HELLFIRE SERPENT

Real Name: Unrevealed/Inapplicable

Identity/Class: Demon (Darksoul)-possessed terrestrial serpent

Occupation: Predator, object of worship

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Daimon Hellstrom (Hellstorm), Order of the Hellfire Serpent (high father)

Enemies: Hellcat, Over-Mind, psychic collective, Terror

Known Relatives: Indirectly related to Hellfire, Hellstorm, Satana, and Satan via the Darksoul

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Currently unknown;
    Formerly a pit within a temple in the high Himalayas;
    formerly a field in Java, Indonesia

First Appearance: Defenders I#121 (July, 1983)

Powers/Abilities: Unrevealed, but presumably the Hellfire Serpent was at least as powerful as any 20-30' long constrictor, and it also possessed large venom-dripping fangs, which would likely have been rapidly lethal. The Darksoul within it may or may not have granted it higher than normal serpent intelligence, and it likely would have had some resistance to aging and conventional disease. Similarly, it may or may not have been able to actually unleash hellfire against others.
    Nonetheless, its durability was comparable to that of a normal snake of its size, and it could be slain by conventional injury.

History:
(Defenders I#121) - On Java, Daimon Hellstrom communicated with his demonic Darksoul, which had been usurped by the Miracle Man. Hellstrom convinced the Darksoul to return to him, and he would allow it to have total dominance over him. However, the Hellcat and psychic collective-possessed Over-Mind combined their mental powers to strike down the disembodied Darksoul, casting it instead into a nearby serpent. The snake slithered into a field, where it was seemingly destroyed in a mystic explosion.

However, after the Defenders had left, the enraged serpent was seen slithering through the fields.

(Terror INC#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Hellfire Serpent came to be worshipped by an unholy order who sought to harness the Darksoul to slaughter the unworthy human race. It was brought to a pit inside a temple in the high Himalayas. Only the high father of the Order was able to gain the enlightenment to approach and touch the Serpent without fear of death.

(Terror INC#1) - Seeking to use the Darksoul for his own purposes, the mercenary Terror infiltrated the Order, tearing off the high father's arm and using it to lull the Serpent into a  false sense of security as he approached. Terror then grabbed the Serpent and tore the front part of its maxilla (upper jaw) from its mouth. The Serpent fought back, but quickly died from its injuries.

(Terror INC#2) - The Order lamented its fallen lord and its injured high father, and Terror left the high father's arm in the frozen wastelands as he escaped. Terror then stole into the home of Mikal Dragonmegas--an alleged half-brother of Daimon, parented by the demon Beelzeboul--and bit him with the Serpent's fangs, instilling the Darksoul within him. Shortly thereafter, the Darksoul rose within Drakonmegas, transforming him into the being Hellfire.

(Terror INC#3-4 - BTS) - Terror and Hellfire sought a confrontation with Beelzeboul.

(Terror INC#5) - Upon confronting Beelzeboul, Terror again donned the Serpent's fangs and bit Drakonmegas, withdrawing the Darksoul and transforming him back to powerless human form. Terror presented Drakomegas to Beelzeboul in exchange for the contract that provided immortality to Terror's intended assassination target, Roger Barbatos. After gaining the contract, however, Terror again bit Drakonmegas, restoring the Darksoul and his power, and the two fought off Beelzeboul and escaped his realm.

Comments: Created by J.M. DeMatteis, Don Perlin, and Abel, Mushynsky, and Kupperberg.

    Hellfire retained the Darksoul at least until Terror#13, which would chronologically seem to overlap with Daimon's regaining his power from Satan prior to the Hellstorm series, or at least run very close to it. It is not clear whether his Darksoul would have been removed from Hellfire, or whether the power grew on its own, leaving enough to empower the pair of them. Daimon could thus have regained his original Darksoul, while Hellfire would have gained his hellfire manipulating powers, and retained them after Daimon became Hellstorm.
    Maybe...

    The history of the Order discusses it taking years, or even a lifetime, to gain the discipline that the high father had, which allowed him to approach the Hellfire Serpent. A couple years Marvel Time, tops, is all that would have passed b/t Defenders I#121 and Terror INC#1, though the Serpent could certainly have been sent back in time via magic, or something like that.
    Maybe they just meant that it took years or a lifetime to gain *a* level of discipline that enabled one to do various things, which, it turned out, included approaching the Hellfire Serpent, even though they didn't know that back when people were first starting to develop the level of discipline in question.  Contrariwise, maybe it could be applied to a miniature version of Kometes.
--Ronald Byrd

    Terror might have preserved the fangs for future use...a good weapon to have on hand in case he ever crossed paths with Hellstorm.

It's time as a vessel for the Darksoul just might have left it with some mystical form of regeneration. Especially, if some other disembodied entity took up residence in it. For example; the voodoo sorceress Calypso!

Granted, she was killed by Alyosha Kraven. Then again, her corporeal body was murdered, once before. That did not stop her astral body from transmigrating into Glory Grant (Jolly Jonah Jameson's second-most famous secretary), however. And, occupying it long enough to cast a spell revivify her original self!

Such being the case, Marvel could use these two potential plot-devices to revivify Calypso a second time. With the added bonus of the Calypserpent being looked after by an unsuspecting Princess Python!
--Carycomic

In Wolverine IV#12 the Red Right Hand summoned something that looked like the Hellfire Serpent, but it was very talkative and even made a deal with them. It was presumably Satan or a demon, who could speak for him.
--Markus Raymond