Malebolgia was originally considered an embodiment of The Devil within the Image produced series known as Spawn - however, after the entity was defeated by Spawn, his status as Lord Of Hell was passed onto Mammon, Malebolgia's position as Lord Of Hell fell even further into decline when the true Satan of Spawn's world revealed himself after centuries of banishment. He was the main antagonist of the Spawnseries alongside Mammon and Satan.
Malebolgia acted as the chief antagonist of Spawn for over one hundred issues until his ultimate downfall and held great power, though it was later revealed he was "but a flea" compared to beings such as Mammon who in turn was also a flea compared to Satan, yet for a long time such beings served him loyally - one of Malebolgia's most infamous henchmen was the Violator, who would become the archenemy of Spawn throughout the series. Malebolgia is also one of his Arch-Enemies alongside Jason Wynn.
Malebolgia was obsessed with creating an army of Hellspawn by which to spark the apocalypse and tear down the gates of Heaven and make Earth into a living Hell - the rebellion of Spawn proved to be a thorn in Malebolgia's side and ultimately, his demise. However he returned to life recently possessing the freak's body for a while.
And he is reprised by David Sobolov in the English dub and Shiro Saito in the Japanese dub.