Darkseid is DC’s Worst Villain (And I Can Prove It)

Darkseid is a character with a huge legacy in DC Comics. Darkseid was created by Jack Kirby, a creator who many consider to be the greatest in the history of the medium. Darkseid acted as the main villain of the New Gods, a modern cosmology created by Kirby. The New Gods were never the most popular concept, but they made a big impression on DC fans, especially Darkseid. Darkseid became the embodiment of evil in the DC Multiverse, and is one of the few DC characters who can be considered as the big bad of the entire DC Multiverse. This idea was perpetuated by Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited, and has been shown in comics like Final Crisis. Right now, Darkseid is the secret evil behind the Absolute Universe, and fans are waiting to see just what he’s going to do next. For many out there, Darkseid has become their favorite DC villain. However, I’m here to say something about Darkseid — he’s the worst DC villain.

Darkseid is superlatively powerful, and that is something of a problem with the character. Final Crisis is an amazing series, and it changed the conception of Darkseid, showing that he was a mutliversal force of entropy and evil. While this is a cool idea on its own, it’s also something that has become a huge problem for DC. Darkseid really isn’t all that interesting as a villain anymore, and yet his place in the DC Multiverse is so important he can’t be ignored. With Darkseid being a major part of the Absolute Universe, DC has to figure out a way to make the character actually interesting again.

Darkseid Is Too Powerful to be Interesting

Some of my favorite DC stories have Darkseid in them, but there’s something all of those stories have in common — amazing creators. There are a total of two creators who can make Darkseid work as a character, and one of them is dead — Grant Morrison and Jack Kirby. Kirby and Morrison were able to use the ideas behind Darkseid — that he’s the embodiment of the darkness in creation — in ways that no one else can. Every other creator uses Darkseid as a powerful bad guy, and that’s a huge mistake. Darkseid is basically unstoppable; it’s nearly impossible to kill him without weapons that most heroes can’t get their hands on and even destroying his body doesn’t actually kill him. Final Crisis showed us that killing Darkseid takes multiple steps — killing his body with a special weapon and then destroying his soul using music, which is the antithesis of Darkseid. Darkseid has been built up to such an extent that putting him in a normal superhero fight is frankly ridiculous. Darkseid is considered one of the Justice League’s greatest villains, but in reality, he’s so powerful that every time the Justice League beats him, it never really feels right. Darkseid has been built up to such an extent over the years that watching heroes punch him out is completely ridiculous.

Read Next

6 DC Comics Characters with Marvel Counterparts

Another problem with Darkseid is his nature as a god. Darkseid can’t ever actually die, because he’s the God of Evil. Evil is always going to exist, so Darkseid always exists. Even after Final Crisis, Darkseid came back. Every time Darkseid has been defeated, Darkseid always comes back. The heroes can never really beat Darkseid, because they can’t defeat evil as a concept. Lex Luthor can have his wealth and corporation taken away from him when he loses and goes to prison. Darkseid will never lose his place in the universe when he’s defeated; even when the leadership of Apokolips is taken away from him, the minute he shows up again, he gets the throne back. I think one of the best things done with Darkseid since Final Crisis is making him into the creator of the Absolute Universe, and I think that he should never show up as a corporeal character again. He works much better as the darkness at the heart of a universe than he does an actual character, because that fits who he is. Kirby meant for Darkseid to represent the evil in every being in the universe, and Morrison built on this idea. This is where Darkseid belongs, because otherwise, he’s too powerful to make for a compelling villain.

Darkseid Isn’t a Character Who Works as a Traditional Villain

Darkseid is often portrayed as the Thanos of the DC Multiverse, especially because of Zack Snyder’s DCEU, but he doesn’t work in the same way that Thanos does. Thanos is great because as powerful as he is, he’s just a mortal. You can beat Thanos and it feels possible; he goes away for a while and has to rebuild himself and his power base. Darkseid doesn’t work that way. Darkseid is a multiversal force of creation. He is superlatively powerful and nearly impossible to defeat, and even if you kill him, he still exists.

Making Darkseid into the creator of the Absolute Universe, and showing him as the force that keeps that universe hopeless, is the right way to use the character. Darkseid is not a traditional villain and doesn’t work in traditional villain stories. I think DC is a great character in the DC Multiverse, but he’s such a bad villain it isn’t funny.

What do you think about Darkseid? Sound off in the comments below.