Dante's Satan - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• In "The Satan Pit", a 2006 episode of Doctor Who, The Doctor encounters an enormous, demonic creature known only as The Beast, chained at the core of a planet orbiting a Black Hole. The creature claims to be the original Satan, but is wordless and demented by rage. Nevertheless he is significantly more powerful than Dante's Satan and highly intelligent. He is capable of possessing people to do his bidding and communicating with people telepathically. His mind is in another human, in which form he can survive in a vacuum and break glass from afar. The Beast also has the power to read minds and play psychological games to break his enemies mentally.
• In the CW series Supernatural, the antagonist Lucifer is similar to Dante's Lucifer. Lucifer in Supernatural is represented as originally being the most beautiful and powerful of all the Archangels, and angels generally, as well as being the second angel created by God. Eventually, Lucifer grew jealous of god's power and rebelled against Him. God had Michael chain Lucifer in Hell in a special cage God built for Lucifer. However, once freed in Season 4, Lucifer grows in power and in Season 5 he is almost as strong as he once was before he was imprisoned. His physical form is similar to Dante's version; in Supernatural, angels have three faces, are physical giants, and have massive wings.
• In the 2010 Visceral Games video game adaptation of Dante's Inferno, Lucifer is the main antagonist. He is depicted as a cunning mastermind with a sardonic sense of humour. Depicted as a colossal, shadowy, three-headed beast frozen in Cocytus, he manipulates the events of the game with the intent of freeing himself from Hell and taking revenge on God. Ultimately his true form is revealed to be an emaciated fallen angel with ragged wings who bursts from the stomach of the colossus after Dante mortally injures him.
• In Demon Lord Dante, Dante's Satan is depicted as the former ruler of Sodom who refused to sacrifice his people. He seals himself in ice and is later freed by Medusa/Saeko Kodai, and assumes the form of a young blonde man with six chiropteran wings. This version of Dante's Satan is depicted as a wise, benevolent leader with a strong sense of freedom and justice.
• In the manga series Devilman, Ryo Asuka mentions the depiction of Dante's Satan when describing the existence of demons to his childhood friend Akira Fudo. Ironically, Ryo Asuka is soon revealed to be an avatar for the real Satan, who appears as a beautiful 12-winged angel who refused God's order to kill the demon population.
• The main antagonist of Devil May Cry, known as Mundus, is an homage to Dante's Satan; his three eyes represent the three heads Lucifer was depicted with in the Divine Comedy.