Malevo

Malevo was a villain created by Frank Belknap Long and Fred Guardineer for the comic book Adventures Into the Unknown.

Biography
A lieutenant of Satan, Malevo was a powerful demon. Cursed to wander the Earth for eternity, he loved committing random acts of violence. He strangled a switch operator and derailed a train, then tipped a car containing two people in it over a cliff. Investigating the crime scenes, reporter Gail Leslie and D.A. Tony Brand detected the smell of brimstone. Malevo kidnapped Gail, intent on making her his bride. Tony sought help from a scientist named Dr. Vandyke, who told him of Malevo's history and gave him a petrified olive branch to defeat the demon with.

In his lair, Malevo tried to persiade Gail to marry him. When she refused, he summoned forth several living corpses in an effort to intomidate her into agreeing. Tony disguised himself as one of the undead and obtained entry. When Gail finally agreed, Malevo sent the corpses away, but realized Tony was a living human when he, too, didn't disappear. Gail hit him with a rock and an enraged Malevo tried to strangle her, only for Tony to kick him in the face and shove a boulder on top of him, trapping him. The magic olive branch was used to deprive the demon of his powers.

The powerless Malevo was arrested and sentenced to death for his crimes. But after being strapped into the electric chair, he regained his demonic powers, laughed maniacally and disappeared, to the shock of the prison guards. Some time later, Malevo returned to get revenge against Gail and Tony. He once again abducted Gail, and this time, he had his lair guarded by zombies. Tony went to see Vandyke again, and the scientist explained that the only being capable of truly defeating Malevo was his lifelong rival, the Dark Phantom. Vandyke provided Tony with a talisman to use against the Phantom if he attempted to doublecross him.

Tony elisted the Phantom's help. The villain agreed because he hated Malevo, and he turned Malevo to stone. But once Malevo was petrified, he turned against Tony and Gail, forcing Tony to destroy him with the talisman, but with the Phantom dead, his powers wore off and Malevo was freed from the stone. He swore vengeance against the humans.