Deacon Blackfire Character Guide

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Compared to the Joker or Two-Face, a religious cult leader like Deacon Blackfire may seem like small potatoes compared to some of Batman’s more bombastic supervillains. However, he is one of very few DC supervillains to have actually coerced the Dark Knight to break his cardinal no-kill rule.

Gotham’s resident religious zealot is named Deacon Blackfire, born Joseph Blackfire and sometimes running the alias of Shaman Blackfire. Created by Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson in 1988, Blackfire was meant to reflect other enigmatic cult leaders that arose in then-recent history and the damage that is done to society through their influence.

Like many cult leaders, his background is mysterious, and his motives seem to be just. Yet as events unfold, the leader’s ego takes center stage and starts to rack up a body count. The Deacon’s actions in 1998’s Batman: The Cult showcases some eerily similar tactics done to brainwash Gotham and its residents, including Batman.

After his introduction, Blackfire’s origins and future become further muddled. Some comics avoid taking a firm stance on his past, while others run wild and confirm the Deacon’s outrageous claims to magical ancestry and power.

Regardless, his charisma and shrewd brainwashing tactics prove this otherwise milquetoast-looking villain a strong adversary to Batman and Robin.

(Major spoilers for Deacon Blackfire storylines to follow)

Bottom Line Up-Front

Suppose there’s any recent buzz about Deacon Blackfire, it’s because of his stint in the Arkhamverse. However, Rocksteady Games limited the scope of his character to a doom-screaming madman to make room for the other villains (Scarecrow and the Joker).

His run in the New Earth timeline is the most memorable, having the rare element of him provoking Batman to take lethal action, shaking the Caped Crusader to the core.

Later comic runs negate this storyline entirely, shifting focus to other villains (The Court of Owls and the Joker) and seeing Batman come out on top with almost no challenge.

Blackfire’s goals often align with the worst of history’s cult leaders: ritual death and absolute subjugation. The Deacon curates his followers from Gotham’s grimy alleys and dank sewers.

He then uses his charm and cunning brainwashing tactics to take advantage of vulnerable people in order to enact his own twisted sense of divine justice. Deacon’s conditioning even affects the likes of Batman (albeit not for long) and challenges the hero like few villains ever have.

See also: Hot Toys Batman Review and Guide

Basic Information on Deacon Blackfire

Deacon Blackfire

Deacon Joseph Blackfire was a cult leader in Gotham, claiming to have found the secret to eternal youth. And wouldn’t you know it, it is a fountain of a sort.

Only the fountain is actually a bath, and instead of drinking the contents, you bathe in the contents, and the contents are gallons upon gallons of human blood. If it isn’t apparent to you yet, dear reader, Deacon Blackfire isn’t just a con artist-he’s insane.

Deacon Blackfire has always claimed to have magical powers, that he was over 100 years old, and had some deeper insight into divine goings-on.

In Batman: The Cult (1998), his magical status is left up for interpretation but highly alluded to as being yet another sham. However, post-New 52 iterations of Deacon Blackfire have been overtly superpowered.

Deacon Blackfire’s Personality

Deacon Blackfire is ruthless and enigmatic, and his methods are underhanded and often brutal. His delusions range from the socially conscious to the criminally psychotic (guess which end of the spectrum he leans towards).

He is a master manipulator, having culled legions of the disenfranchised and the derelict to use as his proxy army.

The Deacon’s machinations even pierce minds and wills as strong as the World’s Greatest Detective. His brainwashing left Batman struggling to remember his encounters with the Deacon as well as with the haunting realization of how he had profoundly crossed his own line.

His knowledge of theology and the human mind gives him a keen understanding which he often uses to take advantage of people.

What Deacon Blackfire Looks Like

What Deacon Blackfire Looks Like

Comic book iterations of Deacon Blackfire portray him as an average-sized man with alabaster white hair tied back length into a ponytail, dressed in a priest’s cassock and collar. This appearance goes for both his comic runs in the New Earth and Prime Earth (Post-Infinite Crisis and Post-New-52) timelines.

Deacon Blackfire as he appears in Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse, specifically Batman: Arkham Knight, is a partially balding bearded old man, wearing a tattered blazer and pants with no undershirt, sporting what could either be intricate tattoos or ritualistic scars (the Arkhamverse is known to get brutal).

The Cult

The eponymous cult in Batman: The Cult (1988) was made up of homeless and disenfranchised people from all over Gotham City. Blackfire directed his army to fight a brutal war against the city’s criminal element. This eventually took over the entire city and isolated it from the rest of DC Comics’ United States.

This development (naturally) led to a confrontation between Deacon Blackfire and Batman. Rather, Batman was led into a trap and captured by Deacon Blackfire. Batman was tortured and indoctrinated into the cult by the Deacon, all during the events leading up to the mainline events of the comic miniseries.

Batman crossing the line and killing someone was a controversial moment for fans of the Dark Knight. Blackfire then manipulates Batman to assassinate Two-Face (or at least a person that brainwashed Batman believes to be Two-Face), as Blackfire’s cult assassinates Gotham City politicians and attempts to do the same to Commissioner Gordon.

Batman eventually breaks out of his conditioning and hunts for Blackfire. However, days under his influence have left his mind foggy, and he struggles to find the Deacon.

As martial law is declared in Gotham, Batman and Robin (Jason Todd) begin to take back their city. Eventually, the duo finds and confronts Deacon Blackfire in the sewers of Gotham.

During their battle, the Caped Crusader realizes that Deacon Blackfire wants to be killed. The Deacon understands the power that martyrdom has and wishes to use his death to galvanize his cult to continue his work. Knowing this, Batman slowly and precisely defeats Deacon Blackfire in full view of his followers.

Seeing the Deacon pummeled bloody by someone who used to be under his command, the rest of the cult realizes that they have been led by a charlatan. They immediately swarm and kill the Deacon as Batman and Robin escape the sewers. (Question for another day: Isn’t it still murder if Batman lets the murder happen?)

One more thing: much like every dead/absent villain and hero during the Blackest Night event, Deacon Blackfire was given a Black Lantern Ring.

During this event, he is presented in classic psycho-cult leader fashion: ripping the hearts out of Gotham’s innocents in churches. All to feed the Black Lantern’s hunger for intense and complex emotions only felt by the living. Yikes.

Post-New 52 Storyline

deacon blackfire dc comics

Many Batman supervillains had their backstories slightly tweaked after DC Comics’ absolutely massive relaunch: the New 52, albeit with basic story touchstones left over. One tweak that had a massive ripple effect on the Deacon’s backstory starting in Batman: Eternal #2 was by more directly alluding to his supernatural status.

This is included with essentially the same storyline of Batman confronting Blackfire in the sewers and revealing him as a fraud. Only Batman doesn’t kill anyone in the process. Blackfire is killed by his followers but goes on to torment and influence prisoners of Arkham Asylum.

This is where his magical status is brought to the forefront, as Blackfire uses occult magic to summon unholy servants and possess the villains inside Arkham Asylum.

This roster of villainous thralls included: Scarecrow, Maxie Zeus, and Joker’s Daughter (a character which is just too much to explain in a footnote). Blackfire’s spirit even manages to capture the Spectre and its host: Detective Jim Corrigan.

The Deacon revealed that overuse of his occult magic causes him to lose his mind slowly. Spectre warned him against continuing his crusade before Blackfire attempted to drag the spirit out of Corrigan’s body so that he may resurrect. The energy completely levels Arkham Asylum, and the resulting battle banishes the Deacon’s spirit back to Hell.

Arkhamverse Storyline

deacon blackfire Arkhamverse

Deacon Blackfire is presented as one of a slew of tertiary supervillains in Batman: Arkham Knight, who all hold various levels of control over Gotham as the game’s story progresses.

Even back as far as Batman: Arkham Origins, a database excerpt explains Blackfire’s early days as the head of a homeless shelter and how Bruce Wayne actually donated shoes to his cause.

Fast-forward ten years and some change, Deacon Blackfire is holding a ceremonial knife over GCN reporter Jack Ryder’s abdomen before a Thunderdome full of his enthralled followers. He claims to be over one hundred years old and that he was a Native American mystic who was buried alive after committing heresy and killing a tribe’s chief.

Being the Batman, you beat the tar out of every one of his followers (in classic Arkham fashion) before you suplex Deacon Blackfire on top of his altar. You come to find out that Deacon Blackfire had been gathering violent criminals left in the wake of the mass evacuation, as well as the remaining psycho-criminals left in the wake of Scarecrow’s Fear Gas.

This creates a ritual sacrifice cult that Jack Ryder would be the first victim of. As he is carted into the GCPD building, the Deacon declares that Gotham has fallen and that “it’s over, there’s nothing left to fight for,” to which Batman replies, “I say when it’s over, Blackfire.”

Deacon Blackfire FAQs

Question: Is Deacon Blackfire Magical?

Answer: It depends on who the writer is. The answer is most likely no if you’re Jim Starlin or the writers over at Rocksteady. This approach lends itself to parallels with cult leaders of recent history who claim to have magical powers, some even staging occurrences that would sway people into believing so.

Writers of Batman: Eternal, however, chose to not only remix Deacon Blackfire’s arc but to make him explicitly magical. So if we’re going to recent comics, the answer is now yes.

Question: What does Deacon Blackfire Do?

Answer: Blackfire is an ambitious and devious cult leader who preys on vulnerable people in order to push his own self-aggrandizing agenda. He does this through the use of his charismatic persona, occult rituals, and some good old-fashioned brainwashing.

Question: Who is Deacon Blackfire?

 
Answer: These are the questions people ask, dear reader. Deacon Blackfire doesn’t have the presence and camp that other Batman villains have baked in. It might speak to how we choose to interact with those that informed his character.

Deacon Blackfire looks too normal. He’s not kept in a freezer or half-immolated or bleached by an accidental chemical bath- he’s just a man. Those types of people: the boring and monotone but brutal Kaiser-Sozes of the world, are the sort of evil that actually exists in our real life, and it’s evil that needs representation in our modern myths.

Deacon Blackfire is the kind of person who could very well and has, in fact, existed in certain aspects of our real-world history. A cult leader who enthralled the masses and inspired unconscionable acts of deviance and violence.

Final Thoughts

Stew on that pearl for a bit, dear reader. Now you know more about Deacon Blackfire, a villain who is slightly less recognizable by name than Polka-Dot Man. Blackfire’s original 1988 storyline was one of the more controversial Batman comics yet introduced a nuanced plot into the Bat-mythos.

Please make sure to visit your local bookstore or comic book store to read up more on Deacon Blackfire and other DC Comics, and make sure to check out more Batman/DC Comic-related articles right here!

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