Soulfire Darkseid: Origin & Powers Explained

Over the course of DC’s publishing history, we’ve been introduced to many powerful villains. Some were powerful due to their resources and influence, and some were considered cosmic entities with immeasurable powers. One such entity is Darkseid, one of Superman’s biggest enemies. His history goes back to the 1970s when he was introduced as one of the New Gods. Like most characters in the comics, Darkseid appeared in numerous storylines, and of them is the Death of the New Gods storyline from 2007. Death of the New Gods introduced us to Soulfire Darkseid, and in today’s post, we’re going to bring you everything you need to know about Soulfire Darkseid, including powers and abilities!

Origin of Darkseid

Before we explain who or, rather, what Soulfire Darkseid is, it’s time to touch upon a brief history of Darkseid. Darkseid was, as we’ve mentioned before, introduced in the 1970′ during the so-called bronze age of comics. He is a tyrannical ruler of Apokolips, and he is desperately trying to get his hands on the “Anti-life Equation.”

His goals are far from noble, however, since he aims to enslave all of the universe and erase the free will of all sentient beings.
Like every good villain and would-be ruler of the universe, Darkseid has rivals in the form of New Gods that inhabit the planet of New Genesis. They are the complete opposite of Darkseid, and they jump at every opportunity to thwart Darkseid.

It’s important to mention that Darkseid was incredibly powerful from the start and his powers and abilities were near-immeasurable. This further changed with the introduction of Jim Starlin’s Soulfire Darkseid.

Which comic is Soulfire Darkseid from?

Soulfire Darkseid first appeared in Jim Starlin’s Death of the New Gods storyline, released in 2007. The storyline shocked us because it demonstrated that the New Gods, so far considered to be immortal and all-powerful, were killed. And the means that killed them were at first considered to be a mystery, but let’s start from the beginning.

So the New Gods perished. Among the perished New Gods was Big Barda, Mister Miracle’s wife. Darkseid is at first stunned but soon discovers that not only were New Gods dead, but they were also killed by soul extraction and their life essence drained. Darkseid suspects that Source is behind the sudden genocide of the New Gods but has no real plans in place, so he lays low for the moment.
Meanwhile, the rest of the universe faces catastrophic consequences following the Death of the New Gods. Superman, Mister Miracle, and Orion suspect that Darkseid is behind the ordeal.

This is where we have to mention the Anti-life Equation once again. Mister Miracle uses Anti-life Equation to resurrect the New Gods, but only their minds since their souls are hidden somewhere. Darkseid figures out where the Source has hidden the souls of the perished New Gods. At about the same time, Metron discovers that Source is behind the genocide of the New Gods as well as behind multiple other crises. The Source decided to use the souls of the New Gods as a power source and decided to re-create the universe since he considered the current one to be flawed.

Metron and Mister Miracle felt betrayed by the Source and decided to ask for death. Death was granted swiftly, and now the only obstacle in the path that the Source had was Darkseid himself. Meanwhile, Darkseid cracked the Soulfire formula and managed to empower himself by stealing all the souls from the Source, and this is how Soulfire Darkseid was technically born.

The clash between Soulfire Darkseid and Source managed to tear a hole in reality. The new, seemingly omnipotent Darkseid was beyond Superman at this point and was only stopped when Orion’s soul tapped into the same source of Darkseid’s powers and managed to tear his heart out.

The whole storyline was disappointing to the fans as a whole since, in the end, Soulfire Darkseid turned out to be largely underwhelming, and the way through which he lost seemed nonsensical and lacked any logic.
The storyline was also criticized for ignoring the already-established lore and the facts that concern the New Gods.

Soulfire Darkseid: powers and abilities

Soulfire Darkseid was largely supposed to be improved when compared to his normal form. He is supposed to be seemingly omnipotent, but in the comics, no one is actually omnipotent, as we’ve learned this time and time again. So having said that, let’s take a look at Soulfire Darkseid’s powers and abilities.

Soulfire Darkseid used Soulfire formula ta tap into the souls of the deceased gods, this greatly improved his already existing powers, and at one point, he was considered to be the most powerful being in the universe. What does this mean exactly? Darkseid’s usual powers, such as energy, space-time, matter, anti-matter, and technology manipulation, were increased by a hundredfold. With his access to the Anti-life Equation, he managed to make himself functionally invulnerable and immortal. His powers were potent enough to tear a hole in the fabric of reality.

But the fight between him and Source proved to be largely underwhelming due to the ease through which somewhat indestructible Source got destroyed. Darkseid’s powers, such as Omega Beams and Omega Sanction, were also augmented.

Summary

Soulfire Darkseid was a product of Darkseid gaining access to Soulfire formula that allowed him to tap into the souls of deceased New Gods. Ironically enough, Source, who was responsible for killing the New Gods, got defeated by souls-empowered Darkseid. The Deah of the New Gods storyline was received with disappointment due to numerous problems with the established lore and facts within the DC universe. Even though powerful, Soulfire Darkseid will not go down in history as the best incarnation of the character.