Darkseid
Darkseid is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Uxas was a male member of the race of New Gods from the dark world of Apokolips. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #2) He was the son of the dark god Yuga Khan who ruled their planet. (New Gods v3 #17) With his mother being Heggra who ruled as the mother-queen of Apokolips. (New Gods v1 #7) He was shown having an older brother by the name of Drax. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #2)
He was with his brother during a friendly gathering with warriors from New Genesis led by Izaya who had a friendly match with Uxas's brother Drax. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #2)
Uxas had told his mother that Drax had decided to be a peacemaker, and shook hands with Izaya the Inheritor. Heggra though found this hilarious, and warned her son that he must prove his Apokoliptan worth by soon taking a wife and the god-power that was rightfully his. Drax assured his mother he’d take a wife and the god-power when the time was right, but he had reasons for his delays. Desaad got in his ear, and told him that the patience of Apokolips was wearing thin after he’d let the god-power slip through his hands five times. Drax replied that his way was difficult, he was meant to harness the Omega Force, a power that had destroyed all those who’d previously tried to wield it. Desaad said it was because the others were usurpers, not part of the royal house, and Drax reminded him that their royal house came into power by usurping those before them through treachery. Drax said he feared the dark side of the Omega Force, and Uxas got into the conversation, predicting that he’d just chosen his name, 'Darkseid', a name from the books of lore that none before dared to claim. Uxas told him he shouldn’t fear fear, because it ruled the universe. Drax had enough of the pressure from his family, and their prattle, so he agreed to undergo the rite of passage. Desaad presented him with the armor he designed to contain the Omega Force, ablue and purple military garb. Drax admitted his mind was flooded with emotion, but that by death or transformation, Drax would not exist in a day. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #3)
Drax arrived at the Infinity Pit to seize the Omega Force, and Desaad and Drax urged him on. Drax was cautious, noting that the omega force had brought death to all who tried claim it, and when Uxas said his faily were rulers, and of a sturdier stock, Drax replied that warfare and treachery that made them rulers did not make them superior. He told Uxas he viewed war as a last resort, even though his brother lived for it. Uxas corrected him that he lived for manipulating lives and making strategies, not war in and of itself. Drax was lowered into the pit, but found that his suit that was supposed to channel the energy was not working, and he was receiving the full brunt of the omega force. Desaad had sabotaged his suit on Uxaas’ orders, and stabbed the guards operating the pit. Uxas entered the pit to drain the omega force from his brother, who realized the treachery he’d fallen into. Desaad was at the controls of the pit, but he couldn’t stop a power surge that resulted in an enormous explosion. The only thing left of Drax was a chrysalis filled with omega energy, and Uxas had worn the proper suit that let him channel the energy properly. Desaad was pleased with their success, since the whole scheme had taken a century to plan and unfold. Uxas confronted Queen Heggra, and threatened to end her with the omega beam, but she laughed. She knew Drax would fail, and Uxas would succeed because she had crafted him to represent what the omega energy represented. She’d been cold and cruel to him, and made him into a heartless schemer obsessed with power. She asked his god name, and he’d chosen Darkseid, the name no other New God had ever claim for themselves. He admitted there was much he could learn from his mother in the ways of evil, and spared her. He prepared to kill his wife Tigra, and she told him that even though there was no love in their marriage she was carrying his son. Darkseid laughed and spared her, commenting that maybe one day the whelp would serve his nefarious purposes. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #5)
One day, a young Darkseid came to encounter an Apokoliptian native named Sleez who became his servant, aid and even served as a councillor. Together, they learnt much from one another and about the hidden face of humanity. Sleez was shown the pathways to realm where his power burnt bright and the two engaged in petty cruelties. However, in time, petty cruelties began to amuse Darkseid less and less causing Sleez to fall out of favor with his master. According to Sleez, he stated that he was deemed too disgusting for Apokolips and had been driven from his native world by Darkseid. This eventually culminated in Darkseid unleashing his Omega Beams on Sleez and banishing him from his world. (Action Comics v1 #592)
Around 245,000 years ago, Apokolips looked to court the planet Bylan 5 in order to gain access to its resources within its chemical mines deposits. For this, it was decided that the youth Darkseid was to wed the planet's princess where he went as part of a delegation that included his comrade Master Mayhem and his uncle Steppenwolf. They were present when a vessel crashed on the world and unleashed a powerful monster who went on a rampage on the planet and began massacring its inhabitants. To prevent further damage, the Apokoliptians attempted to intervene but this saw Master Mayhem being brutally murdered before them. Darkseid himself then battled the creature where he looked to defeat it with his own bare bands. The devastation created from their fight created a chemical change reaction that rendered the planet to be too toxic for any further use. This led to Steppenwolf ordering a retreat via a Boom Tube with Darkseid reluctantly agreeing to do so as he reasoned that his foe would remain to die on the planet. Being unable to best his foe, it was decided that the entire incident would remain a carefully guarded secret between Darkseid and his uncle. (Doomsday Annual v1 #1)
In 1502, Darkseid’s beams sent Iluthin to the court of Borgia, where he learned deceit, diplomacy, and stealth. Kanto 13 tracked him down and murdered his fiancee Claudia before escaping to Apokolips. Iluthin followed Kanto to Apokolips using a Boom Tube, and engaged him in battle. Kanto soon doubled over in pain, and Iluthin revealed that he’d poisoned his water before he made his presence known. Darkseid appeared, and when Kanto begged for help Darkseid slew him with the omega beams. Darkseid told Iluthin that Borgia taught him well, and he finally realized that their was no honor for an assassin, only success. Darkseid granted him the traditional name of Kanto, making him his new personal assassin, and granted the dead Kanto 13’s fief and fortress to him. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #13) Darkseid’s scientists sought the x-element, and when Metron realized its utility to his journeys across space and time, he decided to side with them if they found it. Rebel Himon hacked Darkseid’s machines, and made his own bid for the x-element, hoping Metron would stay away from Darkseid if he found it first. Metron doubted Himon, and met with Darkseid, whose men were busy trying to find the siphon Himon was using to keep the x-element away from them. Metron agreed to 'betray' New Genesis for the x-element, hardly a problem since he had no loyalty to anything except knowledge, and shook Darkseid’s hand. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #14) Darkseid showed off the newly acquired x-element to Heggra, Steppenwolf and Desaad. Metron appeared, demanding Darkseid fulfill his promise and give it to him. Darkseid agreed, reminding him that he would create a time-space portal for Apokolips, and Apokolips alone. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #15)
Darkseid’s scientists found the x-element first, and Metron agreed to his demands to create space-time portals for Darkseid’s army. Metron powered his Mobius Chair with the x-element, and went off on a dimensional journey. He couldn’t stop the dimensional free-fall, and in desperation he linked his x-element with the one Himon was working on. His plan worked, and Himon admitted he was somewhat surprised that the chair worked at all. Darkseid appeared, he had known that the x-element he’d found was unstable, and predicted Metron would have to link it to Himon’s element to work. He ordered his men to capture the hated Himon, who admitted Darkseid had surprised him, but he was prepared and phased away. Darkseid fumed that Himon was the most difficult rebel he’d ever had to deal with, and wished he’d leave Apokolips for a comfortable life on New Genesis. As long as there was evil to fight Himon would never leave Apokolips. Metron had an idea for the time-space transport wanted, he could replicate the wormhole that opened when he linked the two x-elements together. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #16)
Seeking to topple his uncle Steppenwolf, Darkseid managed to convince his uncle to hunt New Gods on New Genesis for sport. He accompanied the general during the attack where Steppenwolf incidentally killed Avia the wife of Izaya who was the ruler of the planet. In the attack, Izaya himself was killed but Darkseid had secretly resurrected him in order to trigger a war between Apokolips and New Genesis. (New Gods v1 #7)
Modern
He dispatched his forces to capture Kara Zor-El and had her brainwashed to serve him with Darkseid sending her to fight Superman when her cousin came to rescue her. Darkseid was forced to abandon this plan when Batman threatened to detonate Apokolip's armory of Hellspores that would have destroyed the planet with Darkseid disavowing Kara Zor-El and promising never to make another move against her. (Superman/Batman v1 #12)
Final Crisis
Darkseid's rebirth and fall from the heavens was warping time and space around Earth. The planet and all the people under the influence of the equation were becoming extensions of his mind. Earth became a doomsday singularity, with time accelerating within Darkseid's sphere of influence and bringing the other Earths of the multiverse into the same reality. (Final Crisis v1 #5)
During his game with Solomon, he revealed that he was unconcerned at Brother Eye assimilating Apokolips as the world was set to explode which would have destroyed the rogue artificial intelligence. (Countdown v1 #9)
As Darkseid's forces fought the heroes outside Command-D, Batman managed to escape imprisonment. Darkseid was aware Batman was in his throne room and urged him to embrace Anti-Life. However, Batman had the Radion bullet that Darkseid used to kill Orion, and was willing to use a gun to stop him. Darkseid fired his Omega Beams at Batman, but the Dark Knight fired and the Radion bullet hit Darkseid. The bullet wounded him, but despite this, the Omega Beams hit Batman, leaving only a rotting corpse that was later found by Superman. (Final Crisis v1 #6)
Superman came to confront Darkseid who mocked the Kryptonian by saying that the hero had abandoned Earth for a moment allowing Darkseid to win thus becoming everyone and everything whilst the Man of Steel was enemy of all that lived. However, Superman inadvertently distracted Darkseid long enough for Barry Allen and Wally West to lead the Black Racer to Darkseid. In the final stages of Radion poisoning, the Black Racer took Darkseid thus freeing others from the Anti-Life Equation. Wonder Woman used the Lasso of Truth to bound Darkseid's body, breaking the Anti-Life Equation's hold over the people of Earth. Building a Miracle Machine, Superman was able to undo the damage that Darkseid's presence had done. Before he could activate it, Darkseid's essence made one final attempt to claim the Miracle Machine, which he called a 'cargo cult mother box'. Superman though knew that Darkseid's essence was vibrating at a frequency similar to the multiverse, and could be stopped with a counter frequency. Using all of his strength, Superman sang a note at high volume, shattering Darkseid's essence. Finally, the New Gods of New Genesis, resurrected in the new 'fifth world', where they planned to remake their world. (Final Crisis v1 #7)
Doctor Impossible sought to revive his master Darkseid and manipulated the Crime Syndicate of America in order to accomplish this task. After gathering the necessary equipment, he betrayed his allies but it instead created a new menace known as the Omega Man. (Justice League of America v2 #50)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
At some point, the trickster Kaiyo came to draw Darkseid's ire when she entered his throne room and laughed. This led to the master of Apokolips looking to capture her leading to Kaiyo escaping into the Multiverse. (Justice League v2 #23.1)
Darkseid was driven out when Cyborg activated the invaders' Mother Boxes and Superman forces him through a boom tube. The incidents that occurred made Darkseid the very first foe the newly formed League faces as a team. (Justice League v2 #6)
With Epoch gone, Arla Hax bowed in servitude to Darkseid as she was a spy in his service and agreed to help him use the Revision Mechanism. Both Dex-Starr and Space Ranger Suzi Starr seemingly agreed to serve him rather than be killed. Darkseid then went about re-ordering the timeline according to his designs starting with restoring Apokolips and placing it back within the Sphere of the Gods. From there, he intended to create copies of it across the Multiverse and thus rule the entire cosmos. (Justice League Odyssey v1 #24)
After Perpetua's defeat, the Multiverse was reborn and turned into a vast infinite frontier of alternate worlds spanning it. In this time, the Quintessence sought to contain various threats to Earth-Omega with among them being Darkseid. However, the New God came to pull together the various aspects of himself into a single form that was his strongest state which he used to break free. He then used his shadows to eliminate the Quintessence as he prepared to enact his own plans against the new Multiverse. (Infinite Frontier v1 #0)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Originally, he was known as Uxas until he took his godname of Darkseid. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #2) The name Darkseid was chosen from the most feared of all the names in the ancient lorebooks that was a name no one had dared take in all the millennia of the New Gods existence. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #5)
Uxas had claimed that he did not war for the sake of conflict but rather enjoyed the many arts of war. In fact, he enjoyed the planning and the manipulations involved in such events. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #4) In fact, he he preferred to watch rather than involve himself directly in a fight. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #2) As a strategist, he was noted to calculate the outcome of any event. (Superman/Batman v1 #12) He was willing to destroy everything as he claimed that his vision extended beyond the known realities. Darkseid had said that all things must end but stated that they would end on his terms. (Countdown v1 #9)
He was shown to had been terrified of his father Yuga Khan. (New Gods v3 #19)
It was noted that Darkseid first experienced fear as he watched the beast Doomsday kill his friend Mayhem. (Doomsday Annual v1 #1)
Heggra had shown only cruelty, coldness and constant mockery to Uxas that included condemning him to a loveless marriage. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #5)
He had an older brother by the name of Drax. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #2) Uxas had a long desire to step out from his shadow and in fact murdered him in order to attain power. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #4)
Darkseid's uncle was his mother's brother Steppenwolf who said that he did not like his nephew. Steppenwolf had said before that his nephew was clever, cunning and a plotter much like his mother Heggra. (New Gods v1 #7)
In his youth, he came to love the lady Suli who became his wife and she came to bore him a child named Kalibak. (New Gods v1 #11)
He was later forced to wed Tigra where she bore him another son who was named Orion. (New Gods v1 #11)
As a result of the pact, he came to adopt the son of Highfather as his own with Scot Free being raised on Apokolips as a result. (New Gods v1 #7)
According to one account, Darkseid came to conquer an unknown world and spent time amongst its female natives with one of them becoming pregnant with his son who was named Grayven. (Green Lantern v3 #75)
The Amazon Myrina came to bear a child of Darkseid with this being a daughter who was named Grail. (Justice League v2 #42)
In his youth, he was noted to had been close friends with another Apokoliptian named Master Mayhem. (Doomsday Annual v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
His body had absorbed the full power of the Omega Effect with the force existing as a part of him. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #5) The power of the Omega Force was said to ravage the strongest of minds. (Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1 #4)
He was able to project an avatar of himself into reality that was separate from the true location of his physical form. This was not a clone but rather an extrusion that consisted of a small part of his nearly infinite energy. This talent was used when Darkseid had to divide his focus on multiple fronts but it was not something he preferred to do as these avatars were much weaker than his true form and could even be beaten in battle by strong opponents. (New Gods v4 #15)
Darkseid was capable of absorbing the power of gods and use it to empower himself. (Wonder Woman v5 #37)
Notes
- Darkseid was created by Jack Kirby where he made a cameo appearance in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen v1 #134 (November, 1970) before making a full appearance Forever People v1 #1 (February, 1971).
Alternate Versions
- In Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night v1 #1 (2019), an alternate reality was shown to exist within the Dark Multiverse showed a universe where the Black Lantern Corps dominated the cosmos. This saw the New Gods largely slain and converted into Black Lanterns with Darkseid being among their number. The undead Darkeid stated that Nekron represented true anti-life and sought to aid his master in the elimination of the living in the universe.
In other media
Television
- In Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, Darkseid appeared in the setting of the 1984 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Frank Welker.
- In The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, Darkseid appeared in the setting of the 1985 animated television series where he was voiced again by actor Frank Welker.
- In DC Animated Universe, Darkseid made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting:
- In Superman: The Animated Series, Darkseid appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Michael Ironside. Darkseid seeks to bring the entire universe under his control. To achieve this end, he seeks the cosmic power of the Anti-Life Equation, which theoretically will enable him to control any and all existing life in the universe. Darkseid's perpetual rival is Highfather, the leader of New Genesis ― Apokolips's sister planet. For thousands of years, Apokolips and New Genesis waged war, claiming millions of lives until a truce was finally agreed upon. To seal their bond, Highfather and Darkseid exchanged their infant children: Highfather would look after Darkseid's son Orion and Darkseid would raise Highfather's son Scott Free. Though maintaining an uneasy peace, Darkseid still looked to acquire power without Highfather's interference. He soon took notice of the planet Earth, not only for its vast natural resources and vulnerable population but also because a potential rival had appeared amongst the otherwise "unworthy" masses: Superman. In an effort to gauge Superman's power as well as prepare Earth for his coming Darkseid aided Intergang by supplying powerful weapons of his world to the greedy human criminals. Darkseid ordered his servant Desaad to destroy Superman, but his device failed. After his son Kalibak disobeyed orders by battling Superman, Darkseid made his presence known to the Man of Steel, injuring Superman with his Omega Beams before disappearing into a boom tube.
- In Justice League, Darkseid appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced again by actor Michael Ironside.
- In Justice League Unlimited, Darkseid appeared in the animated television series where he was once more voiced by actor Michael Ironside.
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Darkseid appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Michael-Leon Wooley.
- In Young Justice, Darkseid appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Michael-Leon.
- In Justice League Action, Darkseid appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Jonathan Adams
- In Harley Quinn, Darkseid appeared in the animated television series in the episode "Inner ParaDemons" where he was voiced again by actor Michael Ironside.
Films
- In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, Darkseid appeared in the direct-to-video animated film where he was voiced by actor Andre Braugher.
- In Justice League: War, Darkseid appeared as the main antagonist of the animated film where he was voiced by actor Steve Blum.
- In Reign of the Supermen, Darkseid appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by actor Tony Todd.
- In Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, Darkseid appeared in the animated film where he was voiced once again by actor Tony Todd.
Video games
- In Superman, Darkseid appeared in the 1999 video game where he was voiced by actor Michael Ironside.
- In Superman: Shadow of Apokolips, Darkseid appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Kevin Michael Richardson.
- In Justice League Heroes, Darkseid appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor David Sobolov.
- In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Darkseid appeared in the setting of the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Perry Brown.
- In Injustice 2, Darkseid appeared in the fighting video game as a DLC character where he was voiced once more by actor Michael-Leon Wooley.
Appearances
- Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen v1: (1970)
- Forever People v1:
- New Gods v1:
- New Gods v3:
- Jack Kirby's Fourth World v1: (1997)
- Justice League v1:
- Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1:
- Justice League v2:
- Wonder Woman:
- Justice League Odyssey v1:
- Infinite Frontier v1: (2021)
Links
Internal Links
External Links
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