Satan is the bigger bad of the Spawn comics, and for many years, fans of the comic series Spawn were led to believe that Malebolgia was The Devil in the Spawn universe, however in fairly recent times, the true face of Satan has risen - he is the supreme source of evil and the undisputed ruler of Hell within his setting.
History
Along with his adversary, God and Satan are both children of the Mother of Existence, the creator of the universe and all its worlds. Mother gave each of its infinite children a world to run as they wish; God and Satan were both given Earth. Having a different point of view, the two constantly bickered and fought to the point where they declared war on one another. Mankind was subsequently created by God, but given free will by Satan. Due to this combination, Mother viewed humanity as unique, and decided to act on their behalf, rather than let her children use them as cannon fodder. Regarding God and Satan as disappointments, she stripped both of her children of their kingdoms and made them sleep in a forgotten corner of the universe. Mother was willing to give them a second chance, however, when she brought back God and Satan as the human children of Terry and Wanda Fitzgerald, Jake and Katie Fitzgerald respectively, in order to give them an appreciation for humanity and change their ways. This plan failed, as the twins simply became more insane than before and began to wreak further chaos on Earth. God and Satan have since regained their memories, powers, and kingdoms, and are bolstering their armies for the final push towards Armageddon.
Being the Supreme Ruler of Hell, every other Lord, including Mammon and Malebolgia, must answer to Satan's will. In his absence, Malebolgia served as the grand master of Hell, creating a massive army to destroy Heaven, and thus creating the Hellspawn.
It would seem that Satan is highly feared by the other demons in Hell. For example: with the recent reappearance of Satan in Hell, Mammon seems to have fallen out of his place of power. Even his former servant Thamuz seemed ready to turn upon Mammon and destroy him at Satan's command. However, Mammon manages to save himself from Thamuz by offering Satan a way to increase the ranks of Hell's army - namely triggering the San Andreas Fault.
Powers and Abilities
Satan is equal in power to God - though it is worth noting that in Spawn's unique cosmology God is not the Supreme Being (that title belongs to the Mother Of Existence), this puts Satan roughly on the scale of a demiurge, which is a supernatural being similar to a deity yet ultimately being subservient to a higher power (even if they don't know it)
Trivia
- After the death of so many people Satan is shown to be more reasonable than his brother God as well as showing remorse.