Darkseid (SV)

**Darkseid** is a very powerful alien entity associated with the planet Apokolips. He has been part of some of Earth's darkest points in ancient history, but was banished each time.

He returned to Earth to corrupt it once more through a hole in the universe which was created when the Book of Rao was used as a portal to a new world. Re-emerging on Earth, Darkseid sought a vessel to inhabit so that he could directly influence Earth's people and started to gather prophets to further his cause.

Darkseid went on to possess Gordon Godfrey and created a backlash against superheroes in Metropolis. He also attempted to use the doubts and fears in the heart of Clark Kent to turn him into a weapon, but was unsuccessful. After his attempt to use Oliver Queen to defeat Clark failed as well, Darkseid offered Lionel Luthor to revive his son Lex Luthor in exchange for Lionel's soul. When Lionel agreed, Darkseid ripped his still-beating heart out to restore Lex while using Lionel's corpse as a vessel to face Clark. However, Clark's memories of his heroic experiences gave him the courage to face Darkseid and defeat him.

## Physical Appearance

In his true form, Darkseid has a tall, cracked rock-like body. His eyes and the cracks in his skin glow with white or red light. Originally, towards the beginning of the tenth season, his eyes were bluish white, but as the season progressed, they were changed to dark red. When he was possessing someone, the sclera in their eyes became black and their irises disappeared.

Most often, Darkseid does not appear in his true form, but as a dark cloud of smoke or as a flock of ravens. His smoke form can be extremely destructive and it seems to be packed with pressure, being strong enough to shatter glass, and pin Clark in a vortex.

## Personality

Darkseid is manipulative, domineering and controlling. Granny Goodness described his powers and overall influence as "true gifts." While he was "using" Gordon Godfrey as a vessel, Darkseid displayed a charismatic and charming attitude: this helped him win a lot of support in his campaign against vigilantes. Despite his strong influence, people with pure hearts or who had their emotions under control (like Lois Lane, Kara Kent and later Clark and Chloe Sullivan), or people with true faith in the heroes, seemed unnerved by him.

He also possessed a sadistic and somewhat masochistic nature, which he showed in Club Desaad when he told a disguised Lois that he was "hunting" for something to distract him for a while and enjoyed Lois' "playful" torture of his host's body. He was disappointed when he learned that Lois was pure of heart, claiming he would have had fun taking her over. He was also very intimidating due to the fact that he can mentally undermine anyone but the purest of heart, including Clark.

Darkseid enjoyed using his empathy to gain insight into the emotional and moral weaknesses of his opponents. He was especially overjoyed when he found the darkness Clark had inside his heart and actually managed to visibly unnerve Clark by telling him that he could feel Clark's desire to kill him and that Clark had wanted to kill before: believing his victory was assured, he immediately tried to possess Clark.

But even Darkseid was not above showing his temper, which was seen after Lois refused to give him the photos that would incriminate Godfrey. His true voice slipped through and he violently broke the cuffs Lois had put on him before knocking her unconscious. After learning about him, Oliver realized that Darkseid was incredibly patient since all he had to do is wait for people to show a single fault before he could corrupt them directly or through his minions.

However, Darkseid was not naive, as he realized that even he has weaknesses: as such, he was cautious and able to learn from past experiences. Fully aware that his son Orion had left the one weapon that could harm him somewhere on Earth, he created a plan to find and destroy it. When Oliver was infected by the Omega symbol, Darkseid delayed taking him over and allowed Oliver to go on a quest to find the Bow under the belief it would free him from the mark. When Oliver found the Bow, Granny Goodness revealed herself and destroyed the weapon, claiming that Oliver was a pawn to disable the traps that protected the bow from Darkseid's minions.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Possession** - While Darkseid can possess vessels that could be either living or deceased, he can only possess hosts that have darkness in their hearts that they can't control. Darkseid claimed that his vessels were still aware when he had control over them. It was believed that this meant he could take possession of nearly every person on Earth, including the entire population of heroes, given time.
* **Super Strength** - Darkseid greatly increased the strength threshold of his vessels. He possessed enough superhuman strength to snap handcuffs, toss Lois across a room and pin Clark to a wall (though the exact magnitude of his strength remains vague). He hoisted Clark by the throat with one hand high off the ground and tossed him into the air through the loft with no effort.
* **Telekinesis** - Darkseid is an extremely powerful telekinetic who could influence the movement of objects and people. He choked Clark from a short distance away just by holding out his hand.
* **Invulnerability** - Darkseid's true form was virtually intangible and was therefore impervious to almost all forms of harm, though the light of a pure heart can temporarily drive him away. By possessing a vessel, Darkseid increases his host's durability, allowing him to withstand most injuries. As the darkness in all the people on Earth grew, so did his invulnerability and strength levels apparently.
* **Longevity** - Darkseid has probably lived an extremely long period of time, as he had previously attempted to conquer Earth in the past, most notably during the Spanish Inquisition and World War II.
* **Corruption** - Darkseid can corrupt the souls and minds of living beings, twisting or refining them into tools for his own purposes and desires and those possessed by him are left stained and become completely loyal to him. Individuals who get infected are sometimes referred to as "prophets."
* **Empathy** - While Darkseid can't directly read the minds of others, he can see someone's innermost doubts/fears with a better view on a person's darkness if someone angry appears. He also seems to be able to find "abandoned souls" and can tell if the most pure person has even a speckle of doubt in their heart.
* **Dimensional Travel** - Darkseid is able to transverse through other worlds and retain his abilities. He has visited and conquered many other worlds. This was shown when skulls of victims in the Phantom Zone were used as poles. He can also enter and leave the Phantom Zone effortlessly.
* **Omega Beams** - Darkseid's ultimate power that he is able to utilize after gaining his full strength and physical form. He uses his eyes to fire two laser beams of Omega energy that can move, twist, turn and change course as per Darksied's mental command, in order to ensure they strike their intended target.

## Vulnerabilities

Darkseid is incapable of possessing someone with a pure heart or those who have their fears and doubts under control.

It is theorized in that Kara's bracelet might have been able to banish Darkseid back to where he came from, if caught while in a vessel. Outside of a vessel, the bracelet is just enough to temporarily drive him off.

The Bow of Orion was the one thing that had managed to cause Darkseid serious harm in the past. It is later revealed that even though the Bow was destroyed, another light source strong enough to defeat him existed: Clark Kent.

Jor-El was able to freeze Darkseid, proven by the fact that Darkseid didn't go and kill Clark while Jor-El was talking with him.

## Early life

At some point in the past, Darkseid lost his warrior son Orion to another alien entity who was dedicated to spreading light just as Darkseid was to spreading darkness.

While speading his darkness throughout the galaxy and other dimenisions, Darkseid would occasionally return to Earth to cause several chaotic time periods, like the Spanish Inquisition and World War II. At some point, Orion used his own bow to defeat his malevolent father.

At some point following this, Darkseid entered another dimension and was partially cut-off from his influence on Earth. In his absence, he left behind certain "prophets" in order to continue his campaign of corrupting humanity.

## Season Ten

In the aftermath of Clark Kent opening a portal to send the Kandorians away to a new world, both Jor-El and the spirit of Jonathan Kent warned him of a dark force that was coming to Earth to corrupt it. Activating the portal left a tear in the universe that the dark force was able to pass through to come to Earth and the dark smoke gathered around the crow's nest and near the console where the portal was opened and formed into the shape of a rock-like creature that howled at the night sky.

After that, the smoke transformed in to a flock of ravens and flew over all of Metropolis, looking for someone to possess. It was eventually attracted to the darkness in the heart of radio jockey Gordon Godfrey. Breaking the window, the dark force possessed Godfrey and led him to become a celebrity by helping him create a charismatic image of himself and popularizing the movement against so-called vigilantes in the city.

When Kara Kent had returned to Earth on Jor-El's orders to replace Clark as the savior of humanity and keep it safe from the "darkness," she informed Clark that the darkness came to Earth after a rip in the universe was created. Clark realized that this happened when he opened the portal to send the Kandorians away. After Lois Lane fixed her attention on Godfrey, she was threatened after Darkseid failed in his intent to make her his next vessel due to her pure heart.

Instead, he imprisoned her in a rope trap that would kill her so he could use her death to lure in a hero he could use as a vessel. After Clark and Kara tracked down Darkseid and discovered that he was inhabiting Godfrey, they went after Godfrey to save Lois. Clark encountered Darkseid possessing Godfrey for the first time at Club Desaad, where he used Clark's anger and doubt to get a better read on the darkness inside of him. He discovered the conflict and turmoil in Clark's soul and then forced his essence out of Godfrey and circled Clark, preparing to possess him. However, he was driven away by Kara who used her bracelet against him.

Later it was revealed that Darkseid recruited Desaad, Granny Goodness, as well as Godfrey to assist him in his conquest of Earth. Granny Goodness' long presence on Earth suggests that Darkseid has been interested in Earth and Clark for a long time and has been quietly setting the stage for Earth's conquest.

As Darkseid's presence continues to affect humanity, everyone who comes under his influence bears an Omega symbol. Clark discovered that Slade Wilson had one. Darkseid's name was finally revealed by Desaad who referred to him as "Lord Darkseid".

Despite Darkseid's spreading influence it is revealed that there are many who still believe in the Blur and what he is doing and people are opposed to VRA. Clark is touched when Chloe and Lois show him a website were those who still believe in the Blur have risked themselves to come out and show their support.

Darkseid was far from gone as Desaad had went on a killing spree in order to find people to corrupt with the darkness. Desaad warned Chloe Sullivan that his master is close to fully manifesting himself on Earth. While Desaad failed to corrupt Chloe or Clark, he managed to corrupt Oliver Queen by provoking his anger against Chloe's abductors.

When the dimensionally-displaced Lionel Luthor was paying his respects to his son's tombstone, Darkseid appeared in his true form before Lionel.

It was later revealed that Darkseid had been to other planets and branded their civilians with the Omega symbol like he did to Earth. This is evidenced when Clark and Oliver went to the Phantom Zone and found skeletons with Omega symbols on their skulls. When Clark along with Oliver eventually managed to escape, Oliver decided to go on a quest to find the Bow of Orion, an artifact he believed would help him rid himself of the Omega symbol on his skull.

Although Oliver found the Bow, with some help from Kara Kent, he was subsequently caught by Granny Goodness, who revealed that Darkseid had allowed Oliver to find the Bow so that Darkseid could destroy it, thus removing the only weapon supposedly capable of defeating him. Granny also turned Oliver into a slave of Darkseid using her memory powers and instructed him under her master's orders to find gold kryptonite and use it to rid Clark of his powers, planning to leave him defenseless against Darkseid (Although this plan failed when Chloe recognised the ring's true nature in time to stop Clark putting it on).

While Apokolips was moving towards Earth, Darkseid approached Lionel, who was dying after being shot by his daughter Tess Mercer and revealed that when he first met with him, he was going to give him immortality, but Lionel said that he wanted Lex to live instead. Darkseid accepted the deal under the condition that Lionel's soul was rightfully his. He then ripped Lionel's heart from his chest and placed the heart inside Lex.

Using Lionel's corpse as a vessel, Darkseid encountered Clark at the Kent Farm and taunted him, saying the humans fell to him easily and Clark would as well. He then telekinetically grabbed and tossed Clark across the loft. But when Clark had a short conversation with Jor-El in his mind telling him he was ready, Clark finally mastered the power of flight and flew directly through Darkseid's host body, destroying it and seemingly vanquishing him.

Clark later dons the title of Superman and flies into the sky to push Apokolips away from Earth, which finally ends the threat of Darkseid.