Hell

After the archangel Lucifer Morningstar had led a rebellion and started a war in Heaven, he and his rebel angels who had taken his side were banished to Hell, which was empty at this point in time. Eventually the souls of deceased humans began showing up,

Hell is an alternate plane of reality, traditionally accessible only by those of demonic heritage, beings of a higher order and those whose souls have been barred from entering the gates of either Heaven or Purgatory.

History

Pre-Flashpoint

After the archangel Lucifer Morningstar had led a rebellion and started a war in Heaven, he and his rebel angels who had taken his side were banished to Hell, which was empty at this point in time. Eventually the souls of deceased humans began showing up, drawn to the realm due to their own guilt. Having never been so close to a human before, Lucifer began experimenting with them. He took them apart, wanting to examine his Father's creations closely in order to see how they worked. Due to Lucifer's brutal methods of examination, these became the first tortures in Hell.^[1]

During the events of The Final Night, Etrigan the Demon offered to bring all of the living people of Earth into Hell so that they could stay warm.^[2]

During the events of Day of Judgment, a fallen angel named Asmodel took control of the Spectre and sought to bring Hell to Earth. In the process, he used his powers to extinguish the Hellfire font itself, and effectively froze Hell over. A team of super-heroes, including Superman, Zatanna, Sebastian Faust, Firestorm, the Atom, the Enchantress and Deadman, were sent deep into the bowels of Hell to reignite its flames. They were successful, but it required an act of true evil, so Sebastian Faust was forced to slit the Enchantress' throat on the spot. In doing so, he forfeited the soul that he had recently gained through his own redemption as a super-hero.

During the events of Reign in Hell, the Underworld is thrown into a massive conflict as Neron sees a rebellion from Lady Blaze and Lord Satanus. Neron soon found that this rebellion was more dangerous than all of the others, for the demon siblings were offering the damned something that he never could: hope of release from Hell. Recognizing what would happen if the damned ever rose up against him, Neron had Lilith the Mother of Monsters summon all demons on Earth to return to Hell and aid him. This proved futile as the rebellion triumphed, and Lady Blaze proclaimed herself as the devil after killing Neron and betraying her brother. This miniseries, however, is known to have many internal continuity errors that make its place in mainstream DC Universe canon at best questionable.

Post-Flashpoint

In the original New 52 timeline, Hell was ruled by an evil entity known as Lucifer. It had come to his attention that Etrigan the Demon had begun attempting to climb up the ranks of Hell by killing many demons.^[3]

Eventually, the demon Belial was able to overthrow Lucifer as the King of Hell and attempted to create a dimensional tear between the realm and Earth, but he was eventually killed by his son, Etrigan.^[4]

Following the DC Rebirth event, Lucifer was restored to his Pre-Flashpoint incarnation.

Like in the original history, he was banished to Hell alongside other rebel angels after the rebellion in Heaven, and after eons of ruling this realm, Lucifer grew bored with it and eventually abdicated the throne.^[5][6]

During the Dawn of DC event, the First of the Fallen came back to life by unknown means and reclaimed his place as the King of Hell.^[7]

Arrowverse Multiverse

Originally, Hell was ruled by Lucifer Morningstar from Earth-666, but after he retired to Earth, another former angel known as the First of the Fallen put himself in charge of the realm along with two other demons, Beelzebub and Belial, creating the Triumvirate of Hell on Earth-1.^{[8][9][10][11]}

During his journeys to Hell, John Constantine became an acquaintance of the Triumvirate, and the demon Neron orchestrated a plan in order to replace the infernal group as the new ruler of their dimension. In 2019, Neron sent Ray Palmer to Hell, forcing Constantine to return to the dimension to rescue him. Constantine confronted the Triumvirate, offering them his soul in exchange for Ray's.

However, the demons proposed to him to save the late Astra Logue. So Constantine accepted their offer, but he then discovered that it was just a trick as Astra desired to stay in Hell,^[11] where she had grown up since she was captured by the demon Nergal. Ray also met the late villain Vandal Savage there and, eventually, the Legends rescued the two heroes. Astra later became the new Queen of Hell, until she left the dimension to join the Legends.

Geography

In Hell, an ordinary human feels the worst feelings of all simultaneously: sadness, anger, fear, pain, etc. Hal Jordan, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, was terrified during a brief stay in Hell.^[12] When the Flash traveled to Hell, the Speed Force automatically adjusted Wally's senses to the realm's atmosphere by blocking out its disturbing sounds and smells.^[13] Demons, being malevolent entities, are naturally accustomed to Hell's misery. Due to an effect of time dilation, one day in Hell equals one minute on Earth.

The fires of Hell burn hotter than any fire on Earth, and are hot enough to burn even souls. Hellfire also burns slower than normal fire in order to allow the agony that is inflicted by it to be extended even further.^[7]

In Hell, the landscape seems to change as someone walks. A place to be reached may seem like a few feet away, and in mere moments be far away again.^[14] Hell is a debased reflection of Earth, so as Earth became more technologically or socially advanced, so does Hell.

Hell, along with many other realms within the Sphere of the Gods, is powered on belief. Its very existence is due to humankind believing that it is real. The Martian Manhunter described this concept as being part of the psychic web that makes up reality.^[7] The beliefs of Hell's residents also have an effect on its geographic landscape and its hierarchy. When Doomsday gained significant power in Hell, demon and damned alike started to view Doomsday as the King of Hell, and if enough of them believed it, it would become true. Doomsday's influence in Hell also inadvertently affected the realm in various ways. A demon explained it as the idea of Doomsday spreading into Hell's DNA. This created a new version of the Hellhounds named the Doomhounds.^[7]

Pre-Flashpoint, Hell was divided into nine Provinces, each of which focused on a specific purpose. They included the following:

• Pandemonia: The First Province, Dominion High Caste^[15]
• The Odium: The Second Province, industrial/manufacturing^[15]
• The Gull: The Third Province, mercantile/commerce^[15]
• Praetori: The Fourth Province, administrative/governance^[15][16]
• Internecia: The Fifth Province, military/enforcement^[15]
• Ament: The Sixth Province, cultural/propaganda^[15][16]
• The Labyrinth: The Seventh Province, judicial/detainment^[15][17]
• Err: The Eighth Province, theological/suppression^[15][18]
• Purgatory: The Ninth Province, secondary damnation^[15]

• The Selvage: The infernal aether, a dimensional waste which both separates and surrounds the nine Provinces; all passage between them must pass through it. Its very nature is such that it rejects magic.

• Masak Mavdil: While not one of the nine Provinces, Masak Mavdil is a notable section of Hell, as it is the great pit where demons exile their own kind.

The so-called "dukedoms", like Effrul and Gly, were also part of Lucifer Morningstar's original division of Hell.

Apart from the many divisions, the Nine Circles of Hell, which are inspired by Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, are also shown to exist. The damned are sent to a specific circle according to their Earthly sins:

• The First Circle
• The Second Circle
• The Third Circle
• The Fourth Circle
• The Fifth Circle
• The Sixth Circle
  • The City of Dis: where heretics are trapped in flaming tombs;
• The Seventh Circle
  • The Lake of Blood: where murderers sink into bloody waters;
  • The Suicide Forest: where suicides are turned into trees;
• The Eighth Circle/Malebolge
• The Ninth Circle

In the aftermath of Flashpoint and the creation of the Post-Flashpoint Multiverse, the structure of Hell also included various pocket dimensions, including:

• Castle Epicaricacius
• The Vascular Gardens
• Masak Mavdil^[19]
• The Seven Hells
• The Six Kingdoms of Trigon: A pocket dimension within Hell that is ruled by the interdimensional demon Trigon.^[20][21] Part of Trigon's underrealm is referred to as the Dark Dimension by the All-Caste. This realm can only be accessed from behind the Great Door of Azarath.^[22]

As in the Pre-Flashpoint continuity, the Nine Circles of Hell are also confirmed to be part of the Post-Flashpoint structure of Hell:

• The Fifth Circle/"Wrath"^[7]
  • The River Styx: Within the Fifth Circle exists a river similar to the one of the same name in Hades; however, Hell's version has no ferryman.^[7]
• The Sixth Circle/"Heresy"^[7]
  • The City of Dis^[7]
    • The Tower of Dis
• The Seventh Circle/"Violence"^[7]
  • The Suicide Forest^[7]
• The Eighth Circle/Malebolge^[23]

Hierarchy

The hierarchy of Hell has changed several times over the centuries, the leader of which has always assumed the title of "Satan" and/or "the devil". The most well-known "Satan"/"devil" is Lucifer Morningstar, the second fallen angel and the supreme ruler of Hell for 10 billion years. When Lucifer fell from Heaven, it was revealed that the First of the Fallen was cast out long before Lucifer and had already been ruling Hell, although the First of the Fallen was no match for Lucifer's power, allowing Lucifer to easily take over.^[24]

When the Great Darkness threatened all existence, a civil war erupted in Hell and the realm was split into the Satanic Triumvirate.^[25] Eventually, Lucifer grew bored with his position and retired to Earth with his consort, the lilin Mazikeen. Neron then assumed a predominant position in Hell.

After the events of Flashpoint, Hell's history remained mostly the same, with Neron acting as the prominent ruler of Hell after the departure of Lucifer Morningstar.^[26] However, he was eventually dethroned by Raven, who then passed the throne on to Lady Blaze for a period of time.^[27]

The First of the Fallen later regained his title as the King of Hell.^[7]

Economy

The main currency of Hell is souls. Living human beings (or other sentient beings) through rituals make deals with demons to gain power, wealth, etc. The demons have between them a kind of "stock exchange" of ​​souls to set the souls' price. When the mortal who made the deal dies, their soul then belongs to the demon or demons with whom they negotiated.^[28]

A sold soul can be use as fuel for the spells of a demon. Souls can also be used as raw material to create Hellish furniture that is made by the Odium's manufacturers at their factories. Souls can also be freely traded with other demons much like money on Earth; however, at the time the mortal sells their soul, he or she can do so to only one demon. John Constantine once managed to outwit three demons in order to cure him of his lung cancer; since all three of them were so eager to take the soul of the occultist who did not even previously consult them, Constantine was healed without losing his soul in the process.^[29] Sometimes, extremely evil humans who have been sentenced to Hell can be promoted to, and gain, demonhood.^[30]

Residents

Fallen Angels

• Asmodel
• Azazel the Abomination
• Satan the First of the Fallen
• Second of the Fallen
• Third of the Fallen
• Lucifer Morningstar

Demons

Damned souls

Trivia

• It has been established by the Super Buddies that it is possible to get a cell phone signal in Hell...at least with Verizon.^[60]

See Also

• Appearances of Hell
• Location Gallery: Hell
  
• Catalogued images related to Hell
  
  

Links and References

• Hell (DC Comics) at Wikipedia.org