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Darkseid

fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics
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Darkseid is a fictional character from DC Comics. He was created by Jack Kirby and his first appearance was in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134, November 1970.

I am many things Kal-El - but here, I am God. ~ Paul Dini & Rich Fogel
Ruler of Apokolips! Wielder of Holocaust! Disciple of power and death! ~ Jack Kirby

In Comics

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New Gods #1 (1971)

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Written by Jack Kirby
Highfather: The universe--slave or free--on Apokolips their ruler, Darkseid, has already made that choice! What shall ours be, Orion?

Final Crisis #5

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Darkseid [simultaneously speaking through the three billion humans dominated by the Anti-Life Equation]: 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!

Final Crisis #7

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Darkseid: You turned your back and I wrecked your world. I robbed your people of their powers, their hopes, their future, themselves. What will you do when your friends, your enemies, your lover, are all Darkseid? When there is one body. One mind. One will. One life that is Darkseid. Will you be the enemy of all existence, then? What irony that will be, Son of Krypton.
Darkseid: The sun has set forever. There is a black hole where my heart should be.

Justice League of America vol. 3 #13

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Darkseid: 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.

Justice League of America vol. 3 #14

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Darkseid: See what I have made! Imagine what is yet to come! I take away their confusion and give them obedience. I take away their fear of themselves and give them fear of Darkseid. I have liberated them from the chaos and indecision! I have given one straight path! One clear purpose! One goal: To die for Darkseid!
Darkseid: Pain is what makes us strong. And all the gods are dead, Wonder Woman. There is no god but Darkseid. So kneel now or later. In the end, you will kneel.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #12

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Darkseid: (before attacking the Anti-Monitor) Thus let him suffer the wrath of Darkseid.

Countdown to Final Crisis #8

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Darkseid: (To Solomon the Monitor) Checkmate, Monitor. Take consolation in the fact you never had a chance against me.

JLA Vol 1 14

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Darkseid: I CANNOT BE DESTROYED! I AM EVERYTHING! I CANNOT BE STOPPED! AND IN THE RUIN OF THIS ANTHILL PLANET I WILL BUILD AN EMPIRE OF ORDER! THAT IS MY WILL! THAT IS THE WILL OF DARKSEID!

Legends Vol 1 1

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Darkseid: Perhaps the time has come to strike at the core of the problem - to destroy the very concept of such legends!

Legends Vol 1 3

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Darkseid: Soon now, Earth's mightiest legends will be no more than dust - and that miserable world will at last be ripe for my picking!

Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 2 292

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Darkseid: You may live to witness my triumph. Live -- to witness the darkness transcendant... and your ultimate, undying doom.

Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 4 22

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Darkseid: Pitiful, transient beings. Their hour upon the stage is so indelibly brief. They would sooner have evolved to something of value. A prouder form... one of loftier ideals. And one without such petty concerns. The universe needs something closer to its kind. For Man is too cynical. It's not a time for Gods.

Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 4 24

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Darkseid: Your conception of good and evil are insignificant, Querl Dox. In fact, your minuscule awareness of this is so obtuse and vain that to even consider yourself sentient -- would be a monumental disservice to those who are.

New Gods Vol 4 1

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Darkseid: I am fear itself -- the terror hidden in your darkest dreams.

Final Crisis

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Darkseid: There was a war in heaven, Mr. Turpin. And I won. Your future belongs to Darkseid now.

Superman: The Animated Series

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If you won't be my knight, you will be my pawn.
 
Had I known one human's death would pain you so, I would have killed more. And kill more I shall. Carry that agony with you to oblivion, Superman.

Father's Day

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[Flying in, after Darkseid has just vaporized his son, Kalibak]
Superman: What have you done to him? [Darkseid says nothing] I asked you a question. Who are you? [Darkseid ominously smiles] Answer me!
Darkseid: [attacks Superman with his Omega Beams, frying him until he's on the ground, writhing] That is who I am.

Apokolips...Now!

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Darkseid: I did not return you to Earth so you could indulge in petty theft.
Bruno Manheim: Petty?! We cleared over twenty million!
Darkseid: I play for higher stakes.
Bruno: You promised me you would make me a king!
Darkseid: And so you are – a king of fools!
Darkseid: [after Superman declines his offer to join him] Pity. Still, if you won't be my knight, you will be my pawn.
Darkseid: People of Earth, I am Darkseid, Lord of Apokolips! Here is your savior, cowed and broken. I have crushed him as easily as I have crushed all who have dared to oppose me throughout the Cosmos. I am power unlike any you have ever known: absolute, infinite, and unrelenting. You have no choice but to prepare as a long dark future as my subjects and my slaves.

Little Girl Lost

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Darkseid: Ever proud, eh, Kryptonian? I must say, I find it to be very...wearying.
Superman: [referencing Granny Goodness] What was this bootlicker doing on Earth, Darkseid? I thought your business there was settled.
Darkseid: I never settle. What I cannot have, I destroy.

Legacy

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Darkseid: I can't believe he's blood.
Superman: You used me.
Darkseid: I told you once, Superman: If you would not be my knight, you would be my pawn.
Superman: I see you're a man of your word.
Darkseid: I am many things, Kal-El. You couldn't even begin to imagine half of them. But for now, I shall take the role of executioner. [blasts Superman] A final gift, my wayward son. [blasts Superman again] A fast death, infinitely preferable to the shame of returning to Earth. There, your legacy would be one of fear and distrust. A pariah desperately seeking the favor of a world that cursed your name.
Superman: [punches Darkseid] That's for Dan Turpin!
Darkseid: Who?
Superman: The good man you murdered!
Darkseid: Had I known one human's death would pain you so, I would have killed more. [pummels Superman] And kill more I shall. Carry that agony with you to oblivion, Superman.
Darkseid: I am many things, Kal-El, but here, I am God.

Justice League

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Twilight

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Because this time, I'm not going to stop until you're just a greasy smear on my fist. Let's go.
Darkseid: You really are a glutton for punishment. Time and again, I've beaten you, humbled you. What makes you think today's outcome will be any different?
Superman: Because this time, I'm not going to stop until you're just a greasy smear on my fist. Let's go.
Darkseid: This is where you belong, Superman -- Under my heel.
Darkseid: [Watches as Superman, Batman, and Orion go through the Boom Tube, leaving him stranded] Heh, loser.

Alive!

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Darkseid: [After an attempt to resurrect Brainiac by Lex Luthor, Darkseid is resurrected instead] It seems I have you to thank for my resurrection. Though your world will suffer slowly I grant you a quick death.
Darkseid: Let the universe howl in despair, for I have returned.

Destroyer

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Darkseid: I hope you appreciate, Kal-El, that everything that happens from this point is on your head. The skies will rain fire, the oceans will boil, the streets will run red with the blood of billions. Only then, after your last pitiful hope is extinguished, will I end your life. Let's go.
Lex Luthor: You destroyed Brainiac! I'm going to make you pay!
Darkseid: Unlikely.
Darkseid: I'm more powerful than I've ever been, and the last time we met, you barely managed to hold your own.
Superman: Funny. That's not how I remember it.
Darkseid: Allow me to refresh your memory. [Darkseid picks up the Daily Planet globe and uses it to slam Superman through every floor of the building]
Darkseid: Don't leave us yet, Kal-El. I want you to see your adopted homeworld bow down before me. Only then will I allow you death's sweet release.
Darkseid: Impressive. No one has ever avoided my Omega Beam. I wonder if the other one is as agile. [Lex Luthor runs away] Excellent strategy.
Darkseid: Your friends have abandoned you or fallen before my might. Super or otherwise, you're merely a man. And I am a god.
Darkseid: It's called the Agony Matrix. Direct neural stimulation of pain receptors - all of them. Imagine the worst pain you've ever felt in your life, times a thousand. Now imagine that pain continuing. Forever. Oh, that's right... you don't have to imagine.
Darkseid: Still alive. You impress me, Kryptonian. More, your valor has touched my heart. Oh yes, there is still some small part of me that knows mercy. I will end your pain... with something special I've been saving for just this occasion. [Darkseid draws a Kryptonite knife] I'm going to carve out your heart and put it on a pike in my throne room.
Lex Luthor: As much as I'd enjoy seeing that, first you've got some business with me. Sorry it took me so long - I had to go get my power suit.
Darkseid: You dare challenge me? Insanity!
Lex Luthor: Oh, I'm not here to challenge you, Darkseid. Quite the contrary. I've got something you want. The only thing you want.
Darkseid: [astonished] The Anti-Life Equation!
Lex Luthor: My gift to you.
Darkseid: It's beautiful, isn't it?
Lex Luthor: Yes...yes, it is.

[Darkseid and Luthor are swept up in the equation's cosmic power.]

Justice League Heroes

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Darkseid: Brainiac is no more. Tremble before the power of...
Superman: [surprisingly shocked] Darkseid!
Darkseid: Greetings, Superman.
Batman: You tricked Brainiac into freeing you from your extra-dimensional prison.
Darkseid: I promised him he would unleash power beyond imagining. I fulfilled our bargain. To the letter.
Zatanna: Yeah, and he was also promised great knowledge.
Darkseid: And I delivered. What higher lesson is there than is this: Never trust Darkseid.
Superman: Get off my planet... monster!
Darkseid: Normally a threat from you is worth considering, but with both the Mother Box and Sensory Matrix Field Generator at my command, I'd rather think you should get off my planet.
Darkseid: You can't control me, you can't destroy me, and there is no prison in the universe that can hold me.
Wonder Woman: I don't believe you're telling me the truth.
[wraps her lasso around Darkseid]
Wonder Woman: You know the power of my magic lasso. No one bound by it can tell a lie.
Darkseid: If I were free, I'd tear you limb from limb.
Zatanna: I believe him.

Injustice 2

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Darkseid: The Coluan, Brainiac, was a genius without peer. But. I. Am. A God. I could not allow an errant intellect to steal the object of my vengeance. Superman refused to submit to my will, denied my conquest of Earth, and killed my son, Kalibak. He suffered and perished. But not until I told him exactly what would happen after he died. Kara Zor-El proved quite resilient, but eventually, DeSaad broke her. She is a powerful weapon--a natural leader for my new, invincible breed of parademons, cloned from the DNA of Superman himself. Superman robbed me of my blood. Now, our score is settled. That is the will of Darkseid!

About Darkseid

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If someone took control of your mind and you were not able to think as yourself any longer, you would no longer be yourself. You'd be something in his command. You as an individual would be dead. That's Anti-Life. In other words, if you gave yourself to some cause, and gave up everything as an individual and you were at the beck and call of some leader, you would be dead as an individual. And that's what Darkseid wants. He wants control of everybody. If it was snowing outside and you weren't wearing any shoes and it was 38 degrees below zero and this guy says, "Go out and get me a bologna sandwich," you have to go through all that; you obey him automatically, you obey him meekly. You walk out without a coat and you freeze to death. He doesn't care. You do it anyway despite the fact that you don't want to do it. You're dead as an individual. You have no choice. You can't object and you have no stature as a person. You're dead. A slave is a dead man. That's what Darkseid wants. Darkseid wants complete subjugation of everything at a word - his word. ~ Jack Kirby
 
Darkseid constitutes the kind of men Kirby was acquainted with in his youth. The slum lords, made famous in Will Eisner’s A Contract With God, were men (perhaps women?) with agendas. They operated on morals dictated by their business mindset. The cost of rent, the living conditions, and the quality of life they allowed for their tenants was in line with their standards. To them, that standard was appropriate. To call them “evil” or “unethical” is an inaccurate assessment. They were gods within the worlds they created. ~ Stuart Warren
  • Darkseid is very evil. He's the equivalent of a mass murderer, but he wouldn't waste his super-powers on just one individual. He wouldn't go out of his way just to kill one man; it would be ridiculous. He wouldn't do it. He'd just walk away. That's how my villains think.
    • Jack Kirby, "Jack Kirby interview", Train of Thought #5, (1971); February 1990, posted May 23, 2011 in issue 134 of "The Comics Journal", now on TCJ Archive
  • If someone took control of your mind and you were not able to think as yourself any longer, you would no longer be yourself. You'd be something in his command. You as an individual would be dead. That's Anti-Life. In other words, if you gave yourself to some cause, and gave up everything as an individual and you were at the beck and call of some leader, you would be dead as an individual. And that's what Darkseid wants. He wants control of everybody. If it was snowing outside and you weren't wearing any shoes and it was 38 degrees below zero and this guy says, "Go out and get me a bologna sandwich," you have to go through all that; you obey him automatically, you obey him meekly. You walk out without a coat and you freeze to death. He doesn't care. You do it anyway despite the fact that you don't want to do it. You're dead as an individual. You have no choice. You can't object and you have no stature as a person. You're dead. A slave is a dead man. That's what Darkseid wants. Darkseid wants complete subjugation of everything at a word - his word. He wants every thinking thing under his control.
    I believe it's an evil concept but he doesn't think so.
    • Jack Kirby, "Jack Kirby interview", Train of Thought #5, (1971); February 1990, posted May 23, 2011 in issue 134 of "The Comics Journal", now on TCJ Archive
  • The right idea to Darkseid is anything that benefits him. He isn't going to worry about you. He sees the world from where he sits, and of course what he sees is big. He's a big man. Darkseid is a tremendous, powerful, evil figure, and he's going to see everything in a cosmic view. He's not going to see a view of the candy store around the corner or what's playing at the Palladium next week. Darkseid is going to see everything in an over-powering cosmic view, and of course what else would he want but complete subjugation of everything? Earth is included in that everything, and my concept is that somewhere on Earth is someone who can solve the Anti-Life Equation, and Darkseid is after that poor soul.
    • Jack Kirby, "Jack Kirby interview", Train of Thought #5, (1971); February 1990, posted May 23, 2011 in issue 134 of "The Comics Journal", now on TCJ Archive
  • Darkseid considers anything evil that's going to stop him. If you stop me, I consider you evil.
    • Jack Kirby, "Jack Kirby interview", Train of Thought #5, (1971); February 1990, posted May 23, 2011 in issue 134 of "The Comics Journal", now on TCJ Archive
  • As for his [Darkseid's] creation, this would've been the late 1960s, while Kirby was still at Marvel Comics, before he jumped ship to DC, Mark Evanier is on record saying Jack was channeling Richard Nixon when writing Darkseid's dialogue. Kirby hated Nixon.
    • John Morrow; as quoted in "Come Into The Darkside: A Look Inside the Mind of Darkseid, the Tyrant of Apokolips", by James Heath Lance; in Back Issue #104, (June, 2018), p.26 .
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