Creation
Desaad was created by Jack Kirby in The New Gods #2.
Origin
Originally from New Genesis, Desaad wasn’t always as sadistic as he is now. He used to be nothing, but an innocent youth, until he encountered Darkseid. On one of his secret trips to New Genesis, Darkseid noticed the young lad had two favorite animals, a bird and a cat. One day the boy came home to find his bird missing. Finding feathers on his cat’s bed, Darkseid told the boy that it’s his job to avenge the bird by killing the cat. Desaad took the cat in his back yard and buried it alive. On his return, he found the bird back in his cage. In a fit of rage, he killed the bird. Manipulated and corrupted by Darkseid, Desaad accompanied him to dark Apokolips.
Major Story Arcs
Creating Darkseid
Before Darkseid took up his god-name, he was called Uxas. He and his brother, Drax and Desaad used to visit taverns in their younger days. Desaad was the first one to take up his god-name. Always switching between the brothers, Desaad was able to give Uxas information on what Drax and Izaya of New Genesis were up to, and able to gain information on the Infinity Pits. Desaad was the only one Drax ever called a friend. It was Desaad who designed the clothing to be used in the Infinity Pit. Never expecting anything when he went into the Infinity Pits, Desaad double-crossed him, and got Uxas in there, too. Because of this, Uxas was able to obtain the Omega Effect, and become Darkseid.
Back-Stabber
Heggra highly disapproved of her son’s wife. Mostly because she was used to having her son obey her. Desaad killed Darkseids lover, Suli, at the order of the Queen of Apokolips, Heggra. Desaad poisoned her and tried to make it look natural so that he wouldn’t get caught. Once the body of his love was found, Darkseid wasn’t fooled. To save his own life, Desaad offered his master a trade. In exchange for Suli’s death, Darkseid had Desaad poison his mother, thus putting Darkseid ruler of Apokolips, and he dubbed Desaad his head torturer and advisor.
Kalibak
From the time Kalibak was born, he and Desaad never really got along. Desaad liked to play with Kalibak’s mind and get him to do the complete opposite of what he was told. Desaad even managed to get the son of Darkseid to fight Superman when Darkseid told him not to. Kalibak was punished with the force of his father’s Omega Beams, giving Desaad more power, since Kalibak was second in command. Even though all Kalibak wants to do is please his father, Desaad won’t let that happen, especially if that means he’ll go down in the rank of Darkseid’s Court. Kalibak even murdered Desaad when he threatened to tell Darkseid about Kalibak’s plans that were against his orders and ideas.
Resurrection
Because of the fact Desaad is so vital to Darkseid, he never stays dead long. Desaad has been killed more times then anyone can count. Each time Darkseid is forced to resurrect him claiming “this is the last time.”
Sadist
The only real joy Desaad gets out of life is being able to feed off of the pain of others. Desaad has been known to spend days at a time torturing the same person or thing. Using a specialized syphon, Desaad can drain the emotions from his victim or victims. In one case, during one of the battles between Orion and Kalibak, Desaad used his device to siphon the energy away from Orion and put it into Kalibak. He then used his syphon to drain away the emotions of pain and anguish from Orion. Desaad was caught by Darkseid and faced the effects of his Omega Beams. One of his favorite emotions is the breaking of a soul once it enters the training facility on Apokolips. Desaad even suffered a coma when he tried to break Orion’s spirit, but none of his machines could do the job and the gadgets suffered overload. To Desaad, everything is worth risking to savor the pain of others. Desaad’s name is a play off the Marquis de Sade. It is from his name the term “sadism” comes from.
Gaining the Throne
It has always been Desaad’s goal to gain the glory of ruling Apokolips. Sometimes, he even takes on the guise as Darkseid in order to get what he wants. In one of the “New Gods” series, Darkseid disappears and Desaad tries to take over Apokolips, but is foiled when the real Darkseid returns. Desaad isn’t always the most loyal henchman to Darkseid. Desaad is sycophant, meaning he is basically a boot-licker. Whoever has the most power at the time is the one he sticks to.
At another time, after Darkseid had been robbed of his Omega-powers after a lengthy stay in the Source Wall, Desaad used his technology to brainwash Superman and open a portal to the Omege-realms. As Darkseid was about to enter, Desaad blasted him aside and attempted to claim the power for his own, only to crumble under the horrors only Darksied had endured. Darksied seemingly knew this and took no further action against Desaad.
New 52
As a result of Cyborg’s tampering with his newly acquired Motherbox, both Desaad and Steppenwolf ended up stranded on Earth-2. But while Desaad has been trying to return to Apokolips, focusing his efforts on the Earth-2 natives Huntress and Powergirl, Steppenwolf has abandoned the idea and instead aims to claim Earth-2 as his own.
While Desaad has traditionally been depicted as hunched over and weasly humanoid, the New 52 has redesigned his appearance to be more terrifying, giving him a more monstrous appearance with a skull-like face, blackened skin and claw-like fingers.
Powers and Abilities.
Pre-Flashpoint
Though Desaad doesn’t have any special powers above a normal native of New Genesis, he is a mastermind at creating weapons of torture or war with the extremely advanced technologies of his home. Also he is a master manipulator, a skill most often employed against his unfortunate victims, but also a skill that has served him well around the dim-witted Kalibak.
New 52
New God Physiology
The beings of Apokolips call themselves gods and live in a realm outside normal space and time.
- Superhuman Strength
- Superhuman Speed
- Superhuman Agility
- Superhuman Reflexes
- Superhuman Senses
- Superhuman Stamina
- Immortality
- Invulnerability
Teleportation: Desaad is capable to open Boom Tubes at will. If he is in full power is capable of opening Boom Tubes to other dimensions and universes, but if he’s not can only open Boom Tube locally.
Once opened a large Boom Tube to transport a tanks’ fleet.
Illusion Casting: Desaad has the ability to appear the way he wishes to be seen, either in his true form, or another persons form. As when he impersonate Michael Holt deceiving several people at a party, including Powergirl.
Telepathy: He showed some telepathic abilities during his appearances.
- Emotion Control/Absorption: He is able to enter into people’s mind to manipulate their emotions. Also demonstrated the ability to feed himself of their worst sentiments even without manipulating them, thus becoming more powerful.
- Mind Control
- Mind Possession
- Mind Reading
- Hypnosis
Energy Absorption: Besides the ability to absorb the worst feelings of others, it also able to feed different types of energy as demonstrated when it absorbed energies from a Particle Accelerator on Earth-2 and could even redirects its energies.
Abilities
As Pre-Flashpoint version Desaad is a mastermind at creating torture devices and advanced weaponry.
Characteristics
- Height- 5’11”
- Weight- 152lbs
- Eyes- Blue
- Hair- Black
- Base- Apokolips
Other Media
TV Series “Smallville“
In Season 10 episode, “Abandoned“, Desaad, another henchman of Darkseid is shown along with Glorious Godfrey and Granny Goodness. Desaad owns the fetish club called Club Desaad. Later in the episode, Masquerade, Desaad captures several couples and tortures them to see if they were willing to become the agents of darkness. However, the process fails and Desaad captures Chloe and tries to trick her into becoming one of the dark agents. When Chloe resists her temptations, she was freed from Desaad’s power. He was later stopped by Oliver and Clark who came to rescue Chloe.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Desaad appears in the Snyder Cut of Justice League, with him being played by Peter Guinness. He works for Darkseid (Ray Porter).