Damien Darhk (Arrowverse)

Damien Darhk is the leader of the organization known as H.I.V.E., and a former member of the League of Assassins.

Founder of H.I.V.E.

For decades, Damien planned to cleanse the Earth his own way, by building up resources for his genocidal plan; build an underwater "safe house" and release nuclear missiles to destroy all life on Earth. Once that occurred, only H.I.V.E. would remain as a source of leadership, effectively allowing Damien to lead humanity into his vision of perfection. Thanks to all the deaths that occur, Darhk would also gain almost unlimited power from his idol as it would absorb all the life energy that was released from those he killed. However, Darhk's plans were stopped by Team Arrow, who took out his resources and ultimately killed him after he went insane following Anarky killing his wife.

Legion Adventures

30 years before this Reverse-Flash plucked him out of the timeline to become a member of the Legion of Doom. Though they temporarily succeeded in rewriting their futures, Darhk ultimately had his victory reversed and was sent back to the 1980s with his memory of the Legion erased.

A Second Chance

His daughter later tracked his corpse to 1800s London, hoping to use Mallus' power to revive him. It worked, with Damien having his powers restored as well, along with his memories of his time with the Legion of Doom. In gratitude, he teamed up with his daughter to carry out the will of Mallus throughout time.

Redemption and Sacrifice

As Mallus got powerful, his control over Nora became stronger, something that openly worried Damien. Darhk admitted to Nate that while he did want to remake the world in his image, Damien didn't want to lose the person he was doing it for. When Mallus was released at the cost of Nora's body, Damien allied himself with the Legends to stop the demon and save his daughter. His fate was taking Nora's place in Mallus's return, killing Damien.

Damnation and Rebirth

Rebellious demon Neron spoke of Damien's torment to Nora as causing him to go "Stark raving mad" which was ultimately halted from Astra using the crisis in Hell to gain her power by getting influential from resurrecting damned souls. Damien was reborn on Earth as an Encore, assigned to spread misery. After attempting to kill Gary Green in Salvation in 1874, he tracked down Nora's residence in 2020, where Nora lied to him through the night, claiming her new Legends teammates and friends as her underlings and the warlock John Constantine as her consort. He mistook an uncovered ring as a proposal offer to Nora, which caused Nora to reveal everything. Nora's new charge from her Fairy Godmother job, caused them to be wrapped up in a TV show, where he realized her change was of her own freewill, which he accepts, and allowed and witnessed her marriage to Ray. He made his son-in-law promise to have them leave the Legends behind to live out their lives. With the party occurring, he tried to reconcile with Sara and later returned to Hell for his expected punishment.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Magic: Darhk draws his magical power from the "Khushu Idol", a mystical totem that allows Darhk to harness dark magic and manipulate it at will.
  • Life-Force Absorption: Thanks to the powers of the idol he draws power from, Darhk can drain the very life energy out of the people he touches. He can suck the life out of them quickly, or slowly take it and then return it as a way of conveying how he can easily crush his enemies.
    • Fatal Touch
  • Accelerated Healing^[4]: Darhk can heal from any wound, so long as the idol he draws power from has the energy of a life to sustain his magic.
  • Electrokinesis: Darhk has been shown capable of summoning bolts of lightning from the sky, as well as projecting blasts of electrical energy.^[3]
    • Electro-Blast^[3]
  • Necrotic Empowerment^[5]
  • Superhuman Strength: Thanks to his magic, Darhk is more resilient than most humans. He is capable of kicking a human at least a yard without really trying.
  • Telekinesis: Darhk's primary means of attack, intimidation and execution. Darhk will kill people by choking them with his telekinesis.
  • Teleportation: Damien is capable of teleporting himself and his allies away; typically, he will kill the lights before hand
• Longevity: Darhk stole some of the Lazarus Pit's waters before he left the League, using it to slow his aging. As he only had a limited amount, Darhk likely acquired other means to extend his life.

Abilities

• Archery^[6]
• Firearms^[7]
• Genius Level Intellect: Darhk is capable of planning long-term plans, and making due with setbacks. He nearly succeeded in his Genesis Day plan, were it not for Green Arrow's intervention and Anarky's madness.
• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): As a former member of the League of Assassins, Damien is skilled in combat and is able to fight on equal grounds with others such as Malcolm and Sara, who also received League training.
• Leadership: Danien possess charisma and knowledge in how to persuade/brainwash others. Thus he is able to command the complete loyalty of his Ghosts. However, when he has failed enough or made questionable decisions, his top officers will lose faith in him.
• Occultism: Damien is knowledgeable in the supernatural, always on the lookout for anything that could help increase his power.
• Political Science^[8]
• Swordsmanship^[7]:Damien is capable fighting with a sword, being on par with other League-trained warriors. He is also capable of using knives to make single-blow stabs to a body to kill someone.
• Tactical Analysis: Damien is capable of using what he's seen and learned to create counter-strategies. This allowed him to come back from the defeats that Team Arrow kept dealing him.
• Weaponry^[7]

Weaknesses

• Vulnerability to Lazarus Pit: Damien's fatal touch backfires if he attempts to suck the life out of someone who was healed from near-death by the Lazarus Pit. If said person has not killed the person who nearly killed them, they have a bloodlust that sometimes drive them to kill indiscriminately; if Damien attempts to take their life, it cures the bloodlust for a while and briefly neutralizes his magic. Formerly, the only person Damien was vulnerable to was Thea Queen, but she was cured of her bloodlust thanks to Katana. Sara would have also had this affect on him.
  

Equipment

• Khushu Idol

• This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the television series Arrow, its tie-in comic book series, and its related television series. It is an adaptation of Damien Darhk. The original character was created by Devin Grayson and Mark Buckingham and first appeared in Titans #1.
• Damien Darhk was portrayed by Neal McDonough.
• Damian Darhk was first mentioned in the episode "Al Sah-him" but did not appear until the episode "Green Arrow".
• He is a fan of the song Return of the Mack, which is also the name of the episode he revives in.
• He is similar to another DC character named Dr. Ebenezer Darrk.

• 48 Appearances of Damien Darhk (Arrowverse)
• 7 Images featuring Damien Darhk (Arrowverse)
• 4 Quotations by or about Damien Darhk (Arrowverse)
• Character Gallery: Damien Darhk (Arrowverse)

Footnotes