Neron (character)

Neron is a supervillain appearing in various American comic book stories published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Underworld Unleashed #1 (November 1995) and was created by Mark Waid and Howard Porter.

Neron made his first live appearance in the CW TV series Legends of Tomorrow, serving as the main antagonist of season 4 and being portrayed by Christian Keyes and Brandon Routh.

Neron is a demon-lord of Hell and was first featured as the major antagonist in the multi-title crossover event Underworld Unleashed, released Comics in 1995. After this introduction, he was next used in several storylines simultaneously: The Flash (vol. 2) #125–129 (May–September 1997), by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #123–127 (July–November 1997) by John Byrne and a two-part story in JLA #6–7 (June–July 1997) by Grant Morrison, with art by Neron's co-creator Howard Porter. The last storyline was concluded in the three-issue miniseries JLA: Paradise Lost (January–March 1998).

Neron next appeared in New Year's Evil: The Rogues #1 (February 1998), a part of the DC Comics storyline "New Year's Evil" that ran in eight one-shot issues, followed by "Infernal Villains: Etrigan Meets Neron", a two-page vignette featuring the first meeting of Neron and Etrigan the Demon in the one-shot anthology issue DCU Villains Secret Files and Origins #1 (April 1999) and ended the year with a part in the five-issue weekly series Day of Judgement (November 1999) and a stand-alone tale by J.M. DeMatteis, "Heart of Hell" in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #15 (fall 1999), the last issue of that series, which is part of the Day of Judgement crossover storyline and the first of two issues published after the storyline was over that concludes it.

His next appearances were in the five-issue weekly series Deadman: Dead Again (October 2001) written by Steve Vance, a humorous Christmas story called "Merry Christmas, Justice League – Now Die!" in JLA #60 (January 2002) and a brief encounter in "On Duty In Hell" in Human Defense Corps #6 (December 2003), the last issue of the six-issue miniseries. Two years later, he was featured in the last four parts of the six-part storyline "Out of the Past" in Richard Dragon #7–12 (January–June 2005), then during the DC crossover event 52, Neron was involved in Week 25 (October 25, 2006) and Week 42 (February 21, 2007), followed by "Devil May Care" in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #42 (February 2007). Keith Giffen penned an eight-issue miniseries Reign in Hell (September 2008–April 2009, including DC Universe Special: Reign in Hell #1 (August 2008)) featuring an all-out war between Hell and Purgatory. Since then, there have been three further appearances, a short joke involving Ambush Bug (Irwin Schwab) in issue #3 of the six-issue miniseries Ambush Bug: Year None #1–5 and 7 (September 2008–January 2009 and December 2009), and two canonical appearances, the first in issues #8–13 of the 13-issue miniseries Constantine: The Hellblazer (August 2015–August 2016) and the second in issues #2–6 of the six-issue miniseries Midnighter and Apollo (December 2016–May 2017).

Neron is one of the major demon-lords of Hell, a "Wishweaver", the "King of Hate" and the "Lord of Lies". He specializes in making deals with people for their souls in exchange for fulfilling their greatest desires. These deals are classic Faustian arrangements made only to further his own ends, leading to either misfortune or death for the dealmakers. To approach a victim, he will either appear before them directly with a deal for their soul or send them a carved black candle, which, when lit, either summons him to them directly to make a deal or brings them to Hell.

Neron's first appearance to Earth's supervillains and superheroes occurs during the Underworld Unleashed crossover event, when he plots to take over Earth by fulfilling the greatest desires of dozens of supervillains and superheroes in exchange for their souls. He tricks five members of the Rogues (Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, and Weather Wizard) into causing a series of explosions in five separate places which kills all of them in green fire. When seen from the sky, the flames resemble the points of a pentagram and the symbol, combined with the deaths of the five Rogues, creates a gateway which enables Neron to travel to Earth. Many supervillains and superheroes are either approached directly with deals for their souls or sent carved black candles which, when lit, either summon Neron to them directly for them to make a deal or bring them to Hell, where they then meet him and are offered a deal. About 50 supervillains have their greatest desires fulfilled as a result.

Ultimately, Neron is scheming to take over Earth and to obtain a "pure soul" which he can corrupt. Initially, everyone assumes that this refers to Superman's soul, but he actually seeks the soul of Captain Marvel. In the end, he is defeated by the Trickster and the most powerful members of Justice League America, including Captain Marvel, though not before causing mass chaos and worldwide destruction. Captain Marvel makes a deal with Neron to release Earth and all of his fellow superheroes in exchange for his soul and nothing else. Neron accepts and tries to take Captain Marvel's soul, but as the deal was made for purely selfless reasons, the soul is too pure for him to touch; Neron, however, still had to honor his side of the deal by his very nature, and rejecting the deal led to the undoing of most of his other deals.