Grayven is the third and illegitimate son of Darkseid and a yet to be revealed mother. Although he is the youngest of his two older brothers, Kalibak and Orion, he bears the strongest resemblance to his father and shares the same, although less powerful, set of powers as well. Also like his father, Grayven is on a mission of conquering everything he can, planets or other wise, carving a path of conquest and destruction across the universe. During this time, he destroys most of the galactic police force known as the Darkstars. His quest of domination eventually leads him to the planet Rann, where he begins to look for a zeta-beam device. The zeta beam device is a machine created by Rannian scientists to instantly transport large quantities of just about anything to anywhere in the known universe. Grayven intends to use this device to transport his devices to Apokolips, his fathers personal planet and base of operations, and overthrow Darkseid along with his forces and make himself the new ruler of his fathers empire. During this time, the remaining Darkstars and Green Lantern Kyle Rayner gather together and decide to face Grayven and his army on Rann in an attempt to stop the would be Tyrant. The Darkstars then begin to fight off Grayvens forces, while Kyle and Darkstar John Stewart, who himself used to be a Green Lantern, confront Grayven. John suffers serious injury during the fight, but Kyle is eventually able to trick Grayven into the zeta beam device and transports him off the planet to an undisclosed location. Without their leader, Grayvens army has no other choice but to retreat.
It is later found out that Kyle transported Grayven to Earths very core. Grayven digs himself out and fights Kyle, but is somehow quickly overpowered by the young ring slinger. To prevent defeat, Grayven uses his experimental transport device to escape his captor and send Kyle to the thirtieth century. Grayven is later seen during the Imperiex crisis as part of an alliance that wishes to destroy the galaxy eating giant. Later, after being possessed by Brainiac-13, Grayven confronts both Superman and Darkseid and is defeated by Superman. For his embarrassing defeat at the hands of his foe, Darkseid banished Grayven to live on Earth.
Major Story Arcs
Joker: Last Laugh
For more information see: Joker: Last Laugh
Grayven is infected with the Joker Gas and wants to become the greatest comedian in New York City. He first blows up every other comedy club in the city and kidnaps a performer and takes his spot in the line up. He then tells horrible miss timed and unfunny jokes until Kyle Rayner shows up and stops him.
Ion: Guardian of the Universe
Grayven, has been sending foes against Kyle Rayner in an attempt to break the young Green Lantern down as revenge for his past defeats. When he finally confronts Kyle face to face, they are both in an asteroid that the Qwardian Weaponers were using to mount an attack against an unknown foe. Kyle is able to defeat Grayven with the help of Donna Troy and send his beaten body to Oa. It is unclear if Grayven had anything to do with the death of Maura Rayner, even though he said he did but was possibly just trying to rattle Kyle.
Outsiders: Five of a Kind
During the events of Countdown to Final Crisis Grayven has been shown to have been lobotomized and is nearly catatonic. Thunder and the Martian Manhunter restore his mind and then assist him in building a zeta beam transporter to send the unknown scourge of the New Gods to Darkseid’s throne room. This would then force Darkseid and the killer to fight, with the result benefiting Grayven either way. Thunder and J’onn however, decide it is best to trick Grayven. J’onn shape shifts into the Black Racer, the New Gods’ incarnation of Death, to get Grayven to use the zeta beam on himself in order to escape. Unfortunately, as soon as Grayven arrives at his destination he is found and murdered by the real killer, the Infinity-Man.