"New Genesis is a stinking cosmic sewer! I have fouled Paradise beyond repair and broken in the mire the shining cities of the Gods! I have won! Is this vanity? Then I will remake the entire universe in the image of my soul, Desaad. And when at last I turn to look upon the eternal desolation I have wrought...I will see Darkseid, as in a mirror....and know what fear is."
"I like you, Glorious Godfrey! You're a shallow, precious child-- The revelationist-- Happy with the sweeping sound of words! But I am the revelation! The tiger-force at the core of all things! When you cry out in your dreams-- it is Darkseid that you see!"
"The most powerful beings of this Earth... CRUSHED and HELPLESS at my feet. And once this planet is consumed...I'll send my forces out to slaughter any ragtag survivors who slipped through my grasp. Such is the annihilation that is Darkseid!"
"I. Am. The. New. God. All is one in Darkseid. This mighty body is my church. When I command your surrender, I speak with three billion voices. When I make a fist to crush your resistance, it is with three billion hands. When I stare into your eyes and shatter your dreams, and break your heart, it is with six billion eyes! Nothing like Darkseid has ever come among you; nothing will again. I will take you to a hell without exit or end. And there I will murder your souls! And make you crawl and beg! And die! Die! DIE FOR DARKSEID!"
Summary
Darkseid is one of the most powerful New Gods and the tyrannical ruler of Apokolips, an archetypal world beyond the boundaries of time and space. His everlasting goal is the utter domination and enslavement of all life in creation, when all is ordered according to his will.
Darkseid was formerly known as Uxas, brother of Drax and son of Yuga Khan and Queen Heggra, the former rulers of Apokolips. Drax attempted to gain control over the Omega Effect, an infinite source of energy residing in the Infinity Pit, that would grant immense power to whoever used it, but at the last second Uxas betrayed his brother and took the Omega powers for himself, becoming Darkseid. Darkseid sired one son with his beloved, the sorceress Suli, but she was killed by his mother so he could be forced to marry the wife of her choosing, Tigra. When Suli died, so did Darkseid's soul, and he sired a single son by Tigra before having her imprisoned in solitude while he focused on ruling, having had his mother assassinated. That son, Orion, would be destined to kill Darkseid in a final duel to the death.
Darkseid manufactured war against Apokolips' rival world, New Genesis, but was later convinced by Metron to agree to a temporary peace treaty. He swapped sons with Highfather of New Genesis, trading Orion for the child who would later become known as Scott Free. Darkseid would continue plotting to gain complete control over creation, researching ways to harness the power of the Anti-Life Equation and the Source.
It was later clarified that Darkseid and the other New Gods are not simply alien beings from an extradimensional realm, they are living ideas from a higher, archetypal realm; every storyline except for Final Crisis simply deals with emanations of the higher-dimensional deities touching the lower-dimensional multiverse. During the events of Final Crisis, Darkseid's Godhead was shattered into fragments, and the Post-Flashpoint emanation of Darkseid is one of those fragments.
Powers and Stats
Tier: 2-C, as low as 4-B when operating through avatars | 4-B | Low 2-C | Low 1-C
Name: Darkseid (Formerly Uxas)
Origin: DC Comics
Gender: Male
Age: Between 15,000 (min) and over 245,000 (max) | Billions of years | Unknown; exists beyond normal time
Classification: New God, Abstract Embodiment of Tyranny
Powers and Abilities:
Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Genius Intelligence, Martial Arts (Comparable to Orion in martial skill), Immortality (Type 1; Type 4 - After truly dying, Darkseid resurrected himself from Orion's body; Type 8 - Returned to life after being destroyed by the Spectre, as he is necessary for existence; Type 9 - the true Darkseid exists in a higher-dimensional plane), Self-Sustenance (Type 1), Flight, Extrasensory Perception (Can see invisible beings and detect souls), Portal Creation and Dimensional Travel (Can open boom tubes at will), Intangible Homing Attack (Omega Beams seek out their target and can pass through physical barriers), Existence Erasure and Durability Negation (Omega Beams can erase their target from existence, making it so they never were), BFR via boom tubes and the Omega Effect (Can banish others by opening boom tubes on them or by teleporting them through space and time with his Omega Beams), Energy Manipulation and Matter Manipulation (Dissipated Wildfire's energy form in quanta; Can fire energy blasts tuned to his target's molecular structure to inflict the most damage), Petrification (Turned Slo-bo to stone), Transmutation (Changed Miracle Mister Soap to mud), Soul Manipulation (Shattered souls using the Omega Effect), Energy Absorption (Can absorb energy on a planetary scale), Forcefield Creation (Can create Omega-energy barriers), Teleportation (Can use Omega Beams to teleport himself as well as others), Non-Physical Interaction (Pulled Professor Stein out of the Firestorm Matrix; Used Omega Beams to knock back Secret, who was intangible), Life Manipulation (Used Omega Beams to trap Cyborg Superman's life force in a metal sphere; Animated a giant statue while trapped in the Source Wall), Resurrection (Raised a massive army of Parademons from the dead; Resurrected Desaad after disintegrating him), Paralysis Inducement and Information Analysis (Paralyzed Infinity Man and probed for his weakness), Aura (Can enhance physical attacks by cloaking himself in energy), Healing (Healed Orion from losing half his body), Duplication (Can create avatars from his energy while his main body is busy, such as when he was trapped in the Source Wall), Astral Projection (Can create images of his head that he can project his Omega Beams through), Power Bestowal (Imbued a baby with some of his power to create Validus; Granted some of his Omega Effect to Bedlam), Power Nullification (Removed Bouncing Boy's power), Magic (Can manipulate magic energy, shown when he contained Black Mary Marvel's power), Size Manipulation (Can adjust his size at will), Spatial Manipulation (Warped the path of Vykin's boom tube by will; His punch cracked the fabric of the dimension he was in), Time Manipulation (Bent time using the Omega Effect to accelerate the growth of Desaad's new body), Time Stop (Froze Godwave Ares by hardening both time and space around him), Time Travel (Orion stated he can easily move through time), Illusion Creation (Made illusions for Superman and Wonder Woman to fight; they were fooled until Darkseid gave himself away), Creation (Used his energy to create the opposite of Takion, Stayne; Can recreate his followers from inanimate objects), Telekinesis (Restrained Superman and Infinity Man in the air), Telepathy (Can drain information from minds and read them in an instant), Mind Manipulation (Simultaneously controlled three billion Pre-Crisis Daxamites), Empathic Manipulation (Reversed the effects of a feeling-altering soap), Pain Manipulation (Can use the Omega Effect to cause pain, such as with Pre-Crisis Supergirl), Biological Manipulation (Deformed Dream Girl and short-circuited the League's brain impulses), Corruption (His clone servants were corrupted by his power), Heat Manipulation (Incinerated Kalibak's flesh by touching him), Weather Manipulation (Created a tornado and storm), Summoning (Can summon forces from Apokolips as well as summon distant targets using Omega Beams), Technology Manipulation (His Omega powers can tamper with advanced technology) Resistance to Existence Erasure (Stated that his body resists the effects of his Omega power and no-sold Lex Luthor's weapon that rips apart existence), Sealing (Removed bindings created by the Alpha Effect), Telepathy (Resisted being telepathically scanned; Martian Manhunter stated New Gods are hard to touch telepathically), Mind Manipulation (The strongest minds were ravaged just from seeing the Omega Effect, while Darkseid was able to immerse himself in and absorb all of it), Empathic Manipulation (Was immune to Bekka's love inducement), Fear Manipulation (Was immune to Desaad's fear-inducing machine), Possession (Stated that Eclipso's possession wouldn't work on him), Electricity Manipulation (Black Mary Marvel's magic lightning had no effect on him), Ice Manipulation (Was unaffected by Superman's freeze breath), Extreme Cold and Cosmic Radiation (Can fly in space unharmed)
Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Genius Intelligence, Extrasensory Perception (Has 18 divine senses; Sensed Constantine's mind from another dimension despite his cloaking spells), Immortality (Type 1), Self-Sustenance (Types 1 and 2), Flight, Energy Projection (Can fire Omega Beams from his eyes and energy blasts from his hands), Homing Attack (Omega Beams track their target), Telepathy (Invaded Constantine's mind), Portal Creation and Dimensional Travel (Can summon boom tubes; Physically pushed through a dimensional barrier Constantine had trouble crossing), BFR (Boom tubes can be used to banish targets), Summoning (Can use boom tubes to access the forces of Apokolips), Regeneration (Low-Mid - Regenerated his destroyed eyes), Size Manipulation (Can grow immensely large), Energy Absorption (Gained power by absorbing the powers of Old Gods), Life Force Absorption (Absorbed life force from Wonder Woman and returned to adulthood by absorbing all of Zeus' life force), Gravity Manipulation and Space-Time Manipulation (Can generate a gravitational pull so strong that space is twisted and time is stretched, so days pass with each second; Physically opened a hole in space), Technology Manipulation (Began taking control of Mr. Terrific's boom spheres with his will), Conceptual Manipulation (Type 1 - Captured the Black Racer and learned to summon and direct it), Illusion Creation (Disguised himself as an alien medic), Dream Manipulation (Invaded Grail's dreams) Resistance to Disease Manipulation (New God physiology makes them immune to disease), Spatial Manipulation (No-sold the spatial rending caused by boom spheres and survived the collapse of a boom tube around him which caused fractures in the universal fabric, though he needed to recuperate in the Mobius Chamber afterward), Antimatter Manipulation (Unaffected by the matter-destroying properties of antimatter), Electricity Manipulation (Was unaffected by Zeus' lightning)
All previous abilities to a much greater degree, plus Abstract Existence (Type 1 - New Gods are living ideas from a platonic, archetypal world), Self-Sustenance (Type 3), Incorporeality, Higher-Dimensional Existence, Large Size (Type 10 - Fell across the entire multiverse), Reality Warping (His presence on Earth caused life to turn darker, time to become distorted, and the sky to rain blood), Black Hole Creation (Created a personal singularity where all was one with him), Creation (Can recreate other New Gods as emanations of his will), Possession (Incarnated on Earth by possessing the body of Dan Turpin, a process that involved eating his consciousness from within as well as eating his soul), Pocket Reality Manipulation, Fate Manipulation and Death Manipulation (The Omega Sanction allows him to trap his target in a never-ending series of created realities in which they are fated to die in more and more horrible ways)
Attack Potency: Low Multiverse level (While significantly weakened, he defeated both Mordru and Time Trapper (Controller) and absorbed their energies, along with energy from all of Sorcerer's World, and was still weaker than normal. Highfather stated he was capable of destroying Takion, who also admitted Darkseid was more powerful than he was. Incapacitated Post-Crisis Superman with a single, casual blast), as low as Solar System level when operating through avatars (Comparable to Post-Crisis Superman) | Solar System level (Stomped Hal Jordan without difficulty. His Omega Beams knocked out Superman in one hit) | Universe level+ (Comparable to the Anti-Monitor) | Low Complex Multiverse level (His mere fall was able to break the Multiversal structure across all of time and damage the Orrery of Worlds [which contains the 5D Bleed]. Nearly succeeded in dragging the contents of the Orrery into a multiversal singularity where all was one with Darkseid)
Speed: Massively FTL+ (52 quintillion times - Flew to the edge of the universe in moments, on more than one occasion. Capable of blitzing Post-Crisis Superman) | At least FTL (Comparable to Wonder Woman and Flash) | At least FTL (Should be faster than before) | Nigh-Omnipresent (Exists within everyone and is the Tiger-Force at the core of all things)
Lifting Strength: At least Multi-Stellar, possibly higher himself (At least comparable to Pre-Crisis Superman), as low as Stellar when operating through avatars (Comparable to Post-Crisis Superman) | Class Y (Comparable to Superman) | At least Class Y | Immeasurable
Striking Strength: Low Multiversal, as low as Solar System Class when operating through avatars (Comparable to Post-Crisis Superman) | Solar System Class (Overpowered Superman) | Universal+ | Low Complex Multiversal
Durability: Low Multiverse level (Should be comparable to his own power. Took no damage from a heavily amped Pre-Crisis Superboy and Supergirl) | Solar System level (Tanked his own Omega Beams alongside the boom spheres' spatial rending. Hal Jordan's constructs shattered on him) | Universe level+ | Low Complex Multiverse level (Should be comparable to his own power)
Stamina: Extremely High (Can fight for long periods of time, even in realms like the Source where the concept of time ceases to have meaning. However, Darkseid has expended his entire store of Omega energy before, becoming tired and needing rest) | Extremely High, possibly infinite (Can fight for seven days straight. His power source, the Omega Effect, is described as infinite) | Infinite (Non-corporeal abstract being)
Range: Low Multiversal (The range of his power extends from his own universe into the mortal one) | Low Multiversal (Detected and invaded Constantine's mind across dimensions) | Low Complex Multiversal (Capable of affecting the entire Orrery, which contains the 5-D Bleed)
Intelligence: Supergenius (Has countless years of experience in strategy, military tactics, governing, and scientific pursuit. He regularly draws chess matches against Eclipso, a cosmic entity and former embodiment of God's Wrath, and built a spaceship larger than the state of New York. Darkseid is responsible for some of the most advanced scientific breakthroughs in the DCU, creating technology capable of penetrating the Source, accessing the realm of Anti-Life, stealing part of the Anti-Life Entity's power, combining and manipulating fragments of the Anti-Life Equation, and turning Mars into a copy of Apokolips. His mind is also extremely adaptable, capable of comprehending the warped dimension of Olympus without any effort, while Superman was completely bewildered by it. The Pre-Flashpoint emanation of Darkseid even remembers events from erased timelines, likely due to his higher-dimensional nature)
Standard Equipment: None (varies depending on the circumstances). Darkseid usually creates technology for the purpose at hand - for example, he created a capture device that stole a piece of the Anti-Life Entity's power. Due to his ability to summon boom tubes at will, Darkseid has instant access to all of Apokolips' technology and armies, should he need them.
Optional Equipment: The Anti-Life Equation
Weaknesses: Darkseid is vulnerable to radion, a lethal substance to New Gods. It should be noted, however, that powerful New Gods like Kalibak are able to easily survive normal radion shots. When Darkseid was shot and weakened by the radion bullet he was already dying.
In order to fully incarnate in a lower dimension by possessing a human body, a noble soul must be corrupted, otherwise the process is not fully successful.
- Used his energy to create Stayne, a being that proved to be a perfect match against Takion, and possessed all his powers
- Disintegrated Agogg, a being capable of easily overwhelming base Orion
- Played around with John Stewart and his Darkstar team for exercise (Darkstars are the equals of Green Lanterns)
- Absorbed energy from Excalibur and stated he could accidentally destroy his servants that way - said servants were comparable to Pre-Crisis Kryptonians. He also absorbed energy from the Wand of Mentachem and Orb of Orthanax, as well as from Mordru, the Time Trapper (Controller), and the entire Sorcerers' World
- Fought against Earth-2 Alan Scott, who had absorbed every Parliament in addition to the Green and unlocked the "potential of the multiverse...the true power of the green"
- [After power-up] Fought against the Anti-Monitor, which threatened to unravel history
- [While dying] Broke the Orrery of Worlds across all of time and nearly dragged all its contents into a Multiversal singularity (that was explicitly Darkseid's own singularity, not something that happened to already be there) that was one with Darkseid
- [While dying] Charged Batman with enough Omega radiation to destroy time
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
Omega Effect: Uxas was reborn as Darkseid when he absorbed the full power of the Omega Effect from the Infinity Pit. Thanks to the Omega energies he gained incredible power and a wide array of abilities.
- Omega Beams: Darkseid's signature technique involves firing a thin, red energy beam from each eye. These beams, also known as "Finder Beams", are extremely fast and home in on their target, passing through physical barriers if needed. Once contact is made, they can either erase the target from existence, a technique called the total wipeout, or transport them through time and space according to Darkseid's will. He can also use them to recreate dead beings, or paralyze his target while probing their weakness.
- Omega Sanction: Also known as the Life Trap, the Omega Sanction can take two completely different forms depending on Darkseid's intent. The first simply sends his target back in time, forcing them to live out their life in the past. The second, stated by Grant Morrison to happen when Darkseid decides on being crueler than normal, was only displayed by Godhead Darkseid. It traps the victim in a never-ending series of horrible realities that force them to live out worse and worse lives, until their soul breaks.
- Energy Absorption: Darkseid is an immensely powerful energy absorber, capable of completely draining the energies of powerful beings like Mordru and all of Sorcerers' World to help restore his own power. His absorption is so powerful that he ordered his servants to get away from him lest they be killed, and some of his servants were capable of taking on Pre-Crisis Kryptonians and Daxamites.
Boom Tubes: Darkseid can summon boom tubes at will, as well as control the paths of others' boom tubes. These portals can transport their user throughout space and between dimensions. They automatically adjust the size of their user to be suitable for their destination, which is why Darkseid appears human-sized rather than star-sized when travelling to the mortal universe.
Telepathy: Darkseid has incredibly powerful telepathic abilities. He can forcefully drain information out of his target's mind as well as control others with his will. While in a weakened state during the Great Darkness Saga, he controlled three billion Daxamites at once.
Avatars: Darkseid can create duplicate bodies from portions of his energy that can function autonomously. They are significantly weaker than his real body but otherwise seem to retain his intellect and abilities.
Omega Effect: The Post-Flashpoint emanation of Darkseid gained his Omega powers by absorbing the energies of dead Old Gods, although that origin story is somewhat contradicted by the one Highfather tells. The Omega Effect is said to be infinite, and granted Darkseid a variety of powerful abilities.
- Omega Beams: Darkseid can fire extremely fast, homing beams of energy from his eyes. It is important to note that the Post-Flashpoint emanation of Darkseid has not demonstrated the same versatility with Omega Beams that the Pre-Flashpoint emanation did, and they seem to simply be powerful energy attacks.
- Energy Shockwaves: Darkseid can create shockwaves of energy by raising his hands.
- Spacetime Warping: Darkseid can generate a gravitational pull so intense that space twists and time is pulled, so that those inside live days between seconds.
Boom Tubes: Darkseid can activate boom tubes at any time, which allow him to teleport through space and across dimensions.
Telepathy: Darkseid is able to force his mind into others' from across dimensional gaps.
As all instances of Darkseid seen in lower-dimensional realms are infinitesimally small parts of Darkseid's true being, it stands to reason that Godhead Darkseid possesses all of the abilities demonstrated by them but to a much greater degree. Furthermore, he also possessed the Anti-Life Equation, using it to dominate much of Earth's populace in the moments before everything would be destroyed.
- Omega Beams: A single use of the Omega Beams, used when Darkseid was dying and possessing the body of a cancer-ridden Dan Turpin, contained enough energy to destroy time itself.
- Omega Sanction: The version of the Sanction used by the True Darkseid is infinitely more powerful and cruel than the Sanction demonstrated by his Pre-Flashpoint emanation. Rather than displacing its target through time it traps them in a never-ending succession of dark realities that inflict endless suffering upon the prisoner.
- Possession: Darkseid can incarnate in the lower-dimensional mortal universe by possessing the body of a mortal. However, to truly incarnate he needs to corrupt the body of a good soul, which was why his first attempt at incarnating via a mob boss was a failure.
Key: Pre-Flashpoint Emanation | Post-Flashpoint Emanation | Darkseid War | Godhead
Notes:
- Before making any changes to this page, please read and follow the Power-scaling Rules for Marvel and DC Comics.
- Grant Morrison has referred to The Death of the New Gods as canon but clarified that the depictions of Orion vs. Darkseid in both that story and in Countdown were "apocryphal attempts to describe an indescribable cosmic event". In addition, other aspects of the story, such as the Source being split in two, were retconned by Morrison. Due to this, do not attempt to scale Darkseid to the Source.
- During the Great Darkness Saga, despite regaining much of his power by absorbing multiple sources of energy, Darkseid ultimately realized that he was still weaker than he was before his millennia-long dormancy.
- "Avatar" is a term specifically referring to an ability demonstrated by Pre-Flashpoint Darkseid and Highfather, and it was never stated that the lesser versions of Darkseid were specifically created by him to interact with lower dimensions. The term used by Grant Morrison to refer to these lower aspects of the New Gods is "emanation".
- Like other New Gods, the Pre-Flashpoint emanation of Darkseid was unaffected by Crisis on Infinite Earths, as the Fourth World universe was not destroyed and recreated.
- The Post-Flashpoint emanation of Darkseid was stated to be a fragment of Godhead Darkseid that resulted from his death in Final Crisis. The Post-Flashpoint emanations of New Gods have very different histories, power-sets, and power levels than the Pre-Flashpoint emanations.
- Prior to the events of Darkseid War, Darkseid obtained a powerup of unknown origins. Due to this, do not attempt to use Darkseid to scale other Post-Flashpoint 4-B characters to the Anti-Monitor.
Gallery
Others
Notable Victories:
Notable Losses:
Alien X (Ben 10) Alien X's Profile (Godhead Darkseid was used against Unrestricted Alien X. Both were Low 1-C and speed was equalized)
Inconclusive Matches: