The 10 Most Powerful New Gods, Ranked

Jack Kirby created some of the most powerful characters the DC Universe ever saw when he launched the New Gods in 1970 upon his entry into DC Comics after leaving Marvel. This was when Kirby created the Fourth World, which included New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Forever People. Through the stories, Kirby introduced the world to an entire pantheon of warring space deities whose fight over free will still echoes through DC entertainment. The warring sides include the benevolent New Genesis (ruled by the Highfather) and the dystopian, violent Apokolips (ruled by Darkseid). The fight was for the Anti-Life Equation, a formula that lets its wielder dominate all sentient life and erase free will, the engine driving nearly every New Gods story.

From the rulers of New Genesis and Apokolips to the heroes and villains from both worlds, here are the most powerful New Gods, ranked.

10) DeSaad

DeSaad is Darkseid’s chief torturer, and he is very good at his job. Known as the god of fear and pain, DeSaad was the official tormentor of Darkseid’s Elite who studied suffering in service of the Anti-Life Equation quest. He debuted in Forever People #2 (1971) by Jack Kirby and also appeared in New Gods #2 in the same month. His name was based on the Marquis de Sade, whose name helped create the word “sadism.” In fact, DeSaad’s assistant was named Justeen, a nod to the de Sade novel Justine.

As for DeSaad’s power levels, he is a New God, so he is immortal, telepathic, and resistant to illness and poison. However, his real power comes in technology, where he created master-built torture devices and weapons such as the Fear Machine (which can cause panic throughout entire cities), paralysis nerve-beams, and vertigo grenades. His biggest show of power was running a torture prison disguised as an amusement park where paying guests perceived the suffering inmates as harmless. While not the most powerful, he is the cruelest New God.

9) Granny Goodness

Granny Goodness is one of Darkseid’s chief lieutenants. She runs the brutal “orphanages” (military training centers) that condition children into fanatically loyal soldiers, and she founded and leads the Female Furies. She made her first appearance in Mister Miracle #2 (1971) by Jack Kirby. As a New God, she has functional immortality, superhuman strength and durability, and hand-to-hand skills. However, her true power is her skills as a military leader.

She is one of the greatest tacticians and strategists of the New Gods, and she also utilizes advanced Apokoliptian weapons, such as a mega-rod. She raised and trained Scott Free, who was the first child ever to escape one of her orphanages, where he grew up to become Mister Miracle, a future Justice League member. She also broke and groomed Big Barda into leading the Female Furies. Her power is not physical, but as the manufacturer of loyal killers to serve Darkseid.

8) Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf is a New God and the military general of Apokolips, commanding its Parademon armies. He is also a loyal member of Darkseid’s elite inner circle. Steppenwolf is the younger brother of Darkseid’s mother, making him his ruler’s uncle. He debuted in New Gods #7 (1972) by Jack Kirby. He is nigh-immortal with superhuman strength and durability. He is also a master swordsman who wields an electro-axe and a cable-snare that entraps foes and fires lethal radion beams.

By Darkseid’s orders, Steppenwolf murdered Avia, the wife of Izaya (Highfather), during a raid on New Genesis, which reignited the ancient war between the New Gods. He is a fearsome war commander, but his power is purely physical brute force with no mental or cosmic abilities. He was also killed by Highfather during that war, although he was later resurrected. He remains one of the most famous New Gods thanks to his role as the main villain in the 2017 Justice League DCEU movie.

7) Kalibak

Kalibak was the firstborn son of Darkseid, by the sorceress Suli, the only woman Darkseid said he ever truly loved. This made him Orion’s half-brother, but he remained by his father’s side and has often served as his second-in-command, nicknamed Kalibak the Cruel. He debuted in New Gods #1 (1971) by Jack Kirby, the same issue that introduced Orion. His main powers include superhuman strength, speed, and near-invulnerability (steel-like hide), plus the Beta-Club, a nearly unbreakable weapon that fires a nerve-beam that inflicts debilitating pain.

His greatest feat of power came when Darkseid augmented his powers, and he physically overpowered Orion in direct combat, despite Orion previously being the stronger of the two. His strength is rated near Superman, Orion, and Darkseid. He is strong and durable enough to trade blows with Superman, but consistently the loser in his rivalry with Orion, and is a brute force attacker rather than a strategist or top-tier power.

6) Mister Miracle

Mister Miracle is Scott Free, the biological son of Highfather, traded to Darkseid under the Pact and raised in the brutal Pits of Apokolips under Granny Goodness. Scott’s first appearance came in Mister Miracle #1 (1971) by Jack Kirby. Scott then met Earthly escape artist Thaddeus Brown (the original Mister Miracle) and assistant Oberon, inheriting the identity. His core powers involve New God strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, and near-immortality, with high resistance to harm from his Apokoliptian upbringing.

However, what makes him stand out above other New Gods is that he is the universe’s supreme escape artist, aided by a Mother Box and modified Aero-Discs. In Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers, Mister Miracle escaped Darkseid’s Omega Sanction, establishing that even Darkseid’s ultimate trap can be beaten. He is not as powerful as his wife, but he is still an invaluable hero on just about any Justice League team, and is one of the New Gods’ most important heroes.

5) Big Barda

Big Barda debuted in Mister Miracle #4 (1971) by Jack Kirby. She was a member of The Female Furies, who debuted as a team in Mister Miracle #6 (1972). Big Barda was broken and trained by Granny Goodness to be one of her most powerful Female Furies, where she rose to become the commander of Darkseid’s all-female death squad. This all ended when she decided to run to Earth with Scott Free when he escaped, and the two became heroes on Earth.

Big Barda has megaton-range superhuman strength, plus enhanced speed, durability, and stamina. She is a master of multiple combat forms and an expert swordswoman, who also wields the Mega-Rod, which fires concussive bolts, manipulates gravity, and teleports. She has been shown in DC Comics to be able to fight Wonder Woman to a standstill, which makes her one of DC’s most powerful characters. She has tried to live in peace, married to Mister Miracle, but often gets called into action as a Justice League or Birds of Prey member.

4) Metron

Metron is the New Gods’ god of knowledge. He is the greatest mind of New Genesis, an amoral, largely neutral explorer who pursues understanding rather than taking sides in the war. He made his debut in New Gods #1 (1971) by Jack Kirby. He rides the Mobius Chair, his own creation, which crosses space, time, and dimensions and grants near-omniscient understanding. This chair stores all the New Gods’ knowledge, plus everywhere Metron has traveled. Its only known power source is Element X.

Also, Metron invented Boom Tube technology, the dimensional-teleportation system the New Gods rely on. This was one of his few bad decisions, as he bargained with Darkseid to receive more Element X, handing Apokolips the Boom Tube tech and helping enable Darkseid’s conquests. His power is knowledge and access rather than brute force. He also reportedly knows the key to the Anti-Life Equation but refuses to share it. In the “Darkseid War” event, the Mobius Chair became a near-omniscient throne of power.

3) Orion

Orion is Darkseid’s younger son and a New God who stood up to fight his father to stop his conquests. In the trade that sent Scott Free to Apokolips in the Pact, it was Orion that Darkseid sent to the Highfather. As a result, it was Orion who became the New Genesis’s greatest warrior and Darkseid’s fiercest enemy. He debuted in New Gods #1 (1971) by Jack Kirby. His main powers include immortality, superhuman strength/speed/durability, accelerated healing, and master combat skills. He also has access to the Astro-Force, which is cosmic energy he channels (largely through his Astro-Harness) into energy blasts, magnetic beams, and flight.

In “Countdown to Final Crisis,” he fulfilled the prophecy by defeating Darkseid and tearing out his father’s heart, opening an Apokoliptian firepit in Darkseid’s chest. Even Superman refused to intervene, recognizing it as a fight between father and son. He is repeatedly named as the one New God destined and able to kill Darkseid. He even wielded the Anti-Life Equation once, gaining total dominion over living things, although it corrupted him.

2) Highfather (Izaya)

The two leaders in the New Gods are on different sides of the coin, and the good side is led by the Highfather, Izaya. He is the benevolent ruler and spiritual leader of New Genesis, the heroic counterpart to Darkseid and his people’s living connection to the Source. He debuted in New Gods #1 (1971) by Jack Kirby, and he traded his own son, Scott Free, to Darkseid for Darkseid’s son, Orion, to keep peace between New Genesis and Apokolips.

Before becoming Highfather, Izaya was New Genesis’s mightiest warrior-king. After his wife Avia was killed, his war against Apokolips led him to the Source, which transformed him into the Source’s avatar. He wields the Wonder Staff, a direct conduit to the Source. He ranks alongside names like Zeus and the Phantom Stranger as one of DC’s most powerful beings, and he is capable of killing Darkseid, although it never happened.

1) Darkseid

Darkseid is the most powerful of the New Gods, and one of DC Comics’ deadliest beings, hero or villain. He is the tyrannical ruler of Apokolips and the central villain of the entire Fourth World, the dark mirror to New Genesis. He was formerly known as the New God Uxas, until he murdered the Old Gods to seize the Omega Force and the throne. Darkseid debuted in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970) by Jack Kirby, before his full introduction in Forever People #1 (1971).

Darkseid’s powers include superhuman strength and durability, immortality, and his signature Omega Beams, which are eye-fired cosmic energy that can disintegrate, teleport, or hurl a victim through time. His goal is the Anti-Life Equation, which would make him all-powerful. He came closest to victory in “Final Crisis,” where he unleashed Anti-Life Equation to enslave most of humanity, fracturing reality, and possessing a human host as his Final Host. Orion ripped his father’s heart from his chest at the end of the “Death of the New Gods” era, but Darkseid killed his son in “Final Crisis.”

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