Deacon Blackfire - Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)

A Gotham City preacher and cult leader, Joseph Blackfire nicknamed himself "Deacon" and began working with the homeless of the city. He opened a homeless shelter called "The Deacon's Mission", which provided hot soup to those in need, personally interacting with the people he helped.

He was believed to have been living for centuries, originating from the Miagami Tribe. He was a Shaman who was accused on heresy, murdering one of the chiefs of the tribe and sentenced to death. They shot him with arrows, before leaving him to bleed to death in a cave, sealing off the entrance for ever. The cave in which he was supposedly trapped in was located beneath the earth that would go on to be the site of The Lady of Gotham.

However he used his charisma and influence to spread his message of humanity's weakness, claiming himself to be a representative of God, building up the membership of his cult with members who believed his teachings.

Telling his followers that he was an immortal being that had survived through the ages by undergoing rituals of human sacrifice - whilst bathing in the blood of victims -Blackfire tasked the Cult to find worthy candidates for his rituals. He would conduct the rituals himself, cutting their throats and draining the blood for his own nefarious perfects as he searched for the final sacrifice that could make him immortal.

In the 1920's Blackfire earned a criminal record for tax evasion and fraud, with several more reports coming through.

He believed that the people of Gotham were drowning in the sin, and branded the city as a "den of iniquity" and vice, observing them as broken and needing his teachings of the "lord" to "heal them".


"Batman: Arkham Knight"

Unaware of being watched and recorded by Jack Ryder on the fifteenth of October, Blackfire preached about the guilty and sin, expressing that their was a "pavilion of pain" for those he deemed as being "heathens". Condemning Gotham, Deacon told them that he had been shown visions of the city being destroyed in fire and its citizens burning with them. He adds that the only way that people could avoid this would be by accepting his guidance and join him, since he had supposedly been "anointed ... with his sacred oil" and was "the Messenger of Truth". For the closing part of his sermon, Blackfire declared that only he and his disciples would live in "the new kingdom" as "Princes."

At some point prior to the 30th, Blackfire performed one of his many rituals in a building looking out onto Hammond Close, killing the 33 year old M. Hollis. Whilst Hollis had been tied down on a table, Blackfire cut his throat and drained him of all his blood, using the blood to draw ruins on the wall of the room. Taking the knife with him, Deacon had all of Hollis' clothes and "personal effects" burned to cover their tracks.

On the 30th, Blackfire led his followers to the Lady of Gotham, capturing Jack Ryder there as the latter attempted to expose what Deacon had been up to. Tying Ryder up, Blackfire preached in the name of God, expressing his beliefs to the silent and praying disciples. However he is furious as Batman arrives to save Ryder, ordering his followers to kill "the devil clad in black". Watching them all defeated by the Dark Knight, he deemed them to be cowards, gloating that he would force the hero to watch as he killed Ryder and bathe in the blood. Ignoring Ryder's pleas, Blackfire moved on the reporter, only to be disarmed by Batman. He remarked that he had faced death on multiple occasions and he had faced far worse then him, adding that he will control Gotham after Batman is dead. However Batman smashed his face against a table, knocking him out.

Taking him to the G.C.P.D building, Cash met Batman and Blackfire on the roof. He ignores Cash's joke, telling Batman that the city was falling and he was protecting nothing but the weak and defenceless. Asking Batman why he was still fighting in a war he could not win, he scoffed at the suggestion that the vigilante was in control. He was then taken away to be interrogated and processed.

Whilst in the custody of the G.C.P.D, Aaron Cash took samples of Blackfire's fingerprints, locating the records from the 1920's. Due to the age of the report, he believed the findings to be a mistake. The processing procedure was completed  and he was locked in a cell, with his prayer book, goblet and knife being catalogued as part of the Evidence Room Lockup.

Visited later that evening, Blackfire boasted to Batman that he would soon escape as the bars were "unable to hold him" believing that God would use divine intervention to free him. He went on to add that he was praying for all of Gotham's citizens who he had deemed as lost, in particular making a special prayer just for Batman.

Two-Face pulled him up on the law being up to the people of Gotham to fix, but Deacon replies that the city was too far gone for the laws of man. However this sparks protests from Azrael, who claims that he was the true servant of God, only being beaten back by a proverb of the divine being "vengeance." Firefly enthusiastically offered his help to set Gotham ablaze and let Deacon start the new order. Yet Deacon shrugs the comment off, musing that "cheap pyrotechnics" did not scare or impress him.

Watching the live news broadcast from Arkham Manor, Blackfire learned with the rest of the world that Batman was really Bruce Wayne, destroying the belief that both himself and Batman could work together in order to purge all sin from Gotham. He remarks that Batman had time to "save his soul" and join him, although doubts it, telling him to "add avarice to that ever growing list of sins". He finally remarked that he could not forgive Batman for ruining his plans, however said he would "put in a good word" to God.


Appearances:

1. "Batman: Arkham Knight" (First and Only Appearance)