Jack Kirby is the indisputable King of Comics. He changed the game, building practically half the iconic Marvel library and setting a standard with his immaculate art and storytelling that became Marvel’s ideal for years to come. Of course, while he’s best known for his work at the House of Ideas, his career didn’t stop with Marvel. Kirby would go on to create some truly iconic comics for DC, including crafting what might just be his masterpiece in the Fourth World. This next-gen evolution of the Norse pantheon became the foundation from which DC’s cosmology was built, but the most important character, without a doubt, was Darkseid.
Nowadays, Darkseid is the end-all, be-all of comic book villains. He’s the embodiment of pure evil and tyranny, aiming to enslave all of reality under his rocky fist and destroy those who resist him. He’s the despair to Superman’s hope, the endings to his beginnings. Darkseid is, and whenever he shows up, you know that things are about to get ten times more serious. However, Kirby didn’t intend for Darkseid to be this unstoppable monster. In fact, he originally wrote him as a sniveling coward, but while I love that interpretation to death, what he’s become might just be exactly what DC needs.
Jack Kirby was firmly of the opinion that evil, at its core, was cowardice. Thus, he designed Darkseid, who had all the trappings of the ultimate evil. He had unimaginable power and ruled an entire dystopian planet that worshiped the ground he walked on, but that was all showmanship. The reason Darkseid was obsessed with gaining a power like the Anti-Life Equation or other cosmic weapons was not that he was driven to conquer everything by some primordial belief, but because he was terrified of being weak. At his core, Darkseid was a coward who needed to punish others beneath his heel because he was terrified of someone else doing the same. His endless quests for power were to cover his endless failings.
Kirby’s number one approach to writing villains was to depict the sad reality of fascism and how fascists, at their core, were driven by insecurity. Just the same, Darkseid was the God of Tyranny because he was those ideals taken to their comic book extreme. He was obsessed with controlling how others saw him and made sure to cover all of his flaws by destroying anyone who would see him make a mistake. Darkseid wants everyone to think he’s perfect, but he’s just as likely to bite his tongue or trip as the next guy. He’s even been known to eradicate those who have seen him make mistakes, all serving to cover his precious, fragile ego.
Over time, however, the character was picked up by other writers and artists, who bought into Darkseid’s great lie. Darkseid slowly became the unbreakable personification of evil he wanted everyone to see him as. As of now, he’s literally become the evil in the firmaments of reality, guiding the Absolute Universe, and the entire DC Multiverse as a whole, towards final destruction. Darkseid is entirely different from his original self, and as desperate as I am for that version to be explored, this new one is exactly what DC needs.
Simply put, DC needs a character who fills the role that Darkseid does. Their line-up of heroes has always represented something more mystical than themselves. They are also mythological in their significance. Superman especially has become the symbol of good across the multiverse, representing the concepts of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow in their entirety. The entire multiverse revolves around Superman’s heroism inspiring others, and so, to match that, there must be a foe who can fill the same role for evil. Darkseid naturally slid into that role with everything he represented, even having been first teased in a Jimmy Olsen comic.
Darkseid’s status as the ultimate evil has led to some of DC’s greatest stories. His rivalry with Superman has naturally built across decades, culminating in their newest struggle as Darkseid infects every corner of the DC Universe, bending it to his will to craft the perfect weapon to finally upend the Man of Tomorrow. Without Darkseid being the villain that he is, there wouldn’t be an Absolute Universe, or even other iconic storylines like Final Crisis. Darkseid had to evolve as DC shifted from their idea of evil being the concept of fascism to something even bigger, encompassing all the darkness where nightmares spawn, but is still broken so easily by a piece of light.
DC has always been a battle of good versus evil, good guys versus bad guys, and this direction for Darkseid is no different. He’s an indispensable part of DC’s cosmos, iconic in a way few villains could hope for, and has a long history with Superman. Darkseid is the perfect villain to act as his antithesis on this level, and his status as the monster that he is has pushed DC to become something bigger and better than it ever was before. As fantastic as the original depiction of Darkseid is, this new version has helped DC evolve, and that’s incredible.
What version of Darkseid do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below!
