The Demon Deacon of Gotham's Streets

DC comics has, over time, delved into supernatural and religious contexts to come up with superheroes and storylines. The Spectre, Dr Fate, Ragman, Azrael, and Zauriel, among others, are all heroes who take their powers from religious artifacts, or mythologies. There was even a Batman Elseworlds story Holy Terror, where he was an ordained priest by day, Batman by night. 

However, there aren't many stories in contemporary comics involving the believers. Pulp fiction from the 1920s and 30s, a place where comics gleaned much of their source material, often used cults as villainous foils. 

Belief can be a strong and terrifying phenomenon, and there aren't too many stories that explore that. Robert Anton Wilson once said "Belief is the death of Intelligence". Nietzsche said the foundation of Belief is "blindness and intoxication, and an eternal song over the waves in which Reason is drowned". Anyone who can manipulate Belief could be a terrifying antagonist. 

In 1988, Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson created a four part miniseries called Batman: The Cult. They introduced Deacon Joseph Blackfire. Blackfire is the classic Evangelist preacher archetype. He is a charismatic leader, able to attract followers among Gotham's homeless and poor. As the title of the miniseries suggests, Blackfire uses his charisma to manipulate people into joining his cult. He builds a sizable mob army in the sewer system with the intent to wage an uncompromising violent war on crime. Obviously, Batman intervenes and stops the vigilante mob violence. 

The miniseries ends with Blackfire's death at the hands of his own cult, who realize they've been duped and retaliate as only angry mobs know how. This story is recreated again in 2011 with the same outcome. In the game Arkham Knight, Blackfire appears in a similar roll but is locked up instead of murdered by his mob. 

Recently, there have been other kinds of cult-like groups that Batman and other heroes have had to face. Most seem to be created through futuristic mind control technology. The Mad Hatter, and Professor Pyg have appeared on this blog for example. Others like the Court of Owls, or The League of Assassins are more like ancient secret societies than cults. Maxie Zeus seems to be the only other significant villain to use charisma and leadership to build a legitimate cult. But for some reason, Maxie Zeus was never written as a serious threat, and this idea of cult leader was reused to better affect with Blackfire. 

It is unfortunate that Sterlin and Wrightson created this character only to kill him off at the end of their run. A charismatic cult leader, a gifted con artist with delusions of grandeur, would be a terrific recurring villain.