For nearly three decades, America was engulfed by a phenomenon that at first appeared real, even heroic. Beginning in 1960, the United States had a huge religious boom, with numerous new schools of spiritual thought emerging and taking root on the national stage. Some of them were attempting true reform, attempting to establish bridges between segments of society, and spreading love, peace, and, most importantly, hope through God’s word.
Others have used religion as a crutch for “transcendence,” and we are not talking about the sort that gets you closer to God. The Fourth Great Awakening, which lasted from 1960 to 1980, was characterized by a new surge of religiosity in the United States. Only this time, they got more than they had hoped for, and they paid a high price for it; in some cases, with their lives.
These were formerly revered names: Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, David Koresh, and David Berg. They are now regarded as some of the worst cult leaders in human history, having perpetrated deeds that can only be described as sin under the garb of religion. Cults are no laughing matter; even the strongest wills can be torn down by the attraction of acceptance, as Bruce Wayne discovered to his great dismay.
Batman has avoided being broken by psychopaths, street thugs, and real Gods for more than 80 years. It is ironic that his darkest hour occurred at the hands of a cult leader. Deacon Blackfire was created by Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson in 1988 for the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult, and he has broken down Bruce’s spirit in a way that not even the Joker has been able to do. Let us look at how he became the only person who could get Batman to accept that he had broken him mentally, physically, and spiritually.
“I know a dream when I see it; Don’t I?” – The Man Formerly Known as Bruce Wayne
The first issue of Batman: The Cult opens at the Wayne Manor grounds. A young Bruce Wayne is exploring his parents’ property when he comes across a building that he doesn’t recognize having been there before. Something tells him he shouldn’t open the door, that looking inside would only cause fear; or something worse.
But Bruce was an adventurer, and not even death could deter him. He goes into the heart of the building and finds The Joker, with a dynamite bomb vest strapped to his chest. The Clown Prince of Crime threatens to blow the both of them up once and for all, but it turns out to be one of his nefarious pranks. Knowing their history, it isn’t surprising that Bruce Wayne was enraged by Joker’s lethal punchlines.
What was surprising was the fact that he finally caved in Joker’s head; and it looked like he savored every second of it, something that shocks Bruce himself. Flash forward a few seconds, and we find out just what all of that was about. A few weeks ago, a deacon by the name of Joseph Blackfire had opened a branch of operations on Crime Alley. Batman kept a cursory eye out for the man of faith, but it looked like he can handle himself.
Which is a miracle by itself, considering Crime Alley’s depraved and destitute inhabitants. A week before having the aforementioned fever dream, Bruce was tracking the perpetrators of a particularly gruesome vigilante murder when their tracks ended at a manhole cover. This struck Batman as particularly odd.
For a while now, Gotham City’s streets had been empty at night; a sight so unfamiliar to its residents, that even patrolling officers were confused by the occurrence. It looked like every homeless person had packed their bags and gone off looking for newer pastures.
Now, as he was on the trail of 4 savage murderers, the World’s Greatest Detective seemed to be on the cusp of unraveling that mystery; instead, he was captured, tortured, and drugged to the point he began fantasizing about breaking his cardinal rule and killing his enemies.
As he was drifting in and out of reality, Bruce was introduced to the man who was responsible for his predicament through one of his most loyal disciples. A thousand years ago, there was a shaman who belonged to the Miagani Indian tribe at a time when Native Americans still held dominion over their land.
Like most of his contemporaries, he too claimed to be the sole voice of their God and attempted to sway the members of the tribe to his way of thinking. Unlike most shamans, though, he was grandiose enough to actually believe those words and took out his tribe’s leader in an attempt to prove his might.
This greatly infuriated the tribe members and they immediately assaulted the dark wizard; but for some reason, he refused to die, even with a dozen arrows sticking out of his chest. So they decided to lock him in a cave and seal it with a powerful totem, to keep the shaman’s malevolence contained. In a few years, they found their land became cursed, and they were forced to move due to its inhospitable nature.
The curse would spread to the city that would come to be known as Gotham in modern times when Dutch settlers unleashed the priest in their ignorance, all the way back in 1609. Now, here in the sewers of Gotham City, the seemingly-immortal Deacon Blackfire can finally fulfill his destiny. He introduces Batman to his Underworld Empire- composed of Gotham’s hopeless and homeless- and with the help of some rather mind-warping narcotics, brainwashes him into becoming a part of it.
Having subdued Gotham’s Greatest Defender to his will, he speaks with his right-hand man Jake Baker about his role in the creation of America’s proudest city. Though he had always been an outsider, he always felt like he had owned Gotham City. And now, with Batman and an entire army at his command, he can finally bring his dreams to life.
“Welcome to Hell”: Deacon Blackfire’s Gotham City Begins Taking Shape
Batman is taking on Two-Face in yet another deathmatch. He doesn’t remember how he got there, or even why he’s fighting the villain in the first place. All he knows are his predatory fighting instincts and his newly-discovered trigger finger. By the time he snaps out of it, he realizes he’s walked into what can only be described as a slaughterhouse. Bruce Wayne had had a revelation. His eyes had been opened to the greater truths of the world, thanks to Deacon Blackfire.
Because he was a part of his Underworld Empire, Bruce was duty-bound to participate in their Bloody Crusade. On this particular night, his brothers-in-arms are assaulting a mob boss’ mansion. Just as he was about to begin questioning his master’s teachings, Batman was hurried away to the sewers by Jake.
And so were the bodies of every person that Deacon’s flock had sacrificed at the altar of revolution. As Bruce entered his new home amongst Gotham’s downtrodden who had finally achieved salvation, he found himself craving Blackfire’s presence.
Batman was considered to be the World’s Greatest Detective; and yet somehow, he had been reduced to a rogue priest’s errand boy. Every time the narcotics began wearing off, he would start remembering just who he was. A little bit of proper food would’ve set everything straight; unfortunately, even nutrition was rationed in Deacon’s Cult, and consuming anything other than that, was labeled as a sin.
Sitting in a secluded corner for his new home, Bruce begins contemplating Blackfire’s teachings as the panels show his mind literally unraveling as it does so. He would have snapped under the weight of the indoctrination completely, had it not been for Ratface’s intervention.
The former thug wanted to teach a lesson to an alleged pimp in his locality; in reality, all he wanted to do was exact vengeance. Ratface was one of the few who actually joined The Cult of his free volition; no drugs, no grandiose speeches, no systematic torture is required to indoctrinate a willing convert. But on the flip side of the coin, it made him a liability, because he couldn’t be controlled like the others.
After being arrested for killing his mark by a patrolling officer, that fact would come back to haunt Blackfire and his Plan of Action. There are 4 primal emotional responses that human beings have carried with them since the time they emerged as a species. But where fear, rage & lust are things that can be controlled, hunger is what will drive you to madness.
Removed from the toxic & hypnotic environment of Gotham’s Underworld Empire, Batman finally started regaining his senses; and he needed food to set everything straight. Bruce breaks into a butcher shop and ravages raw meat, following it up with a feast of hard-boiled eggs courtesy of a rather frightened couple.
Though the food clears the smog clouding the World’s Greatest Detective’s mind, it only shatters his spirit further. Now, after becoming aware of everything he had done under the influence of Deacon Blackfire’s mystical mind-control, Bruce Wayne admits utter defeat for the first time in his life. Joseph Blackfire had captured him, drugged him, enslave him, and completely broken his will.
That had never happened before. An ordinary man would call it quits, shift to a different country and start over after enduring such trauma. But there’s a reason that the Batman is called Gotham’s Greatest Defender. There is no quit in him. Reminding himself of that fact, the Caped Crusader ventures into the lair of his former master to put an end to his nefarious schemes; once and for all.
As he investigates his mark, Bruce realizes just how shallow the Deacon really is. His Inner Sanctum was the very definition of luxury, while his followers dwelt amidst rodents & feces, eating drugged-up wall paste in the name of nourishment. His sermons contained morsels of truth; buried underneath incendiary rhetoric that is extremely effective at inciting violence.
And worst of all; the bodies he was collecting didn’t end up facing Divine Judgement, after all. When Batman was discovered snooping around the sewers, he was bound up and thrown in a rather macabre cell. That is where Jason Todd finds up; cowering in a cove chalk-filled with dead bodies, welcoming his dear Robin to the realm known to us as Hell.
In the meantime, Ratface goes from being an invaluable asset to a crimson liability, when he exposes The Deacon’s plans to Commissioner Gordon’s office. But it looks like the citizens of Gotham City care less about permanent disaster when short-term benefits like crime-free streets are involved.
While his methods have been more than questionable, it is true that Blackfire’s actions have put the fear of God in every Gotham City criminal. Emboldened by his newfound popularity, Joseph finally puts into motion the plan that will make him King of Gotham. His followers take out the Mayor and the entire City Council, in preparation for the Deacon’s Great Rapture.
Gotham Has Fallen: Is This The End of Batman?
Commissioner James Gordon is an honest, hardworking member of Gotham’s Law Enforcement. The man has seen more criminals come and go in his lifetime than we see stars at night. But even a seasoned vet of the police force cannot explain why his mark’s case files extend back to the turn of the century; when he looks like he has just turned 40.
Deacon Blackfire’s first recorded crime occurred in 1921 when he was arrested for armed robbery. He has been floating about the system ever since, getting more ambitious with every subsequent crime. And that mentality isn’t restricted to him, personally. Gotham City has become a lawless haven, worse than Nassau during the Golden Age of Piracy.
Deputy Mayors are being beheaded on the streets, Gordon was shot in the middle of a public address, and the National Guard was chased off and put down in cold blood by an untrained, fanatical militia. Within the course of a few short hours, Gotham City’s Emergency Status goes from threat containment to active evacuation; that is how anarchic the Deacon’s takeover has been.
The Dynamic Duo is aware of the potential destruction that Blackfire’s rogue regime can inflict upon the world, but only Robin is strong and sober enough to think things through clearly. Weeks of torture, intoxication & starvation have left Bruce Wayne a broken man. He admits as much to the Boy Wonder, who is now responsible for getting them both out of there alive. At the end of the day, however, Robin is but a child. His screams of anguish and pleas for help are what spur Bruce to action.
Batman brutalizes the Underworlders and continues looking for a way out of the sewers when the Dynamic Duo stumbles across a horrifying scene. Earlier in the day, Deacon Blackfire was seen lounging in his Inner Sanctum with Jake Baker. The pair was taking stock of the reactions to their crusade; which by all means, was advancing according to plan. After ridiculing a news anchor for her asinine interpretation of the situation on the ground, Blackfire takes the time to explain to Jake exactly why his plans were proceeding as smoothly as they were.
The Deacon is at least a thousand years old. When he was still a Miagani Indian, he was content to roam the endless vastness of the woods, and exist in tune with nature. As civilization began taking root around him, he found himself an outcast; a man out of time who was more beast than human. Blackfire thought that a life of crime would help him blend into his new reality, but he’d soon find out that a thief’s loyalty lies only with himself.
He tried to manipulate events through politics but saw just how fickle the administrative process could be and was convinced of its eventual failure. He dabbled in many enterprises, searching for his true calling in life. And he finally found it with religion. Being a preacher gave Deacon the kind of unfettered access to people that he was lacking before, and it allowed him to build the Empire of his dreams.
Jake Baker takes a calm swig of his whiskey and asks the Deacon one thing; how do the dead bodies figure into all of this? Blackfire had been stocking up bodies in the sewers of Gotham City for an unspecified purpose. Baker had told Batman that it was for Divine Judgement. Now, in the belly of the beast, with the Dynamic Duo observing him from the shadows, Joseph Blackfire revealed the true nature of his existence.
The dead bodies were the secret to the Deacon’s prolonged lifespan. By bathing in a cauldron of warm blood once every moon cycle, Joseph Blackfire has made himself immortal. Shocked by this revelation, Robin alerts him to the Dynamic Duo’s presence, and the Underworlders are at their throats once again.
Somehow, Batman and Robin are able to make it to the surface once again; only to discover that Gotham City had fallen. With the Governor awaiting federal back-up to mitigate the devastating losses suffered in law enforcement’s first incursion to the sewers, Gotham was The Deacon’s City. In the span of a few short weeks, Joseph Blackfire had managed to infiltrate, indoctrinate, and impose his will on the greatest city in America.
He also turned its greatest hero into his personal attack dog long enough to sway public opinion to his side. For the first time, Bruce Wayne admitted complete and utter defeat; and knowing that he couldn’t take on the Deacon in his current state, he decided it was time to hang up the cowl. Batman was leaving Gotham City, and he had no intention of ever returning.
Confrontation: The Death & “Martyrdom” of Deacon Joseph Blackfire
The issue begins with a nightmare. Emaciated versions of Martha & Thomas Wayne stalk their only son, reminding him of the duty they left him; to defend Gotham, to protect it. But what did he do? He abandoned his city in its greatest hour of need. Bruce Wayne wakes up sweating bullets, still shivering from the prospect of letting his parents down in death. It’s been a week since Batman disappeared from Gotham City altogether.
During that time, Bruce Wayne has been recuperating. The drugs have been flushing out of his system. His injuries have been healing up very nicely. And most of all, he seems to have regained his willpower. Batman and Robin have spent this week planning their assault on Gotham City. The Dynamic Duo has armed themselves with tranquilizer ARs, and a rather swanky Monster Truck to break through its defenses.
But wasn’t the Deacon going to turn Gotham City into a utopia, we hear you ask. And to that, all we have to say is that the Nazis viewed a Jew-free world as a utopia as well. After Batman left, the US military sent in the Delta Squad for a clandestine infiltration op. The Underworld was ready for them. Their snipers ensured that not one person made it out of there alive. Deacon Blackfire had every bridge leading out of Gotham City rigged with explosives, which effectively pushed the city further into political isolation.
He declared Gotham to be an autonomous kingdom, with him as its ruler. He raided its resources and erected massive fortifications all around the City. Where he had once promised his children peace, wealth, and power, he now gave them ashes and death. This isn’t an interpretation; it is the account of a refugee who made it out of the Deacon’s Hell Hole.
When the Dynamic Duo breached Blackfire’s barriers, they were greeted by a Gotham that looked like the Yule Tide had come to Auschwitz; desolation, death, depravity, and sheer madness had engulfed Bruce Wayne’s home. He decided to put his negativity to the side, though.
Tonight, Gotham needed its Protector, and the Batman had scores to settle. Cutting his way through hundreds of Underworlders, he finally makes it to the innermost section of the Deacon’s Empire, but what he faces is rather peculiar. Instead of demanding Batman’s surrender, Joseph Blackfire wanted the Caped Crusader to be the one who ends his life. His logic was that a messiah who had overstayed his purpose would never be revered as a holy figure, and the Deacon wanted to become the God of Gotham City.
Martyrdom would be his reward for the service he had performed. Unfortunately for him, he decided to involve Batman in his evil schemes. The Deacon began their encounter by taunting Batman, hoping to goad him into killing the priest and giving him the salvation he always prayed for. By the end, he was begging Bruce to stop because he couldn’t take the pain anymore. Batman didn’t just beat him down; he broke Joseph Blackfire down into the crowd-conning weasel that he really was.
When he called out to his children for assistance, all that the Deacon would get was their knives. By the time the Dynamic Duo emerged from the sewers, there wasn’t enough left of Deacon Joseph Blackfire to warrant an autopsy. The mini-series ends with Bruce back in Gotham’s underbelly, one last time.
So far, the World’s Greatest Detective had accurately deduced that everything Blackfire had said and done was nothing but a long con. And it was true, after a fashion. Bruce Wayne would never know if the Deacon was simply a con artist or an immortal shaman. A conversation with Jim Gordon would not help in this instance, given the case files he uncovered.
So as he fired off a grenade to destroy the very totem that had guided him to his worst moment as a superhero, Batman found himself bemusing his situation. He ended that line of thought with a simple, yet alarming and terrifyingly accurate statement; There are some things in life that you just don’t take chances with. Within 4 issues, Deacon Joseph Blackfire had proven that he was one of those things.
The Deacon is gone, but not forgotten; Various Story Arcs involving Joseph Blackfire
While the character has only made 32 appearances in DC comics, Deacon Blackfire is nonetheless an important part of the Batman pantheon. The Dark Priest made his comeback during The Blackest Night event, where he was granted a Black Power Ring by Nekron and made a part of his Black Lantern Corps.
He was last seen terrorizing Gotham City, tearing out the hearts of innocents praying in churches to feed on their emotions and life force when they are feeling the most compassionate. He makes yet another appearance during the events of Batman: Eternal. Deacon Blackfire’s soul is haunting Arkham Asylum, tormenting the minds of its already-crazed inmates.
Blackfire’s undead soul has managed to cross over from Hell and create a new cult of super-criminals with, “The Joker’s Daughter” Duela Dent as his lieutenant. The Cult reincarnated Deacon Blackfire within the host body of fellow super-criminal Maxie Zeus, but their efforts were all in vain as the Holy Spirit of Vengeance known as “The Spectre” removed Blackfire from Zeus’ body and banished the spirit back to Hell.
His most recent appearance has been in Detective Comics issue #982, where he tried to come back to life yet again; this time using the body of a descendent as a conduit. This attempt, too, ultimately fails.
Why Deacon Blackfire should be recognized more
Batman has fought physical behemoths like Bane and Killer Croc. He has gone up against geniuses like Brainiac & Lex Luthor. Heck, he is the only person in recorded history to ever survive the effects of the Omega Sanction; something that even Darkseid begrudgingly respects. But no one, not the Riddler, not the Penguin, not Poison Ivy or Hush, or even The Joker has come close to reducing Bruce into a bag of bones quite like the Deacon.
Jim Starlin’s excellent penmanship is to be applauded here, to be sure. Batman: The Cult has to be one of the best, most underrated standalone adventures that the Caped Crusader has embarked on in decades. But even then, Joseph Blackfire is a singularly malevolent existence within his Rogues’ Gallery.
Using holiness to defile sanctity is not uncommon, sadly. What is uncommon is such a ruthlessly authoritative implementation of the same. In 4 issues, Deacon Blackfire was able to turn Gotham- America’s Greatest City- into a post-apocalyptic nightmare even Ra’s al Ghul would be apprehensive of.
You can keep calling Bane the Man Who Broke The Bat as long as you’d like; for us, it will always be the Deacon who got there first. For that reason alone, Joseph Blackfire deserves your attention.