Hello, this is Marvel&StarWarsFan2890 back with another proposal. Once again, it is another candidate from the Arrowverse. I will propose other characters from other works in the future but there’s a few more Arrowverse villains I think can qualify for this wiki. Today, we’re discussing Damien Darhk. This is a re-proposal of the character. He was apparently proposed before but was deleted because the user didn’t see the work. Before you ask I got permission from AverageDimentio to re-propose this character: https://inconsistently-heinous.fandom.com/wiki/Message_Wall:TheAverageDimentio?threadId=4400000000000171966
Also, spoilers for those who haven’t seen Arrow.
What’s The Work
The Arrowverse is a continuity made up of different DC shows, such as Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, etc. Darhk appears in several of these shows. And I’m sure everyone knows what DC Comics is, but for the rare ones who don’t, it’s about superheroes. Best known for characters like Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and much more.
Who Is Damien Darhk? What Has He Done?
Background
In his adulthood, Damien Darhk joined the League of Assassins and competed with his friend over the tittle of Ra’s Al Ghul. After the title ultimately went to the latter, Damien escaped and founded the terrorist organization H.I.V.E. to continue the League’s goals in the way he saw fit.
In 1942, Damien was visited by the time remnant of Eobard Thawne, who asked him to work with the Germans to kidnap Albert Einstein and create an atomic bomb that would destroy New York. Damien’s plans were ultimately thwarted by the Legends, a group of time travelers.
In 1962, Damien was hired to assassinate Bernhardt Vogel due to his inventions being a threat to rich people from the oil industry. Originally, Damien succeeded in killing Vogel, but was stopped by Ray Palmer and Nora Darhk, his future self’s daughter, in the new timeline. Damien kidnapped Nora and threatened to kill her to blackmail his future self into surrendering Vogel to him. Even after Damien gets what he wants, he still tries to kill Nora regardless, believing love was a weakness, not caring at all that Nora was his future daughter. Fortunately, Nora was saved and Damien was defeated.
In 1975, Damien attempted to buy a nuclear warhead from Vandal Savage, likely planning to use it for his plans for H.I.V.E.
Legends of Tomorrow Season 2
In 1987, Damien met with an agent of the KGB. When a young Martin Stein stumbled onto this meeting, Damien stabbed him to keep his intentions a secret, which nearly caused the future Martin Stein to be erased from existence. Later, Damien traded nuclear codes to the KGB in exchange for an artifact they had in their possession. When the Legends arrived to stop him, Damien revealed he had planted a bomb at the diner to destroy all hopes of peace between the superpowers. A fight broke out, with Damien nearly killing JSA member Obsidian. After Sara Lance revealed his future, being how his plans would derail and would ultimately lose his wife, Damien is whisked away by Eobard Thawne.
Damien and Thawne travel to 2016 and recruit Malcolm Merlyn to their cause and help them obtain the Spear of Destiny to rewrite reality. The trio known as the Legion of Doom aided Al Capone in his crimes, allowing him to evade justice. They did this in order to draw the Legends out in order to reclaim the amulet in their possession.
Damien and Merlyn visited 1967 in search of Rip Hunter, even killing two bikers who tried to rob them, and stole their motorcycles. The two later attacked Rip while he was a shooting movie, which spooked George Lucas to the point that he nearly gave up direction, temporarily causing Ray Palmer and Nate Heywood to lose their knowledge on Science. Their attack also caused Rip to be arrested. Damien and Merlyn tried to pick up Hunter at the police station, but were unsuccessful. Upon learning Lucas had the Spear of Destiny, believing it to be a movie prop, the two ambushed him while he was meeting with Nate, Ray, and Amaya Jiwe. After Lucas showed them it was at the dump, Damien and Merlyn threw the four into the dumpster and forced them to start searching, turning on the trash compactor when they were taking too long.
After Thawne captured Rip, Damien and Merlyn tortured him offscreen to learn more information on the Spear but to no avail. Later, Damien tortured Rip again by pulling out his tooth upon noticing it had a barcode embedded in it. Damien and Merlyn used Rip to break into the bank vault containing Rip’s memories, with Damien complaining it would be easier just to kill everyone in the bank, but went along with Merlyn’s more stealthy plan. However, when the plan goes awry, Damien killed some security guards and later fights Merlyn to the death in a League duel, only for Rip to stop them. Damien and Merlyn infiltrated the bank again, only this time following Damien’s plan to kill everyone who got on their way. Once Thawne showed up, Damien and Merlyn locked him in the vault and demanded that they be treated as equals, rather than lackeys. Once Thawne revealed the zombie speedster Black Flash was after him, Damien and Merlyn helped Thawne subdue Black Flash before escaping.
Using the information from the Bank Vault, Thawne brainwashed Rip aiding the Legion. Damien later went with Rip to 507 A.D. to obtain one of the Spear’s fragments from Stargirl. Damien posed as a Black Knight and abducted several of Camelot’s knights to turn them into his puppets through mind control technology. Damien and Hunter later invaded the castle, demanding that Star Girl give them the spear under the threat of destroying Camelot. When they failed to comply, Damien and Rip fought off Camelot’s forces. When Rip was incapable, Damien fled and refused to help his comrade, sneering that he doesn’t do rescues. Ray goes after him and fights him, with Damien nearly killing Ray by shooting him.
After the Legends raided the Legion’s lair and stole the spear pieces in their possession, Damien and Thawne traveled back in time and acquired Leonard Snart before he joined the Legends, having him manipulate Mick Rory into revealing the Legends’ plan to get the blood of Christ. The Legion successfully gains the Spear and proceed to rewrite reality in their image. Damien made it so he was now Star City’s Mayor and brainwashed Sara and Amaya into his personal assassins, having them kill various superheroes that stood against him, even collecting their masks as battle trophies. When Sara regained her memories, Damien sadistically taunted her by revealing his favorite kill was her sister Laurel, remarking that it would never get old.
When the Legends attempted to steal back Ray’s ATOM suit, Damien caught them and attempts to kill them after Thawne decided to let them live, but is knocked out by Mick. After the Legends went back in time to prevent the Legion from getting the spear, Damien, Merlyn and Snart attacked the Waverider with their weapons. Damien also killed Nate’s future self by stabbing him from behind. Following the Legion’s defeat, Damien was returned to his proper place in the timeline. Damien then attempted to taunt Sara that she was setting him on the path to killing her sister by doing this.
Arrow
Damien doesn’t appear onscreen until season 4 but committed many crimes from behind the scenes. Damien attempted to gain possession of Malcolm’s earthquake generator, likely planning to use it for Genesis. He also gave Gholem Qadir safe haven in Markovia to obtain the device, presumably planning to have Qadir take the fall if the plan was compromised. In season 3, Damien hired A.R.G.U.S. operative Mark Shaw to steal a secret file from the organization detailing a list of all their field operatives and their families, presumably to blackmail them. Damien stayed in a hotel at Starling City for unknown reasons, but upon learning of Ra Al Ghul’s plan to destroy it with the Alpha-Omega bio-weapon to kill him, Damien left behind his assistant to take the fall, later allowing Ra’s to kill the latter.
In season 4, Damien had plans to destroy the entire world and remake it in his image. He sent his operatives to rob banks and jewelry stores in order to build up enough wealth for H.I.V.E.’s operations. He also had his men steal weapons and munitions from Kord industries, which killed many civilians in the process. Damien forced SCPD Captain Quentin Lance to work for him by threatening his daughter. Damien later interrupted a private meeting between the city leaders, telling them to let Star City die and warning them to say goodbye to their loved ones before he executed his plans. Damien orchestrated the attack that left Star City’s district attorney poisoned and the other leaders either shot or stabbed, leaving only Quentin alive with a broken arm. After one of his men failed a mission, Damien killed him by draining his life-force. Throughout the series, Damien would constantly kill his men and colleagues in H.I.V.E. for failure or just for making him mad. He also instructs his men to commit suicide in order to avoid capture. He even brainwashes most of them to make them more compliant.
Damien planned to blow up Star City’s train station by placing cluster bombs on a train, destroying the brakes to prevent anyone from stopping it. After the Green Arrow confronted him, Damien nearly kills him before being stopped by John Diggle. Damien later hired Lonnie Machin to thwart Jessica Danforth’s mayoral campaign. After failing to do so, Machin kidnapped Jessica’s teenage daughter, much to Damien’s rage, believing that was too far, and terminates their partnership out of spite.
When Mina Fayad hired the mercenary Jeremy Tell to kill Green Arrow, Damien ordered a demonstration of his abilities by having him kill one of his henchmen. After Tell failed to kill Green Arrow, Damien killed Fayad and threatened Tell not to fail him again. Damien later captured Ray Palmer after intercepting his distress call to Felicity, planning to use his technology for H.I.V.E.’s plans, even threatening to kill Felicity if he doesn’t cooperate. Damien temporarily captured Green Arrow and attempted to strangle him to death with chains. Damien approached Mayoral Candidate Oliver Queen, offering his financial and PR backing in exchange for Oliver scrapping his Bay Restoration project. Later, Damien nearly killed Speedy in a duel.
Damien personally led a team of his agents to raid an A.R.G.U.S. Facility to steal a chemical bomb, only to be stopped by Team Arrow. During the fighting, Damien nearly kills Green Arrow again, only to be stopped by the Flash. After Oliver rejected his earlier offer, Damien sent a drone to attack the bay while it was in the process of being by volunteers. However, Oliver responded by revealing Damien’s identity to the public as well as his connection to H.I.V.E. In retaliation, Damien attacked Oliver’s holiday party, abducting Diggle, his sister Thea, and girlfriend Felicity Smoak. Even his partners call out Damien on his pettiness. Damien promised to spare Oliver’s loved ones in exchange for Oliver turning himself in. Once Oliver did so, Damien attempted to kill his friends anyway to take away what Oliver had to fight for. However, he was stopped by Black Canary and Green Arrow, who was actually Malcolm Merlyn. Damien fled the scene and nearly kills Oliver, only to be knocked out by Malcolm. Later, Damien sent his soldiers to kill Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak, paralyzing the latter in the process.
Several weeks later, Lonnie took Damien’s wife and daughter hostage. When Damien found out Green Arrow rescued them, he showed the vigilante no gratitude, only mentioning that he would give Green Arrow a few more weeks to spend with his own family before continuing their war.
In an effort to blunt Oliver Queen’s campaign, Damien convinced his wife Ruvé to compete against him. When a H.I.V.E. member criticizes Ruvé capabilities, Damien kills him in cold-blood. Damien later hired the Demolition Team to stage an elaborate attack on a mayoral debate between Ruvé and Queen. However, they are foiled by Green Arrow and his team. Damien later had Oliver’s illegitimate son Williams Clayton kidnapped to force Oliver to drop out of the race. When Green Arrow and his team went to rescue William, Damien attempted to choke Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Speedy,t0 death, only failing due to Vixen destroying his idol. Damien was then easily defeated by Green Arrow and subsequently arrested. While in prison, Damien forced Michael Amar to work for him by threatening his grandmother, later having Amar turn in and kill his own men. Damien organized a prison riot to lure Team Arrow Iron Heights. Regaining his powers, Damien spitefully stabbed Laurel in the stomach to get back at Quentin for betraying him, later leading to her death. Even worse, it’s later revealed Damien would’ve killed both Sara and Quentin if the former never joined up with the Legends.
Damien killed fellow H.I.V.E. Members Milo Armitage and Phaedra Nixon when they attempted to leave him in prison. Later, Damien ambushes A.R.G.U.S. Director Ly;a Michaels and painfully extracts the Rubicon from her skin. Damien planned to use Rubicon to launch all the world’s missiles and destroy the world. Damien nearly succeeds in murdering millions at Monument Point, forcing Felicity to redirect the missile to hit a smaller town called Havenrock, which still killed thousands. This later led to Rory Regan becoming Ragman as his father perished in the attack. Upon learning his wife was killed by Machin and the Tevat Noah facility was destroyed, the dome that would’ve protected him and a choice few from Genesis, Damien decided to still to go through with the plan, being willing to kill himself in the process.
Damien attacks Felicity’s house and threatens to painfully kill her mother unless she helps him launch the missiles to destroy the world. Fortunately, Team Arrow stops him, forcing Damien to flee. Damien sensed Cooper Seldon choosing to help Felicity stop his plans, telekinetically executing him in the most painful way possible. Even before this, Damien had shot him but froze the bullet with his telekinesis to force Cooper to cooperate (not pun intended but happy coincidence). Damien engaged in a final battle with Oliver before ultimately being killed by the latter. His death also led Oliver to resume killing criminals after Damien killed Laurel.
Legends of Tomorrow Season 3
Damien was resurrected by followers of Mallus. Damien then killed several Time Bureau agents when they tried to arrest him before taunting Rip that he had regained his memories. Damien then fled with his daughter. Damien and his daughter created Anachronisms throughout time to free Mallus from his prison, uncaring that the latter wanted to destroy reality and twist it to his image.
Damien travelled to 1930 and became the agent of Helen of Troy to gain money. Upon being confronted by the Legends, Damien demanded Sara to return to 2017 or he would kill her and her teammates. In the next episode, Damien saves Gorilla Grodd from falling only to his death and offers him the power to time travel. Damien traveled to 1000 A.D. and posed as the Norse God Odin to take command of the Vikings and lead them in their conquest of North America. However, Damien fled after Nora was wounded.
When the Legends attempted to separate Mallus from a younger Nora, Damien stops them and returns her to the asylum, claiming Mallus was her savior. Damien traveled to 1717 and became an admiral. He arrested a group of pirates and attempted to have them executed. at the end of the episode, Nora was fatally wounded by Ray, but Ray later healed her out of guilt. Damien and Nora then captured Ray, wanting to use them to repair the broken Fire Totem. Ray refused initially refused to comply so Damien tortured him. He threatened to give the ATOM suit to Genghis Khan to cause chaos in the timeline. When that failed to motivate Ray, Damien threatened to murder Ray’s mother as a baby, forcing Ray to help them.
The group traveled to the Upswipz headquarters, with Damien tossing an employee named Alan against the walls and ceilings, later snapping his neck when he failed to laugh at his joke. Damien told Ray about how he murdered Dr. Vogel in his younger years and sends Ray with Nora to capture him. However, Nora was captured by his younger self. After saving Nora, Damien coldly executed Vogel as he didn’t want to ruin his “perfect record”.
As Mallus grew closer to freedom, Damien decided to team up with the Legends to save his daughter. Damien later releases Grodd to destroy Amaya’s village to prevent Mallus from being released and stop Nora from being killed. Ultimately, Damien sacrificed his life to save his daughter from being killed by Mallus.
Legends of Tomorrow Season 5
Upon returning as an encore, Damien tried to kill Gary Green by tying him to a train track. Upon learning his daughter was going to marry Ray Palmer, Damien attempted to kill her teammates out of spite. However, Damien eventually accepted that his daughter had changed and gave the two his blessing. After the wedding, Damien commits suicide with the Hell Sword to avoid being used as Astra’s pawn again.
The Flash Season 8
In an alternate timeline created by Eobard Thawne, Damien was once again alive but his daughter was the one who was dead. In this timeline, Damien worked with the Reverse-Flash, who was now Barry Allen, nd killed several superheroes. The duo broke into S.T.A.R. Labs and Damien attempted to kill two members of Team Flash so that Thawne would lose his “friends” on the eve of his wedding. When Barry stopped him, Damien began choking him to death, demanding to know why he would stop him. Barry informed Damien that he was The Flash in the original timeline. Barry convinces Damien to help him restore the timeline by revealing that Nora is supposed to be alive. After successfully restoring the timeline, Damien died once again. However, his consciousness survived in the time stone, later helping Iris West escape the stone and return to the real world after the Negative Sage Force tricked Barry into killing Iris.
Though Damien had several comedic moments throughout the series, they don’t detract from his villainy and his worst actions are always played seriously. If anything, his comedic moments highlight his sadism and villainy.
What Makes Him Inconsistent
He cares for his wife, as he was saddened by her death. Her death motivated him to continue through with Genesis to spare his daughter the pain of growing up without her. He also cares about his daughter Nora Darhk, even willingly giving up Amaya’s totem to save her life. He ultimately ends up sacrificing his life to Mallus so Nora could live. In the alternate timeline created by Eobard Thawne where Nora was dead, Damien works with Barry Allen to undo the Reverse-Flashpoint Timeline to revive her, despite knowing he would die in the process.
He is honorable as he showed gratitude to Green Arrow for saving his family from Lonnie Machin, even giving him a few weeks to spend with his own family. When Sara Lance was resurrected by the Lazarus Pit, Damien advised Sara to kill her to put her out of her misery, since the pit didn’t bring back her soul. He also gave Ray Palmer his blessing to marry his daughter, stating they belong together.
He’s somewhat of an extremist, as his plan to nuke the world stems from his belief that the world was beyond saving and thought it would be better to wipe it out, rather than continue to let the people suffer. He even intended to spare a group of people from Genesis when they decided to side with him. Though it’s a minor prevention, since his supposedly “noble” goals doesn’t stop him from taking sadism in murdering innocent people or happily admitting his evil nature.
He showed some respect to Barry Allen and Joseph West, even asking Iris to say hi to the latter for him.
He felt remorse for allowing Mallus to possess Nora and even apologizes to Sara for murdering Laurel, admitting what he did was petty and unforgivable. He later sacrificed himself by taking Nora’s place as Mallus’ host, to ensure she would live. Upon returning in season 8 of The Flash, he helps Barry undo the Reverse-Flashpoint Timeline and later helps Iris West escape from the Time Stone and return to the real world.
Heinous Standards
It’s not even a question. Darhk is easily heinous enough. His plan is to destroy the world and remake it In his image. He sadistically murdered several of his followers and colleagues for failure or for just pissing him off. He killed main character Laurel Lance as an act of spite to Quentin for betraying him. This gives him personally villainy towards Oliver and Sara. Despite being defeated by Oliver, Darhk still succeeded in killing off 10 million people after Felicity redirected one of his missiles to Havenrock to reduce the number of casualties, resulting in Rory Regan becoming Ragman after the explosion killed his family. Darhk only gets worse in legends of tomorrow. In season 2, he attempts to sell a nuclear bomb to the Nazis and later rewrites reality with the Spear of Destiny, in which Darhk sadistically murders several Superheroes. In season 3, Darhk was willing to release Mallus from his prison, uncaring that Mallus wanted to destroy all of time. All of this is more enough for Darhk to stand out even when compared to the high Heinous Standards of the Arrowverse.
Final Verdict
Damien easily qualifies. But I’ll leave it up to you guys.