The Fourth World

Much like the history of civilization, the lore of comic books begins to expand the deeper you look into them. Often these hidden stories lay behind a much broader idea, in this case we're citing The Justice League's greatest villain, Darksied. But it is not solely Darksied who will catch your attention because behind this powerful tyrant there exists another realm of Gods. These are The New Gods.

Jack Kirby's inspired creation debuted in 1971 and is told as such, beyond our own galaxy there existed a planet called Urgrund where Gods roamed the land. However, the event known as Ragnarok killed the Old Gods and split the planet in two resulting the birth of the New Gods and the creation of the twin planets New Genesis and Apokolips. New Genesis became a peaceful utopian world ruled by the wise and powerful Highfather, while Apokolips was a hellish wasteland ruled by the destructive and cruel Darksied. Darksied used to be an Apokoliptian prince known as Uxas, but after killing his own brother and obtaining the mysterious Omega Power he was transformed into the rock-like dictator he is today. He soon fell in love with a scientist named Suli and they had a child named Kalibak, but Darksied's loyal servant Desaad orchestrated Suli's death in fear of his master becoming soft. After Suli's death, Darksied killed his parents and forced his way onto the throne. Darksied had another relationship with the New God Tigra and she too birthed the child Orion. As a method of keeping peace between the twin planets, Darksied traded Orion of Apokolips with the child Scott Free of New Genesis. When Darksied came to power, his first agenda was ordering Tigra to seek out the now adult Orion and eliminate him as Darksied witnessed a prophecy that his death would come from the hands of his own son. In order to command dominance over both New Genesis and the entirety of the universe, Darksied decided his main goal would be to seek The Anti-Life Equation, a formula that allow him rid free will from all living beings.

Darksied isn't the only interesting New God, Orion was raised by The Highfather to be a righteous defender, but often struggled in controlling his Apokoliptian rage. The other traded son-Scott Free-was put through incredibly painful torture until he managed to become a master escape artist and rename himself Mister Miracle. Like all children on Apokolips, Scott was trained by Granny Goodness, a deranged handler who's experiments and tests drove all of Apokolips' children to become feral warriors. Among these warriors were The Furies, female New Gods who stand among Darksied's preferred fighting squads. Along with Knockout, Lashina, Stompa and The Mad Harriet, there was a Fury named Big Barda, specifically bred by Granny Goodness to lead The Furies. Barda fell in love with Scott Free and joined him and his friend Oberon on Earth to begin a new life. With the child of New Genesis off of Apokolips, Darksied now had his excuse to wage war on the twin planet. Between New Genesis and Apokolips there exists an unaligned New God known as Metron, who sits upon The Mobius Chair which grants him omnipotence and the ability to travel throughout space and time. Metron acts as a guardian of all reality and only interacts with others when space and time are at risk. The Highfather looked to Earth and selected a blind psychiatrist named Josh Saunders to become a New God as well, one that'd be connected to The Source (existence itself) and take his place should The Highfather die. Josh was soon given sight beyond all reality and became The New God Takion. There is another group of New Gods called The Forever People, technically children compared to beings like Orion, these five youths carry out a mission to oppose Darksied from planet Earth all while behaving like flower-children of the 1960's. The Forever People are comprised of Big Bear, Beautiful Dreamer, Serifan, Mark Moonrider, and Vykin, but when they combine their power they are able to summon the Source-powered New God known as The Infinity Man. The Infinity Man is later revealed to be Darksied's brother Drax who became one with The Source after his murder.

It's a lot to take in, but Jack Kirby's New Gods are detailed and exist as a type of modern mythology. The themes of family, duality and free will fume from the pages of The New Gods. Each character may feel like another grass in the garden, but they all have vast abilities and personalities. While Kirby intended on The New Gods being a temporary project, they've continued to be one DC Comic's secret gems, always to be recreated as time goes on. Thanks for reading!

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