Damian Darklord

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Damian Darklord

Damian Armstrong AKA Damian Darklord AKA Darklord. Art by Erik Larsen. From The Savage Dragon #74
Publication information
Publisher Image Comics
First appearance The Savage Dragon #42
Created by Erik Larsen
In story information
Alter ego Damian Armstrong
Species Alien-Human Hybrid
Place of origin Earth
Notable aliases Damian Darklord
Abilities Vast mental abilities, eye beams.

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.

Darklord resembled Jack Kirby's creation Darkseid from DC Comics yet in the letter column to issue 45 Larsen admits was trying to make the character resemble Thanos of Marvel Comics.

[edit] Fictional character biography

Damian is a time traveler, so naturally his history is complicated.

In 1997, during the Mars Attacks Image comic book event Liberty, the daughter of Superpatriot 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 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 Damain 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 FiancéJennifer Murphy with a shape-shifting villain Imposter, who was killed by the second Overlord who was unaware of the switch, Imposter had already impersonated Captain Mendoza and had worked to have The Dragon removed from the Chicago Police Force and 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 develops 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 and 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 times and realities and became convinced that the world was headed for destruction on an unspecific kind and that only he could prevent this from happening and had been kidnapping super-powered children, and women bearing super-powered children from other realities to build his own army and the 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 The Dragon fights both Damian Armstrong and Damian, killing them both.

By killing Damian Armstrong the Dragon caused the creation of a parallel Earth, free of Damian's meddling but filled with various other problems and became stuck there. This is the Earth that the Savage Dragon series 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. Yet 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.

[edit] 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).

[edit] Sources