Editing Lucifer (Marvel Comics) (section)

===Lucifer (Prince of Darkness)===
{{Infobox comics character<!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
|image=
|caption=
|character_name=Lucifer (Prince of Darkness)
|aliases= Prince of Darkness, Prince of Lies
|powers= Immortality<br>Superhuman strength<br>Immense demonic power 
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
| creators = [[Daniel Way]], [[Javier Saltares]], and [[Mark Texeira]]
|debut=First mentions: ''[[Marvel Preview]]'' #7 (Summer 1976)<br>Full appearance: ''Ghost Rider'' vol. 6 #1 (Sept. 2006)
}}

'''Lucifer''' is a [[supervillain]] in [[Marvel Comics]], mostly associated with [[Ghost Rider]].

Lucifer possesses a vast array of powers. Deception, suggestion and manipulation are quite appealing to this creature, but he is not above tearing his opponents apart with his bare claws.

Lucifer has kept his true history mysterious throughout the years through deceit and deception. It is believed that he was once an angel who led other angels in banishing the N'Garai from Earth and led a group of followers in a rebellion against ''God'' during the great war in Heaven, thus essentially representing the true "devil" in the Marvel Universe of Christian theology. Following his defeat, Lucifer and his lieutenants Beelzeboul, Kazann, Malachi, Pazuzu, Xaphan and others were all cast down to Hell as punishment. During this time, he became the demon known as the Prince of Lies, ruling a realm in Hell.<ref>''Marvel Previews'' #7</ref>

In Hell, Lucifer looked nothing like the angel he once was. He and all of his Lieutenants had degenerated into demons; some through instruction, others adapted more naturally. But they had all over time changed into twisted creatures of evil.

A long battle has been fought between the demon Ghost Rider and the Prince of Lies.<ref>''Ghost Rider'' vol. 6 #2 (2006)</ref> Lucifer believed (as have others) that if he could extinguish the human soul that lives within the [[Ghost Rider]], the latter could be made into a soulless killing machine that could be used to extinguish all humanity.<ref>''Ghost Rider'' vol. 6 #4 (2006)</ref> Later he introduces many more reasons to defeat [[Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)|Johnny Blaze]]. For years, Lucifer with the aid of the other [[Hell-lords]] had made many attempts on Ghost Rider's soul, but all have failed. Lucifer had decided to take matters into his own hands. Satan wanted to capitalize on this particular demon as well as to join in for his own purposes. But in the end Ghost Rider proved he was a very strong demon indeed.<ref>''Ghost Rider'' vol. 6 #5-12 (2007)</ref>

Lucifer is ultimately defeated by Blaze and exiled back to Perdition, and senses Zadkiel's apparent triumph over Heaven from Hell. However, after Zadkiel is unable to truly control Creation and the ultimate power that sparked it, the one true [[God]] returns in wrath and condemns the renegade archangel to Hell for all eternity, to be forever tortured by a pleased Lucifer.<ref>''Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire'' #6 (March 2010)</ref> 

During a later storyline, Lucifer is able to escape from Hell by 'following' Ghost Rider during his latest escape from Hell, with the transition splintering Lucifer's soul into 666 fragments, which 'manifest' on Earth in the bodies of those who had recently died at the moment Ghost Rider crossed over,<ref>''Ghost Rider'' vol. 5 #6</ref> with these including the latest [[Jack O'Lantern (Marvel Comics)#Steven Martin Levins|Jack O'Lantern]].<ref>''Ghost Rider'' vol. 5 #8</ref> Lucifer would regain his full strength if he can arrange for his various hosts to be killed by others; he cannot commit suicide as this is a sin that would send him back to Hell, but as each Lucifer fragment dies, their strengths are transferred to the other hosts, until eventually the last few hosts will be so powerful only Ghost Rider can kill him, at which point the last 'living' Lucifer would serve as the final manifestation of Lucifer himself. Eventually, the Ghost Rider is able to 'kill' one Lucifer fragment by ramming a truck's gear-stick through its brain and breaking its spine,<ref>''Ghost Rider'' vol. 5 #14</ref> leaving the fragment in a brain-damaged and paralysed state but biologically still alive, allowing Ghost Rider to defeat what Lucifer believes to be his final host because it is still at half-strength, the brain-dead final host being killed by Ghost Rider's ally Dixie- a trucker Blaze had befriended earlier- and the police.<ref>''Ghost Rider'' vol. 5 #19</ref>

As the [[Amatsu-Mikaboshi (comics)|Chaos King]] launches his invasion of the divine and infernal realms associated with Earth at the start of the "[[Chaos War]]" storyline, the last surviving bastion of Creation, Lucifer, along with the other powers of Hell, confronts Mikaboshi, only to be defeated and consumed by the overwhelming might of his primordial darkness.<ref>''Chaos War: Chaos King''</ref>