DC Comics may be known for valiant heroes like Superman, but they also have several characters who verged far closer to the dark shadows of the occult. One such character is Blue Devil, though he's not quite as diabolical as his name and appearance would suggest. After getting cursed by a fearsome demon, Dan Cassidy takes it in a stride like perhaps no other DC hero. This unique twist gives him great potential for a comeback.
Languishing in publication obscurity for years, Blue Devil works as a comedic part of DC's magical pen, while also adding a darker edge to its more traditional superheroes. With the season getting spookier, now's the time to look back at this somewhat forgotten figure in DC Comics' history and see how he could become a huge success story in the modern era.
Blue Devil Was Originally Rejected By Steve Ditko
Daniel Cassidy, aka Blue Devil, was created by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Paris Cullins, however, the character was intended for someone else. In 2007 Cohn recalled that Steve Ditko, the artist behind Marvel's Spider-Man, was looking for work at DC Comics. He and Mishkin sought to create an amalgam of Marvel characters. This character would be in a suit like Marvel's armored billionaire Iron Man and suffer a curse akin to what befell The Thing. The character would also be a joyful and acrobatic hero like Spider-Man, all the while having an appearance similar to Green Goblin. However, given his day job, he could also be compared to another Marvel character -- the hell-raising motorcyclist Ghost Rider.
Dan's wife was apparently a fan of the sports team the Blue Devils, and the name stuck. Unfortunately, the response to this sort of tribute character from Ditko himself was far less than enthusiastic. Upon seeing Blue Devil, Ditko remarked that the character wasn't exactly his cup of tea. Despite this hellish reception, Blue Devil would go on to debut in Fury of Firestorm #24 (by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, Gerry Conway, Paris Cullins, Carl Gafford and Rafael Kayanan), with his series becoming a divine comedy.
Blue Devil's Adventures Were More Humorous Than Horrifying
The origin of Blue Devil was that he was a stuntman wearing a devil costume for a movie. While shooting the film, an actual demon arises from the Netherealm and attacks everyone, with Dan Cassidy driving it back to where it came from. Unfortunately, he was blasted by the demon's power before it left, an action which fused Dan with his costume. Now he's a "weirdness magnet" who attracted all kinds of paranormal attention, the newly born Blue Devil was essentially forced to become a superhero.
Despite his demonic appearance and nature, Blue Devil's adventures were typically more light-hearted. Given how he looked, this contrast is similar to the swashbuckling X-Men member, Nightcrawler, who was that team's adventurous jokester despite his evil aesthetic. Constantly finding himself in uproarious situations, many of which made fun of comic book plots and tropes. For instance, Blue Devil is almost sued for damages in one story, a level of realism not quite seen in comic books at the time. This made his ongoing series a deconstruction of superhero comics right before such a thing became the norm. In this way, his 1984-1986 stories were very much a sign of things to come.
DC's Blue Devil Is Their Spookiest Unused Hero
Later appearances of Blue Devil would do away with his more comedic nature, with DC eventually getting rid of him altogether. By the 2000s, his sidekick Kid Devil would have a more prominent role than him. DC's New 52 reboot briefly featured him in a crossover storyline with Black Lightning, but this didn't amount to much else beyond that. Despite how tossed aside DC's resident devil has become, he has the perfect formula for filling various niches. As mentioned, his nature initially made him bait for supernatural threats, and this along with his jovial first adventures and his somewhat colorful appearance could make him a middle ground between DC's Shadowpact and Justice League Dark characters and their more classic heroes.
The key is to let him be a lot funnier than the latter and not get so caught up in the black magic of it all, in spite of how he might look. Even while dealing with foes as devilish as himself, Blue Devil would still be commenting on the ridiculous nature of things in the spirit of his creative ancestor Spider-Man. Likewise, he would fit in alongside either Superman or the despicable magic con man Constantine, giving him universal potential. It's a bit too late for DC to publish any stories with him in time for Halloween 2022, but perhaps in the future, the Blue Devil will rise again to deal with threats that scare readers silly.