Summary
- Darkseid can corrupt others with ease - he mind-controlled Superman and Martian Manhunter, and bent an entire planet to his will.
- Darkseid has crushed a Green Lantern Power Ring in his bare hands, and even survived a full-power blast from Marvel's Galactus.
- Darkseid has beaten two Supermen at once, and took the Anti-Monitor down to the wire - a villain who it previously required the entire multiverse to defeat.
Darkseid is the personification of tyranny in the DC Universe - a force for evil who has pushed the Justice League to their limits and beyond. He has been behind several Crisis-level events and has faced off against Superman and the Justice League more times than anyone can count. Over the years, Darkseid has shown off some truly terrifying and absurd feats of power.
There are few cosmic beings that are on the level of a New God, and Darkseid is a step above even his New God contemporaries. Not only does he have the devastating Omega Effect under his command, but his sheer force of will and physical strength are also beyond measure. These are the most mind-blowing feats of power Darkseid has shown so far.
10 Darkseid Mind-Controlled Superman & Martian Manhunter With Ease
Super Powers Collection #15 by Alex Saviuk and Gary Martin
Since Darkseid is the personification of tyranny, his big goal is usually the subjugation of all free will. Darkseid usually seeks to do this through the Anti-Life Equation, but he doesn't have to. The Equation may be his greatest weapon, but it's designed for use on a grand scale - when it comes to individuals, Darkseid's own mental powers can be enough. Darkseid has the power to influence and, in some cases, even force people to obey his will. He demonstrated this back in Super Powers Collection #15 when he mentally dominated Superman and the Martian Manhunter to force them to try and steal one of Dr. Fate's artifacts. Both these heroes have immense will, and Martian Manhunter is the greatest psychic on Earth, showing just how overwhelming Darkseid's power can be.
The Green Lanterns tried to go after Darkseid several times, and they all ended in disaster...
9 Darkseid Crushed a Green Lantern Power Ring Barehanded
Green Lantern 80-Page Giant #3 by Grant Miehm, Tom McCraw, and Steven Bird
One of the questions that fans have brought up over the years is why the Green Lanterns don't stop Darkseid's tyranny. It turns out that a long time ago, the Green Lanterns did try to go after Darkseid, several times, and they all ended in disaster. The first attempt saw the Green Lantern Raker Qarrigat confronting Darkseid in his throne room. This ended poorly for Raker as Darkseid crushed his Green Lantern ring into pieces with ease. Considering how powerful power rings are supposed to be, outright destroying one is a major feat.
8 Darkseid Brought Supergirl Down With A Single Attack
Supergirl #29 (1996) by Peter David, Leonard Kirk, Robin Riggs, Gene D'Angelo, Digital Chameleon, and Patricia Prentice
Darkseid has gone up against plenty of Kryptonians in his day, and he's beaten all of them at different points in his history. While most fans are familiar with Darkseid fighting Superman, he's also taken on Supergirl in the past. Several times, Supergirl has shown herself to be even stronger than Superman, like when she survived a planet with a Kryptonite sun for far longer than Superman could. Despite this power difference, Darkseid still brought her down with a single attack in the pages of Supergirl #29. While trying to escape Granny Goodness, Darkseid hits her with the Omega Effect, instantly knocking Supergirl out.
Darkseid's Ultimate Form Made A Superman-Level Threat Look Weak
Darkseid's Yellow Lantern form just took down a powerful hero, as he made a Superman-level threat look incredibly weak in a deadly new fight.
Feuding with Marvel's Galactus, Darkseid took a full-power blast of the Power Cosmic and survived...
7 Darkseid Survived a Full Power Blast From Galactus
Darkseid vs Galactus: The Hunger by John Byrne, Rick Taylor, and Electric Pickle
The Marvel Universe is no stranger to powerful cosmic beings, and Galactus is one of the most powerful Marvel has to offer. With the Power Cosmic, Galactus can do essentially whatever he wants. He has teleported entire galaxies, eaten planets, revived people from the dead, and manipulated reality with ease. Galactus' strength is near limitless, but in order to sustain that power, he must consume planets. This eventually led him to attack Apokolips, the home of Darkseid, as seen in the Marvel/DC crossover comic Darkseid vs Galactus: The Hunger. While Darkseid couldn't fully destroy Galactus, he ended up being hit by a full powered blast from Galactus and survived - something almost no-one else in the universe can claim.
Despite two Kryptonians hitting Darkseid with everything they had, it amounted to nothing, and they were easily tossed aside...
6 Darkseid Took On Two Supermen At Once & Won With Ease
Batman/Superman: World's Finest #24 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain, and Steve Wands
Superman and Darkseid have fought many times over the years and sometimes Superman has won, though almost always with some kind of outside advantage. The biggest example of the difference in their power was when Darkseid proved he was more powerful than Superman when he took on two Supermen at the same time, along with the rest of the Justice League. In Batman/Superman: World's Finest #24, Darkseid takes on the entire Justice League of the Kingdom Come universe, which included Kingdom Come Superman and the Supermen of Earth-0. Despite the two Kryptonians hitting Darkseid with everything they had, it amounted to nothing, and they were easily tossed aside.
5 Darkseid Teleported an Entire Planet, Then Brainwashed the Population
Legion of Super Heroes #293 by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, Larry Mahlstedt, Carl Gafford, and John Costanza
Darkseid's Omega Effect is his strongest power, and it allows him to do a host of things. His beams can revive people, teleport people, send them back in time, obliterate them, and much more. But his Omega Effect can teleport a lot more than just people. In the pages of Legion of Superheroes #293, Darkseid uses his power to teleport the entire planet of Daxam. He moves it from under a red sun to a yellow sun, which grants all the Daxamites the same power as Kryptonians. And he did all of this after he brainwashed the entire three billion inhabitants of the planet into serving him.
Darkseid's Recurring 'Couch Gag' Only Makes Him More Terrifying
DC artists and fans have made a running gag of Darkseid appearing on people's couches, but the real meaning of this image is genuinely scary.
4 Darkseid Casually its To Eating Universes
Constantine #23 by Ray Fawkes, Jeremy Haun, Tanya Horie, Richard Horie, and Pat Broasseau
Darkseid has always been about controlling all life in the universe rather than utter destruction, but in the pages of Constantine #23 by Ray Fawkes and Jeremy Haun, Darkseid casually its to eating entire universes. This is not something Darkseid is usually known for, but it's not completely absurd either. During the events of Final Crisis by Grant Morrison and J. G. Jones, Darkseid very nearly crushed the entire Multiverse under the weight of his true form. Draining an entire universe is well within Darkseid's abilities, even if it's not his usual style.
Darkseid is a single, godlike being who has avatars in every reality, each drawing power from - and feeding back to - the true source. While the Justice League have fought Darkseid's avatars many times, his true, unfiltered form is orders of magnitude more powerful.
3 Darkseid Can Store His Victims' Souls For Later Use
Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #3 by Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Bill Oakley, and Greg Wright
As stated before, Darkseid's Omega Effect is all about control, and it has countless ways to apply that core ability. While Darkseid typically uses his beams as an offensive ability, the Omega Effect has many properties. Cyborg Superman found this out when Darkseid used his Omega Effect to trap the villain's soul in a marble. Cyborg Superman had just finished running amok on Apokolips by fusing himself to Apokolitian tech, as seen in Superman/Doomsday Hunter/Prey #3. This resulted in Superman and Darkseid having to team up to beat him, and Darkseid intentionally made it look like he'd killed Cyborg Superman when he'd just captured him. With Cyborg Superman's soul literally in Darkseid's hand, he planned to bring him out again as a useful tool when necessary, having turned a Kryptonian-beating threat into his thrall.
Darkseid went up against a villain that once required DC's entire multiverse to defeat, and he nearly won by himself.
2 Darkseid Fought and Nearly Beat the Anti-Monitor
Justice League: The Darkseid War by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson, and Rob Leigh
The Anti-Monitor was one of the biggest villains that the DC Universe has ever faced. Indeed, this villain originally required the combined efforts of the entire Multiverse to fight. Yet despite this seemingly overwhelming power Darkseid fought the Anti-Monitor on his own, and he nearly won. In the pages of Justice League: The Darkseid War, Darkseid went to war with the Anti-Monitor and even seemed to win at first. It was only because of the Black Racer and the Anti-Monitor having the Anti-Life Equation that Darkseid was defeated. Even still, Darkseid went up against a villain that once required DC's entire Multiverse to defeat, and he nearly won by himself.
1 Darkseid Destroyed DC's Strongest Team With One Attack
Infinite Frontier #0 by Joshua Williamson, John Romita Jr, Klaus Janson, and Brad Anderson
By far the most powerful thing Darkseid ever did was when he struck down the Quintessence in Infinite Frontier #0 by Joshua Williamson and John Romita Jr. The Quintessence is made up of the DC Universe's strongest cosmic level characters and includes Ganthet, Hera, Highfather, Phantom Stranger, Spectre, and The Wizard. These are some of the absolute strongest characters DC has, with many of them, like Hera and the Phantom Stranger, being actual divine beings. This absolute power team still wasn't a match for Darkseid though, and he managed to kill all of them with a single surprise attack from his Omega Effect. This came at a time when Darkseid had collected all his past incarnations into a single body, unlocking a fresh level of power.
While Darkseid is often satisfied with beating his enemies into paste, he's a multidimensional god who embodies the concepts of eternal evil and tyrannical control, with these feats demonstrating the immense threat he poses to the DC Universe.
