Sandbox / DCEU: Darkseid

DC Extended Universe Character Index
Antagonists
Superman's Rogues Gallery (General Zod, Lex Luthor) | Gotham Underworld | Task Force X - Targets | Wonder Woman's Rogues Gallery (Ares)| Apokolips (Darkseid, Steppenwolf) | SHAZAM's Rogues Gallery (Dr. Sivana) | Other Supervillains (Ocean Master, Black Manta) | Minor Villains and Criminals

---

Uxas / Darkseid

"If it is redemption you seek; Find the third box, synchronize the Unity and when this world is scorched, I will come for my great prize!"

^{Click here to see him as Uxas}

Species: New God

Portrayed By: Ray Porter (voice and motion capture), Richard Cetrone (stunt motion capture)

Voiced By: Takaya Hashi (Japanese)

Appearances: Zack Snyder's Justice League

"I have turned one hundred thousand worlds to dust looking for Anti-Life, looking for those who robbed me of my glory. I will stride across their bones, and bask in the glow of Anti-Life, and all of existence shall be mine!"

The leader and most powerful of the New Gods, a ruthless conqueror of worlds and the evil ruler of Apokolips. Thousands of years ago, Darkseid invaded Earth and uncovered the Anti-Life Equation. His forces were repelled by the combined might of the Olympians, a Green Lantern and the united forces of Earth. Darkseid would retreat back to Apokolips and eventually ascended to the throne, now hellbent on attaining the power of Anti-Life.

---

A-L

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Darkseid in most comics or shows is known for executing bearers of bad news or holding people who disagree with him and/or criticize his decisions in contempt. In the DC Animated Universe, Desaad pointing out how badly he was defeated by Highfather led to him eating an Omega Beam and his disintegration. Here, however, after Steppenwolf's head is delivered to his feet by the League in the climax of Zack Snyder's Justice League, Desaad reminds Darkseid that he did warn Darkseid that Steppenwolf would fail and Darkseid instead calmly acknowledges it without punishing Desaad for speaking out.
• Adaptational Skimpiness: The comics tend to go back and forth on whether or not Darkseid wears sleeves and pants with his tunics, with some colorists making him appear to be wearing Nude-Colored Clothing. Here Darkseid's armor is inspired by Ancient Greek armor, so his arms and legs are exposed. Not to mention his first scene has him topless.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Darkseid's armor seems much darker shade of blue than what he normally wears in the comics and cartoons, thought it's usually because of the lighting.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Darkseid has black eyes with orange irises and needs to use a halberd during his first invasion of Earth but has Glowing Eyes of Doom and the ability to shoot Omega beams in the modern day, implying that he acquired the Omega Effect at some point after he lost the Mother Boxes.
• Adaptation Name Change: Though Word of God confirms that Darkseid was once named Uxas, he is already going by the god-name Darkseid by the time he first invaded earth 5,000 years ago, before he acquired the Omega Effect.
• Agitated Item Stomping: With Steppenwolf's conquest a total failure, Darkseid expresses his frustration by stomping on his general's decapitated head.
• Aliens Are Bastards: A genocidal tyrant who is responsible for thousands upon thousands of planets being decimated and their inhabitants either wiped out or enslaved solely to appease his ego.
• Alternate Self: Darkseid has an avatar on Earth-167. ^note In the Smallville comic series, Darkseid states that there is only one of him in the entire multiverse. With Smallville and the DC Exended Universe confirmed to be part of a multiverse during the Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019), both interpretations can be regarded as one and the same.
• Alien Invasion: Darkseid personally led hundreds of thousands of these on worlds across the universe, his last personally-overseen one being that of Earth. He gives the go-ahead to DeSaad to ready his forces for another one of these after Steppenwolf's failure.
• Ambition Is Evil: It certainly is when you're willing to wipe out over 100,000 planets in order to have all life in the multiverse at your beck and call.
• Ancient Astronauts: Darkseid tried to invade Earth with an armada of spaceships in ancient times. An ancient fresco above the three Mother Boxes on the walls of an ancient crypt in Greece depicts him looming over Earth's armies.
• Ancient Evil: Darkseid's presence was recorded in a long-hidden location by the Amazons, with the implication being that they were even more reluctant to tell Diana of his existence than they were of Ares. The Atlanteans are also well-versed in the history of the invasion. The painting in Lex Luthor's study implies that while humanity's knowledge of Darkseid diluted over millennia, his legend was enough to influence their idea of the infernal world.
• Annoying Arrows: Uxas is durable enough to be repeatedly shot in the chest by a hunting goddess and suffer only mild fatigue.
• Armor Is Useless: Darkseid's metal coverings appear to just be for decoration, since Ares was able to cleave through his neck armor and leave him bleeding out. Though considering that Ares is a War God, anyone's armor may be useless against him, and it did stop Ares from cleaving him lengthwise.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: If the Knightmare sequence is anything to go by, his rule over Apokolips shows that he's not one to be trifled with. As a measure of how potent Darkseid is, Steppenwolf — who had cleaved through the Amazons and several Atlanteans — drops to his knees at the sight of him.
• Badass Boast: As demonstrated by his headline quote.
• Bad Boss: Darkseid really doesn't care for Steppenwolf all that much, having exiled him for his role in a coup from long ago, until he brings him the discovery of The Anti Life Equation itself. And what happens with Steppenwolf when he fails to activate the Unity and gets his head chopped off in the process? Darkseid squishes it without a second thought!
• Bald of Evil: He doesn't have hair and he's evil personified.
• Beard of Evil: His alien helmet that reaches around his jawline gives this effect, and if his McFarlane figures and some concept designs are any indication, he has a set of horns growing from his chin much like Steppenwolf.
• Big Bad: For the entire DC Extended Universe. Darkseid was the leader of the first Apokoliptian invasion of Earth and wants to retrieve the Mother Boxes to recreate the Anti-Life Equation so he can rule the entire universe.
• Bizarre Alien Senses: He ascertained the Anti-Life Equation's whereabouts just by touching soil.
• Black Eyes of Evil: In his younger days Uxas had black sclerae, which when combined with his sunken, shadowed eyes and bright orange irises looks similar to Glowing Eyes of Doom, foreshadowing his eventual upgrade.
• Body Horror: As Uxas in his younger days, he had the Omega symbol carved into his chest.
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Uxas used a polearm in his younger days, which coincided with his taciturn and savage disposition at the time.
• Carry a Big Stick: His polearm, which was durable enough to withstand a direct blast of Zeus' lightning, but not strong enough to block the God of War's surprise attack.
• Characterization Marches On: When he was younger, Darkseid was more brutish and taciturn. His present-day self speaks with eloquence and can handle his temper even when he's boiling with rage.
• Chest Insignia: Darkseid's tunic bears an upside-down Omega symbol, which echoes the cavity in his chest.
• Cold Ham: While operatic with his delivery, Darkseid remains calm at all times, never raises his voice, and is downright eloquent.
• Conflict Killer: All inhabitants of Earth and even the Old Gods ceased their conflicts and banded together to counter Darkseid's first invasion of Earth ages ago.
• Cult of Personality: Darkseid's palace on Apokolips is adorned with stained glass windows depicting his face.
• Dark Is Evil: He has grey skin and is clad entirely in a very dark blue suit of armor. And, well...he's Darkseid.
• Dark Messiah: Darkseid's a god that's so awe-inspiring he's revered by other gods, regardless of his open disdain for anyone except himself. All other lives in the Multiverse are viewed as inferior beings that need to be indoctrinated into living only for Darkseid.
• Death Glare: Darkseid’s default way of looking at anyone or anything, with his unblinking Glowing Eyes of Doom really adding to that effect.
• Depending Upon the Undependable: DeSaad smugly tells Darkseid that Steppenwolf would have inevitably screwed up, to which Darkseid concedes his point. Downplayed in that Steppenwolf did in fact synchronize the Unity and decimate Earth, but the Flash was able to rewind events just far enough to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
• Desecrating the Dead: His reaction to Steppenwolf's decapitated head landing at his feet? To crush it under his heel.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: Darkseid's aspiration to have all of existence at his beck and call seems quite short-sighted when you consider that he allows the planets his potential slaves to inhabit are turned into barren balls of dust that couldn't possibly sustain living beings for long-term purposes. Eventually Darkseid's empire would crumble in what would seem like an instant for a being with his lifespan. Then again, he probably doesn't care about his quantity of followers so long as they all serve him.
• Determinator:
  • Darkseid's will was great enough to stall a Green Lantern ring after he'd killed its previous host.
  • Now that Steppenwolf has confirmed Darkseid found the Anti-Life Equation on the same planet as the three Motherboxes which suddenly called out to Apokolips, Darkseid will focus all of his attention on this version of Earth.
• Dimension Lord: He rules over Apokolips, which exists outside of normal time and space.
• Disc-One Final Boss: To the Olympians. They successfully drove him away from Earth, but would be destroyed from within by Ares.
• Divine Conflict: He personally fought against Zeus and Ares.
• The Dreaded:
  • Lex Luthor's frightening words at the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice imply the Earth would have very good reasons to fear him.
  Luthor: He's hungry, he's found us, and HE'S COMING!
  • Diana shivers when looking at the ancient fresco depicting Darkseid. The very same Diana who fearlessly took on an Olympian god and Doomsday.
  • The parademons in Steppenwolf's company instinctively bow down seconds before Darkseid's image is projected.
• Enemy to All Living Things: Over 100,000 worlds were decimated on his account so he could obtain a power that would grant him absolute control over all minds in the multiverse.
• Establishing Character Moment: When DeSaad summons him to speak with Steppenwolf, the nearby Parademons all instinctively gather to bow in fear and respect before he even shows himself, and his mere appearance sends Steppenwolf stepping back in terror before retracting his armor and kneeling himself.
• Eternal Villain: Darkseid's first invasion of Earth was recorded in ancient art, both consciously (the hidden fresco in Greece) and unconsciously (the Paradise Lost-style painting in Lex Luthor's study).
• Evil Colonialist: Darkseid scours the Multiverse looking for Anti-Life, decimating planets and turning the surviving inhabitants into monstrous soldiers.
• Evil Evolves: Originally Darkseid's powerset was limited to physical strength and the kind of durability that goes hand-in-hand with a millennia-long lifespan. When he resurfaces in the present day he has glowing eyes that hint at his ability to fire Omega beams.
• Evil Is Bigger: Darkseid's the evilest of the Apokoliptians and naturally also the tallest.
• Evil Is Not Pacifist: Darkseid uses the full might of the Apokoliptian army to conquer worlds, which he refers to as "the old ways". In the present day he was willing to sit back and let Steppenwolf sneak around Earth trying to find the Motherboxes, but when that fails Darkseid concludes that charging head-on is the preferable method to conquer Earth.
• Evil Is Petty: Darkseid punished Steppenwolf's betrayal by forcing him to conquer tens of thousands of planets in the name of Apokolips. Since everyone is surprised that Steppenwolf was able to uncover the Anti-Life Equation, it's clear that Darkseid's reason for punishing Steppenwolf in this way was less about expanding his empire and more about tormenting an insubordinate minion. Billions — if not trillions — of lives were either wiped out or enslaved purely because Darkseid wanted to make just one individual suffer.
• Evil Overlord: Darkseid rules over an entire planet, but aspires to conquer the entire multiverse. 100,000 worlds have already perished under his reign.
• The Evil Prince: It's stated that the Defiance happened before Darkseid ascended to the throne, meaning he was not the top ruler of Apokolips when he first invaded Earth.
• Evil Sounds Deep: As befitting the Evil Overlord of a Death World, his voice sounds very deep.
• Evil Wears Black: Much like Superman in Man of Steel, Darkseid wears his classic outfit with a much darker shade of blue than normal^note The blue is best seen with his McFarlane Toys figures and Cyborg's vision of the future where Darkseid attacks Atlantis, as well as behind the scenes footage seen here. The film’s color palette and lighting makes his armor seem black more often than not.
• Eye Beams: His trademark Omega Beams are capable of changing direction mid-blast to reach their target. While he doesn't appear to have them during his first invasion of Earth, he uses them in a "Knightmare" vision to kill an Atlantean without having to turn around to face them.
• Face-Revealing Turn: When it seems like Superman has turned the tide, a Boom tube oopens behind him and the Justice League see Darkseid turning around to face them.
• Familial Foe: Hippolyta fought against his army thousands of years ago and her daughter Diana would continue the fight in the present day.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: He's strong enough to fling a group of soldiers just by swinging his weapon.
• Foreshadowing:
  • While he does not actually appear in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman has a dream about Superman (and his personal army) being helped by Parademons, which comic fans will readily recognize as Darkseid's handiwork. The giant Omega symbol that was carved on the wasteland in Batman's nightmare also didn't leave doubt about Darkseid's presence in the setting at the time.
  • A closeup of the painting in Lex Luthor's mansion shows that the leader of the demonic hordes has a face that looks a lot like Darkseid's.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: There's numerous shots of Darkseid looking directly at the audience.
• Frontline General: In Zack Snyder's Justice League, Uxas (a younger Darkseid) led the Apokoliptian invasion of Earth in ancient times. He was replaced by Steppenwolf in the theatrical cut.
• Galactic Conqueror: 100,000 worlds were decimated either by Darkseid or by servants in his name. Given how many planets are confirmed to be devoid of life — along with several planets that were previously colonised by Kryptonians — it's entirely possible that they were decimated in the name of Darkseid. Earth is the only planet with warriors that can resist him. As an incarnation of Darkseid appeared in Smallville and his aspirations are stated to affect the entire multiverse, he can also be considered a Multiversal Conqueror^note New Gods exist outside the multiverse, as stated in The Multiversity and a Smallville comicbook tie-in.
• The Ghost: Darkseid never appears in the theatrical cut of Justice League, but Steppenwolf identifies Darkseid as his master who exiled him thousands of years ago.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: In the present, Darkseid's eyes are shown emitting a piercing light that was not present in his younger days. The fact that he's also The Unblinking makes his eyes all the more ominous especially in the Knightmare sequence where he kills Arthur, and also when he "comforts" Clark.
• God-Emperor: Darkseid rules an entire planet with his fellow gods submitting to his authority.
• God of Evil: Darkseid is a member of the godlike Apokoliptan species and the main antagonist of the DC Extended Universe. In the source material, he's specifically singled out as the personification of tyranny.
• God of Order: Darkseid represents tyranny, though he still isn't considered the embodiment of absolute order as he requires the Anti-Life Equation to bend all of existence to his will. The number of planets he's conquered and the countless populations he's enslaved have certainly helped him gain this reputation among his fellow New Gods.
• Graceful Loser: While he's clearly furious at Steppenwolf's death and failure, Darkseid doesn't take issue with DeSaad reminding him that he predicted Steppenwolf would fail. Instead, Darkseid decides to switch from passively awaiting the Unity to immediately executing an all-out invasion of Earth.
  DeSaad: (smirking) I told you Steppenwolf would fail.
  Darkseid: Yes... yes you did.
  DeSaad: My master, now that the Mother Boxes have been destroyed, how will you retrieve your great prize?
  Darkseid: Anti-life is found, DeSaad, and we will stop at nothing to possess it! Ready the armada... we will use the old ways.
• Greater-Scope Villain: For the whole DCEU, being the true power behind Steppenwolf and the widely feared Galactic Conqueror of Apokolips. While not directly involved, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice foreshadows him as the greatest evil in the setting, with villains like Zod and Lex Luthor being small fries in comparison.
• Have You Seen My God?: Darkseid stays out of the main plot of Justice League, though Steppenwolf and Desaad acknowledge his presence every chance they get. It isn't until Steppenwolf confirms that the planet which hosts the Anti-Life Equation is Earth that Darkseid decides to step out of the shadows once more. Steppenwolf treats Darkseid's second coming to Earth as...well, the Second Coming.
• Hero Killer: Uxas killed a Green Lantern during the ancient battle for Earth, no easy feat in and of itself.
• Homing Lasers: His Eye Beams follow their target.
• I Control My Minions Through...: Various resources such as his own sheer power, the Omega Sanction and using the Motherboxes to mutate innocent beings into his slaves. The Anti-Life Equation would allow him wider control of all living things without having to conquer planets one-by-one.
• It's All About Me: Darkseid's vanity defines his entire character. He can't stand the idea of sentient life existing with no reverence for him and will force them into subservience through any means he can acquire.
• It's Personal: As stated in his page quote, Darkseid has a grudge against the forces of Earth for not only besting him in combat but also keeping him from obtaining Anti-life.
• Joker Immunity: Darkseid took a battleaxe to the torso and bled out hard enough to lose consciousness as soon as he was brought back to his ship. By all rights he should have died regardless of how durable he may be, but Darkseid managed to outlive all of the Olympians by a century.
• Karma Houdini: Darkseid caused untold death and destruction in his quest to subjugate all of existence. Aside from the wounds he sustained during the Defiance, Darkseid has suffered no consequence for his villainy and quite possibly never will.
• Keystone Army: He made a tactical error trying to invade Earth with only parademons and no combat-ready New Gods beyond himself. Once he's taken out of commission the parademons find themselves overpowered and are either killed or forced to retreat.
• Kick the Dog: As a fresh reminder of who DC's God of Evil is, Darkseid needlessly crushes the severed head of Steppenwolf, a devoted follower of his and his uncle to boot.
• Kneel Before Zod: When the parademons sense Darkseid's appearance via hologram, they all preemptively cower. Steppenwolf follows as soon as he sees the metal slab form into Darkseid's likeness.
• Large and in Charge: During his appearance via Boom Tube during the climactic battle, he is surrounded by hundreds of obedient Parademon soldiers and dominates everyone with his towering height, massive presence, and Glowing Eyes of Doom.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Witnessing the Justice League thwart and kill Steppenwolf convinces Darkseid that he'll need to bring out some bigger guns.
  "Ready the armada. We will use the old ways."

M-Y

• Made of Iron: As shown in the "history lesson" flashback, Darkseid could take several of Artemis's arrows to the chest and back, and still keep fighting. While Ares was able to deal the decisive blow on Darkseid, it was while his father Zeus was holding the New God's attention and gaining little ground doing so. And despite the Olympian's coordinated assault, Darkseid still survived. Unlike his uncle Steppenwolf however, he didn't wear armor back then.
• Malevolent Mugshot: His palace has stained-glass windows bearing his likeness. They resemble the sculpted face that adorned the Palazzo Braschi◊, known as the headquarters of Benito Mussolini.
• The Minion Master: Darkseid's armies are made of various alien races forcibly converted into his slaves.
• Monstrous Humanoid: Unlike Steppenwolf, Desaad and the Parademons who all resemble assorted beasts melded into humanoid forms, Darkseid matches the standard description of a human, but his features are far too horrific to actually pass for a genuine human.
• Motive Rant: His communication with Steppenwolf segues into one where he goes on about his quest to obtain Anti-Life and defeat his enemies.
• My Greatest Failure: It's well known that Darkseid once got close enough to the Anti-Life Equation to claim it, but was thwarted by a united front and lost track of which planet the Equation was bound to.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Darkseid. His own subjects are hesitant to say it out loud unless they're praising his name. The latter half of his name also sounds like the suffix "-cide", which signifies killing something, making his name loosely sound like "dark killer".
• Near-Villain Victory: Darkseid has had to suffer two setbacks thanks to the defenders of Earth, with the Olympians wounding him and splitting his Motherboxes, then again when the Justice League broke the Motherboxes and killed Steppenwolf. Both times he came within a hair's breadth of absolute victory.
• Never Bareheaded: Darkseid has been wearing the same Signature Headgear for thousands of years.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Bringing the Motherboxes to Earth worked in humanity's favour, as Silas Stone managed to stir one up long enough turn a grievously wounded Victor Stone into Cyborg. If Darkseid had kept the Motherboxes on his ship during his first invasion, the Justice League would have been short one member, which they definitely could not spare during Steppenwolf's campaign.
• No Brows: Though given his face is set in a permanent glare, it's not as if Darkseid needs any hair around his eyes to emote.
• Non-Action Big Bad: After his first loss, Darkseid sends his servants to fight his battles for him.
• Obviously Evil: He's a large, sinister-looking extraterrestrial with a constant scowl on his face who is attended by some ghoulish acolytes and commands a legion of locust-people.
• Offing the Mouth: Defied - while Darkseid is rather famous for doing this in the comics, he does not inflict this upon Desaad when the latter esentially says I Told You So regarding Steppenwolf's failure.
• Omnicidal Maniac: He states that he has "turned 100,000 worlds to dust" and wishes to subjugate all of existence with the Anti-Life.
• Orcus on His Throne: Darkseid's conquering days presumably came to an end once he was crowned the official ruler of Apokolips. Now he makes Steppenwolf conquer worlds in his stead. Once Steppenwolf is killed, it's implied Darkseid will go back to fighting on the front lines.
• Out of Focus: Despite preparing for invasion mere moments after losing to the Justice League, Darkseid's conquest is never explored in any future films as Executive Meddling stymied any attempt at a follow-up before a soft reboot was ordered.
• Perpetual Frowner: That scowl you see up there? That's his default expression. His emotional range goes from that to grimacing, screaming, and grunting in combat, but aside from a malicious sneer when he tried to steal a Green Lantern ring, Darkseid never smiles.
• Pet the Dog: When Steppenwolf tells Darkseid he's pinpointed the location of the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid offers to cancel his debt and reinstate his position if he succeeds in forming the Unity. Rather than prove that even Darkseid has Hidden Depths, this actually serves to show how little concern he has for anyone but himself, as it confirms all those planets he made Steppenwolf decimate were little more than senseless punishment for his previous insubordination.
• Planet Baron: The sole ruler of Apokolips.
• Predecessor Villain: Long before the likes of Ares, Black Adam and possibly Enchantress, Darkseid launched his invasion of Earth, compelling men, gods, Amazonians, Atlanteans, and a Green Lantern banding together to repel him.
• Red Baron: He's occasionally referred to as "The Great One", or simply acknowledged with male pronouns said in an ominous tone.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Darkseid's eyes turn bright red when his Omega Beams are unleashed.
• Returning Big Bad: An invader from ancient times who was defeated soundly enough to ensure several thousand years free of his disturbance. That is until the Last Son of Krypton died, stirring the Motherboxes and setting up a chain of events that would lead to Darkseid's eventual return to Earth.
• Reverse Arm-Fold: Wouldn't be Darkseid without it. He's briefly seen in this pose from behind as the Boom Tube from Apokolips to Earth opens, just before he turns to face the action with DeSaad and Granny Goodness.
• Satanic Archetype: To counter Superman's role as a Messianic Archetype, Darkseid is described by Luthor as a devil of some kind. Within his mansion, Luthor kept a painting of a war between angels and devils, only the painting is turned upside down, referencing Luthor's words that devils come from the sky, further relating Darkseid's role. For a more straightforward example, Darkseid is presented as the ruler of a fiery hellscape whose main army is composed of flying demons led by a general with big devil-like horns. That's without mentioning his status as a literal God of Evil (Tyranny to be precise). Unlike other examples of Satanic Archetypes, Darkseid isn't portrayed as a figure of rebelliousness, but as the ultimate authority.
• Scars Are Forever: A variant of this trope, since it applies to his clothes, but the mark of his fight with Ares, which is present on his right shoulder armor, is still there several millennia after his failed invasion of Earth.
• Scary Teeth: The few times Darkseid bares his teeth, they look to be as weathered and foul as the rest of his face.
• Sequel Adaptation Iconic Villain: He appears in the (intended) third movie of the story arc that started with Man of Steel (he was cut from the theatrical version).
• Serkis Folk: Thespian Ray Porter voiced him and did some motion capture as well.
• Shirtless Scene: When invading the Earth as Uxas in the ancient past, he went full bare-chested to better show off the Omega symbol carved into his chest.
• Signature Headgear: Darkseid wears a metal headpiece that covers his jawline, ears, the back of his head and wraps around his neck.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: He wears a sleeveless armored tunic in the present day, much like in the comics and most previous depictions.
• Slouch of Villainy: His preferred method of sitting on his throne. Also resembles a Thinker Pose.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Darkseid's vow to take Anti-Life by force and subsequent order to prepare their invasion are spoken in a hushed tone of voice.
• Staying Alive: Not even an axe-wound to the neck courtesy of Ares himself was enough to kill Darkseid. To add insult to injury, Darkseid managed to outlive Ares by close to a century. Apparently the Olympians and their allies anticipated such a scenario, as they kept Darkseid's Motherboxes hidden or heavily-guarded in case he or one of his minions ever came back.
• Stunned Silence: His reaction to the Justice League dumping Steppenwolf's corpse at his feet is to just stare them down before closing the portal to their world in a Tranquil Fury.
• Super Supremacist: Darkseid sees himself as the only lifeform deserving of recognition. His subjugation ranges from mortals all the way to his fellow New Gods, who see him as a god of gods.
• Super-Toughness: He's been struck with arrows, blasted with lightning and cleaved through the shoulder with a battleaxe and still managed to survive. And that's not even mentioning his attackers all being gods. Even as he was on the berge of blacking out from blood loss, Darkseid still had enough grit to try and fight back.
• Take Over the World: Take over the Multiverse in this case. Darkseid has already decimated 100,000 worlds by the time he appears in Justice League and if it wasn't for Steppenwolf confirming the Anti-Life Equation was on Earth, he would have had his servants continue to scorch planets until the entire Multiverse was devoid of life.
• Takes One to Kill One: Downplayed. He was able to take hits from three gods at once and merely passed out from blood loss. If it wasn't for his parademons providing cover he would have likely died on the battlefield. Given that Darkseid is now revered by his fellow New Gods, it's implied he's reached an even greater level of power regardless of how many parademons he has at hand.
• Three-Point Landing: How Darkseid arrives on Earth. While his hand is planted on the ground, he takes the time to rake his fingers through the soil and deduce that he's on top of the Anti-Life Equation.
• Time Abyss: His invasion predates the death of the Olympians, the exodus of the Amazons and the collapse of Atlantis, with humanity's records of his existence being lost to time outside of at least one mistranslated mythology.
• Tranquil Fury: Just about every line he says comes off across as if he's boiling with rage inside, especially since his face is stuck on "angry".
• Took a Level in Badass: Implied. As Uxas, he could take on entire armies on even footing, but he didn't have homing Eye Beams or Glowing Eyes of Doom, with the implication that he harnessed the Omega Effect after invading Earth and gained a serious upgrade.
• Top God: All other Apokoliptians fear Darkseid. With the Olympians all dead, Darkseid is now the most powerful known being in the multiverse.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Despite pinpointing the location of the Anti-Life Equation thousands of years ago, Darkseid managed to forget that it was on the same planet as the lost Motherboxes. invokedWord of God clarified that the near-fatal injury Darkseid got from Ares and subsequent bleeding out contributed to his memory loss.
• The Unblinking: He stares right at you though those intense glowing eyes until he wants to look away.
• The Unfettered: Not even an axe wound to the shoulder and copious blood loss would stop Darkseid from trying to obtain the Anti-Life Equation. He even states as much when Desaad questions if Anti-Life can even be obtained after their second defeat.
• Unseen No More: Darkseid's presence was hinted at in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and namedropped in the theatrical cut of ''Justice League. The release of the Snyder Cut provided his first real appearance.
• Villain Cred: Desaad and Steppenwolf say his name with utmost reverence, to the point that when either one uses a pronoun to describe Darkseid you can almost hear it capitalized. To say nothing of how Darkseid was able to unite every being on Earth and Olympus under one banner in spite of their differences.
• Villainous Cheekbones: His are so prominent that they would make his head resemble a skull if he wasn't wearing his helmet.
• Voice of the Legion: His voice has a very deep reverberation to it, especially in person.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Uxas used to go bare-chested.
• We Have Reserves: Darkseid witnesses Steppenwolf's death and his parademon army were wiped out, but then he turns and walks down his chamber's hallway, revealing he has hundreds of other parademons in attendance, with his "ready the armada" line hinting that this might just be a fraction of his full military power. As Diana mentioned, parademons are formed from the mutated survivors of planets that have been decimated by the Unity and Darkseid has already conquered 100 thousand worlds, so his armada could possbily be in the billions.
• Worthy Opponent: When Darkseid witnesses the Justice League kill Steppenwolf, he's especially fixated on Superman.
• Wrecked Weapon: The glaive that Uxas used in his first invasion hacked in two when Ares got the drop on him. This was while Uxas was simultaneously holding off a lightning blast courtesy of Zeus, so it's implied that his weapon was unable to endure the offensive power of two gods at once.
• You Have Failed Me: Downplayed. Darkseid's reaction to Steppenwolf's death isn't to give him a proper burial. It's to crush his severed head under his boot. He doesn't even bother arguing against DeSaad's smug dismissal, even apparently sharing it.

"Knightmare" Darkseid

"Knightmare" Darkseid

Species: New God

Affiliation(s): Apokolips, The Regime

Appearances: Zack Snyder's Justice League

In a possible future, Darkseid successfully obtains the Anti-Life Equation and subjugates Earth's population, save for a few resistors that would be hunted down one by one. Chief among his new slaves is none other than Superman.

See the Knightmare page for further information on that timeline.

---

• Alone with the Psycho: He corners Superman and Lois Lane in the Batcave, murders the former and takes advantage of the latter's despair to impose Anti-Life on him.
• Alternate Timeline: Cyborg sees Darkseid kill Aquaman, but Mera implies it was the brainwashed Superman who did it.
• Attack on the Heart: Darkseid rams Aquaman's trident straight through his torso.
• Avenging the Villain: He personally kills Aquaman and is implied to have also killed Wonder Woman, the two heroes who killed his uncle Steppenwolf. Downplayed in that Darkseid didn't actually like Steppenwolf, he's just incensed because it set back his plans for conquest.
• The Bad Guy Wins: The nightmarish Bad Future seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zack Snyder's Justice League is essentially a future in which Darkseid managed to conquer the Earth, killed several heroes of the Justice League, and turned Superman into a tyrant and oppressor that would carry out his will, as the gigantic Omega symbol that's carved in the landscape and his hand in turning Superman against his adopted world can attest.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: One that proved to be a critical oversight to his ambitions. If Darkseid had bothered to learn the name of the planet that carried the Anti-Life Equation, he could have re-invaded Earth at any point between the death of the Olympians and Kal-El's arrival. He instead ended up waiting thousands of years for Steppenwolf to stumble upon the planet once more, at which point he tells Darkseid that the planet's name is "Earth".
• Civilization Destroyer: Darkseid wipes out both Themyscira and Atlantis. He may have also decimated Gotham City, though it's also possible he left that to Superman.
• Conflict Killer: The desolation and horrors he caused on Earth upon successfully conquering it in the Bad Future are bad enough to force Batman and two of his greatest foes — the Joker and Deathstroke — to call a truce and work together to survive and try undoing said conquest.
• The Corrupter: He subjugated Superman with the Anti-Life Equation in the Bad Future.
• Despair Gambit: He killed Lois and left her corpse for Superman to find so that the Kryptonian's resolve would crack just enough for Darkseid to brainwash him.
• Evil Only Has to Win Once: Once Darkseid obtains Anti-Life, the world is beyond salvation. Given it was established that the Anti-Life Equation could control all life throughout The Multiverse, there's a good chance the dystopia on this Earth is just a taste of the true horrors Darkseid's victory would unleash.
• Faux Affably Evil: The way he lays a hand on Superman's shoulder while he grieves for Lois looks reassuring when taken out of context, but it's clear what he's really up to.
• Fireball Eyeballs: After using his Omega Beams, Darkseid's eyes burn with red flames even underwater.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: After killing Aquaman, Darkseid randomly turns around and bares his teeth, in the very direction that present-day Cyborg and the audience can view him. It's almost as if he can see Cyborg through his premonition.
• Greater-Scope Villain: After killing the most powerful Earthlings and brainwashing Superman into being his enforcer, Darkseid seemingly takes a less active role in Earth's domination, allowing Superman to be the face of his empire.
• Hero Killer: As foretold in the Knightmare and Victor's own premonition, Darkseid carves his way through the Justice League in the Bad Future. We even see Darkseid personally slay Aquaman with his own trident.
• Hope Crusher: Hippolyta and Superman both gave into despair when Darkseid killed their loved ones. Cyborg was visibly shaken by the visions of Darkseid effortlessly ploughing through Earth's defences.
• The Kingslayer: Darkseid kills both Wonder Woman and Aquaman, a princess and a king respectively.
• Kick Them While They're Down: He attends Wonder Woman's funeral just to flaunt his superiority over the Amazons.
• Manipulative Bastard: It's clear that he's the one who killed Lois, but through the power of Anti-Life he managed to brainwash Superman into believing Batman killed her.
• Mind Rape: Darkseid couldn't brainwash a being as powerful and disciplined as Superman through Anti-Life alone, so he forced the Kryptonian to watch Lois be incinerated. His will shaken to its core, Superman was unable to resist Darkseid's influence in that moment.
• Monument of Humiliation and Defeat: Darkseid marks a now-barren river with the Omega sign and his human followers wear Superman's logo to further spread the corruption of a family crest that was meant to inspire people.
• Revenge Through Corruption: Darkseid makes Superman - the symbol of hope for both Earth and Krypton - into a terrifying enforcer to ensure his hold on Earth can never be contested.
• Take Over the World: Batman and Cyborg's visions show Earth has completely fallen to Darkseid, with time travel being the only way to fix the damage he's caused.
• Villain No Longer Idle: Cyborg gets a glimpse of how the Justice League would fare against Darkseid in his present state. To his horror, it turns out Darkseid is even less merciful than Steppenwolf.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Darkseid may have killed Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but he sees the much stronger Superman as a valuable potential ally in need of indoctrination.

---