Publisher: Image Comics
Created by: Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
Real Name: Unknown
First Appearance: The Wicked+The Divine #1, 2014
Citizenship: Unknown
Legal Status: Unknown
Height: 6″1′ Eye Color: Brown
Weight: 220 lbs Hair Color: Brown
Relatives: Unnamed Father, Unnamed Mother
Powers: Baal has control of lightning.
Biography
“Baal can refer to a number of gods from the Middle East that are roughly contemporary to the Old Testament – Baal (meaning “Lord”) in most cases refers to the god of the Canaanite tribes around Carthange (known as Baal-Hamon), and the Baal-Hadad version that appears in The Wicked and the Divine is the god of the Phoenicians – a people who are believed to have originated from the Canaanites“
Hadad is a god comparable to the Greek Zeus or Roman Jupiter; he rules heaven and has the power of thunder and lightning. He is also connected to land fertility because rural canaanite communities needed his rains. He is represented with a club in his right hand and a crown on his head, which is decorated with horns. He can be symbolized by a bull.
Baal is son of El, the supreme god of the pantheon. His father, though, publicly declares that his favorite son is Yamm (or Naham), god of the seas and rivers. Baal and Yamm then fight for power, and the latter eventually collapses. To celebrate, a fancy palace is built for Baal, in which he hosts a great feast for the gods.
But Baal was not very fortunate with the brothers he got. Mot (meaning death), god of the underworld and another son of El, is not pleased with the feast. He is insulted because while there is plenty of bread and wine, what Mot eats (human flesh and blood) is lacking. Baal tries to be diplomatic with Mot, offering him the finest (animal) meat available, but nothing succeeds. The party is going downhill, and Mot even threatens to cut Baal into pieces and eat him raw. The only alternative offered by Mot is that his brother come to the underworld to dine. Baal is afraid, but not even he can stand against death, so he accepts.
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In Mot’s realm, Baal is served with mud. When he eats it, he becomes trapped in the underworld. With the apparent death of Baal, all humans and gods mourn, even El. Baal’s sister Anat is the saddest of them all.
Anat goes on a journey until she finally finds Mot. She wounds him with a sword, burns him with fire and throws his remains away. She killed Death. I don’t think one can get more badass than that.
With Mot away, Shapsh (the sun god) brings Baal back to his throne and the lands become fertile once more.
Seven years later Mot returns, but Shapsh tells Mot that now even El supports Baal, and Mot finally recognizes him as king.
Like the rest of the Pantheon he is bisexual. He dated and had a relationship with Inana before Inana cheated with Lucifer. He invited Laura into Valhalla to have an audience with the pantheon. Laura and him eventually sleep together.
