By any stretch of the imagination, DC Comics' Darkseid is the epitome of evil. Not only does he relish making life as painful as possible for those who stand in his way, but his goal of controlling the minds of all beings in the universe is something only tyrants could find joy in. However, despite his fascistic bona fides, there are others even more evil than him. In fact, someone even Darkseid would admit to being worse than himself is a member of his own family.
Yuga Khan is the most powerful of the New Gods, and he is also Darkseid’s father. Introduced in Mark Evanier and Paris Cullins' New Gods #17, Khan was one of the first beings of the Fourth World to achieve “godhood” after the fall of the Old Gods. Drunk on his power and abilities, Khan’s focus was on becoming the most powerful being in the known universe. Understanding that it was much easier to gain power through fear, aggression, and oppression, Khan decided early on to take and rule by force. His instincts were not wrong. For thousands of years, Khan ruled, and expanded his rule, with an iron fist.
The list of Khan’s evil deeds is long. Like his son, Khan was not one to suffer fools gladly. He often executed foes and subordinates summarily. It is no wonder that he was known as the original New God of Evil. The only trait that surpassed his evil was his pride. After conquering too many worlds to count, Khan began to think that he could be more. This led him to the belief that he could become the basis of all existence, and he attempted to break through the Source Wall, the only known barrier keeping mortals from accessing the true basis of all existence. However, the Source Wall proved a formidable foe, trapping Khan in its essences for millennia, as it had so many ambitious tyrants before him.
In a demonstration of how evilly powerful he was, Khan eventually broke free of his imprisonment by the Source Wall and returned to his homeworld Apokolips. Almost immediately after freeing himself for the Source Wall, however, Khan consumed the energy of more than a few planets that lay on his journey homeward. These acts ended the life of countless millions. Finding that Darkseid had taken over in his absence, Khan easily dispatched his son, in a battle where even the mighty Darkseid turned tail and ran.
Once reinstalled to power, Khan wasted no time in restarting his original plans of conquest. Khan doubled-down on his oppressive tactics in the hope that it would help accelerate expansion. Just like before Khan ruled with an iron fist that he had no problem squeezing ever tighter, and he was only defeated after a foolish second attempt to breach the Source Wall. As brutal and powerful as Darkseid may be, his terror at Yuga Khan's return proved that his father is even worse, and helps contextualize Darkseid's continued attempts to control all of creation as a desperate attempt to finally move beyond the most powerful New God's shadow.