My Definitive Guide to Darkseid's True Form/Godhead and what "Darkseid is" means (Plus Infinite Frontier Theories: The Ultimate Threat to the Omniverse)

I. Introduction

Link to Reddit Post

One of the most confused about topics with Darkseid is what it truly means when there's only "one" of him in the multiverse, what his True Form is, and what's a "Godhead".

What does "Darkseid is." even mean?

This is very relevant now that Darkseid is back with it and is now the big bad of Infinite Frontier.

Now I've made a TON of comments, and segments in other posts on it. That includes the post I made predicting Darkseid's return in Infinite Frontier:

Infinite Frontier Theory: The Empty Hand and Darkseid (New Threats to the Omniverse? Following up Multiversity?)

As well as my Mister Miracle theory all the way back pointing out Tom King's MM mini paralleling Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers Mister Miracle and predicting a follow up to Final Crisis and Multiversity:

Theory: The Secrets of Tom King's Mister Miracle - Darkseid is (coming?)

Others have made excellent explanations too, including u/NomadicJaguar64t. There's also Imaginary Axis' two excellent videos which add up to almost an hour: Part 1 and Part 2. 

I've decided to make a post on this, to have my own definitive answer to those questions and more. 

Hopefully it'll be as clear and comprehensive as I hope it would and cover things the others or myself in the past haven't. To set myself apart from the others I'll be emphasizing on Grant Morrison's use of Christian theology later in this post over the physics and philosophy concepts. Disclaimer: I am a devout Catholic whose had some theology classes and researched on my own but no means an expert or anything. 

Plus of course I'll have some Infinite Frontier theories at the end too.

Here's the table of contents for this post, 

feel free to read one section at a time:

1. Introduction (this)
2. Is there really only one Darkseid in the Multiverse?
3. Is Darkseid immune to reboots?
4. "Darkseid is" - A claim to Divinity
5. What is Darkseid's True Form?
6. What is Darkseid's Godhead?
7. Infinite Frontier and Beyond

II. Is there really only one Darkseid in the Multiverse?

If by "really" you mean there is literally only 1 version of Darkseid in the DC comics Multiverse that has 1 history, 1 consciousness, 1 power level..

...well then no.

This is something a lot of fans and even writers think but that's not the case. It's not likely what Grant Morrison meant in their work and definitely not how it is.

Most people likely got it from a misunderstanding of the Multiverse Map by Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes from Multiversity Guidebook:

Here we can see that the Sphere of the Gods contains only one set of New Genesis and Apokolips.

An important thing to note however, Morrison did not intend for this to be a literal geographical map where "this Earth is north of this Earth and if you go west there's this". Scott Snyder has clarified this as well in interviews with Imaginary Axis. It's symbolic. All the universes in the local 52 multiverse exist in the same space and this is possible because they vibrate at different frequencies. That's how Flashes can travel between them.

Now that's from all the way back from the Silver Age.

When you look at the box on the left, you have the list of realms and behind it is a rainbow back ground and a line representing a wave. The higher the realms go, the shorter the wavelength (indicating higher frequency) and the color shifts from red to blue. This represents a spectrum  of course. Grant Morrison's taken a lot from String Theory here which Imaginary Axis covered.

For the god sphere specifically, Imaginary Axis covered how it's "the realm of the forms" from neoplatonism but basically it's a place where ideas come alive and those ideas tend to become people which we refer to as "gods". Example: War personified becomes Ares, righteous war personified is Orion etc.

"Okay but you still haven't proved why there are more than one set of realms and their gods"

In the same book, we get confirmation that the Batman Beyond comics took place on Earth 12. This Earth is inspired by the DC Animated Universe (BTAS, STAS, TNBA, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, Zeta Project, JL, JLU + animated movies) which have their own set of new gods with their own unique histories, power levels etc. Those E12 comics constantly flashbacked to events featuring them and has stories involving them.

Here's Darkseid in a flashback to JLU's series finale "Destroyer" with present day having him powerless and Orion succeeding him:

From Batman Beyond Unlimited #6

Here's Big Barda on the future JL lineup showing up on the Guidebook in case you might think it's an oversight:

This is far from the only Earth that's based on a history with its own set of New Gods and Fourth World, or even other sets of gods from other pantheons and their worlds (DCAU has its own greek gods and they're important for Diana too). Kingdom Come (Earth-22) was also the first one to have Orion be the new lord of Apokolips for example. 

All different from the main New 52 ones that showed up on Earths 0 and 2.

But one I'd like to single out is the Kirbyverse (Earth-52), which specifically features its own, very interesting New Gods and even shows up in the comic's story explaining all this. 

More on them and their importance later.

"Alright so how is there more than one set of New Gods and Fourth Worlds?"

There's plenty of ways of looking at the sphere. 

1. It is a higher dimensional plane, and by dimension I mean spatial dimension, not time or imagination, but another direction separate from the X,Y and Z axis. Again that's String Theory stuff. Imagine we exist on a 2D plane and these higher beings are 3D. When they enter our world, only parts of them show up and different parts may on other occasions that seem different, but they re all one.

More on that illustration later.

2. Another is that both the worlds and people get split like a light through a prism. That's exactly the metaphor Darkseid uses in Final Crisis talking about Orion's death, implying all his manifestations in the multiverse died.

*more on that rainbow colored figure later

3. One way I thought of is math. The Orrery of Worlds is inside a parenthesis, with each world being added up together. Outside the parenthesis is the sphere of the gods, which contains 1 set of each world but multiplies for everyone inside the Orrery.

When someone "enters" the Sphere and the worlds in it they're really entering their world's version of that higher world anyway.

And a lot of times the Fourth World is a solar system within the physical universe manifested from the Sphere. New Genesis and Apokolips are twin planets on orbits next to each other. The Guardians even sent Raker Qarrigat there as part of his space sector (see Walt Simonson's Orion run and Scott Beatty's GL 80 Page Giant #3). Alpha Lantern Kraken comes from Apokolips and she isn't a New God, in fact she was possessed by one in Final Crisis.

But of course there's also the question of the New Gods not being affected by reboots and that making their power levels all weird as they scale with Superman.

Are there other sets of New Gods Pre-Crisis? What about then?

Is there some truth to Darkseid being "one"?

III. Is Darkseid immune to reboots?

We've heard this time and time again. 

• "Darkseid and the New Gods aren't affected by retcons" 
• "Darkseid and the New Gods aren't affected by reboots"
• "The Crises did not affect the New Gods"

The first one is definitely false. Post-Flashpoint reset everything so there are new versions of them who (sometimes think they're unique in the multiverse). But what about the Crises? Well, if we're talking about Crisis on Infinite Earths, it's complicated. They weren't immediately affected by that Crisis, they witnessed it all outside but remember it all.

But they've definitely had retcons in and out universe outside of it. 

Pre-Crisis: 

Before Jack Kirby came back to finish New Gods with a new final issue and Hunger Dogs, Gerry Conway continued the saga. He gave Orion a new suit too. When Jack came back though he decided to continue where he left off and ignored those stories.

Problem was, these New Gods stories involved a crossover with both Earth 1 and Earth 2. The JLA and JSA met and knew those versions. How did they fix this? Well they could've just made them fully non-canon period like how most people now see Death of the New Gods (which contradicts Final Crisis and the rest of DC cosmology right now). Mark Evanier however proposed that those were New Gods of Earth-17. 

So yes there could be other sets of New Gods (and Fourth Worlds) in the Multiverse.

Post-Crisis:

After the Crisis, Jim Starlin's Cosmic Odyssey  made a ton of retcons to the origin of the Old and New Gods and how the Anti-Life Equation worked. Since then those and his DOTNG have been ignored in canon but interestingly he did keep New Genesis blowing up from Hunger Dogs. John Ostrander's Legends does too.

But then, in Mark Evanier's run, Hunger Dogs IS retconned and New Genesis is fine. After Zero Hour, this run is wiped out and the next series by Rachel Pollack starts over. John Byrne doesn't reset things but he does flesh out the original Kirby saga's past and even retells Superman's first meeting with the Forever People and Highfather for Post-Crisis. Then after Infinite Crisis, Superman Confidential retells that first meeting, again. 

If you want to check yourself here's a good source on New Gods history:

https://www.cosmicteams.com/newgods/

Long story short, the New Gods get retconned and rebooted a lot, even before the New 52.

BUT

There is one set of New Gods that truly survived many retcons and reboots: 

Earth-51's New Gods, the ones I mentioned earlier.

 I'll get back to them again later in the godhead section.

IV. "Darkseid is." - a claim to divinity

This is a common phrase associated with him that most DC comics fans would already know. Covering its history as short as I can since I've covered it in more detail before:

The phrase was coined by Grant Morrison in JLA: Rock of Ages and popularized recently by Tom King in his Mister Miracle series. The phrase was an answer to Glorious Godfrey's hype speech and was on posters in the dark future timeline. Final Crisis is basically Rock of Ages fulfilled and more, with the meaning of the phrase used and TK took inspiration from it and 7 Soldiers, which lead up to FC.

So what does it mean?

When Moses met God in the scene of the not-burning bush,  he asked Him what His name was. He responded with "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh", commonly translated to "I Am Who I Am". This demonstrates God as the eternal existing one, with no beginning or end. When Moses would say His name however he naturally would change it to third person :"Yahweh Asher Yahweh" or "He is who He is", and this is the consensus for where the origin of "YHWH".  

"Yahweh", the personal name of God, means "He is".

Exodus 3:14

When Darkseid says "Darkseid is", he is claiming godhood. He's a god who aspires to be The God and wants ownership of all life in creation, which is why he wants the ALE to rid all free will, which philosophically to Jack Kirby and others, is what makes us a live. 

He's a being with the ambition to put himself on that pedestal. He is essentially a Satanic false god figure. Like the first of the fallen however he is doomed to fail. As the meaning of Archangel Michael's (the guy who kicked Lucifer's ass) name implies "Mikha'El" (Hebrew for "Who is like God?"), no one is truly like God but God alone and you'll fail if you try overthrowing Him. 

Darkseid falls through the multiverse after his own "war in heaven" and loses even as he tries dragging everything down with him in Final Crisis. 

u/evilman52 has his own excellent post on the war in heaven and the devil parallels.

This portrayal of Darkseid is the key to understanding his "true" and "one" nature.

And it's pretty relevant for what's coming...

V. What is Darkseid's "True Form"

So what is this "true form"? It's not just a bigger Darkseid. It's not a physical thing at all. Remember that image from FC I posted with the rainbow figure in the back? The thing Superman shattered in FC? The same one from Seven Soldiers:

This is the "true" abstract form of Darkseid outside of reality. The same kind of abstract imagery is sort of referenced in TK's MM but so far not in Infinite Frontier. So far.

Before Seven Soldiers it has never been seen or directly interacted with anyone.

It can only interact and manifest with avatars/emanations/whatever-you-call-them, but it is distinct from them. In fact in John Byrne's origin, "Darkseid" is a name already known and feared in Apokoliptian lore, associated with the Omega Effect. Uxas was a New God who became its host. In Geoff Johns' Darkseid War, Lex got the OE and in one moment he briefly refers to himself "Darkseid" before correcting himself. In Final Crisis Darkseid possessed both Boss Dark Side and Dan Turpin. Then there's all the times Orion became the new Darkseid in possible futures.

Uxas and the True Form were separate before he became "one" with Darkseid. Others can become Darkseid too.

Besides these hosts, Darkseid is also embodied by all things evil.

Darkseid's spirit is found in "wolves, dragons and tyrants". He's also found in the evil "in of all of us". All it takes is for us to give in to his evil, to Anti-Life, and he'll make you nothing more than a vessel for his will, taking yours away. Uxas/Darkseid being a vessel or shell is also mentioned again in Anatomy of a Metahuman.

"All is one in Darkseid, this mighty body is my Church" itself hints at that "oneness" idea and also alludes to the Church being the body of Christ. All these references to the Judeo-Christian God culminates in one term "godhead".

VI. What is Darkseid's "Godhead"

In Multiversity Guidebook, the New Gods of Earth-51 discover that the Gentry had resurrected Darkseid from his tomb. It's here that Highfather himself explains how Darkseid, and all of the New Gods, have "emanations" throughout the multiverse.

But he also refers to a "godhead" that Darkseid wanted to rebuild from shattered fragments. Possibly referring to Superman shattering his True Form in Final Crisis.

So what is a "godhead"?

"Godhead" in theology refers to the substance of God and with us Catholics and Trinitarian Christians it is associated with the Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the three distinct persons of the same substance, one God. The Father is not the Son, who is not the Spirit, who is not the Father, but all three of them are God.

What does this have to do with Darkseid's godhead?

Let's take a look:

1. The Father is God on His throne in Heaven, transcendent of physical reality and impossible by us humans to fully comprehend. No one has seen the Face of God.
2. The Son is God made flesh and manifesting physically on Earth to live among us, so we may know the Father through Him. He is the Son of God (the Father in Heaven), and He is also fully God. 
3. The Holy Spirit is God's non-physical, invisible Presence here on Earth that drives us all to do good and follow His will, dwelling in all things good, including all of us but without taking away choice and free will.

Now let's look at Darkseid.

1. Darkseid has a "True Form" transcending reality that has never been seen before. Its higher dimensional nature makes it impossible to really comprehend. In TK's MM he constantly alludes to the Face of God never being seen too.
2. Darkseid has physical manifestations in all worlds in the Multiverse, each one with their own histories and Apokolips', and that is how the beings of the DC Multiverse can interact with him. They are Darkseid incarnated in flesh (or rock). Distinct from Darkseid (the True Form outside reality) but also fully Darkseid.
3. Darkseid has a spirit, even referred by Grant Morrison in an interview as an "unholy spirit", that is embodied by all things evil. As Orion and Dan Turpin said, that evil is in all of us. Batman theorizes Darkseid being a wolf, a dragon and tyrant, all three used often as metaphors for the devil. It eats your soul out until "Self = Darkseid".

Despite this plurality, there is only "one" Darkseid, one Godhead, a twisted and imperfect knock-off of the Trinity. In fact, the same multi-dimensional metaphor I referred to before is used in this video explaining the nature of the Trinity.

In the end, those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Something or someone brings justice and stops evil. For Lucifer it was Michael, for Mandrakk it was the Thought Robot, for Simon Hurt it was a banana and for Darkseid it was Orion and Superman.

 So how does this relate to the rest of the Fourth World and how will this impact Infinite Frontier?

Jack Kirby is Jewish, and even in his original saga there were biblical allusions as well. The Source speaks to Highfather with a hand ("uni-friend") burning words on a wall, just like the finger of God that wrote the ten commandments and a message on a wall in the Book of Daniel.

Highfather's name is also Izaya, pronounced like the prophet Isaiah. After killing Steppenwolf out of grief for his wife, all planned by Darkseid, he rejected the way of war. After his first encounter with the Source, he became Highfather. He essentially is a prophet.

Time and time again, the Source is alluded to as some form of God, whether it's in John Byrne's Fourth World, John Ostrander's Spectre or Scott's mother box when they went to Heaven in Day of Judgment. In DC, the Presence is the Judeo-Christian God counterpart. And then...

Just before Infinite Frontier, the Source is confirmed the Omniversal Supreme being, the boss of Perpetua and the Hand, while Wally West himself confirms that the Source and Presence are one.

This is the same Source that the New Gods of New Genesis ("Space Paradise") worship, while the people of Apokolips ("Space Hell") instead worships Darkseid. 

Darkseid himself, from the Great Darkness Saga, is also called the "Great Darkness", which is also a name for the opposite of the Presence that embodies darkness and evil, the Great Evil Beast.

I'm not sure if Joshua Williamson will ever make that connection but it's there and it sets Darkseid up as the ultimate threat to the Omniverse and the enemy of the Source, while making some new connections. 

• He's killed The Spectre, God's Spirit of Vengeance and the one who fought Anti-Monitor at his prime. Oh and the rest of the Quintessence too, which includes Phantom Stranger, whose new origin is that he's Judas Iscariot given a chance at redemption after betraying his friend and Lord and killing himself.
• He's created Earth-Omega, a center of the Multiverse at the bottom of creation with no vibration. Likely connected to the Dark Multiverse and the Black Hole he originally fell into in Final Crisis.
• He's created a new Black Lantern, Roy, and he's under his power.

Darkseid is Death, Darkseid is Darkness, Darkseid is the Devil.

This leads to the final part of this post:

VII. Infinite Frontier and Beyond

Whether The Empty Hand (which I theorized is a rogue Hand like Perpetua) comes back or not, it brought back Darkseid and is now responsible for another rebellion against the Source.

We know the Omniverse essentially allowed for an infinite multiverse of finite multiverses, and now Darkseid is threatening all of them. I've talked about the meta nature of Omniversal beings before and as u/Ricky_Ticky_Tangy discussed with me, Darkseid now has that awareness too.

In Infinite Frontier Secret Files, Psycho Pirate discovers that "Darkseid is." He displayed awareness of the comic book rebooting nature of his reality and even he's trapped by Darkseid now.

The Justice Incarnate are now finally getting their series and it's clear in the solicit that Darkseid is on this level, but it also brings up Orion returning.

It was Orion who was prophesied to kill Darkseid and I think this will be the Earth 51 Orion from Pre-Flashpoint.

In fact I think it's likely we'll see Earth 51's New Gods again. 

Note, the Highfather Darkseid killed with the Quintessence was the more warlike Post-Flashpoint Izaya and not the wise classic Highfather.

Now I do recall Highfather and the Post-Flashpoint 4th World disappearing during JL but I guess that's another continuity mistake since he and PF Orion came back not too long after.

I do hope the Quintessence comes back to life. Especially the Spectre. In fact I'm pretty sure Post-Crisis/Earth 51 Orion is still dead and that makes him the perfect hose for God's new Spirit of Vengeance.

Whatever happens I'm very excited for what Joshua Williamson and the others are cooking up. They've done a terrific job following up Multiversity so far and it'll be awesome to see how much they'll add to it.

Thanks for reading!