Desaadistic

I would hate to live on Apokolips; however, I'm sure the experience would be memorable. 

Imagine a world where you are faced with the threat of painful and non-immediate death each and every day - from being mauled by building-sized dogs to being zipped by Darkseid's heat-seeking-like omega beams. Yes, it would be an eventful life which would probably leave you paranoid for life and on a one way trip to Ward 9 at RIPAS pretty quickly. While we (at the House of El) have never really explored the characters of that make up the hellhole that is Apokolips, what better time to do that than now on this bright Tuesday (post-holiday) morning?

Jack Kirby created a whole host of characters to fill up his Fourth World / New Gods world; many of these characters have become a mainstay in the minds of DC fans for a number of years. On Apokolips, we are apt to remember the great and monstrous Darkseid, but we will probably never forget Desaad.

Desaad is one of the most well-known followers of Darkseid. He is Darkseid's master torturer and has had a colorful origins story.

Desaad's first recorded appearance in the history of the DC Universe was as peon and asskisser at the side of Drax, heir to Apokolips. At the time of his appearance, the character had already taken on the name Desaad and was known by no other name.

Desaad's origins (in the comic story lines) were told during a chess game between Darkseid and Eclipso. Darkseid shared how he had corrupted an innocent young boy by tricking him into believing the boy's pet cat had killed his other pet, a bird. Urged and verbally poisoning the boy to avenge the bird, Darkseid managed to manipulates the youth into burying the cat alive. The bird returned only to be also murdered by this young man in question. He eventually left New Genesis to become Darkseid's lackey.

Desaad appeared to be helping Drax with his attempt to master the Omega force. In actual fact, he was plotting with Uxas (Drax's brother ). As a result Drax was presumed killed, and Uxas mastered the Omega force and took the god-name Darkseid. Desaad went on to serve as Darkseid's torturer.

The Apokolips torturer has been seen, since then, in the DC Universe, still well and alive and continuing his malicious mechanizations throughout the Final Crisis story line; at one time, even possessing Mary Marvel.

Desaad by nature is a sadist and a coward. He is naturally treacherous, but is sufficiently afraid of Darkseid that he will not turn against his master unless someone else takes the lead (and will probably switch sides again if it looks like they will fail). Desaad has no powers of his own, relying instead on his intellect, inventiveness and scientific skill along with Darkseid's protection. He is immortal as all New Gods are.

The character of Desaad has appeared in numerous adaptations, from the 1980s incarnations of the Superfriends cartoon, The Legendary Super Powers Show and Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians to the Young Justice series, where in the episode "Disordered" he is shown as a supplyer of Apokolips weapons to Intergang. This version is somewhat gross and deformed, as shown by his face and hands.

Desaad was included in Series 12 of Mattel's DC Universe Classic toys, patterned after his appearance in the earlier Kenner Super Powers Collection.