Darkseid

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Had the Kryptonian or the Amazon taken this gamble, they would have lost. They do not have the strength of character it would take to destroy an entire planet to achieve success. But… you… a human. You kill your own kind to win battles. It is an admirable quality. Take the girl. I will make no move against her.
—Darkseid (Superman/Batman: Supergirl)

Universe: DC
First Appearance: Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970)
Created by: Jack Kirby

A dark new god and one of the main antagonists of DCU, Darkseid also known as Uxas, son of Yuga Khan and Heggra, seized control of the throne from his big brother, Drax. Claiming the fabled Omega Force for himself, his skin turned to stone and he renamed himself as Darkseid.

He is regarded as the embodiment of pure evil. He’s one of the most merciless, power-hungry, and tyrannical characters, who rules with an iron will and cunning intellect in the whole DCU. He rules over Apokolips and seeks to find the Anti-Life Equation to bind every living being to his will. Yeah, that’s right, if anyone wanna learn what a supreme villain looks like, he’s the one. He doesn’t want to conquer a planet, subjugate his foes, or enslave and rob a planet, he seeks everyone’s free will and the power to control it with his own while establishing his tyrannical rule on the universe.

One of his arch nemesis is his son, Orion, along with Superman, Highfather, and other new Gods in New Genesis, his father, Yuga Khan, and many others.

He along with the other New Gods are singular throughout the entire multiverse but exist in every universe as their true selves. And due to his New God physiology, he thinks and reacts faster than others. His speed is great. He is resilient against all sorts of physical or mental damage. Human weapons or many other extra-terrestrial weapons do not affect him. His loyal followers are equally twisted and sadistic as he is, and command an army of mindless Parademons.

But, recently Darkseid gets himself killed in a fight with the Justice League, by Superman, to forge a meaner universe into existence, the Absolute Universe, ruled by Darkseid. As Orion stated Darkseid is a constant, and now they are yet to know the full effect of killing him.

Powers & Abilities:

Darkseid’s dreaded Omega Beams can kill a foe instantly. They can travel in straight lines, curves, or bends. But, it is ineffective against Wonder Woman’s bracelets.

He has super strength, a genius-level intellect, a master of combat strategies, and is invulnerable, as he can’t be destroyed entirely as long as evil exists.

He can invade others’ minds telepathically and control them from anywhere in the universe.

His manifestations exist throughout different universes giving access to powerful alien technology

He has seen to raise the dead on many occasions.

He can levitate/fly and even teleport. He can manipulate his size, density, and mass. He also can create a force field.

One of the worst disastrous of the Omega Effects. It can transfer an organism into a series of alternate realities one worse than the other.

Darkseid’s very name instills fear in his foes. Darkseid is a highly trained Apokoliptian warrior. He has fought Anti-Monitor and Doomsday. Darkseid only fights opponents he considers worthy as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and his son Orion. He possesses extreme control over his emotions, unlike his son, Orion.

Trivia:

Suli, Darkseid’s first wife and mother of their son, Kalibak was the only person whom he truly loved. Heggra, Darkseid’s mother didn’t like Suli having a calming effect on her son and she ordered her death by poisoning. Suli’s death hardened Darkseid’s heart and he later had his mother killed to assume the control of Apokolips as an act of vengeance for murdering Suli.

Batman is the only human Darkseid has shown respect to and this admiration led to a horrific consequence as he tried to grow his own clone army of Batman to take over the reality in Final Crisis.

One avatar in the Crossoververse of Darkseid has battled Galactus and has nearly lost in Darkseid vs. Galactus: The Hunger.

Darkseid knows about the Marvel Universe and in a canon DC vs. Marvel, Darkseid has referred to Thanos as his cheap imitation.

Thanos the mad Titan of the Marvel Universe was inspired by Darkseid as Thanos’ original creator claims during the process of creating a powerful villain.

Grail, a major antagonist in the DC Comics universe, is the daughter of the Apokolips lord and the Amazon assassin, Myrina.

‘Darkseid is’ is the phrase that defines the super villain and it was debuted in JLA: Rock of Ages.

Bonus:

Darkseid and his kind exist beyond DCU and they remain unaffected by various retcons or reboots. The concept of a “true” Darkseid suggests that every version of Darkseid is a tiny fragment of a larger entity that has not been fully revealed.

Jack Kirby actually wanted Darkseid to see his mistakes and atone for them, but seeing Darth Vader’s sacrifice, he felt the idea was very similar and dropped it.

The amalgam version, Thanosid, is an amalgamated version of DC’s Darkseid and Marvel’s Thanos.

Darkseid has love for his son, Orion, and wants the latter to rule alongside him; so he wasn’t pleased when he had to kill him in Final Crisis.

Darkseid does not have a heart for his second child with his favorite wife, Suli. He displays this by not hesitating to punish or kill him if he fails. Albeit, Kalibak is resurrected again and again thinking his son will learn a lesson.

Lastly, Darkseid was defeated by the Great Hand and sent to a mysterious place where Pariah and the Great Darkness mind-controlled him. But was freed and returned to Apokolips after Nightwing overcame the Great Darkness itself.

Now, he’s a pretty badass to mess with. Everyone wonders what his powerful self be like.

Outside Comics

Television

Live-action

Darkseid appears in the tenth and final season of Smallville.

Animation

Darkseid appears multiple times in Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984) and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985).

Darkseid is introduced in Superman: The Animated Series, where he defies the peace treaty between Apokolips and New Genesis in search of the Anti-Life Equation to remake the universe.

In the series finale, originally aired in the New Batman/Superman Adventures (2000), Darkseid brainwashes Supes and has him invade Earth.

Darkseid returns in the Justice League (2001) and Justice League Unlimited (2004).

Darkseid also appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008), and Young Justice (2010).

Darkseid makes appearances in Teen Titans Go! (2013), Justice League Action (2016), DC Super Hero Girls episode “My So Called Anti-Life” (2018), and Harley Quinn (2019).

Darkseid is also stated to appear in the upcoming spinoff series Kite Man: Hell Yeah!

Film

Live-action

Darkseid was considered to be the main antagonist in the scrapped Superman Returns sequel as revealed by Bryan Singer in 2014.

Ray Porter portrayed Darkseid in DCEU’s Zack Snyder Justice League (2021) after being alluded to in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).

Prior to its cancellation in April 2021, Darkseid was set to appear in New Gods.

Animation

In DCAU, Darkseid appears in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010), Justice League: War (2014), and later in Superman: Reign of the Supermen (2019), and finally in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020).

Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League (2015) also has Darkseid, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom (2015), and an alternate version appears in Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015) flashback sequence, and in 2019, he appears in Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans.

Video games

Darkseid appears in Superman: The Game (1985), Justice League Task Force (1995) Superman video game known also as Superman 64 (1999).

Later in 2002, Darkseid appeared in a game developed for PlayStation 2 and GameCube consoles, Superman: Shadow of Apokolips.

Darkseid appears in Justice League Heroes (2006), and later also in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008). He makes an appearance as a boss in DC Universe Online (2011) and also appears in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure (2013).a collaborated event in Puzzles & Dragons (2014). He is a boss in DC Universe Online (2011).

Darkseid is a non-playable character in Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013), but playable in the game’s iOS version, and as a playable character Darkseid appears in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (2014). Darkseid is a playable character via pre-order bonus for Injustice 2 (2017) and later as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains (2018). He also appears as a skin for Geras in Mortal Kombat 11 (2019).