John Milton (The Devil's Advocate)

"Free will. It's like butterfly wings: once touched, they never get off the ground. No, I only set the stage. You pull your own strings."

- John Milton

John Milton is the main villain of The Devil's Advocate and he portrays himself as a representative of a New York law firm but is in reality a powerful demon (according to the movie he is Satan himself, though he could be any number of fallen angels or demons - given the nature of such creatures).

He was portrayed by Al Pacino.

History
Milton tormented Kevin Lomax - a greedy lawyer who also acted as the morally dubious protagonist of the movie - though he did so with diabolic cunning and made Lomax's life a living hell long before he finally revealed himself to the unfortunate man, who later finds out from his devoutly religious mother that Milton was his natural birth father.

Milton's ultimate plan was to have his son and Christabella (who was Lomax's half-sister) conceive a child - in exchange he was willing to give his son anything he desired but Lomax rejected his demonic father, committing suicide and foiling Milton's grand scheme: this enrages Milton to the point he screams out in rage as the scene turns to black.

However the film soon takes a dark turn when Lomax awakens to find his life apparently back to normal and his wife alive once more, after rejecting the path that had led to his original damnation he seems to have defeated Milton completely, only to be approached by a reporter who wants to get a story on Lomax and promises to make him a "star".

Kevin finally agrees to the reporter's request and the reporter changes into the form of Milton, breaking the fourth-wall as he says vanity is his favorite sin - leaving the audience to question whether the cycle will start all over again as the movie ends to the credit song of "Paint It Black".

Some of the horrific acts Milton committed was drive Lomax's wife insane, raped her and also had two demons (in the form of vagrants) beat Eddie Barzoon to death - though it is very possible that Milton (being a Satanic figure) is also responsible of all suffering in his setting in the manner of most Dark Forms.

One hopeful note can be derived from this cacophony : Lomax, who may well be continually targeted by Milton in cycle after cycle, has defeated both his plans and his expectations at least once. This is despite Milton's vast and deep manipulations, perhaps extending back before his birth. In that light, Lomax's victory is greater than it seems at first blink.

Personality
While initially portrayed as a shrewd and charismatic man, Milton was also incredibly crafty, able to manipulate people without interfering with their free will. He displayed signs of having a hedonistic lifestyle involving promiscuity and drugs, although its possible that this was all for show in order to tempt men to his side.

As a fallen angel, Satan has over several thousand years worth of pent-up hatred towards God and religion. Throughout the film, he alludes to the faults in Christianity, most notably the hypocritical and sadistic tendencies of God. He claims that his way is the true way of humanity as it doesn't cast judgement for giving in to natural desires. Fitting with his status as the embodiment of adversity, Milton is shown to make holy water boil just by touching it and grinning at a stain-glass image of Jesus as if to display his power over the physical world.

Milton claims that his favourite sin is Vanity. He uses this very sin to make Mary Ann feel insecure about her appearance and gives Lomax a case that only he could win. Its implied that he's been helping Lomax win every case just so that his vanity would grow and consume him by the time the plot was set in motion. In the epilogue, Milton is shown gleefully smiling as Lomax has a change of heart whilst simultaneously gaining fame for doing so, suggesting that he'll find a way to corrupt Lomax's newfound sense of morality.