Captain Marvel Junior has faced a variety of foes over the years. This time, though, he will be forced to battle an adversary, unlike any DC, has ever seen. Sabbac, despite having just one name and one body, has the might of six demon lords summoned from the depths of hell. That is why he is considered as the dark polar opposite of Shazam, because Shazam’s powers come from the gods, whereas Sabbac is a physical embodiment of demons.
Fighting him would entail being assaulted by a single beast composed of six dark monsters with immense powers. His name is also an abbreviation for the six demons we are about to meet. Sabbac’s influence has been wielded by three criminals, the most dangerous of them being Ishmael Gregor. So, without further ado, let us jump right into the film and investigate Sabbac, the demonic collection.
Tracing the origins through the comic book appearances of Ishmael Gregor
Ishmael Gregor made his first appearance in the DC Comics Outsiders, Volume 3, Issue #8, which was published in March 2004. He was created by the writer Judd Winick with the artistic talents of Tom Raney. His story is explored in 3 issues: #8, #9, and #10. Let us now explore issue #8, Devil’s Work, Part 1 – Sacrifice.
The story begins in New York City, and it looks like just another ordinary day for the people who are traveling on a bus. But they are suddenly alarmed when a person yells that the bus does not seem to be heading toward the correct route. And before you know it, someone from outside has sealed the bus doors, trapping all the people inside. Just then, we get our first glimpse of some kind of sadistic ritual taking place. The local bus is at the center of a pentagon and is surrounded by five horrifying statues. Before we can get any time to comprehend this, they start burning all the people alive.
We meet Ishmael Gregor for the first time, who are the head of the Gregor family and a Russian mob. He is talking to Timothy Karnes, a recent escapee from the maximum-security metahuman prison- the Slab. It turns out Ishmael Gregor is responsible for the burning of those three dozen people on the bus. This ritual is being done for Timothy in order for him to regain his lost power, or so Ishmael would like him to believe!
Apparently, before Timothy got locked up, he gained the power of Sabbac from six high-level demons. Just like Shazam, Sabbac is an acronym for the dark lords’ Satan, Aym, Belial, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, and Crates. Timothy would gain their power after uttering the word “Sabbac.” Unfortunately, when he was in custody at Iron Heights in Keystone City, they removed his larynx rendering him unable to speak again and trying to summon the power of Sabbac.
The burning of a bus full of people and the incantation that Ishmael’s cult is performing will allow Timothy to summon the power without having to speak. Now, at the S.T.A.R. Labs medical facility in Star City, we see a wounded Roy Harper, also known as Arsenal, a team member of the Outsiders. The Huntress, a.k.a. Helena Bertinelli of Bird of Prey, is also present, along with Nightwing.
They have just received word from another team member, Grace, regarding a rather horrifying crime scene. It is the burnt corpses of all those people who were on the bus. So, Huntress and Nightwing head to Lockhaven prison to interrogate a tattooed man named Abel Tarrant, who probably has something to do with this incident. It turns out he was the one who sold those five statues to Ishmael. The Outsiders have now realized the danger that looms.
Back in New York City, Greenwich Village, which is the home of Ishmael Gregor, he has already begun the ceremony with Timothy to summon the power of Sabbac. And in an instant, as was Ishmael’s plan, he stabs Timothy and takes the demonic power of Sabbac for himself. The Outsiders members, Grace, Thunder, and Jade, arrived a bit too late to stop this catastrophe from occurring. The one who stands before them now is the most feral version of Sabbac, Ishmael Gregor, with a completely transformed 50-foot-long body that looks like an actual incarnation of the six demon lords.
Issue #9, Devil’s Work, Part Two: Lightning from Above and Below, begins with a back story of Ishmael Gregor. With an extremely dark past, Ishmael had already established himself as a hired killer by the age of 12. At 16, he was hiring people to kill for him. And at 20, he had become one of the heads of Moscow’s most feared organized crime clans. Clearly, the rush of criminality runs through his veins. After years of trying to summon greater power to satisfy his avarice, he finally manages to steal it.
Grace, Thunder, and Jade are in a mesmerizing battle with Ishmael, who does not appear to be taking that many hits. All of their plans keep on failing, and Ishmael ultimately gets to land a hard blow on the superhero team. He literally cooks Grace’s face in a huge fireball released from his mouth before escaping. Now, at the Outsiders headquarters, Grace is being treated when the team discovers some new, unsettling information about Ishmael.
Before Ishmael, Timothy Karnes was the sole possessor of the power of Sabbac. One weird obsession he had was with defeating Captain Marvel Junior. He also had a foster brother named Frederick Freeman. What is about to surprise you is the fact that Frederick Freeman is Captain Marvel Junior himself. The team is soon visited by Black Lightning, who has not come to lend a hand but to take his daughter, Thunder, home.
The triviality of the father-daughter feud is cut short when Indigo tells the team what Ishmael has planned next. It appears that the enchantment he cast is not quite finished yet. He seized the power of Sabbac by utilizing the boon of dietec. But this was just the first part. According to the occult literature, he will open a portal for the second part and release the soldiers of dietec onto the Earth. And this small army will be powerful enough to wipe out all of the tri-state areas.
On the other hand, Ishmael has gathered his minions at a place that was the ancient battleground of the dietec about two thousand years ago. Just when he takes one of his villainous stances to release destruction on Earth, the entire Outsiders team arrives. And not just that, they are being accompanied by the one and only Captain Marvel Junior.
Now, moving to the climax in Issue #10, Devil’s Work, Part three: A family matter, the police officers have started evacuating the civilians. And the most awaited fight has begun. Captain Marvel Junior is going up against Ishmael. The two seem to be fighting each other to death. Since Ishmael is now a creature of magic, the only guy who can have a chance of defeating him is another creature of magic like Captain Marvel Junior.
Meanwhile, the Outsiders are fighting Ishmael’s occult minions who are attempting to open the portal of dietec by themselves. Although not fully open, the portal is still able to give access to the demons in this realm. On the other hand, it almost appeared for a second that Ishmael might just defeat the Captain, but there is no doubt about his powers because he bounced back in an instant. Soon Grace also joins in on their fight to take her revenge on Ishmael for trying to burn her head.
The Outsiders fought valiantly, and the portal soon started to seal itself away. As a result, all the other demons were getting pulled inside. Even the great terror that is Ishmael Gregor was now being pulled into his own creation and managed to get away from the Outsiders. Although with heavy parting words, by saying, “The day will come soon when I will kill you all and wear your skin on my back.”
What makes him so strong?
Since Ishmael Gregor is no longer an ordinary human, he receives all the various powers from all the individual six demons he summoned, therefore creating SABBAC. As the acronym goes, S stands for Satan, and it provides Ishmael with superhuman strength that surpasses all human life forms. He is now a creation of magic, and that is why a creature of flesh and blood, such as humans, cannot harm him.
“A” stands for the indestructible body of Aym, and it grants him the power of invulnerability, giving him immunity from basic human-made weapons. B stands for the evil wisdom of Belial, and he receives superhuman knowledge and an enhanced intellect that is greater than that of normal human capability. The next B stands for the flame powers of Beelzebub through which he obtained thermal blast and the power of pyrokinesis, where he can actually build up fire from within his body to unleash on his enemies, the way he did with Grace.
“A” again represents the evil courage of Asmodeus, granting him indomitable will and superhuman endurance. And finally, C stands for the flight of Crates, bestowing upon him the power of flight to attack his foes from above and surprise them, as well as the superhuman speed that is almost on par with that of Captain Marvel Junior.
And these are the six demons’ powers that make him as strong as he is.
The other characters who became Sabbac
Ishmael Gregor was the second person ever to wield the power of Sabbac. The first, as we have discussed before, was actually Timothy Karnes. Before he could become Sabbac, Timothy Karnes was an ordinary man who wanted an extraordinary life. So, he decided to engage in black magic. He would go on to use these powers in order to help Nazi traitors who were being pursued by Captain Marvel Junior. And the longer he stayed with the Nazis, the more it fuelled his hunger to want more.
So, at last, he summoned the six demons and became what we know as Sabbac. The main objective of his life has now become defeating and destroying the life of Captain Marvel Junior. As his foster brother, he blamed him for having such a close and comfortable life with his grandfather while Karnes had to go from one abusive foster home to the other. However, this hatred did him no good as he was eventually defeated by Captain Marvel Junior and the entire Marvel family.
The third person who summoned Sabbac was Mr. Bryer, the richest man in all of Philadelphia and the father of the four nasty bullies who bullied Billy Batson, a.k.a. Shazam, at Fawcett High School. In fact, Bryer and his sons do not even leave Billy’s family alone.
Mr. Bryer tries to maintain his social standing in front of society by donating to charities. He has also often donated to Billy’s high school. That is probably why his sons act as if the school is their personal playground. Mr Bryer’s version of Sabbac comes from a physical manifestation of the Seven Deadly Sins of Man, and it transformed him into a 50-foot demon that breathes fire. He also teamed up with Black Adam in order to fight against Shazam.
Ishmael Gregor in the fifth season of Arrow
In Arrow, Ishmael Gregor appeared as the Pakhan, meaning godfather, of the Solntsevskaya Bratva, a powerful Russian Mafia organization. Konstantin Kovar is the governor of Krasnoyarsk, a town in Russia. Kovar also created a criminal organization that is a rival to the Bratva. Now, Oliver Queen, the vigilante Green Arrow, is also a member of the Bratva, whose potential Gregor is starting to see. He sends Oliver on a mission to infiltrate Kovar’s new casino and destroy it.
Meanwhile, Kovar and Gregor strike a deal that if they stop the turf war that has been going on between the two parties, the Bratva will receive a cut of the casino’s profits. But soon after, when Gregor discovers Kovar and Oliver fighting, he tells Kovar that if he tries to kill Oliver, it will put their deal in jeopardy. Unfortunately, Oliver heard all of it and confronted Gregor about making a deal with Kovar.
Well, since Gregor is a crime boss, after all, he responded to this confrontation with violence. Thankfully, Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Ras al Ghul, arrived just in time to save Oliver. Another prominent member of the Bratva, Anatoly Knyazev, also doubted Gregor for his decision regarding Kovar and ended up being beaten to a pulp. So, eventually, Anatoly and Oliver, who also happen to be long-time friends, decide to kill Gregor.
Unfortunately, Gregor and his men soon attacked the two, and just when they were on their death beds, Anatoly called for the “spros dopros,” a Bratva trial under which the Pakhan is called to justify his actions. Then, in order to help their case, Oliver broke into Kovar’s residence to find proof of Gregor’s corruption and presented it before the Bratva captains. As a result, the majority of the captains chose to vote for Anatoly as the new Pakhan. In retaliation, Gregor’s men decided to revolt.
It resulted in the deaths of all the Bratva captains who voted in favor of Anatoly and against Gregor. He then made sure that the Bratva got the message and recruited new captains who would be loyal to Gregor. He also marked Oliver and Anatoly as traitors to the organization. But before Gregor could make another move, Oliver and his companions found them and, in a full-blown fight, killed Gregor along with all of his men.
Will Sabbac play an important role in the upcoming Black Adam movie?
As The Rock makes his debut in the DC Extended Universe as Teth Adam or Black Adam in the upcoming movie, all the DC fans have been wondering one thing. Who will Black Adam go up against? After all, what could possibly add some spice to a movie if not a great villain? Black Adam, as the guy who has, for the most part, been the main enemy of Shazam, is now about to go up against someone new.
Well, the curiosity of the fans has been answered by the Black Adam team. The main bad guy of this movie is indeed going to be Sabbac. Sabbac and Black Adam share a past, and now they are about to become enemies. To top that excitement, it has also been revealed that the Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari will be playing the role of Sabbac in the movie. He confirmed this news via his Instagram handle. So, it appears that all the DC fans have something thrilling to look forward to when Black Adam hits the theatres on July 29, 2022.
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