Openly Satanic Former Marvel Comics Writer Donny Cates Announces His Return After Bizarre Absence Where He Claims He Had Amnesia
After a meteoric rise and fall from Marvel Comics, Satanic writer Donny Cates announced that he’d be returning to comics after a bizarre two-year hiatus.
Donny Cates came out of nowhere in the mid-2010s with runs on Thanos and Venom, propelling the writer to stardom at Marvel Comics. Shops couldn’t keep his books in stock; his creator-owned work got optioned by major Hollywood studios, and it seemed like someone had possibly made the classic Faustian bargain, with much of Cates’ work being blasphemous or leaning into the evil side of characters.
Cates has always taken an “anti-fan” stance, lambasting critics of the comic industry of its handling. He liked to broadcast his male feminism and woke virtue points at every opportunity, even though a lot of his fans came from the more conservative side of the aisle.
In 2022, he attacked fans when he claimed his ex-wife Hutchison was getting harassed when the two first began dating, “I will say this though. And I won’t name any names. But when dating Megan, I would often go and hang at her table while I was on breaks. And I was ASTONISHED at how naive I had been about what women go through in this industry as far as s****y creepy dudes.”
He continued, “And, these days Megan Hutchison-Cates and I don’t really have to deal with this anymore. It died down A LOT when we publicly came out as a couple.”
“And that’s good that they backed off. But it’s so F***ED UP that these guys ONLY backed off once they knew she was with someone with power,” he added.
He went on to claim the harassment from some of these individuals was so bad he could put their careers in jeopardy, “Like, oh, you were perfectly fine harassing and staking my (at the time) girlfriend before but NOW that you know that she’s with someone who could hurt your career if you act out like…NOW you’ll behave like a gentleman. Super cool. So pathetic.”
After claiming that a number of comic book industry professionals he worked with had been harassing his now-wife, he went on to accuse “CG incels” of harassing him with photoshopped images of his wife. When saying this, he refers to a hashtag movement in comics known as ComicsGate, which was a reaction to mainstream professionals attacking critic Richard C. Meyer and trying to get him banned from New York Comic Con because of his anti-woke stances.
Cates wrote, “Anyway. I woke up today with a bunch of CG incels sending me dozens of DM’s on Instagram telling me (and showing me with photoshopped pictures of her) all the things they ‘want to do to her.’”
“And I know they never will. It’s just then trying to get a rise out of me. But yeah,” he added.
In 2023, he attacked comic shop owner Glenn O’Leary in a rant on his Twitter account after O’Leary went viral with a video complaining about the current state of mainstream comics. He said, “Don’t you guys hate when you go into a hardware store how the guy behind the counter always tells you how much hammers suck?”
Cates received such backlash that he deleted the tweet after replying to a fan concerned about the current state of comics. The fan told Donny Cates, “When I buy a hammer, my expectation is that it doesn’t groom children into a suicide cult.”
But Cates and perhaps more of his Marvel Comics ilk are part of a death cult. In another interaction with fans, one which he hasn’t deleted, he proclaimed his allegiance to Satan.
A fan asked, “Do you renounce Satan and all his works and empty promises?” Donny Cates replied, “Honestly, I’ve not found them so empty.”
It was a weird statement after he’d all but disappeared from comics for a while, making people wonder whether his Satanic lifestyle might have led to some problems. He had disappeared for six months, then showing up at San Diego Comic Con in 2023, and it was reported by Bleeding Cool by way of Comic Pop Returns on YouTube, “We ran into Donny Cates on the floor of San Diego Comic-Con, he came out from hiding, and he asked us to mention on the show this piece of information to folks out there. Donny Cates apparently was involved in an automobile accident. He was severely injured, he has actually the scars to prove it; he broke a bone near his ocular area and went through a severe period of Rehabilitation and is now trying to essentially recover the pieces of his life and so he doesn't remember the last, at least, six months… so we wished him a speedy recovery and all the best, and we hope that he gets the help he needs because he seems to be still in some in some difficulty. He has been very vocal about the fact that he used to have a stutter; it's a little bit more pronounced nowadays. And it just made me feel for him. So we just wish that Donnie feels better and that things turn around for him. But he said, mention it on your show, and I'm like, all right, we'll do it. So he was severely injured, and he's now recovering and trying to pick up the pieces of his life; also, he's divorced, that also occurred."
He then told Bleeding Cool, “I was in the backseat of a car pulling off the highway when we were hit by a truck from behind, sending my head into not just the middle console but also my open laptop. The result of which shattered my orbital socket, sliced my head open like a grape, and caused a not-insignificant amount of bleeding on my brain. So yeah, for me, I was in a car heading to the airport and then boom.. kinda…. teleported to a hospital ER with no real idea what the hell had happened or who I was or… yeah. Not my favorite thing that's happened this year. And it's been… a weird year.”
It's a strange story, and fans have questioned the legitimacy of what he’s said. He claimed he had amnesia, but there seemed to be more to the story as it appears he was going through personal turmoil at that time.
In late 2022, Megan Cates filed for divorce against Donny, which led some fans to question what actually occurred during that time.
According to Aaron Sparrow on the Thinking Critical YouTube Channel, Cates also “took an advance and didn’t fulfill his obligations,” when it came to certain writing assignments. “There have been stories of drug use, and an arrest, and crashing a boat,” he continued, leading one to believe that Cates’ personal problems and drop of his career might have been because of hedonistic lifestyle choices rather than something he was a victim of.
Now, Cates is back. He posted to Instagram to mainstream media glee, “Just wanted to check in with all of you and let you know that your boy is back on the dance floor. Expect announcements this summer. And then another one after that. What do you think? Anyone want to guess? If you get it right I’ll buy your first issue. #KidsLoveChains #Comics #F***Yeah #ComebackKing”
While he clearly had a difficult few years, Fandom Pulse hopes he’s renounced his Satanic and hedonistic ways and gotten back on track, and hopefully turned to Christ to change his ways.
What do you think of Donny Cates returning to comics? Leave a comment and let us know.
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Well, even fairly minor traumatic brain injuries can cause erratic changes in behavior that persist for years before you rewire and settle in, sometimes to a substantially different person than you were before. Speaking from experience. Given the guy was already in some kind of dark place, it wouldn't be surprising if he went to further than usual extremes of already bad ideas. So the car wreck, the divorce, the rumored bad behavior, all of these things can be part of the same story.