DC's Legends of Tomorrow may, for the most part, use a comedic approach to telling superhero stories, but one thing it does take seriously is building up the threat posed by its villains. In Season 4 this led the show to reinvent the demon Neron, who has often seemed somewhat overhyped in his comic book appearances, into a genuinely frightening antagonist who put the Legends through one of their most dire, if still zany, battles.

Created by Mark Waid and Howard Porter, Neron first appeared in Underworld Unleashed #1 in 1995. He served as the main antagonist of the "Underworld Unleashed" event, which encompassed the main three-issue miniseries and tie-in issues across DC's regular ongoing titles. A lord of Hell capable of manipulating reality in drastic ways, Neron plotted to take over the world by making deals with various supervillains, and some heroes, through which they would receive their hearts' desires in exchange for their souls.

RELATED: Legends of Tomorrow S6 Finds Its Main Villain in Vampire Diaries Alum

Neron vs Captain Marvel in Underworld Unleashed

He also sought to obtain a pure soul, which was assumed to be Superman's but is eventually revealed to belong to Captain Marvel. Following advice from the Trickster, Marvel agreed to give Neron his soul in exchange for reversing all his other deals. But the purity of Marvel's soul wound up harming Neron and he had to give it back but was also obliged to keep up his end of the deal. Before being defeated, however, he did successfully arrange a deal with the Spectre that prevented the Spirit of Vengeance from opposing him in the future. Despite his immense physical and reality-warping powers Neron often winds up being his own worst enemy, either because of his compulsion for making deals and or his desire for souls. A deal he made with Felix Faust to try to obtain the soul of Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, resulted in Ralph outsmarting him and trapping him in the Tower of Fate and when Neron bargained with Wally West and Linda Park to take their love it almost destroyed him, forcing him to give it back to them.

RELATED: These Supergirl Characters Should Move to Legends of Tomorrow

The Arrowverse version of Neron, who appeared as the main villain of Legends of Tomorrow Season 4, posed a more serious threat. After John Constantine refused a deal with him, Neron possessed his boyfriend, Desmond, forcing John to banish them both to Hell. Eventually, Neron escaped and formed a partnership with Time Bureau supervisor Hank Heywood, father of Legend Nate Heywood/Steel, to hunt magical creatures. When Hank turned on him Neron killed him and threatened to do the same to Nate if founding Legend Ray Palmer/the Atom didn't agree to serve as his vessel. While possessing Ray, Neron set in motion a plan to exploit people's fear of magical creatures to get them to turn over their souls as part of the terms and conditions of a new app, with the ultimate goal of unleashing Hell on Earth. Eventually, the Legends managed to defeat him when they tricked him into killing Nate (who was revived soon after). Having broken the terms of his own deal, Neron was ejected from Ray's body and Constantine was able to kill him once and for all.

Despite making his live-action debut Neron has only made sporadic, minor appearances in the comics recently. The New 52 version appeared in Constantine: The Hellblazer and a Rebirth incarnation briefly menaced Midnighter and Apollo. While he may not have left the most lasting impression in comics, Legends of Tomorrow finally unlocked the DC Universe's true potential and made him a serious threat to bring Hell on Earth.

KEEP READING: Wentworth Miller Exits Prison Break Reboot, Is Done Playing Straight Characters