A few weeks ago, a friend sent a private message to Misfortune and asked Misfortune to introduce the Seven Deadly Sins of DC.
The Seven Deadly Sins are derived from the grouping and classification of vices in Christianity, especially Catholic doctrine, and are also translated as the Seven Original Sins or the Seven Deadly Sins.
The classification of the seven deadly sins originated with the Carthaginian philosopher Tertullian and continued to the Greek philosopher Evagilius Pontigus, and was finally established by Pope Gregory I in 590 AD.
Throughout history, artists have often looked to timeless themes of morality and humanity for inspiration, and the Seven Deadly Sins have been one of the important themes explored by artists.
Artists such as Lucas Cranach the Renaissance Sr., Peter Paul Rubens in the Baroque period, William Hogarth in the 18th century, Paul Cadmus in the 20th century and Chris Ofili in the 21st century have all created a large number of works of art on the theme of the Seven Deadly Sins.
After entering the twentieth century, a large number of elements of the Seven Deadly Sins appeared in art forms such as movies, animated series, and comics.
In the DC multiverse, the Seven Deadly Sins already appeared in 1940, but due to the review reasons, the Seven Deadly Sins were changed to "The Seven Deadly Enemies of Mankind", and the specific content has also changed.
It wasn't until the twenty-first century that D.C. changed it back to the religious-theological version.
Let's talk about the seven deadly sins in the DC Universe.
The Seven Deadly Sins in Religious Theology
The first writers such as Hogarth sang the praises of virtue, citing a series of vices, telling people that "turning away from sin is the beginning of virtue, and getting rid of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom."
Tertullian of Carthage, the "founder of Western theology," established a strict code of ethics.
There are three types of evil thoughts, nine types:
1. Body: Nutrition, sexuality, and appetite generate ideas
2. Emotions: Thoughts that arise from depression, irritability, and contempt
3. Spiritual: Thoughts that arise from jealousy, boasting, and hubris
In the fourth century A.D., the monk Evagilius Pondigus reduced the nine evils to eight, namely:
Gluttony, lust/fornication, greed, despair, anger, laziness, vanity, and arrogance.
In 590 A.D. Pope Gregory I revised the list to form the Seven Deadly Sins.
Gregory I mixed despair and laziness, as well as vanity and arrogance, adding to jealousy.
Historically, artists have often looked to timeless themes of morality and humanity for inspiration, and the Seven Deadly Sins are the main themes of this exploration. The artists depicted the seven deadly sins in a variety of ways, ranging from allegorical representations to satirical observations of human behavior.
One of the most famous artists was Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a Flemish painter of the Renaissance who created in 1557 a series of woodcuts called "The Seven Deadly Sins", which vividly captured the essence of each evil with grotesque and comical scenes.
Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish painter of the Baroque period, known for his dynamic compositions and bright colors. His painting The Wrath of Achilles depicts the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles, whose face is distorted by anger and is vividly ill.
The Renaissance Lucas Cranach Sr., the 18th-century English painter William Hogarth, the 20th-century American painter Paul Cadmus, and the 21st-century British painter Chris Ofili are all known for their exploration of the art of the Seven Deadly Sins. In the 20th century, live-action dramas, animations, comics, and video games were born and grew rapidly. There are many cultural works with the theme of the Seven Deadly Sins.
In 19945, the film "Seven Deadly Sins" directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman was released, ranking seventh at the global box office, but with the passage of time, the audience's perception of the film has been changing, and "The Seven Deadly Sins" is now considered one of the best thriller, crime and suspense films in film history.
In the field of manga, there are also many works with the theme of the seven deadly sins, the most representative of which is the manga work "Seven Deadly Sins" by Japanese manga artist Yang Suzuki, which began serialization in 2012 and ended in 2020. The Seven Deadly Sins is one of the best-selling manga in Kodansha history.
The Seven Deadly Sins has developed numerous spin-offs such as animated films, animated TV series, OVAs, light novels, video games, and more.
The Seven Deadly Sins in the DC Universe
Throughout the DC multiverse, the Seven Deadly Sins first appeared #2中 the 1940 comic book The Witcher Comics, published by Fawcett Comics. In the fifties of the last century, due to the copyright dispute with DC Corporation and the downturn in the comic market, Fawcett Company ceased the comic book publishing business, and in the seventies, DC Corporation acquired the comic assets of Fawcett Company, and Fawcett Comics merged into the DC Multiverse.
The Seven Deadly Sins in the Fawcett comics are based on the Christian Seven Deadly Sins, but due to censorship and compliance with child-friendly comic standards, the Fawcett Company has made a great adaptation of the Seven Deadly Sins, even the name has been changed to "Seven Deadly Enemies of Man", and the sins of the Seven Christian Seven Deadly Sins have been replaced by injustice, etc.
The "Seven Mortal Enemies of Humanity" are seven powerful demons, namely: arrogance, jealousy, greed, hatred, laziness, selfishness, and injustice.
They were defeated by the wizard Shazam and sealed in seven statues of the Eternal Stone.
After the wizard Shazam passed on the power of the six gods to the young Billy Batson, he was stoned to death by a rock, confirming the prophecy.
In early comics, the "Seven Deadly Enemies of Humanity" was often displayed in stone statues in the Stone of Eternity.
It wasn't until the 1952 comic book The Adventures of Captain Fantastic #137中 that King Chur unleashed "the seven deadly enemies of mankind".
Captain Fantastic defeats King Chur and reseals the "Seven Deadly Enemies of Humanity" in the stone statue.
In the 1995 comic book The Power #3中of Shazam, Lord Satan Nash attacked the Eternal Stone, causing a rift in the stone statue that sealed the "Seven Deadly Enemies of Humanity", which the wizard Shazam did not notice.
In the #9中 Shazam's Power, Blazer and Black Adam team up to defeat Shazam the wizard and take Shazam away. The stone statue was completely broken, and the "Seven Deadly Enemies of Humanity" were released.
In Shazam's Might, #11中, the Magical Family defeats the "Seven Deadly Enemies of Humanity" and reseals them in stone.
In the 2003 comic JLA/JSA: Virtue and Sin, DC replaced hatred, selfishness, and injustice with anger, gluttony, and lust, after which the Seven Deadly Sins in the DC Universe reverted to a theological version.
Johnny Solo's Despero teamed up to invade the Eternal Stone, turning the wizard Shazam into a stone statue and freeing him from the Seven Deadly Sins. Seven Deadly Sins possessed seven superheroes.
The reserves of the Justice League and the Justice Society banished the Seven Deadly Sins and rescued the seven superheroes.
The seven deadly sins were resealed.
In the events of Vengeance Day, the ghost who has lost its host is brainwashed by the Eclipse into believing that magic is the root of all evil, and vows to destroy all magic.
When the Ghost fights the wizard Shazam, it causes the Eternal Stone to shatter into "a billion".
The destruction of the Eternal Stone has led to the release of countless evil magical creatures, including the Seven Deadly Sins.
While Zatana leads the magical heroes to rebuild the Eternal Stone, the Phantom Stranger gives the Seven Deadly Sins to Zatana, who seals the Seven Deadly Sins in the Eternal Stone.
The Seven Deadly Sins "After the Flash Point".
In 2011, DC launched the big event "Flashpoint", which rebooted the universe, and after the reboot, the setting of the Seven Deadly Sins changed a lot.
The seven deadly sins are the embodiment of sin itself.
In ancient Macedonia, Pandora opened Pandora's box and unleashed the sins of antiquity, the seven deadly sins.
Pandora was taken to the Circle of Eternity and condemned as one of the three evil bodies, walking the world forever to experience the pain caused by her unleashing evil on humanity.
Later, things change, and Pandora's Box is not a magic item, but a portal to the alternate universe Earth 3.
And the seven deadly sins are actually part of Pandora itself, and they are part of an endless cycle. Eventually, evil will triumph, causing the universe to collapse and restart. However, Pandora's hope part triumphed, ending the cycle.
The world's most famous scientific thinker, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, turned to magic because science could not save his family. While studying ancient mythology, he came across the legend of Black Adam. He decides to find Black Adam.
When Dr. Sivanna found Black Adam's grave, a bolt of lightning struck his right eye, giving him the ability to see magical powers.
Dr. Sivanna frees Black Adam, who massacred Dr. Sivana's research team. Dr. Sivanna allied himself with Black Adam and promised to help Black Adam find Shazam, the wizard.
The wizard Mamalagan was short-lived, and he chose the young Billy Batson as his successor, Shazam, and then Mamalagan died. The Seven Deadly Sins that were sealed in the Eternal Stone by Mamalagan also escaped the seal.
Black Adam sensed the Seven Deadly Sins, and Dr. Sivanna found the Seven Deadly Sins.
After learning about Black Adam's actions, Shazam shared his power with his adoptive siblings and became the Shazam family to fight against Black Adam together.
The Seven Deadly Sins fuse together to possess Billy's classmate's father, Blair, who turns into Shabak and begins to destroy the city.
Shazam and the Shazam family defeated Black Adam, the Seven Deadly Sins left Blair's body, fled the city, and Shabak turned back into Blair.
Later, Black Adam and Dr. Sivanna come to the Monster Lands and unleash the evil Monster Society, attracting the attention of the Shazam family. Mr. Soul unleashes the Seven Deadly Sins and assists Black Adam in his battle against the Shazam family.
But soon after, the Seven Deadly Sins were defeated by Shazam.
Shazam surmised that Mr. Psychic manipulated everything in his father's mind, and he fought Mr. Psychic when he became smaller. Unleash a huge amount of magical power when Shazam defeats Mr. Psycho, knocking down all villain enemies, except for Superman Supreme.
Eventually, Black Adam sacrificed himself to help Shazam defeat Superman Supreme.
Black Adam is recognized by Shazam and becomes the last member of the Shazam family.
That's it for the seven deadly sins of DC.