About

Alter ego: Uxas
Species: New God
Place of origin :Apokolips
Team affiliations: Darkseid's Elite, Intergang, Secret Society of Super Villains
Notable aliases: Dark Side, Boss Dark Side
Abilities: Possessor of the Omega Force
Superhuman strength, stamina, durability, and intellect
Psionic powers
Immortality

Fictional character biography

Panel from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (November 1970; first appearance of Darkseid. Art by Jack Kirby.The son of Yuga Khan and Queen Heggra, Prince Uxas, second in line to the throne of Apokolips, plotted to seize power over the planet. When his brother, Drax, attempted to claim the fabled Omega Force, Uxas murdered him and took the power for himself; transforming him into a rock-like creature, and taking a new name: Darkseid.[1][4] At some point, he falls in love with an Apokoliptian scientist named Suli, with whom he has a son, Kalibak; however Suli is poisoned by Desaad on Heggra's behalf, who believes that Suli was corrupting her son. Following Suli's death, Darkseid's heart grew even colder, and has Desaad poison Heggra, finally becoming the supreme monarch of Apokolips. Darkseid had briefly been forced by his mother to marry Tigra, with whom he also had a son; after murdering his mother, Darkseid had both Tigra and their son, Orion, banished on Apokolips.[5]

The destructive war between the rival planet, New Genesis, is stopped only with a diplomatic exchange of the sons of Highfather and Darkseid. Darkseid's second born son is surrendered to Highfather, while Darkseid receives Scott Free, who later becomes the master escape artist Mister Miracle. This eventually turns out to be a setback for Darkseid, with his biological son growing up to value and defend the ideals of New Genesis in opposition to his father; it has been foretold that Darkseid will meet his final defeat at the hands of his son in a cataclysmic battle in the fiery Armaghetto of Apokolips.[1]

Seeing other gods as a threat, Darkseid invaded the island of Themyscira in order to discover the secret location of the Olympian gods, planning to overthrow the Olympians and steal their power. Refusing to aid Darkseid in his mad quest, the Amazons battled his parademon troops, causing half of the Amazon population's death.[6] Wonder Woman was able to gain her revenge against Darkseid for killing so many of her sisters by placing a portion of her own soul into Darkseid. This supposedly weakened the god's power as he lost a portion of his dark edge.[7]


Legends #1 (November 1986). Cover art by John Byrne.Darkseid's goal is to eliminate all free will from the universe and reshape it into his own image. To this end, he seeks to unravel the mysterious Anti-Life Equation, which will give him complete control over the thoughts and emotions of all living beings in the universe. Darkseid has tried on several other occasions to achieve dominance of the universe through other methods, most notably through his minion Glorious Godfrey, who can control people's minds with his voice. He 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. Darkseid intends to probe the minds of every human in order to piece together the Equation. This has caused Darkseid to clash with that of many superheroes of the DC Universe, notably, the Kryptonian Superman. Darkseid works behind-the-scenes, using superpowered minions in his schemes to overthrow Earth, including working through Intergang, a crime syndicate which employs Apokoliptian technology and has since morphed into a religious cult that worships Darkseid as the God of Evil.

Over the years, Darkseid's powers have waxed and waned considerably due to several instances of Darkseid being mortally wounded and assumed dead, often as a result of battles with his son Orion. During one of his "deaths", Orion assumed control over Apokolips before surrendering control over it to his father upon his return.

Following Darkseid's attempt to attack Earth using a brainwashed Supergirl, Superman, believing Darkseid has destroyed (a reformed) Supergirl, hurls Darkseid into the sun where Darkseid is beaten unconscious by Superman (with the help of a Mother Box) who throws him into the Source Wall.[1][8] However, to pay a debt incurred to an alternate reality Darkseid and in order to realign the timeline, Superman later frees Darkseid from his entombment in the Source Wall. During his imprisonment in the Source Wall, Darkseid had been drained of his Omega powers. Desaad works with the Scarecrow and uses a mind-controlled Superman to retrieve Highfather's staff from the Source Wall, and use it as a conduit to recharge Darkseid's energies, via a portal to the Omega Realm. [9]

Following his regaining of his powers, Darkseid found himself involved in a game of human chess against the Monitor Solomon, as the end of the Fourth World began to dawn upon the New Gods. As New Gods are killed across the galaxy, Darkseid marshalled his forces on Apokolips as he sends Granny Goodness to Earth to enslave the Amazons, who are manipulated into declaring war on the planet Earth and are punished for their invasion by way of being mindwiped and scattered to the four corners of the Earth to live normal lives. This allows Granny, who has imprisoned the Greek Gods on Apokolips, to impersonate the goddess Athena and recruit a new society of Amazons to train as new Female Furies for Darkseid.

Darkseid meanwhile begins to manipulate Jimmy Olsen, who years earlier unknowingly had a "soul battery" implanted inside of his body by Darkseid, allowing the energies of the deceased New Gods to be collected and stored within Jimmy Olsen, so that Darkseid could retrieve it once he eliminated the person responsible for killing off the New Gods. He also attempted to bring about the end of all life on Earth, via the Morticoccus virus that Karate Kid carried as well as corrupting Mary Marvel as his concubine, via his new pawn Eclipso.

Darkseid's overall plan is to bring about the "Great Disaster", destroying Earth and ensuring that its heroes are unable to stop Darkseid from becoming the architect of the coming Fifth World. He has Desaad assume control over the Brother Eye satellite and Blüdhaven, to serve as his new base of operation. However Brother Eye evolves to the point of leaving Earth and taking control over Apokolips, driving Darkseid off his homeworld, which the Source (the killer of the New Gods) merges with New Genesis.


Panel from Countdown to Final Crisis #2 (April 200 cool ; Darkseid is killed by his son. Art by Scott Kolins.Darkseid, having recorrupted Mary Marvel after she freed the imprisoned Greek Gods, captures Olsen in order to steal the power hidden in him. Superman comes to Jimmy's aid, only for Darkseid to take control of Jimmy's powers, making him radiate Kryptonite. Ray Palmer (the Atom) manages to shut off Darkseid's control, and the villain is confronted by a gigantic turtle-like Jimmy. After battling Jimmy across the Metropolis landscape, Darkseid moves in for the kill only to witness the Atom emerge from Jimmy's head. Palmer quickly destroys the vessel of the New Gods' powers freeing them into the void. Enraged, Darkseid is taken by surprise when a Boom Tube opens above the skies of Metropolis. His scion and son Orion emerges from the tube, having managed to escape being murdered by the Infinity Man. Orion and Darkseid battle, and after a furious exchange, Darkseid is killed when his heart is ripped from his chest by his own son. [10]

But this death would not last, as Darkseid is next seen in DC Universe #0, falling backwards through time and space as Libra addresses the Secret Society of Super-Villains. With Libra proclaiming to them that they can be given their heart's desire if they pray to the "God of Evil", Darkseid is reborn as Boss Dark Side, leader of the villainous Dark Side Club.[11]

Now bound to the form of a human, "Boss Dark Side" (first introduced by Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers series) begins to appear in a number of titles in the run up to Final Crisis. In Flash (vol. 2) #240, he leads an army of fanatics, their will broken by the "spoken form" of the Anti-Life Equation, to kidnap the Tornado Twins, in Birds of Prey #118 he runs his Dark Side Club where superhumans fight to the death, brainwashed by drugs produced by Bernadeth, and in Teen Titans #59 it is revealed that he employs the Terror Titans to capture the Teen Titans and use them in his club fights.

In Final Crisis, Darkseid begins to take over Earth with the aid of the corrupted Mary Marvel, Libra, Mr. Simyan, and Mokkari, and the astral forms of his fellow evil New Gods, who like Darkseid now possess human bodies.

Using Metron's abandoned Mobius Chair, Darkseid assassinates his son Orion via a "time travel" bullet fired into the past following Orion "killing" his father at the end of "Countdown to the Final Crisis". He also arranges for detective Dan Turpin to be lured into the Dark Side Club, where Turpin is turned into Darkseid's "final host", as his Boss Dark Side body has begun to mummify due to Darkseid's foul astral presence. With his legion of followers and allies aiding him as he undergoes his latest "rebirth", Darkseid successfully conquers the Earth with the unleashing of the Anti-Life Equation onto mankind. However, the re-birthing process is still far from complete as Dan Turpin's mind and soul, while corrupted by Darkseid's essence, still remains in firm control over his body. However, at the same moment Shilo Norman, the Embodiment of Freedom is shot by S.H.A.D.E. operatives, thus signaling the Victory of Evil. Darkseid wins control over Turpin's body, now twisted in a close copy of his Apokoliptan former appearance, and wearing an updated copy of his battle armor. Darkseid then gains the fullest of his power, his "fall" having the effect of compressing and crumpling space-time around Earth. After escaping from captivity, Batman shoots Darkseid with the same Radion bullet that killed Orion, while Darkseid simultaneously Omega Sanctions Batman. Darkseid is hit in the shoulder, but not before his Omega Sanction "kills" him. Batman's charred remains are found by Superman, who confronts Darkseid. It emerges that in Darkseid's fall through the multiverse, he is dragging all of time and space in the entire multiverse into a Doomsday singularity with him. While Superman attempts to physically assault him, Darkseid is beyond physical attack, as he now almost entirely controls reality itself. With his body dying of Radion poisoning, his physical form is then killed when Barry Allen leads the Black Racer to him after he fires the bullet which will go back in time and slay Orion. Despite the destruction of his physical form, Darkseid's essence now rules virtually the entire Earth, which has been evacuated to a parallel world. In spirit form, he taunts Superman to the very end, when Superman sings a single note at his counter-frequency, shattering Darkseid's essence and freeing reality. What is left of Darkseid is then consumed by oblivion while the Supermen of the Multiverse and the GL Corps drag the Earth out of the black hole — ending the threat of the God of Evil once and for all.


[edit] Powers and abilities

Panel from New Gods (vol. 1) #11 (November 1972); Darkseid vaporizes Desaad with his Omega Beams. Art by Jack Kirby.Darkseid is among the most powerful New Gods, sometimes depicted with a variety of god-like abilities at his disposal. His main power, the Omega Effect, is a form of energy that he fires from his eyes as either concussive force or beams of disintegration, capable of transmuting or erasing most objects and organisms from existence as well as to reform or resurrect them. Anything Darkseid disintegrates with the Omega Effect can be brought back at any time by him, and he often uses this as a form of punishment. Darkseid has pinpoint control over his Omega Beams, and his unerring aim allows them to travel in straight lines, bend, twist, or curve around corners, and can pass through matter and energy. Alongside incineration, transmutation, and resurrection the Omega Effect can also be used to teleport Darkseid or others through time and space. [12]

Darkseid is also able to project the Omega Effect as energy blasts from his hands. Another type of Omega Effect is the Omega Sanction. The Omega Sanction traps the organism in a series of alternate realities, each worse than the previous one. Also, the ability has been shown to transport those struck by it through time and space.

In addition, Darkseid possesses superhuman strength, stamina, and durability equivalent to the corresponding traits of Superman [13] and Orion [14]. Countdown To Final Crisis #2 reveals that he also possesses the ability to increase his size. Darkseid possesses the power of telepathy and has also shown the ability to create psionic avatars and to lift objects with his mind (telekinesis). He is even able to open Boom Tubes under his own power, and can travel through time, space, and other dimensions with ease. Darkseid is also, being a god, virtually immortal, having returned from the dead a number of times and having lived for several thousand years at the very least.

Despite his great might, Darkseid generally does not rely on physical combat; he is a master schemer and strategist possessing a superhuman intellect. Darkseid has also shown some form of godly sense, capable of sensing the death of his son Orion [15] and the fluctuations of the energy of the "Godwave" [16]. Darkseid commands all the vast military and technological resources of Apokolips.