Damien Darhk

*"I get it, you think that I failed you because I joined with the Legends and trapped you here. Well you're right, I did fail you. But that's not how. I was a terrible father. I was obsessed with world domination. Because of that, I died. Leaving you all alone as a child. Trapped with my name and my foolish dream. Oh, I turned you into a demon long before Mallus did. That's why I'm begging you, do not let him take you away from me."*
―Damien Darhk to a Mallus-possessed Nora Darhk[src]**Damien Darhk**, also known as **Kenneth Bender**, was a former member of the League of Assassins, the ex-best friend/nemesis of the late "Ra's al Ghul", as well as a former "Heir to the Demon" and the archenemy of Sara Lance/White Canary. After escaping death at Ra's hands, Damien stole water from the Lazarus Pit and formed his own version of the League called H.I.V.E.. However, Damien's methods were far more extreme and killed thousands of people. Using the Lazarus Pit, Damien continued his schemes for over a century, plotting to end the world in nuclear fire to give it a fresh start. Damien spent years gathering the resources and followers to build a shelter to survive such an apocalypse. Around 2011, he obtained the Khushu Idol which gave him numerous powers and abilities and made him virtually unstoppable.

In 2015, Damien brought H.I.V.E. to Star City to build his ark, destabilizing the city and minimizing outside interference. Furthermore, he was responsible for the destruction of Havenrock with a nuclear weapon and the deaths of tens of thousands. He was opposed by Oliver Queen/Green Arrow and had frequent encounters with the emerald archer, in both identities until he eventually learned his "enemies" were the same person. He also forced Quentin Lance to aid him, threatening to kill his daughter Laurel Lance/Black Canary if he didn't comply and eventually did so when Quentin betrayed him. Just as Damien almost succeeded in his plan, his wife was murdered and his ark destroyed. He was opposed by the people of Star City who Oliver had rallied together to stand up to H.IV.E.. Shortly after this, he was killed by Oliver in revenge for killing Laurel.

A version of Damien from 1987 met a time traveling Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash and learnt of his future death from Sara Lance/White Canary. He decided to join forces with Eobard and Malcolm Merlyn/Dark Archer, forming the Legion of Doom, and they began traveling through time to obtain the Spear of Destiny, a powerful artifact capable of altering reality, eventually managing to gather the fragments and rewrite reality to their whims, where Damien was the mayor of Star City and had killed many heroes. Eventually, the Legion was defeated by the Legends and Damien was returned to his own time with his memories erased by Sara, restoring the timeline and Damien's actions until his eventual death in 2016.

A year after his death, Damien's corpse showed up in 1895 London as an anachronism. A blood ritual was performed by the Order of the Shrouded Compass, led by a now adult Nora and the time demon Mallus in order to resurrect him; Damien returned to life with his erased memories of his time battling the Legends as part of the Legion of Doom restored, as well as his magical powers fully intact without the need for the idol he'd previously used to access his powers. He worked with Nora and the Order to free Mallus from his prison and eventually complete Genesis. During his missions, he used the aliases "**Black Knight**" and "**Odin**". However, after realizing that Mallus's freedom would mean the death of Nora, the demon's host, Damien briefly allied with the Legends to save his daughter's life. With the help of Ray Palmer, Damien traded places with Nora as Mallus's vessel, leaving him to die once again when the demon freed himself to assume its true form.

In 2020, he was resurrected as one of Astra Logue's Encores. Refusing to become evil once more, he instead made amends with his daughter and her friends before erasing his soul from existence with the Hell sword.