Warning: Spoilers for Justice League: Last Ride #5!
In Marvel and DC Comics’ sprawling multiverses, The Mad Titan called Thanos, and the Dark God known as Darkseid, are two wildly overpowered and incredibly dangerous villains, and now it’s just been confirmed that Darkseid lacks one strength that Thanos has plenty of: willpower. And considering this flaw has been brought to fans’ attention by the willpower-wielding Green Lantern Hal Jordan, it’s safe to say that this is an accurate description of an evil character who usually doesn’t have many weaknesses.
Revealed during the epic climax of Justice League: Last Ride #5, by Chip Zdarsky and Miguel Mendonca, Darkseid has finally accomplished something that many thought impossible: destroying the Green Lantern Corps’ Central Power Battery. Acting as an integral cosmic object that all Lanterns must utilize to sustain and recharge their willpower imbued power rings with, Darkseid has been waging war on the Green Lantern homeworld of Oa for the last few issues, and is finally able to squeak out a decisive win by annihilating a power source that can’t easily be replaced.
Reaching the power battery as Hal does his best to simply survive, Darkseid ignores Green Lantern’s pleas to not “kill us all” by fiddling with a power that even Darkseid can’t contain. And as Hal Jordan struggles to break free of Darkseid’s minions in a last-ditch effort to stop the Dark God’s plans, he draws attention to a flaw of Darkseid’s that’s immediately proven to be true mere moments after it’s uttered. Asking, “Y-you can’t help yourself, c-can you?”, Hal calls Darkseid out by saying, “Y-you’re greedy for power. It b-blinds you…you lack…willpower!” Hal not only effectively disses Darkseid to his face, but also tells fans the one character trait Thanos holds over Darkseid more than anything else.
Going on to utterly annihilate the Central Power Battery in a glorious green inferno, being called out as having a fault that Thanos doesn’t is a moment that’s been a long time coming for a baddie that’s all about absolute power. And although Darkseid has the will to carry out his immoral plans, his willpower is lacking in a way that he can’t see past his greed and desire in becoming the ultimate force of evil in the DC Universe, regardless of the implications in doing so.
Often more reigned in when it comes to his meticulous plans and his own need for power, Thanos is a bit more calculated in his chosen villainous methods. Having enough willpower and drive to gather all Infinity Stones and create the overpowered weapon known as the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos also knows when to pull back his efforts, and concentrate his willpower on something other than the total destruction of all things. Meanwhile, Darkseid can never seem to pump the breaks when his mind is set on something, as he usually forcibly pushes through to the bitter end no matter the cost to himself or the thousands of innocent beings around him.
So while Thanos has shown restraint and determination in the past where his nefarious plans are concerned, Darkseid clearly can’t stop himself from making the wrong decisions every time based on his sole obsession with achieving absolute power. Darkseid’s actions in destroying the Green Lantern Corps’ power source have no doubt brought about a huge headache for the Justice League and the DC Universe alike, but fans will have to wait and see how it all plays out in the next chapter of this epic story.