After much ado, the vaunted Snyder Cut of Justice League debuts on HBO Max today, March 18th. While superhero fans are divided on the movie’s potential, horror fans have reason to be interested in this new take on the DC Comics’ greatest heroes. Instead of Steppenwolf, Darkseid will be the primary villain of the film.
Simply put, Darkseid is not only the greatest villain in comics history; he is the most terrifying monster in popular fiction. More than just an antagonist who does bad things, Darkseid is a corrupt god who seeks to destroy all free will in the universe. Initially developed as part of the Fourth World franchises, a collection of DC Comics miniseries telling psychedelic super-myths created by legendary artist Jack Kirby, Darkseid is the ruler of Apokolips, the war-torn sister planet to the Edenic New Genesis and its ruler Highfather.
While Darkseid does do normal villain-y things like try to destroy Superman or attempt a conquest of New Genesis, his true goal is the eradication of free-will. He searches tirelessly for the Anti-Life Equation, a mysterious force that would give him control over the thoughts and feelings of everyone in the universe. Darkseid’s aims make him more than just a bad guy. Instead, he is the personification of hopelessness and depression; the avatar of every nihilist thought you’ve ever had; the living confirmation that all is lost and nothing matters. Which supervillain, what movie monster could compare?
These six stories will give you the best overview of the horror of Darkseid.