Darkseid (DC Animated Film Universe)

Template:Infobox DC Character

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**Uxas**, better known as **Darkseid**, was a New God and the absolute ruler of the hellish planet Apokolips.

## Biography

### *Justice League: War*

He conquers world after world after each one has run out of resources, and he has the natives turned into Parademons for his army. Attempting to invade the Earth, Darkseid and his forces begin terraforming the planet.

After Barry Allen corrected the timeline by tackling his younger self in The Speed Force, alteration in time allowed Darkseid to detect his universe and Earth. He opened Boom Tubes just above the planet and had his minions secretly plant Mother Boxes in several locations around the Earth, including Metropolis, Central City, Keystone City, and Gotham City. Two of his minions died protecting the Mother Boxes' secret from The Flash, Batman, Green Lantern and Superman.

On Apokolips, Darkseid questioned Desaad as to what he had to report from their agents on Earth. Darkseid was notified by Desaad that heroes were springing up everywhere on Earth, and as such, they were losing their element of surprise. After Desaad suggested that Darkseid move his timetable for invading Earth, Darkseid agreed, commencing the invasion.

He later arrived in downtown Metropolis along with an army of Parademons. Darkseid easily destroyed several Air Force jets, and afterward swatted aside Green Lantern, who was the first to try to battle him. He soon defeated each and every hero, targeting both Superman and The Flash with his Omega Beams. Darkseid then created an Omega Beam that destroyed most of the area in Metropolis. Darkseid saw the Flash and Superman standing and fired two Omega Beams at the heroes. The Flash manages to dodge his blast but Superman was hit and knocked unconscious and taken hostage by the Parademon army.

While Batman went to get Superman, the other heroes banded together to fight Darkseid and during the battle, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Shazam blinded Darkseid.

Darkseid then proceeded to destroy downtown Metropolis until a plan was formed, with Wonder Woman taking out one of his eyes with her sword, and the Flash and Shazam taking out the other. Darkseid was soon engaged by all of the heroes who attempted to push him into a Boom Tube back to Apokolips. Despite being blinded, Darkseid still fought the heroes until Cyborg activated a Mother Box that sent the Parademon army across the world back to Apokolips except for Darkseid who stood his ground. Shazam tried to get Darkseid through the portal, but Darkseid pummeled Shazam and tried to crush him, but was stopped by Wonder Woman and the Flash. Superman and Batman arrived and the heroes worked together to fight Darkseid. Together, the heroes defeated Darkseid and sent him back to Apokolips. Although Darkseid was able to resist for a while, he was successfully pushed into the portal with a final punch by Superman. With all of the Mother Boxes deactivated, the heroes were reassured that Darkseid and his minions wouldn't be coming back any time soon in the end. Darkseid killed the King of Atlantis and Orm appears in Atlantean ship carrying the dead body of his father and king. He believes that the surface dwellers on Earth are responsible, calling it an act of war from the surface, for which he swears revenge but unaware that it was Darkseid.

### *The Death of Superman*

Some time prior to Doomsday's creation, Darkseid had fully recovered from his injuries, and decided to employ strategic warfare against the Justice League rather than directly attacking them like last time, having learned his lesson from underestimating them. He created Doomsday and indoctrinated the beast into despising Superman before placing it inside an asteroid projected onto Earth via a Boom Tube. Doomsday's asteroid shell accidentally collided with the Excalibur space shuttle and a result Henshaw and his crew were killed.

 File:Indoctrinating Henshaw .png
### *Reign of the Supermen*

Taking an interest in Henshaw and his disappointment for Superman's failure in saving him and his wife, Darkseid used his power to bring Henshaw back to life before transferring his essence into a Cyborg body and deployed him to earth under the guise of a false savior who was meant to deceive the people and even the Justice League into a false sense of security by making them believe he is their new Superman and protector.

Darkseid manage to help Henshaw by staging an attack on Earth which ended up with the Justice League being teleported to an unknown and hostile distant region of space. When Lex Luthor and Lois Lane intercepted a communication link between Cyborg Superman and Darkseid, they discovered that Darkseid believe he has already won and decided to patiently wait to casually invade because this time the Justice League have been disposed of.

When Darkseid finally realized that Superman has survived from his encounter with Doomsday, a surprised, yet ecstatic Darkseid immediately ordered Henshaw to open a Boom Tube so that Darkseid may personally kill the Man of Steel. After Henshaw state that killing Superman is his desire, Darkseid used his power to force Henshaw to open a Boom Tube. However, due to Lois Lane's manipulation and mockery of Henshaw's desire to kill Superman, Henshaw ripped out the implant in his head and closed the Boom Tube, angering Darkseid.

### *Justice League Dark: Apokolips War*

While the Justice League briefs over their planned attack on Darkseid and Apokolips, Darkseid, unbeknownst to the League, is listening in on the briefing via Cyborg's Apokolyptian technology, becoming aware of their plan. Upon the Justice League's arrival at Apokolips, Darkseid is one step ahead of their entire plan, sending his army of Paradooms, genetic hybrids of Parademons and Doomsday, to attack them. With the overwhelming might of the Paradooms, as well as Darkseid himself, the Justice League is completely decimated. Darkseid uses his Omega Beams to bifurcate Aquaman, killing him. Then he rips Cyborg's arms off after the latter helps Shazam escape, while the Paradooms overwhelm the rest of the League. With the Justice League defeated, Darkseid chooses to spare some of them, notably Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, Lex Luthor, Martian Manhunter, Mera, and Hawkman, and killing off those he had no plans for. Darkseid laces Superman's body with liquid Kryptonite to leave him in a de-powered state, straps Batman to a Mobius chair to torture him, forces Flash to endlessly run on a treadmill to serve as a power generator, forces Cyborg to subjugate into Apokolips itself and brainwashes him to become subservient, and brainwashing Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Mera, and later Starfire (after the Paradooms' invasion on Earth killing the Teen Titans) to become his Furies while equipping their torn bodies with cybernetic parts.

 File:Powerful.webp
Two years later, Darkseid has gained almost complete control over Earth, as well as most of the space sector. Darkseid has brainwashed Batman into becoming his right-hand man, leaving most of his duties in Batman's hands. In order to thwart any remaining resistance, Darkseid departs for Oa to destroy the remainders of the Green Lantern Corps. Lex Luthor, acting as a New God representative, works as a liaison between Earth and Apokolips, and Darkseid tasks Batman with giving him orders as well as keeping an eye on him. On Oa, the remaining Green Lanterns are left utterly helpless by Darkseid's might, as they are easily killed off while Oa is destroyed. Batman reports to Darkseid about Lex Luthor's betrayal, who orders him to send the Paradooms to Earth, and to send a portion of Earth's magma to Oa to decimate it, killing off John Stewart, the last remaining Green Lantern in the process. With Oa destroyed and no one left to oppose him, Darkseid returns to Apokolips.

 File:Darkseid-Were-Behind-Schedule.webp
Darkseid reappears to confront the resistance force, consisting of Superman (wearing Lex Luthor's Kryptonite battle armor), Raven, Damian Wayne, and John Constantine, after they invade Apokolips. Darkskeid watches as Batman fights his son, ordering him to finish him off. However, the resistance force manages to break Batman free of his programming, and Batman retaliates by throwing Damian's sword into Darkseid's right eye and telling him to go to hell, damaging the Dread Lord's eyelid. Outraged, Darkseid fires his Omega Beams, but Damian steps in the way of the attack, mortally wounding him. When Raven loses control of Trigon and Trigon assumes Superman's body as a host, Trigon turns his attention to Darkseid and the two fight as Darkseid is pushed back by Trigon's might.

 File:Trigon-Tangling-With-A-New-God.webp
After the death of Lois Lane on Earth, Superman regains control of his body and regains his powers (Trigon had removed the liquid Kryptonite when he assumed control) and Darkseid fights Superman in an equal battle. When Superman appears to be pushed back, he is saved when Trigon (given a physical form by Constantine and Raven) takes over the battle, eager to take down Darkseid and claim his position as the top of the universe. While Darkseid is barely able to defend himself against Trigon, he becomes aware of Cyborg's plan to transport him and Trigon into a black void and tries to escape, but Trigon drags him into the void, leaving them along with the Paradooms and Cyborg, still fused with Apokolips, trapped forever.

## Physical appearance

In his appearance, Darkseid has a tall, muscular, dark gray cracked rock-like body with red eyes. He wears a dark blue helmet with goldenrod accents on the chin, ears, and forehead. He wears a dark blue breastplate with goldenrod accents that has shoulder plates of the same color with a circular red chest piece in the middle and wears a dark blue under suit. On his forearms, he wears dark blue bracers with goldenrod accents and black edges on the hands. The hand pieces also have goldenrod Omega symbols. He also wears a black belt with goldenrod accents with a red Omega symbol in the middle. He also wears dark blue faulds on his hips. On his legs, he wears dark blue kneepads with goldenrod accents connected to dark blue boots.

## Personality

 File:Darkseid’s Conquests.png
Throughout his existence, Darkseid proved himself to be nothing more than an embodiment of ruthlessness, cruelty, depravity, chaos, megalomania, hunger for power, sadism, mercilessness, and pure evil. As an intergalactic warlord and demonic ruler of Apokolips, Darkseid was entirely devoid of feelings such as compassion and empathy. He held absolutely no remorse for all the atrocities he committed during his conquests as he destroyed entire civilizations and planets and eradicated countless species of innocent lifeforms. He cared for no-one other than himself, viewing all other beings as beneath him; being completely inferior compared to his power. He displayed this sentiment to not only his enemies but also his allies as well. Darkseid has no care for his servants regardless of their loyalty to him, viewing them only as slaves that he is more than willing to sacrifice if they no longer prove useful to him. His only true desire is to rule over universe. His conquests were also unnecessarily violent which leaving billions, if not trillions, of innocents massacred throughout the universe. The sheer scale of these massacres was so great they clearly horrified many professional members of the Justice League, who were no strangers to death. Even John Constantine, a hero who was known for his slightly apathetic attitude to others and their troubles, was visibly disturbed and horrified by Darkseid’s cruelty.

 File:Darkseid’s stoic yet malevolent disposition .png
Darkseid generally holds an emotionless demeanor, being utterly calm and stoic even in the midst of battle and rarely sheds this demeanor. He also lacks any form of humor, being serious in all situations. However, underneath his emotionless face lies a mind that is filled with cruelty. Darkseid is a sadist who takes great enjoyment in suffering of others. Watching others suffer in agony is one of the few cases in which he breaks his stoic demeanor and smiles. His sadism extends to not only physical torture but psychological abuse as well. This was shown when he spared Superman’s life after the failed attack on Apokolips. Instead of killing him, Darkseid stripped Superman of all his powers and then sent him back to Earth after Darkseid’s forces laid it to waste, as a way to forever torture Superman with guilt and shame over his failure and the consequences of his actions.

 File:Darkseid torturing Batman .png
Darkseid is also extremely arrogant and egotistical. He constantly underestimates his enemies, deeming them all as inferior and of no threat to him or his plans. This arrogance stems from his inflated ego, as he views himself as the greatest and most powerful being in the universe and incapable of being defeated. This arrogance is what lead to his defeat at the hands of the Justice League. Due to his ego, Darkseid is unwilling to accept that there is any other being who is more powerful than him. When battling against Trigon, Darkseid broke his calm demeanor entirely and expressed intense rage and denial over the fact that the demon was stronger and defeating him in battle.

Darkseid has proven himself to be extremely intelligent. As a warlord, Darkseid is adept to strategic military warfare, spending millennia conquering planets with ease. After his first attempt to conquer Earth failed, he realized he had to take the planet through more strategic means rather than brute force like last time. In doing so, he proved himself to be a master-manipulator, as he orchestrated a number of different and complex events that nearly resulted in his second invasion succeeding. He also showed keen strategy in his defeat of the Justice League during their invasion of Apokolips. It is also heavily implied that Darkseid possesses vast scientific and technical knowledge, as it heavily implicated that he crafted most, if not all, of Apokolips’ technology himself and was the one who genetically finished the creation of the Paradooms and Doomsday.

 File:Darkseid and Batman.png
Despite his arrogance and ego, Darkseid is capable of subtly acknowledging others for their power and skills, though in very twisted ways. In his own way, he acknowledged Batman as a key strategist and gifted thinker, which is why he brainwashed him into becoming his chief servant. He also seemed to treat Batman and Henshaw, fairly well during their servitude to him, being not at all abusive and rather cordial. He also saw most of the surviving Justice League members as capable and skilled warriors which is why he converted them into cyborg-minions rather than killing them. And for a brief moment he acknowledged Superman’s strength when he got the upper-hand against him in their fight. However, his respect for their skills is usually followed by an assertion of his own power, as he openly regarded Batman and Henshaw as servants and slaves and was going to claim that Superman’s “strength of a lost love” was nothing compared to the power he wielded. Another result of his megalomania is that Darkseid is incapable of experiencing fear, even in his final moments. When his immenent death was coming he did try to run from it and did yell and scream as he met his end, but this was out of anger and denial that he could have been defeated rather than actual fear of death.

 File:Darkseid angry at Trigon.png
Contrary to most tyrants, who have delusions of grandeur and belief they are in the right, Darkseid is completely aware of how evil he is and seems to take pride in it. He also seems to take pride in his inability to feel empathy or remorse, deeming such things as love, compassion, and friendships as “emotional nonsense." Because of this, he constantly belittles those who do possess such feelings, regarding them as nothing more than beings bound by weaknesses. Despite his inability to feel such emotions, he does possess a full understanding of how they work which he uses as a means of physiologically torturing his enemies, as seen when he forced Batman to anger Damian by degrading him and proclaiming that he never loved his son.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **New God Physiology:** Darkseid is a New God and possesses extraordinary physical powers, near-arcane technology and advanced genius-level intellect. His powers are, however, far more developed and more advanced than any New God ever seen. It took the combined might of the Justice League and the need to attack him concurrently just to wound him, let alone banish him back to Apokolips. However, he was easily overpowered by Trigon who possessed Superman and even in his smaller physical body.
	+ **Superhuman Strength:** Like all New Gods, Darkseid has superhuman strength but far beyond any of his kin. He was able to battle the entire Justice League even after being blinded in both eyes. However, he was easily overpowered by Trigon when possessing Superman and also in his small human-sized form.
	+ **Superhuman Speed:** While not as fast as Superman or Flash, Darkseid has shown deceptive quickness and reflexes for a being of his size and build, able to dodge Flash's attack and force him on the defensive.
	+ **Nigh-Invulnerability:** Darkseid is extremely durable and monstrously resilient, completely unfazed by the various constructs launched at him by Green Lantern's ring. Even the unified assault of the Justice League was barely able to knock him back. After both of his eyes were obliterated, he did not tire and relentlessly pursued the Justice League and fought them in his blinded state. A collective assault from the Justice League was able to make him slightly bleed. On the another hand, Trigon made him bleed with a single beam from his eyes and even his punches were able to cause him great pain.
	+ **Regenerative Healing:** Darkseid has a regenerative healing factor. By the time of Henshaw's resurrection, Darkseid had completely regenerated his eyes and even healed from any other trauma and injuries inflicted upon him by the Justice League during their first battle.
	+ **Flight:** Darkseid has the ability levitate and fly at high speeds. His control of this ability is able to nonchalantly move about in the sky as if standing on a solid structure.
* **Omega Effect:** Darkseid has the ability to project devastating power mostly in form of beams fired from his eyes, capable of locking onto a target and not stopping until hitting its mark. The beams were fast enough to pursue the Flash and Superman. Darkseid was also able to use his Omega Effect to increase his strength. They are shown to curve and hit it's target. They track their targets across space and time and will always eventually hit what Darkseid wants them to hit. Even with a damaged eye he can still shoot them and nearly disintegrate Damian. While battling Trigon (in Clark's body) they created a sphere that trapped him until Raven and Constantine used their magic to free him.
* **Telekinesis:** He can make things move with his hands without touching it.

### Abilities

* **Genius-Level Intellect:** Darkseid is shown to be extremely intelligent and is a very skilled planer. After his failed direct attempt at invading Earth, he began using strategic manipulation, psychological warfare as well as engineering and indoctrinating beings like Doomsday and Cyborg Superman to be pawns in his renewed war against the Justice League.
* **Master Combatant:** Although it is unknown if he has any kind of training, Darkseid has shown to be a capable combatant which coupled with his immense physical prowess makes him extremely lethal, being able to push the entire Justice League to limit including such as Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and even Superman. He could also further combined his prowess with his omega power and beams to be potent on close, wide and also long-range distance. Even after being blinded, he was able to fight nearly still until being sent back to Apokolips.

## Equipment

* **Apokoliptian Technology:** Darkseid has shown command over Apokolips' technology due to the technology being programmed to obey his will. He was able to force Cyborg Superman to obey regardless of Cyborg Superman's wishes and activate the Mother Box in his chest. Though this was primarily because of an implant in Henshaw's head, which he later ripped out, thus preventing Darkseid from controlling him or communicating with him.
	+ **Mind Control Implant:** Because of an implant in Henshaw's head, Darkseid was able to telepathically relay orders and communicate with Cyborg Superman. He also used similar technology to brainwash a handful of superheroes of earth when he conquered earth.
		- **Illusion Casting:** Because of an implant in Henshaw's head, Darkseid was able to induce hallucinations into Cyborg Superman, thus slowly driving him insane and slowly diminishing Henshaw's willpower to resist his orders.
	+ **Bio-Engineering:** Apokoliptian technology can also be used to bioengineer bio-organic weaponry such as Parademons, Paradooms and Doomsday. Darkseid's technology has also shown the power to revive fallen beings as cyborg entities such as the Furies and Darkseid was even able to resurrect and rebuild Henshaw into Cyborg Superman.
	+ **Boom Tube Generation:** Darkseid also has access to the Boom-Tube technology of the Mother Boxes.
	+ **Reapers**

## Appearances

* *Justice League: War* (first appearance)
* *Justice League: Throne of Atlantis* (mentioned)
* *The Death of Superman* (mentioned)
* *Reign of the Supermen*
* *Wonder Woman: Bloodlines* (mentioned)
* *Justice League Dark: Apokolips War* (final appearance)

## Trivia

* In terms of the overall storyline, Darkseid serves as the main antagonist of *Justice League: War,* the unseen overarching antagonist of *Justice League: Throne of Atlantis and The Death of Superman,* the overarching antagonist of *Reign of the Supermen,* and the main antagonist of the final entry, *Justice League Dark: Apokolips War*. In short, he is the main antagonist of the entire DCAMU.
* Shazam refers to Darkseid as "Blackheart the Deatheater" while referencing *World of Warcraft* in the same breath.
* Darkseid is very similar to Marvel Comics Thanos, as both seek total dominion over the universe and have very similar designs, though they have different motivations/reasons for their conquests.
* Darkseid is the first version of himself to not be obsessed with finding the Anti-Life Equation and uses direct and brutal means to conquer.
* This version of Darkseid seems to lack eyelids.
* This is the first version of Darkseid to succeed in conquering Earth.
* His fight with Trigon was the high point/signature scene of *Apokolips War,* as many DC fans had been wanting to see a fight between the two warlords for decades.

## Gallery

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