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Darkseid Reading Order

If Marvel’s Thanos is nowadays vastly known, he is not the only tyrannical ruler with a deadly agenda for the rest of the Universe. Before him, there was another one introduced in the DC Universe by none other than Jack Kirby. We are obviously talking about Darkseid, a New God and the tyrannical ruler of the planet Apokolips. 

Darkseid first appeared in a cameo Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970) in what is known as the beginning of the Fourth World Saga–he made his first full appearance in Forever People #1.

Born Prince Uxas, Darkseid took control of the planet Apokolip, a nightmarish dystopia that is the complete opposite of its sister planet, New Genesis, a utopian world ruled by the wise and benevolent Highfather. The inhabitants of these planets possess incredible powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary mortals. Eventually, the two went to war against each other. But a peace was ultimately signed and required an exchange of “hostages” as Highfather’s son, Scott Free (Miracle Man), was traded for Darkseid’s son, Orion.

What Darkseid really wants is to eliminate all free will from the universe. To achieve that, he searched the Anti-Life Equation and that’s why he took an interest in Earth as he thought he could piece together the Equation by probing the minds of every human. But he also had to fight the heroes of Earth. He tried other approaches over the years to accomplish his desired goal. From antagonist in Jack Kirby’s saga, he became the greatest adversary of the Justice League.

Darkseid Comics Reading Order

Enter The Darkseid

As Darkseid was introduced by Jack Kirby as the main villain in the Fourth World Saga, this is where his story began. This now-classic story was not a huge success at the time, but characters and concepts ended up becoming key elements at the heart of the DC Universe, not just Darkseid. This is why those issues have been collected in multiple formats through the years. We are just putting the omnibus on this list, but you can find more collections in our Fourth World reading order. But

  • Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus
    Collects Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #133–139 and #141–148, The Forever People #1–11, The New Gods #1–11, Mister Miracle #1–18, New Gods vol. 2 #1–6, DC Graphic Novel #4: “The Hunger Dogs”, and Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #2–3, #6, #8–18, #20, #22 and #25.

After Jack Kirby’s work at DC Comics ended, other writers eventually worked on his creation, developing Fourth World stories, including the famous Great Darkness Saga set in a future where he comes back and must face the Legion of Super-Heroes. DC collected this and more pre-crisis stories in:

  • Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 2
    Collects Mister Miracle #19-25; The New Gods #12-19; Adventure Comics #459-460; The Brave and the Bold #112, #128, and #138; DC Comics Presents #12; First Issue Special #13; Justice League of America #183-185; Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294; Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #3; Secret Society of Super-Villains #1-5; Super Powers #1-5; Super Powers (vol. 2) #1-6; Super Powers (vol. 3) #1-4; Super Powers Collection #13-23; Super-Team Family #15; and stories from DC Special Series #10 and Legion of Super-Heroes #287.

Here is a more detailed reading order concerning Darkseid’s stories:

Jack Kirby returned to the DC Universe in 1984 for two special miniseries celebrating Kenner’s new DC-themed Super Powers toy line.

Darkseid Post-Crisis

In 1985-86, the Crisis on Infinite Earths event changed DC Comics forever in order to simplify and unify its Universe. As everything and anything DC appeared in it, Darkseid was also represented (in issues #8 and 12). However, he was at the center of the following Legends event that helped relaunch the DC Universe in the wake of the Crisis.

  • Legends
    Collects Legends (1986) #1-6.
  • Superman Vs. Darkseid
    Collects Superman #3 (1987), Adventures Of Superman #426, and Action Comics #586 take place between Legends #4 and #5. This book also collects Superman Vs. Darkseid: Apokolips Now!, Superman/Batman #12-13, Countdown #3-2, Death Of The New Gods #8 And Justice League #23.1.
  • Cosmic Odyssey: The Deluxe Edition
    Collects Cosmic Odyssey (1988) #1-4.

Set in the wake of Cosmic Odyssey, a new “New Gods” series was launched that was presented as a reimagination of Jack Kirdby’s creations.

Once again, the New Gods series was relaunched. “A new odyssey begins as Darkseid abandons his quest for the Anti-Life Equation and goes after the greatest prize of all: the Source itself.” This series has not been collected yet, but is available in Digital format.

  • New Gods
    New Gods #1-15, and New Gods Secret Files (1998) #1.

Then the story continued in a new “Jack Kirby’s Fourth World” series from John Byrne which included the Genesis crossover event.

Orion, Darkseid’s son, got his own ongoing series and his father/nemesis regularly appeared in the stories.

Darkseid was at the forefront of the Final Crisis crossover event. You can find more about it in our article dedicated to the event. Here is the short version:

Darkseid New 52

In 2011, when the DC Universe entered its New 52 era, the continuity was in large part reset. Darkseid’s story was almost back to square one. When he reappears for the first time, he is the leader of Apokolips, but his history facing the Justice League was wiped clean. During that era, he was mostly active in the Earth 2 series, but he played a big part in a storyline named after him, the Darkseid War–read our article dedicated to the event for more details

Darkseid Rebirth

With the Rebirth era, another semi-reboot of the DC Universe continuity, Darkseid’s story continued but was also completed with backstory elements that were previously erased during the New 52 era.

Following the Dark Nights: Metal crossover event, DC Comics published a one-shot titled Justice League: No Justice which was a launching pad for multiple Justice League series. One of them being Justice League Odyssey. In it, Starfire, Cyborg, Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, Azrael, and Darkseid formed a “team” to bring order to the newly created space sector known as the Ghost Sector.

Darkseid Infinite Frontier

Dark Nights: Death Metal ended another era of the DC Universe, in 2021. It was now time to explore the Infinite Frontier as the DC Universe has expanded into a large Omniverse! The idea was that, instead of rebooting the continuity once more, DC Comics made almost everything canon.

  • Infinite Frontier
    Collects Infinite Frontier #0–6 and Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #1.

The Justice League Incarnate defends the Multiverse from Darkseid across infinite Earths!

With Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, the short Infinite Frontier era came to an end as the branding changed to Dawn of DC. Since then, Darkseid only made brief apparitions, inconsequential cameos, but he will certainly be back soon enough in a big way.

Did we forget an important issue? Did we make a mistake? Let us know in the comments!

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