No one thinks of a superhero when they hear the name “Devil.” However, DC was able to design a character whose Devil personality is deceptive, since he is a superhero in fact. The Blue Devil didn’t always have the appearance of a devil. In reality, he was simply a typical, hardworking human being who was a bit too enthusiastic about his profession. He was overwhelmed by the notion that the world had grander intentions for him when he became a superhero, which made him an even more amazing persona.
Although it may be difficult to believe, he has been a member of several DC superhero teams, including the Shadowpact, the Justice League of America, the Sentinels of Magic, the Justice Society of America, and the Spirit Squad. But, if he is a hero, why does he have the appearance of the Devil? And how did he move from being a regular guy to a superhero? These are just a few of the questions that we will address in this video. So, without further ado, let’s go straight into the film and learn about Blue Devil’s origins.
His origins as explored in the Swamp Thing TV series
Swamp Thing is a 2019 web live-action TV series that debuted on Warner Bros’ DC Universe streaming service. Although it was canceled within a few weeks, it introduced some of DC’s rare characters to us. The story follows Abby Arcane, who is a CDC researcher. She has returned to her hometown in Marais, Louisiana, where she discovers that a deadly swamp-borne virus has infested the place.
She began working with a scientist named Alec Holland. Soon, Holland meets an inexplicable death, and Abby finds out strange things about the swamp. As it turns out, Holland is not exactly dead because a mysterious creature made of plant life claims to be him. Despite only ten episodes in the series, we get a decent understanding of DCS’s character named Blue Devil who appears as Dan Cassidy. His role is portrayed by the brilliant actor Ian Andrew Ziering, who believes that Blue Devil’s character could have led to an entire series of his own. Let us find out why he thinks that.
In Swamp Things, there was going to be a film adaptation of a comic book character called “Blue Devil.” Daniel “Dan” Cassidy was introduced to us as a stunt double for the actor who would be playing the lead role. But he always thought that he had more talent than just being a stuntman. He wanted to be an actor and wanted people to see his potential. Dan wanted to be the lead in the movie“Blue Devil” instead of being the stunt double.
Now, there was a mysterious guide in the town known as the Phantom Stranger who had helped Alec Holland with his transformation into the Swamp Thing. Dan was soon visited by the Phantom Stranger who had come with a proposition for him. Without realizing what he was getting into, Dan accepted the Phantom Stranger’s deal, and in a matter of minutes, he replaced the lead actor from the movie, and his wish came true.
But this did not come at a low cost. Eventually, Dan started noticing the harsh consequences of the deal as his life began to change. When things in the town of Marais were starting to get troublesome, he tried to leave. However, he had no way of escaping because his skin burst into blue flames when he tried to leave Marais. As a result, he was forced to stay within the perimeter of the town.
Soon Dan built a life for himself and opened a video store in town. One night, he got into a drastic fight with some thugs, badly injured himself, and ended up in the hospital. He was treated by Doctor Jason Woodrue, who injected him with something that made him recover faster. But Dan soon noticed that he started emitting blue fire. When he went to the hospital to enquire aboutDr.Woodrue, they captured him and put him under restraint.
Luckily, he was again visited by the Phantom Stranger, who told him that his friend, Liz, and Abby Arcane’s lives were in danger. The Phantom showed Dan a vision where he saw that both the women were being murdered at a factory. Phantom freed Dan because apparently, he was the only one who could save their lives. Dan Cassidy transformed from his human body into the real Blue Devil in an instant.
He successfully saved the lives of Liz and Abby and transformed back into his human state. This experience made him realize that the universe probably had bigger plans for him, so the very next day, he packed his things and decided to head out of town. This time he was able to leave the boundaries of Marais.
Blue Devil’s constant presence in the DC animated universe
Blue Devil makes an appearance in the animated series titled “Justice League Unlimited.”He is seen as a part of the Justice League team in this version, but we do not get to see him at the forefront. He is not given a lot of focus as compared to other heroes. His character is voiced by Lex Lang.
The next time we see Blue Devil in Young Justice, where his character is voiced by Troy Baker. His character is portrayed as an Irish person, and in the first two seasons of the series, he is seen as an associate of the Justice League. TheBlue Devil joins their team in the third season. However, he is still not seen in the spotlight that often. In the fourth season, he acts as the leader and a guide for the Justice League’ssubgroups known as the Team and the Outsiders. Blue Devil’s character also briefly appears in the Justice League Action.
His comic book origins explored
The credit for creating Blue Devil’s character goes to writers Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, and artist Paris Cullins. He made his first appearance in Fury of Firestorm Volume 2, Issue #24, which led to his own comic book series that ran for 32 issues. His origin story is explored in Blue Devil, Volume 1, Issue #1, which was published in June 1984. This issue is titled “How to trap a devil.”
The story begins with a look at Dan Cassidy, an actor who is shooting for a movie in which he plays the role of the Blue Devil. He is seen in his Blue Devil suit, which he designed and created himself to show the effect of having superpowers. The suit magnifies his strength at least twenty times more, and he can easily lift a massive boulder when he is wearing his exoskeleton suit.
The shooting of the film is taking place in the actual ruins of the Devil’s Isle. Meanwhile, two other cast members, Sharon, the girl Dan is in love with, and Wayne Tarrant has run off to explore the ruins further. With scary-looking stone figures outside, the Devil’s Isle looks like some sort of a temple. Sharon and Wayne go inside the place which is full of spooky ancient items. Sharon finds an artifact made of stone that looks like the face of some devil and she thinks it could be the key to unlocking the locked door.
In an instant, the two actors fall into a huge pit that looks like a whole different place. A demon appears from the shadows, and it seems like it has finally been freed after six thousand years of imprisonment. Naturally, he sees Sharon and Wayne as beings he can devour to satiate his hunger. The demon calls himself Nebiros.
Sharon and Wayne run to where the rest of the crew members are, and Nebiros follows them. There is chaos everywhere because now Nebiros thinks he has more food to feast upon. Sharon finds Dan, who is still in his Blue Devil exosuit,and informs him of what is going on. Dan goes on to fight Nebiros who mistakes him to be an actual devil. Nebiros thinks that perhaps this little demon dominates this area and asks Dan to share his prey with him.
In the meantime, the director, Marla Bloom, orders the crew to film their fight. Blue Devil tries a lot of built-in tricks from his exosuit to try and knock down the giant demon, but nothing seems to work. His crew still cheers him on because Dan is the only hope they have against Nebiros. But suddenly, Nebiros attacks Blue Devil with eyebeam energy that is supposed to siphon off Dan’s powers since Nebiros considers him to be a real demon.
Dan is now unconscious, and Nebiros gets a hold of Sharon since she was the one who freed him. In order to help, the cameraman, Norm Paxton, climbs into a bulldozer and tries to attack Nebiros but it backfires on him because the demon quickly destroys it and heads back to the ruins. Just then, Blue Devil is slowly regaining consciousness and it looks like his insulated suit saved him from the actual damage.
He sees Sharon in trouble and immediately runs after Nebiros. Being the self-centered demon he is, Nebiros is obviously shocked to see Blue Devil back in action because he thought his mystic blast would have drained his occult powers. Dan surprises everyone by saving Sharon from the grips of Nebirosand continues to fight him. On the other hand, Wayne now seems to be having an existential crisis because he is unable to do anything to help Dan.
Nebiros once again uses his eyebeam energy during the fight,and Dan is pushed to the ground. Wayne finally gathers up some courage and thinks of a way to help the Blue Devil. He gets some cables and uses the rope skills he acquired in a former rodeo film to lasso Nebiros around the neck. He and the other crew members raise the rope, which stops Nebiros’ attack for the time being. This helps Blue Devil in taking a quick breather so that he can restore his strength for the next attack.
Still not being able to defeat him, Blue Devil tries one major trick from his weapon and shoots a point-blank rocket blast which results in Nebiros’ temporary lockout. In the meantime, in order to trap Nebiros, Sharon and the others manage to open the same doorway once again through which the demon emerged. The Blue Devil climbs on top of Nebiros and jumps with him through the hole using his trident.
He asks Sharon to shut the door as soon as both of them are through the doorway, but she is afraid that Blue Devil will be trapped inside as well. Luckily, Marla, Wayne, and Norm get a hold of Blue Devil’s legs and pull him out to safety. Sharon makes sure to remove the devil’s head-shaped artifact from the panel and Nebiros is once again sealed inside his previous home.
It is a victorious moment for the entire crew because they defeated the demon and got the whole fight on record. So, it looks like the film that began with Blue Devil as the villain has taken quite a drastic turn, and the blue-ribbon costumed demon comes out looking like a superhero. Anyway, all that Dan can think of at the moment is getting out of his costume and into a cool shower. But his costume appears to be sweating, which is strange since it is not supposed to do that.
Inside Dan’s trailer, he thinks about the possibility of him being a hero as he tries to take off his mask, which is stuck. It makes him feel as if he is trying to take off his own skin. It finally occurs to Blue Devil that Nebiros’ mystical attack,which was supposed to siphon off his non-existent occult powers, has somehow resulted in him being combined with the Blue Devil’sexosuit. The issue ends with Dan Cassidy losing his identity as an actor and now truly becoming the Blue Devil.
What makes Blue Devil so powerful?
When Blue Devil gained his superhero form after being merged with his suit, he received his initial powers through the technological devices that he had built into his costume. This resulted in many of his inherent qualities being heightened. Since Dan Cassidy was an experienced stuntman, the Blue Devil suit gave him superhuman strength and durability which was around twenty times more than that of an ordinary human.
Cassidy could also now heal faster as the suit turned organic after being attached to his flesh and obtained the capability to self-repair at an incredibly fast rate. Moreover, his devil mask enhanced his senses to the point where his hearing and vision were heightened and also granted him infrared night vision. As if that was not enough, the suit also had mini gills built into it, which allowed Dan to breathe underwater.
Blue Devil also had experience in boxing, which he learned in order to become an improved stuntman. As for his mechanical knowledge, we are well aware that his entire crew was impressed with his invention of the Blue Devil exoskeleton. Along with that, he also built the rocket-powered trident,which can support the weight of around 20 people. He used it to fly around during several fights. His trident could also be used to shoot balls of fire.
Although these things make him a fantastic superhero, he has a few weaknesses. Even though the suit naturally bonded to Dan’s body, it was still mechanical in nature. This means that the possibility of the suit being hijacked was never zero. In fact, one of his fellow stunt performers, Larry Bolatnsky, was able to easily control Blue Devil in order to combat the Firestorm. Another thing that made him quite vulnerable was his weirdness magnet.
After he was fused inside the Blue Devil suit, Norm, the cameraman, speculated that Dan’s union of science and magic made him a “weirdness magnet,” which drew unusual activities to him. Initially, they did not take it seriously. Soon after, a doctor from S.T.A.R. Labs also confirmed the existence of such a phenomenon. They even provided him with money to test his unusual tendency in Las Vegas.
It was later also discovered that Dan had a positively charged energy emanating from his abdomen. However, it is still unclear if the mystical blasts of biros produced this anomaly during their fight Danny’s family background, which is believed to have faerie blood on his uncle Seamus’ side.
Blue Devil is a rather exciting and underrated superhero despite his weaknesses. He is driven by his compassion, and he always strives to become an even better superhero than he already is. He is usually seen on the sidelines, but it certainly would be more exciting to see him at the forefront with his stories and powers being explored in much more detail.
Well, guys, that is all for today; we have come to the end of another origin video with Marvelous Videos. We hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Have a fantastic day ahead!