Doom cover art demon

The original Doom cover art, where the demon first appears.

The Doom cover art demon is a demonic species of monster which first occurs on the Doom cover art. It was originally created by artist Don Ivan Punchatz as part of his illustration. It was common for game box art created in the 1990s to diverge stylistically from the game for which it was designed, since artistic elements of the game were often created at levels of fidelity and resolution that were insufficient for use in print. As such, the cover art demon does not exactly reflect any monster that actually occurs in-game - it shares traits of the imp and baron of Hell almost equally, and sometimes has cybernetic enhancements. It has, however, still become a recurring character in the series.

Description

The cover art demon's skin is a dark red hue. It has two short, curved horns on the top of its head, and its long-snouted face has traits of both humanoid apes and goats. It has a long, prehensile tongue that extends out of its mouth. It has two rows of sharp teeth that are fully exposed, with especially prominent lower canines that sit outside the lip line and jut up past the upper jaw. It has a flat nose, human-like eyes, and pointed ears. It has five-fingered hands with sharp, black, pointed claws on each finger. It has a lean but highly muscular physique.

Some of the demons have varying cybernetic implants, replacing the end of the left arm with some type of weapon. Of the two visible, there is a noticeable difference between the weapons' designs.

The demons are capable of both melee attacks (evident from them grabbing and clawing at the Doom marine and the damage he has presumably taken while fighting them) and of throwing energy or plasma projectiles (an example of which can be seen in the original cover art at far right).

The demons have bright green blood, similar to the baron of Hell.

Other appearances

EGM

Painting by Don Ivan Punchatz used as cover art for EGM.

Don Ivan Punchatz depicted the demons again in cover art he created for the November 1994 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (volume 7, issue 11), which covered the Sega 32X version of Doom. In this depiction they can be seen to have ungulate-like legs with black cloven hooves, white claws, and striated horns. A specimen visible in the background has horns which curve in the opposite direction than its companions'.

Doom 3

Depiction on an ancient Martian stone tablet in Doom 3.

The cover art demon appears in Doom 3 on the "Hero" tablet created by the ancient Martian civilization and matches its appearance in the original cover art exactly, aside from being depicted in relief on stone.

Doom (2016)

In Doom (2016) the cover art demon appears again in the codex in the entry for the Doom Slayer in its original form. A large group of them is seen fighting the Slayer in the environs of Sentinel Prime while the Seraphim watches from afar. Another occurrence can be found in stone relief in a carving that can be found in areas of the Necropolis and Argent D'Nur, but with larger, striated horns.

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  Codex page.

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  Stone relief form.

Doom Eternal

The cover art demon appears numerous times in the codex for Doom Eternal, along with demons that are similar in many ways (and also never occur in-game), but also distinct in others.

Unambiguous appearances

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  Cover art demons torturing Hell's victims in the Nekravol.

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  Cover art demons attack a city on the Sentinel homeworld.

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  The Doom Slayer tramples a cover art demon underfoot as onlookers worship him.

Ambiguous appearances

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  Similar demons attack Taras Nabad.

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  Similar demons attacking an elite Night Sentinel.

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  The final stand of the elite against similar demons; a specimen at lower right is nearly identical to the cover art demon.