Michael Heron (Satana ally)

Michael Heron

Real Name: Dr. Michael Heron

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Trauma surgeon, former priest

Affiliations: Ally of Satana, former ally of Jimmy Cruz; Enemy of Satan/Miles Gorney, Agathon, and the Camarilla of the N'Garai

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Father Heron

Base of Operations: San Francisco, California

Appearances: Haunt of Horror#4/3 (November, 1974) (5/4(fb), 5/4

Powers: None. Heron was trained both in the clergy, and in trauma surgery. He had some combat training in the US Army. He was given the ring Azshiran to protect him against any demon, but it stopped working when his hand was cut off.

History: Michael Heron had been a priest in the Catholic Church, but found that the demands of helping others with their faiths caused him to question his own. He left the clergy and became a surgeon, and participated in the Viet Nam war as a surgeon. Heron received pressure from others in the church, such as monsignor Jimmy Cruz, to return to the clergy, but found his faith and his own happiness were stronger in his second career.

Heron made the mistake of aiding a woman who had been brutally beaten and left for dead in an alley. The woman turned out to be Satana, and her attackers returned to finish her off while he was trying to help her. Satana's familiar, a cat named, Exiter arrived and slew the attackers, and Heron brought Satan back to his apartment to treat her injuries (Exiter refused to allow her to go to a hospital). Satana's attackers turned out to be agents of monsignor Cruz, who was an agent of the N'Garai. Cruz had sought power from other demons in order to slay agents of Satan. Cruz's agents overcame and abducted Heron, who Satan rescued him and slew Cruz. Satana found that she could neither seduce nor control Heron, which initially frustrated her.

When Satana attempted to track down another enemy of hers, an apparent mystic named Miles Gorney, she gave Heron the ring Azshiran to defend him from demon attack. However, Gorney was actually Satana's father, the demon known as Satan or Marduk Kurios. Gorney's agent, Agathon the Tempter, proved powerful enough to slice off Heron's hand, separating him from the ring, and then delivered him back to Gorney. Satana was also captured, and Heron broke free from his bonds to help her fight against the demons. In the process, he was mortally wounded by a spear hurled by a female demon. When Gorney revealed his true nature to Satana and commanded her to take Heron's soul, she refused, allowing him to die in peace. For this betrayal, she was exiled permanently from her father's realm and banished to Earth.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont and Pat Broderick

Last updated: September 6, 2001.