Darkseid
From Open Encyclopedia
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Darkseid is a DC Comics supervillain created by Jack Kirby, originally as part of The Fourth World series of comic books in the early 1970s. He first appeared in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (November 1970).
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Character history
Darkseid is the ruler of the planet Apokolips, a post he obtained after assassinating his mother. He is obsessed with finding the Anti-Life Equation in order to use it to rule the universe. This goal also includes conquering his rival planet, New Genesis, ruled by the Highfather, formerly Izaya the Inheritor. The resulting destructive war is stopped only with a diplomatic exchange of the Highfather's and Darkseid's infant sons. Darkseid's Orion is surrendered to the Highfather while Darkseid receives Scott Free, who will later become the master escape artist Mister Miracle. This turns out to be a setback for Darkseid with his biological son growing up to fiercely value and defend the ideals of New Genesis in opposition to his father.
Powers and abilities
In addition to the considerable military forces at his command, Darkseid himself is quite formidable. His main power is the Omega Beam or Omega Effect, which is fired from his eyes. The Omega Effect is not only a powerful attack, but can teleport the target anywhere Darkseid chooses, erase the target from existence instantly and can then restore the target if he chooses. The Omega Effect is not limited to traveling in straight lines, able to bend or twist as needed. It can traverse time and different universes, and go through some barriers such as Orion's body.
Darkseid also possesses strength, speed, and stamina rivalling that of Superman. He has overpowered the demon Etrigan, and Lobo hurt his hand by punching Darkseid's face.
Darkseid has the ability to transmute matter. He turned Ol-Vir, a Daxamite, into dust, soap into dirt, and Slo-bo into a statue. He can teleport. He also has mind control greater than that of Sleez. According to Orion, he can travel through time as easily as any god. He can create life, as he did when he created Stayne.
Darkseid's personality
Image:Darkseidgenesis.PNG Darkseid is a character whose personality can vaguely be described as evil incarnate. Darkseid is not merely content to control but to dominate those individuals under him into totally obedient and morally corrupt caricatures of individuals. Apokolips is a world that resembles Hell because of his need to be worshipped as a god and the need to nurture the most horrible aspects of the human spirit. In a personality cult reminiscent of Stalinism, his subjects are raised to venerate him, to sacrifice themselves gladly in his name.
Darkseid practices great emotional restraint, always maintaing a calm and disciplined composure despite the furious rage that often boils within him (his son, Orion, has inherited this rage but cannot control it as well as his father, relying on his mother box to keep his emotions in check). Darkseid seems to possess a twisted form of honor but this code is 'flexible' depending on his mood. It seems he desires to be thought of as an honorable being but never lets this stand in the way of his gaining power or revenge. He especially takes delight in seeing the mighty brought low whether in strength or moral conviction. Darkseid's primary weakness may be his obsession to get even with people who have gotten the better of him, especially Superman, Wonder Woman, and the New Gods. He may also begin to develop a grudge against Batman, who robbed him of his most powerful apprentice, Supergirl.
Darkseid's agenda
Image:Newgods1.png Darkseid's great ambition is to wipe out free will from the universe and reshape it in his own image. To this end, he seeks to unravel the mysterious 'Anti-Life Equation', which will allow him to control completely the thoughts and emotions of living beings. The Anti-Life Equation has often been portrayed as a quasi-mystical power that forces a listener to agree with whatever the wielder says. Other times, it is portrayed as a comprehensive scientific theory on how to dominate any living mind, whatever its nature may be.
Whilst he has yet to obtain a complete working copy of the Anti-Life Equation, he has tried on several other occasions to achieve dominance of the universe through other methods. Darkseid has a special interest in Earth, as he believes humans possess collectively within their minds most, if not all, fragments of the Anti-Life Equation. If he should conquer Earth, he will probe the mind of every human to piece together the Equation.
Orion possesses significant fragments of the Anti-Life Equation, while Scott Free (Better known as Mister Miracle) is the only being in existence who knows the entire code.
Destiny
As with gods in other mythologies, Darkseid is incredibly powerful, but cannot escape his ultimate destiny. It has been fortold that Darkseid will meet his final defeat at the hands of his son Orion, in a cataclysmic battle in the fiery pits of Apokolips. Presumably this outcome would occur at the climax of the New Gods series, but the title's unforseen cancellation instead brought Darkseid's story arc to an unceremonious end, and both he and Orion were brought into the mainstream DC universe, while Kirby moved on to other projects.
While this changeover kept Darkseid alive as a character, some fans feel it is to his detriment. No writers appear willing to write the ultimate resolution to the character, either out of respect for Kirby or because they are not about to kill off one of DC's most popular villains. As well, the idea of reversing or annulling the prophesy has been turned down, also out of respect to Kirby. At the present time Darkseid and Orion will not have their final battle in the forseeable future, and thus both characters, while still active, are in a story arc "limbo", and the closest his character has yet come to death is an off screen disappearance in the DCAU, although this is both unlikely to be permanent, and is outside of standard DCU continuity.
In the post apocalyptic miniseries, Kingdom Come Orion has now deposed Darkseid, fulfiling the prophecy, and is ruler of Apokalips. However, the changes that he wished to make (democracy, freedom) were quickly stopped, making him bitter and cynical. Superman is disappointed in Orion's progress and says his new demeanor is more like Darkseid than ever.
In an ironic twist concerning Darkseid's fate, Grant Morrison wrote a story during his run on JLA that featured Darkseid's death at the hands of Orion. However, it took place on Earth with Orion blowing up the entire planet to kill Darkseid, who was in a vegetative state becuse of the Atom. This Earth, an alternate future, was wiped out of existence moments later when Aquaman, the Flash (Wally West), and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) of the present Earth went back to the present to stop Superman from destroying an artifact which preceded the Earth's takeover by Darkseid.
Recent Characterizations
Image:Darkseidsupes.png Although Darkseid had previously been written as a nigh-unbeatable and omnipotent foe, his recent characterizations have shown him to be massively powered down as a result of the more personal enmity his animated version has for Superman. While he still far outstrips his animated counterpart in strength, speed and stamina, the level to which he has been reduced places him at comparable tier of power to the comic version of Superman. In one instance, his Omega Effect is deflected by Superman's heat vision, and more recently Wonder Woman's bracelets, feats that normally would have been impossible according to previous continuity. Superman himself will neither be a match for Darkseid's Omega Effect, if it should ever hit his body at full power; nor is Wonder Woman, as the Omega Effect, when properly portrayed, would go through her enchantment and hit her directly.
In Grant Morrison's 2005 Mister Miracle miniseries, it was revealed that Darkseid finally discovered the Anti-Life Equation, which he then used to destroy the Fourth World altogether. The New Gods fled to Earth, where they hid: Highfather and his followers are now a group of homeless people, Metron is an epileptic, the Black Racer is an old white man in a wheelchair, Desaad is an evil psychiatrist, Granny Goodness is a pimp for the Female Furies, and Darkseid himself is now an evil businessman who is referred to only as 'Dark Side'.
Other appearances
Image:Animated Darkseid.jpg He has appeared in the later seasons of The Super Friends animated television series, perhaps to fulfill the producers' request for a villain similar to Star Wars' Darth Vader. He often would combine whatever villanous agenda of the episode with the scheme of forcing Wonder Woman to marry him. He was voiced by Frank Welker. Jack Kirby said that the network executives tried to go behind his back and call the character "Darkside" for the the "Super Powers" tv show, but Mr. Kirby was adamant about the name staying the same.
In addition, he appears in the current DC Animated Universe continuity, produced by Bruce Timm, where he is voiced by Michael Ironside. First tormenting Superman to join him in Superman: The Animated Series, and then in Justice League where he teamed up with Brainiac to destroy the Justice League. Orion went a couple rounds with him before getting his back broken and Superman got the upper hand over him and destroyed his Boom Tube where Brainiac's Asteroid Base blew up. Until now, it's unknown what happened to Darkseid. But in Justice League Unlimited, a civil war sprang on Apokolips between Granny Goodness and Vermin Vundebarr. However, it is quite possible that he survived, and he is one of the prime candidates for the identity of the 'mysterious other' rumoured to be the sponsor of Gorilla Grodd's Legion of Doom.
In this current animated version of Darkseid possess speed, strength and stamina slightly above Superman's level in addition to his Omega Effect, but he once lost in "hand to hand" combat (but not without using laser vision and omega effect respectively, of course) with Superman, during one of the last episodes of Superman: the Animated Series. His Omega Effect is shown to be powerful enough to kill/disintegrate on impact, but presumably, Darkseid wishes not to use that on Superman due to it removing the tangible pleasure of humbling the Man of Steel himself. The one time that Darkseid might have used the Omega Effect at full capacity, Superman saw it coming and covered both of Darkseid's eyes very tightly with his own hands, creating a backfire effect and charring the lord of Apokolips significantly.
External links
- Supermanica: Darkseid Supermanica entry for the Pre-Crisis Darkseid
