From the average human to Superman, everyone has felt the wrath of Darkseid.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Darkseid is one of DC's final boss characters.
00:03With nearly immeasurable power and resources,
00:05the ruler of Apocalypse has the universe trembling at the very mention of his name.
00:09He not only has the means, but also the cruelty and imagination to make gruesome use of them.
00:14And unsurprisingly, over the decades he has gone on to commit some of the most heinous crimes
00:19ever seen in the pages of a comic book.
00:21Which is exactly what we're here to talk about today,
00:23as I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com,
00:25and these are the 10 worst deeds ever committed by Darkseid.
00:30Number 10. Turned Desaad evil.
00:32Now, an evil tyrant needs equally devious lackeys.
00:35Desaad is Darkseid's right-hand man,
00:38and responsible for some of the worst brutalities perpetuated by his regime.
00:42As his chief torturer, Desaad had been responsible for inventing a plethora of destructive technology,
00:47and gruesome torture devices.
00:48However, the Apocalypse native wasn't always like this.
00:51As revealed by Darkseid during his confrontation with Eclipso,
00:55during Justice League of America Vol. 2, Issue 54,
00:57Desaad was once a kind-hearted young man.
01:00But Darkseid had other ideas for him.
01:02Using his cunning, he tricked Desaad into believing that one of his beloved pets had killed the other one.
01:07The distraught Desaad buries alive his cat as punishment for killing his bird,
01:11only to find out sometime later that the bird was still alive.
01:15This completely breaks his sanity,
01:17as he proceeds to murder the bird as well.
01:19With his mind corrupted, he then leaves with Darkseid,
01:22as his new second-in-command.
01:23Acts of mental harm can often be more horrific than those of physical harm.
01:27Darkseid didn't just hurt Desaad,
01:29he mutilated his very soul so he would become useful as a puppet.
01:34Number 9, Forced His Daughter to Turn Evil
01:36Being the daughter of Darkseid couldn't have been easy.
01:39Not only would her lineage and the abilities that came with it draw the attention of heroes,
01:43there would also be the gigantic shadow of her father always hanging over her.
01:48Grail is the child of Darkseid,
01:49and the Amazonian Meirena.
01:51Her very birth invited great strife,
01:54as her mother had to fight off her Amazonian sisters
01:56and escape Themyscira in order to ensure Grail's survival.
02:00This is where Darkseid comes in.
02:02At first, Meirena had every intention to raise her daughter in the way of the Amazonians.
02:07But Grail's tyrannical father had other intentions.
02:10He would communicate with her via dreams,
02:12and utilise the worst kind of mental manipulation to bend Grail to his will.
02:16And eventually, he got what he wanted.
02:18Grail chose the path of evil.
02:20After some time, she allied with the Anti-Monitor,
02:22and was the key figure in starting the Darkseid War.
02:25This would see her take on and nearly defeat the Justice League.
02:29Her warpath brought her face to face with her father.
02:32And, in a very rare feat, she was actually able to overcome Darkseid.
02:36Although it didn't mean an end to hostilities.
02:38In fact, it only further spurred her violence.
02:42Number 8, Killed Batman
02:43Killing one of the multiverse's greatest protectors definitely ranks as one of Darkseid's worst deeds.
02:49It might have been just one life, but it was so significant and vital to the survival of all realities,
02:54that it simply has to be included here.
02:56Final Crisis was one of the biggest events ever put together by DC.
03:00It saw Darkseid finally fulfilling his lifelong goal,
03:03and nearly ending all of existence as we know it.
03:05Of course, standing opposite him was every superhero under the sun,
03:09including the Dark Knight.
03:11Early on in the conflict, Darkseid's forces realise the importance of Batman,
03:15and have him locked up in a secret facility called Command D.
03:18During the climax, Batman is able to escape and join the fight.
03:22Not only that, but he is able to utilise a bullet made of radion,
03:25the only thing that can harm Darkseid's race,
03:27to severely wound the villain.
03:29Unfortunately, this was not enough to finish the job.
03:31In retaliation, Darkseid uses his Omega Beams to kill the Dark Knight.
03:36Number 7. Enslaved Daxam
03:39No matter what the era, Darkseid continues to be a massive threat to Earth,
03:43and indeed the entire universe.
03:46During the Great Darkness Saga,
03:47a mysterious evil threatens the future 30th century Earth.
03:51When the Legion of Superheroes investigate,
03:53it's eventually revealed that the one pulling the strings is none other than Darkseid.
03:58As part of his new plan to conquer the universe,
04:00Darkseid starts freeing some of the worst villains in existence,
04:03and then draining their powers.
04:04With the powerful abilities of the likes of Mordrew,
04:08and the Time Trapper added to his arsenal,
04:10Darkseid arrives on Daxam.
04:12He uses his unfathomable power to place Daxam under a yellow sun,
04:16thus granting all its inhabitants Superman-like powers.
04:19Not only that, he is also able to place them under his mind control.
04:23Darkseid then proceeds to use the entire population of a planet as disposable tools,
04:28even forcing them to reshape the planet in his image.
04:31He sends the scores of Daxamites into battle against the coalition of every available superhero
04:36from across time and space.
04:38As you might imagine, he has less than zero concern if an entire race becomes obliterated,
04:43just so that his plan could proceed another step.
04:46Number 6.
04:47Murdered his brother.
04:49Sort of.
04:49Darkseid's origin is about as grim as his rocky face.
04:53Originally called Euxus,
04:55he was the son of King Yuga and Queen Hegra of Apocalypse.
04:59He had an older brother named Drax,
05:01who naturally was the heir to the throne.
05:03Unfortunately for Drax,
05:04the future scourge of the universe had other plans.
05:07This all centered around who would claim the most coveted power on Apocalypse,
05:11the Omega Force.
05:12Needless to say,
05:13whoever wielded this would become the most powerful being on the planet,
05:17and its most likely master.
05:19For Darkseid,
05:19this had to be him.
05:20Using a combination of ruthless force and deceit,
05:23Euxus murders his own brother.
05:25Afterwards,
05:26he proceeds to claim the Omega Force for himself.
05:28This is what causes him to transform into the rock-like appearance that he's known for.
05:32At this point,
05:33he sheds his birth name,
05:34and rechristens himself Darkseid,
05:36thus kicking off a reign of terror on Apocalypse,
05:39and indeed,
05:39the entire multiverse.
05:41On a side note,
05:41Drax didn't exactly stay dead.
05:43But then again,
05:44whoever does in a comic book.
05:46Number 5.
05:47Decimated Themyscira
05:49Darkseid's lust for power is unquenchable.
05:52Despite accumulating an obscene amount,
05:54he is never satisfied,
05:55and is constantly searching for new ways of enhancing his might.
05:58This often involves targeting other entities in order to steal theirs.
06:02While his primary target has always been the anti-life equation,
06:05there have been plenty of other sources of power that have drawn in Darkseid over the decades.
06:09This includes the time when Darkseid decided he wanted the power
06:13of the Olympians.
06:15After capturing and torturing Wonder Woman for the location of Zeus and co,
06:19Darkseid decided more extreme measures were needed.
06:21With Diana refusing to divulge any information,
06:24Darkseid launches an assault on her home,
06:26Themyscira.
06:27In order to get to the Olympians,
06:29the forces of Apocalypse engage in a bloody war with the Amazonians.
06:33The resulting battle saw Themyscira absolutely ravaged,
06:36and around half the Amazons dead.
06:39Number 4.
06:40Enslaved the Earth
06:41You know what they say,
06:42if you try hard enough,
06:43you will eventually succeed.
06:45And that's what Darkseid found out during the final Crisis storyline.
06:49After dedicating much of his life to finding and controlling the anti-life equation,
06:53the evil ruler of Apocalypse finally succeeds.
06:56What is ironic is that this came about as a result of one of his biggest defeats.
07:00After his war with New Genesis,
07:02the essence of Darkseid's soul is sent hurtling through space and time.
07:06When his spirit finally reaches Earth,
07:08it alters the fabric of space-time,
07:10causing all of existence to slowly get sucked into the center of creation.
07:14While on Earth,
07:15Darkseid resorts to manipulation,
07:17as he is able to use his agents to raise an army,
07:19and slowly begins to take out key heroes so as to weaken his enemies.
07:23Eventually, his forces are able to unleash the anti-life equation on the people of Earth,
07:28replacing everyone's free will with that of Darkseid.
07:31He was now master of the planet and its people.
07:34Under the equation's control,
07:35everyone was forced to obey Darkseid,
07:37and Darkseid alone.
07:40Number 3.
07:40Tortured Superman's soul
07:42Darkseid war was a massive event,
07:45with a sprawling storyline and several key arcs.
07:48So it comes as no surprise that one of the key figures in the battle against Darkseid
07:52was the Man of Steel.
07:53Unfortunately for Supes,
07:54he would go on to experience one of his worst hours during this conflict.
07:58At one point,
07:59both Superman and Lex Luthor,
08:01who had been serving as an ally to the Justice League at that time,
08:04find themselves on Apocalypse.
08:06Normally,
08:06you might expect Superman to absolutely lay waste to Darkseid's parademon hordes.
08:11However,
08:11as deducted by Luthor,
08:12the heir on Apocalypse had begun to poison Kal-El.
08:16Darkseid had the option of calling for a fatal strike,
08:18one that would eliminate one of his greatest ever adversaries.
08:21But the evil tyrant had something even more sinister on his mind.
08:25He refused to issue a kill order,
08:27instead opting to have his minions wear down Superman in an endless struggle.
08:31His goal was not to kill Superman,
08:32but to show him that there was no hope of victory.
08:35In other words,
08:36he was not just satisfied with taking the Man of Steel's life,
08:39but he wanted to break his soul.
08:41Number 2.
08:42Ravaging New Genesis
08:43Being the sister world to Apocalypse could not have been fun.
08:47Despite being peaceful and serene,
08:49New Genesis and its inhabitants had to deal with the constant threat of Apocalypse,
08:53and its evil tyrant,
08:55Darkseid.
08:56They must have known all too well that sooner rather than later,
08:59Darkseid would come for them.
09:00This came to pass in the Justice League of America issue 183.
09:04Now what's interesting here is that at this point,
09:06Darkseid is in fact dead.
09:08Of course,
09:09that doesn't stop him from influencing proceedings for the worse.
09:12The various members of the Justice League and the Justice Society
09:15were getting ready for an annual meeting,
09:17when they encountered Transmatter portals.
09:20After being transported to New Genesis,
09:22they make the horrific discovery
09:23that most of the populace had been abducted
09:25and enslaved by the forces of Apocalypse.
09:28With New Genesis pleading for help,
09:30the heroes quickly form an alliance,
09:32and go about trying to thwart
09:33whatever sinister plot was being propagated by Apocalypse.
09:37In the end,
09:37it turns out that the real plan was Darkseid's revival.
09:40In other words,
09:41this planetary-scale destruction
09:42was the latter's doing all along.
09:45Number 1.
09:47Try to end the multiverse.
09:49What can possibly be more evil
09:51than trying to end all of creation?
09:53What made things even worse
09:54was the fact that this was a response
09:56to a failed attempt at enslaving all living beings.
09:59The final Crisis arc
10:01was like an all-or-nothing gamble for Darkseid.
10:03Before this,
10:04he had already lost to New Genesis,
10:06and was even stripped of a physical form.
10:08However,
10:08as long as his essence still existed,
10:10Darkseid was always going to come back
10:12to haunt the universe.
10:14After a carefully orchestrated plot
10:15that saw the successful implementation
10:17of the Anti-Life Equation
10:19on the Earth's population,
10:20including superheroes,
10:22Darkseid had victory in his sights.
10:24Of course,
10:25this was not to be,
10:26as the remaining heroes
10:27eventually managed to turn the tide.
10:29In the climax,
10:30a combined effort from multiple flashes and Superman,
10:33along with a dying contribution from Batman,
10:36is enough to defeat the evil tyrant.
10:38Unfortunately for the heroes,
10:39and in fact the entire multiverse,
10:41this is where Darkseid shows
10:43how far he is willing to go.
10:45Instead of accepting defeat,
10:47Darkseid,
10:47whose continued existence
10:48was already causing breaks in space-time,
10:51tried to drag the entire multiverse down with him.
10:53And you know what?
10:54He nearly succeeded too.
10:56But there we have it friends and foes,
10:57the 10 worst deeds ever committed by Darkseid.
11:00I hope you enjoyed this video,
11:01let me know down in the comments below if you did.
11:04Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter,
11:05at Panels2Pixels,
11:06subscribe to WhatCulture Comics,
11:08and we'll see you next time.