Conquest to access the power of the whole group and eventually even absorbed all the magical powers of the other cult members to enhance his own prowess. Among the magical feats he was shown to perform were spells of entrapment, hypnosis, banishment to other dimensions, illusion casting, shooting mystical energy blasts from his hands, sending other beings through time and disguising himself as other beings so that not even a powerful sorcerer could see through the disguise.

Over the years Asmodeus used numerous magical items, including the Satan-Sphere, Eye of Agamotto, Cloak of Levitation, Book of the Vishanti, his scepter and an amulet.

   He was a trained physician.

Height: Unrevealed (5'9"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (180 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History:
(Doctor Strange I#169 (fb)) - Dr. Benton was a colleague of the physician Dr. Stephen Strange. His efforts to convince the master surgeon to do some charity work was doomed to failure by Strange's egocentric attitude. Strange only considered to aid Benton's research project for a reduced fee, if Benton agreed to name any cure they discovered after Strange. Benton left disappointed in Strange because even at a reduced fee the surgeon was too expensive.

(Doctor Strange I#175 (fb) - BTS) - Years later, he became involved with the occult, seeking power for its own sake, even offering his soul to Satannish and coming to lead the Sons of Satannish.

(Doctor Strange I#173) - Benton visited the Sanctum Sanctorum and pushed his way inside after introducing himself to Wong, Clea and Victoria Bentley as a former colleague of Dr. Stephen Strange. He claimed that he wanted Strange to abandon his so-called life as a sorcerer and become a medical consultant for him.

   When Strange finally returned from a battle against Dormammu in the Dark Dimension, Benton made him the offer personally, but Strange was too tired to give him an answer. Benton left in anger because Strange still seemed to be the same arrogant man he was in the past.

(Doctor Strange I#175) - Asmodeus was informed that the Sons of Satannish had located Clea and Strange through the Satan-Sphere. They observed the couple walking through Central Park and then head to Clea's home in a taxi. Asmodeus observed with glee how concerned Strange was for Clea. The other Sons of Satannish feared that none of them were powerful enough to deal with Strange, but Asmodeus was sure that they could defeat him if they combined their powers and just a bit more of it. He summoned Satannish to ask for more power for the Sons of Satannish, which they were granted, and then used a spell around the taxi to entrap Strange and Clea, but Strange dispersed it in his astral form and at the same time destroyed the Satan-Sphere, which Asmodeus used to watch Strange.

   The Sons of Satannish magically hypnotized the taxi driver to find Clea's home. One posed as Wong and claimed that she was in danger and had to be brought to safety. Outside they were attacked by two muggers (actually other Sons of Satannish) and Clea exhausted her magic powers to deal with them, but Wong had apparently disappeared as well. Asmodeus then pulled Clea into an alley and claimed to only be there to get her to safety.

(Doctor Strange I#176) - Asmodeus ensorcelled Clea in the Sons' underground base and sent her back to Strange to assassinate him and steal the Book of the Vishanti. Benton called Strange on the phone to distract him by asking Strange once again to become his consultant, but Strange was still not interested. The call worked well enough as a distraction for Clea to nearly strike Strange with a sword, but Strange dissolved the weapon at the last moment. When the line went dead Benton wasn't sure if it meant Clea had succeeded or not. Strange allowed the entranced Clea to steal the Book of the Vishanti to lead him to the Sons of Satannish, who were already expecting him. Doctor Strange was overpowered by Asmodeus and his men thanks to the magic channeled through their Crystals of Conquest. With the Cloak of Levitation and Eye of Agamotto taken from him, Strange was banished to a hostile dimension alongside Clea by Asmodeus through a spell from the Book of the Vishanti.

(Doctor Strange I#177) - Asmodeus flipped through the Book of the Vishanti in search for a spell that would make him (insert Asmodeus rolling his eyes) and also the other Sons of Satannish the masters of the world. He was shocked when the Book of the Vishanti, the Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto suddenly vanished due to a spell cast earlier by Strange. Asmodeus used the Satan-Sphere to find out where the items had gone and found them in the possession of the Ancient One. Asmodeus was willing to go up against the Ancient One to regain the book because he needed to cast the spell of Fire and Ice to bring Ymir and Surtur to Earth to conquer the world. Asmodeus convinced his fellow Sons of Satannish to transfer all their powers to him before betraying them and banishing them to the Sixth Dimension. Asmodeus then disguised himself as Doctor Strange to trick the Ancient One into allowing him to retrieve the Book of the Vishanti.

(Doctor Strange I#177-178) - The real Doctor Strange returned to Earth to oppose Asmodeus. But even after sacrificing his own allies for power, Asmodeus could not long stand against Strange. He had a heart attack from the strain of trying to match Strange's power, but he did manage to initiate the spell of Fire and Ice before dying. Doctor Strange was surprised to learn that Asmodeus was his old colleague Benton all along, who only pretended to be trying to convince Strange to serve as a medical consultant in order to better know his foe.

(Giant-Size Defenders#2) - He later convinced Satannish to give him a chance to return to life if he could exchange a living soul for his own. With the aid of Laurox the Lecherous he nearly succeeded in providing Satannish with the souls of several Defenders, but he was foiled by the Son of Satan (Hellstrom), and Satannish claimed his soul once again as forfeit.

BTS - He got better!

(Old Man Logan II#20 (fb)) - Asmodeus went up against the Avengers a few times. One time he used magic to send Wonder Man and Hawkeye back to medieval times. He only reversed the spell after the other Avengers caught up to him. After he got caught they took his weapons and costume away from him and apparently handed them over to Doctor Strange.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Old Man Logan II#20 (fb) - BTS) - After several mystics he knew had declined his request to send him back to his future, Logan did some research and learned about Asmodeus.

(Old Man Logan II#20 (fb)) - Logan went to the Sanctum Sanctorum and claimed to need Doctor Strange' aid in returning to the future, but he actually went there to steal Asmodeus' costume and scepter, which were stored there.

(Old Man Logan II#19) - Logan broke into the super-prison known as the Cellar (or the Raft according to the next issue) and went to the lower levels to make the sorcerer Asmodeus an offer he couldn't refuse.

(Old Man Logan II#20) - At the Raft (or the Cellar as it was called last issue) Logan offered to break Asmodeus out of prison if he helped him return to his future. He handed Asmodeus his costume and scepter, which was all that Asmodeus needed to escape. Asmodeus agreed to help Logan and opened a portal for both of them to escape prison as soon as the prison's guards and Spider-Man (Miles Morales) arrived. Asmodeus took them to a storage locker in Jersey City, New Jersey where he had stored some of the other items he had acquired over the years to gain magic powers. Asmodeus looked through his boxes and found the amulet he had used in the past to send Hawkeye and Wonder Man to the past. He gave the amulet to Logan because it was needed to tether Logan's consciousness to this time as long as he wore it and send it back to his body in the present after four days. Logan wasn't wild about only having his consciousness sent through time, but he went along with Asmodeus' plan. The sorcerer then performed the intricate spell after drinking some of Logan's blood, which sent Logan's consciousness to possess his past version in the year 1812. Asmodeus smiled because he had tricked Logan and was now in possession of his body while Logan's consciousness was left traveling through time.

(Old Man Logan II#21) - Asmodeus called members of A.I.M. and Hydra to New Jersey to auction off Wolverine's body to them. He explained how he had sent away Logan's consciousness through time and could control his body with a simple spell for whoever paid him the most.

(Old Man Logan II#23) - While Hydra were apprehensive because the Wolverine they were offered was much older than they had expected, A.I.M. were more than willing to offer Asmodeus one million dollars as long as Asmodeus gave them proof that Logan's consciousness was gone. Asmodeus stabbed Logan with a dagger to make his point. Logan's healing factor still worked, but to Asmodeus' surprise his body was apparently affected by whatever was happening to the body his consciousness was currently possessing. Some of the potential buyers got scared and wanted to leave, but Asmodeus magically locked the doors.

(Old Man Logan II#24) - Asmodeus suddenly noticed that his spell on Logan was weakening and that he had lost contact to his consciousness (because Logan had arrived with his family in the future and had destroyed the amulet that kept him tethered to the present). Moments later the storage unit was attacked by Marvel Girl and Iceman (Logan had possessed a past version of Wolverine during a baseball game with the X-Men last issue and before his consciousness was hurled further through the timestream he managed to tell Iceman that his body was trapped in 123 Bleeker Street in the future). Iceman iced up Asmodeus and the terrorists and eventually Logan's consciousness returned to his body (after his daughter had fixed the amulet in the future).

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas & Dan Adkins.

This profile was expanded from a Sons of Satannish sub-profile.

Lemire's Old Man Logan storyline with Asmodeus was something else. Continuity apparently stood in the way of a good story. Asmodeus being alive is probably not that big of a problem because death doesn't mean much in the Marvel Universe. Asmodeus fighting the Avengers numerous times in the past? Sure! Why not? James Howlett being a famous Canadian assassin in 1812. It was an alternate version of Logan anyway or not depending on whether the writer wanted Old Man Logan's timeline to actually be the real future of Earth-616 or not, which it is absolutely not. Time travel could be a reason for him being there because he was definitely not born yet on Earth-616 (the Prime Universe of Marvel). The Cellar (part of Ryker's Island) changing to the Raft between issues (near Ryker's Island, but not on Ryker's Island). I am not even sure either of those locations would work around the time this story was published. And the worst part is that I can't even blame Secret Wars for some of these continuity problems or can I?
--Markus Raymond

The address for his storage unit (123 Bleeker Street in Jersey City) is a nod to 177A Bleecker Street in New York City, the address of Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. Poor Benton is doomed to always be a bargain bin version of Strange in any profession.

Profile by Snood & Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Asmodeus (Dr. Charles Benton) has no known connection to:

• Asmodeus - the demon from Hell--Ghost Rider II#53
• Asmodeus - a green, bat-winged Inhuman--Fantastic Four I#117
• Asmodeus - a demon-worshipping ally of Morningstar--Moon Knight I#29
• Asmodeus - a demonic, amorphous blob worshipped by a cult known as the Enclave--Tomb of Dracula Magazine#2
• Asmodeus Jones - pawn of Fashima--Defenders I#96
• Asmodiar - a demon who battled Merlin and King Arthur--Marvel Preview#22
• Azmodeus - the familiar of Master Pandemonium--West Coast Avengers II#4