Mammon

Mammon is a powerful entity from the comic book, Spawn and is currently the primary antagonist, having replaced Malebolgia over 50 issues ago in that role.

Background
Mammon is depicted as a handsome gentleman, suave and sophisticated. This demon is often seen making attractive deals with humans for their souls and is thought to be quite persuasive. A master schemer, he is the puppet-master behind most of the machinations facing Al Simmons, and is currently seeking the Throne of Creation so that he might remake the universe to his own whim.

Mammon's past is very much shrouded in mystery. It has been revealed that he was one of The Forgotten, a group of angels that stayed loyal to God but refused to fight against their fellow angels in The Great Battle. For this he and his kind were banished from Heaven, but unlike the rest of The Forgotten, Mammon was not bound to The Tiend and instead appears to have been cast into Hell. He may be a demon, but it is unknown if he truly is or is not. He has transformed into a demonic entity on one occasion, on which he was assaulted by Spawn and scarred with three cuts from the Hellspawn's claws as a reminder that Spawn is a wildcard.

He is a high ranking Lord of Hell. It is unknown which sphere he controls, if he controls one at all but he is obviously one of the most powerful beings in Hell. It has been stated that, while Malebolgia was the King of Hell and ruler of the 8th Sphere, Mal was but a flea in comparison to Mammon. It has also been said that he doesn't have the power to grant certain things, that the only one who can is Satan. This places him between Mal and Satan in the power structure of Hell. This is supported by Thamuz, who refers to Mammon as Lord, but to Satan as Master.

Thus far, Mammon has made Spawn's life a truly living Hell. He is probably the true brains behind the scheme to unleash Urizen which led to Spawn killing Malebolgia. Mammon was alive during the time Urizen was first contained, Mal was only created slightly 70,000 years prior to his second coming. It's likely that Mammon planted the idea in Mal's head. Additionally, he orchestrated the plot to give Cog the means and opportunity to betray Spawn and seize control of the 8th Sphere of Hell. He was the stranger who told Eddie Frank of redemption, which led to Eddie become The Redeemer and beat Spawn badly enough that he could be dragged into Hell. He revealed the truth about Eddie's father to him to destroy his faith, weaken his powers and halt his attack while his minions captured Spawn. He sent Violator to Earth to take over the body of Jason Wynn in order to break Spawn physically and mentally. This was because Mammon personally took the soul of Nyx's friend Thea to use as leverage later on to make Nyx betray Spawn by stealing his costume and going into Hell. While he was incapacitated she donned K7-Leetha. This was part of a larger plan to gain Nyx's powers of Spawn. He approached her prior to her betrayal and tried to bargain with her. He also told her about Thea's soul being in Hell. It is likely that he is responsible for Al's return to Earth and separation from his suit, so that Nyx would reunite him and his shadow.

Nyx ended up trying to outsmart Mammon by making a deal with another minor Lord of Hell known as N'Zzezheaal, who turned out to be Mammon in disguise. In the end, he got her powers and used that to destroy Spawn's memories of Wanda and then send him on his way to break the Tiend and release The Forgotten so that they might begin the assault on Heaven. It is likely that the return of The Redeemer from Hell and defeat at the hands of Spawn was part of Mammon's plans as well, since he states that Eddie's part in this is done, for now.

With the recent reappearnace of Satan in Hell, Mammon seems to have fallen out of his place of power. Even his former servant Thamuz was 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.

Mammon has shown surprise only twice. The first was when Spawn was able to wield the angelic lance without being destroyed, and eventually scarred him. The second was when Spawn revealed that he contained The Legion and broke free from Thamuz' torture.

It has been stated that there is only one way to destroy Mammon and that Spawn does not possess that power. What exactly it is has not yet been revealed but it has been hinted that his pride will be his undoing.

Other Media

 * Mammon has appeared in only one comic title outside of the core Spawn comic, the French produced title Spawn: Simony.
 * Mammon's name was first revealed in a Spawn video game: Mammon appeared as a villain in Spawn: Armageddon, and the announcement for the game was the first time the character had been directly named. Prior to this announcement he was only known by the fan-created nickname, Mr. Hell, and was assumed to be Satan by many Spawn enthusiasts.
 * Mammon's action-figure debut was as the Collector's Club Exclusive for Spawn Series 30, slated for a Fall 2006 release which is tied to the web-comic The Adventures of Spawn in which Mammon is one of the main antagonists.

Miscellaneous

 * The term Mammon is used in the New Testament to describe material wealth or greed.