Damian Darklord
Encyclopedia
Damian Darklord, or sometimes simply Darklord, was a re-occurring villain in Erik Larsen
's The Savage Dragon comic book series who would have major ramifications on the series every time he appeared.
The sub-plot that would eventually become Damian Darklord's story started in the Savage Dragon's half issue, a special issues available through Wizard magazine
when the Dragons' son Malcolm was kidnapped by the Covenant of the Sword. Though the story of the Nega Bomb and its effects date back to the earliest Savage Dragon issues as part of the original of the vigilante Mace.
Larsen based the character on Thanos
of Marvel Comics
.
was taken hostage by the Martians, experimented on, raped and impregnated by them, but being pro-life she refused to have an abortion
and gave birth to an alien-human hybrid named Damian.
At the same time she gave birth on an alternate Earth, where Darklord was defeated by The Savage Dragon and members of the newly formed Special Operations Strikeforce (S.O.S) government team that The Dragon had founded to replace Rob Liefeld
's Youngblood
(behind the scenes Liefeld had left Image Comics
and the Mars Attacks Image and Shattered Image
events were used to phase his characters out of the collective 'Image Universe'). 'Darkworld', Darklord's Earth, was dying and in order to save it he was in the process of swapping his World for the one where The Savage Dragon was then set. He was unsuccessful and was killed while trying to escape, but not before killing the Dragon's former lover Rapture
.
Years before both of these events, two super-heroes Super Tough and Young Tough repeatedly fought a villain named Damian Darklord and his Covenant of the Sword. Super Tough considered Damian to be his most dangerous adversary, but neither Damian Darklord nor Super Tough were seen again after they were caught in the explosion of Damian's 'Nega-Bomb', which also scarred Young Tough and turned him into the vigilante Mace. Both were believed dead until the S.O.S met Super Tough again as a freedom fighter on Darkworld, and Darklord was revealed to be Damian Darklord. Super Tough escaped with the others and was reunited with his old partner and lover Mace.
20 issues after Darkord's debut and defeat, The Covenant of the Sword replaced The Dragon's fiancé Jennifer Murphy
with a shape-shifting villain Impostor, who was killed by the second Overlord
, unaware of the switch. Impostor had already impersonated Captain Mendoza and had worked to have The Dragon removed from the Chicago Police Force, the second time the Covenant had kidnapped somebody close to the Dragon as they had previous kidnapped his and Rapture's newborn son Malcolm in Savage Dragon #1/2.
A subplot of missing characters developed over the next 13 issues. These include two villains Baby Boom and Negate, She-Dragon
(who was replaced with her Darkworld self, who had worked for Darklord), Liberty, and the children of various super-powered characters.
When Superpatriot went missing searching for his daughter, The Dragon and Mighty Man
assaulted a Covenant of the Sword complex to rescue him. Mighty Man fought Superpatriot while The Dragon fought his wife Jennifer
, whom he believed to have been killed and who had been brainwashed by the Covenant. The fight led to The Dragon confronting Damian Armstrong, Liberty's son, who revealed that Damian Armstrong, Darklord and Damian Darklord are all the same person, just at different times of Damian Armstrong's life. Damian visited numerous time periods and realities, and became convinced that the world was headed for destruction of an unspecific kind, and that only he could prevent this from happening. He had been kidnapping super-powered children, and women bearing super-powered children from other realities to build his own army, and also two villains to build a new Nega-Bomb, which he then detonates depowering most of the super-freaks on Earth. The few remaining characters with powers come to The Dragon's aid and during the battle that follows, and The Dragon fights both Damian Armstrong and Damian, killing them both.
By killing Damian Armstrong, the Dragon causes the creation of a parallel Earth, free of Damian's meddling but filled with various other problems, and becomes stuck there. This is the Earth that the series Savage Dragon is currently set on. Even though The Dragon woke up next to the corpse of Damian Armstrong, he was curiously still alive in the original Earth, and in custody of the US Government and Special Operations Strikeforce, which it seemed he was somehow mentally controlling. He was badly beaten by The Dragon's son after he apparently saw him kill a Government official and supporting character Hawkins, and died when Universo (a take on Marvel Comics
' Galactus
) destroyed that Earth and with few exceptions everyone on it.
Damian Armstrong is clearly shown dead in issue #75, the new world is a result of his death. In the letter column to issue #77, Erik Larsen reinforces this point with his answer to the final letter. Yet Damian Armstrong is shown alive and in the custody of the US Government in issue #101 and shown to kill Hawkins. In the following issue Hawkins is presented to Malcolm Dragon alive after he has assaulted Damian. This has never been explained or addressed in the comics' letter columns.
A more benign Damian Darklord appeared in the last issues of the Dragon Wars, commenting over the restored Kurr's (Savage Dragon's past, evil self) slaughter of all human life. Reasoning that Savage Dragon is a dangerous wildcard for the world, and explaining his former actions as attempts to stave off the ruination brought by the presence of Savage Dragon himself, he restores Savage Dragon this rightful appearance, granting him the power to go back in time and stop his Kurr-self. He then kills him, as a mean to safeguard the restored Earth security. It's also implied he transplanted Savage Dragon's mind in WildStar's body, allowing him to witness the restoration of his Earth.
Damian Armstrong had incredible mental abilities including telepathy, telekinesis, the ability to create blasts of psionic energy and use his mind to influence and control the minds others. He also has a genius level intellect.
As well as Super Strength and moderate invulnerably Darklord could shoot blasts of energy from his eyes with enough force to disintegrate a person. It also looks appears as though he could jump large distances.
Damian Darklord's exact powers are not revealed as he only appeared in one back-up story (Savage Dragon #75).
Erik Larsen
Erik J. Larsen is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is best known for his work on Savage Dragon, as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.-Early life:...
's The Savage Dragon comic book series who would have major ramifications on the series every time he appeared.
The sub-plot that would eventually become Damian Darklord's story started in the Savage Dragon's half issue, a special issues available through Wizard magazine
Wizard (magazine)
Wizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011...
when the Dragons' son Malcolm was kidnapped by the Covenant of the Sword. Though the story of the Nega Bomb and its effects date back to the earliest Savage Dragon issues as part of the original of the vigilante Mace.
Larsen based the character on Thanos
Thanos
Thanos is a fictional character that appears in comic books and other media published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Iron Man #55 and was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin....
of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
.
Fictional character biography
In 1997, during the Mars Attacks Image comic book event Liberty, the daughter of SuperpatriotSuperPatriot
SuperPatriot is an Image Comics superhero created by Erik Larsen in 1992. SuperPatriot has had regular appearances in Erik Larsen's titles, whether in his own mini-series or as a supporting character and is currently a member of the Liberty League....
was taken hostage by the Martians, experimented on, raped and impregnated by them, but being pro-life she refused to have an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and gave birth to an alien-human hybrid named Damian.
At the same time she gave birth on an alternate Earth, where Darklord was defeated by The Savage Dragon and members of the newly formed Special Operations Strikeforce (S.O.S) government team that The Dragon had founded to replace Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium....
's Youngblood
Youngblood (comics)
Youngblood is a superhero team that starred in their self-titled comic book, created by writer/artist Rob Liefeld. The team made its debut as a backup feature in the 1987 one-shot Megaton: Explosion before later appearing in its own ongoing series in 1992 as the flagship publication for Image Comics...
(behind the scenes Liefeld had left Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
and the Mars Attacks Image and Shattered Image
Shattered Image
Shattered Image is a thriller drama film written by Duane Poole and directed by Raoul Ruiz. It stars William Baldwin, Anne Parillaud and Lisanne Falk.-Plot:...
events were used to phase his characters out of the collective 'Image Universe'). 'Darkworld', Darklord's Earth, was dying and in order to save it he was in the process of swapping his World for the one where The Savage Dragon was then set. He was unsuccessful and was killed while trying to escape, but not before killing the Dragon's former lover Rapture
Rapture (comics)
Rapture, real name Sharona Jackson, is a fictional superhero created by Erik Larsen for his Image Comics series Savage Dragon. Rapture was inspired by, and named after. The Knack's song My Sharona...
.
Years before both of these events, two super-heroes Super Tough and Young Tough repeatedly fought a villain named Damian Darklord and his Covenant of the Sword. Super Tough considered Damian to be his most dangerous adversary, but neither Damian Darklord nor Super Tough were seen again after they were caught in the explosion of Damian's 'Nega-Bomb', which also scarred Young Tough and turned him into the vigilante Mace. Both were believed dead until the S.O.S met Super Tough again as a freedom fighter on Darkworld, and Darklord was revealed to be Damian Darklord. Super Tough escaped with the others and was reunited with his old partner and lover Mace.
20 issues after Darkord's debut and defeat, The Covenant of the Sword replaced The Dragon's fiancé Jennifer Murphy
Jennifer Murphy (comics)
Jennifer Murphy, currently Jennifer Dragon and sometimes using the codename Smasher, is a recurring fictional character in Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon comic book series...
with a shape-shifting villain Impostor, who was killed by the second Overlord
Overlord (comics)
Overlord is a comic-book supervillain created by Erik Larsen, first appearing in Larsen's Savage Dragon series and serving as that title's first principal villain. Like many of Larsen's characters, Overlord was based on a character that Larsen had created during his childhood...
, unaware of the switch. Impostor had already impersonated Captain Mendoza and had worked to have The Dragon removed from the Chicago Police Force, the second time the Covenant had kidnapped somebody close to the Dragon as they had previous kidnapped his and Rapture's newborn son Malcolm in Savage Dragon #1/2.
A subplot of missing characters developed over the next 13 issues. These include two villains Baby Boom and Negate, She-Dragon
She-Dragon
Amy Belcher, also known as Sensation and mostly as She-Dragon is a fictional 'superfreak' and later police officer created by Erik Larsen for his series Savage Dragon as a She-Hulk like female counterpart for the series' main character The Dragon....
(who was replaced with her Darkworld self, who had worked for Darklord), Liberty, and the children of various super-powered characters.
When Superpatriot went missing searching for his daughter, The Dragon and Mighty Man
Mighty Man
Mighty Man is a fictional hero created by Erik Larsen some years before he began drawing professional comics, possibly in his adolescence. He has been a major character in Larsen's self-created title Savage Dragon and its spin-off Freak Force, as well as in Gary Carlson's Big Bang Comics series...
assaulted a Covenant of the Sword complex to rescue him. Mighty Man fought Superpatriot while The Dragon fought his wife Jennifer
Jennifer Murphy (comics)
Jennifer Murphy, currently Jennifer Dragon and sometimes using the codename Smasher, is a recurring fictional character in Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon comic book series...
, whom he believed to have been killed and who had been brainwashed by the Covenant. The fight led to The Dragon confronting Damian Armstrong, Liberty's son, who revealed that Damian Armstrong, Darklord and Damian Darklord are all the same person, just at different times of Damian Armstrong's life. Damian visited numerous time periods and realities, and became convinced that the world was headed for destruction of an unspecific kind, and that only he could prevent this from happening. He had been kidnapping super-powered children, and women bearing super-powered children from other realities to build his own army, and also two villains to build a new Nega-Bomb, which he then detonates depowering most of the super-freaks on Earth. The few remaining characters with powers come to The Dragon's aid and during the battle that follows, and The Dragon fights both Damian Armstrong and Damian, killing them both.
By killing Damian Armstrong, the Dragon causes the creation of a parallel Earth, free of Damian's meddling but filled with various other problems, and becomes stuck there. This is the Earth that the series Savage Dragon is currently set on. Even though The Dragon woke up next to the corpse of Damian Armstrong, he was curiously still alive in the original Earth, and in custody of the US Government and Special Operations Strikeforce, which it seemed he was somehow mentally controlling. He was badly beaten by The Dragon's son after he apparently saw him kill a Government official and supporting character Hawkins, and died when Universo (a take on Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' Galactus
Galactus
Galactus is a fictional character appearing in comic books and other publications published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character debuted in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue story later known as "The Galactus...
) destroyed that Earth and with few exceptions everyone on it.
Damian Armstrong is clearly shown dead in issue #75, the new world is a result of his death. In the letter column to issue #77, Erik Larsen reinforces this point with his answer to the final letter. Yet Damian Armstrong is shown alive and in the custody of the US Government in issue #101 and shown to kill Hawkins. In the following issue Hawkins is presented to Malcolm Dragon alive after he has assaulted Damian. This has never been explained or addressed in the comics' letter columns.
A more benign Damian Darklord appeared in the last issues of the Dragon Wars, commenting over the restored Kurr's (Savage Dragon's past, evil self) slaughter of all human life. Reasoning that Savage Dragon is a dangerous wildcard for the world, and explaining his former actions as attempts to stave off the ruination brought by the presence of Savage Dragon himself, he restores Savage Dragon this rightful appearance, granting him the power to go back in time and stop his Kurr-self. He then kills him, as a mean to safeguard the restored Earth security. It's also implied he transplanted Savage Dragon's mind in WildStar's body, allowing him to witness the restoration of his Earth.
Powers
Presumably all three versions of Damian Darklord must be capable of the same powers as they are the same person only at different stages of development. It is unconfirmed if Damian could travel through time naturally or required technology to do so though the fact that he could not escape Darkworld without using a teleporter and the huge amounts of technology used by the Covenant of Sword in their base points towards the latter.Damian Armstrong had incredible mental abilities including telepathy, telekinesis, the ability to create blasts of psionic energy and use his mind to influence and control the minds others. He also has a genius level intellect.
As well as Super Strength and moderate invulnerably Darklord could shoot blasts of energy from his eyes with enough force to disintegrate a person. It also looks appears as though he could jump large distances.
Damian Darklord's exact powers are not revealed as he only appeared in one back-up story (Savage Dragon #75).