Warning: contains preview pages for Justice League Incarnate #5!

With one tragic scene, DC Comics has proved that even Darkseid - the despotic Lord of Apokolips - has a heart. In a preview for Justice League Incarnate #5, on sale March 1 in print and digital, readers watch Darkseid relive the death of his first wife. In a stunningly poignant scene, he struggles to make sense of it, and readers learn it still drives Darkseid eons later. The issue is written by Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver, drawn by Andrei Bressan and Jesus Merino, colored by Hi-Fi and lettered by Tom Napolitano.

The name Darkseid inspires fear and terror across the DC Universe and at the dawn of Infinite Frontier, the villain ascended to his ultimate form, first killing the Quintessence before embarking on a quest across the multiverse, seeking the Great Darkness, which lurks outside its boundaries. The Justice League Incarnate engaged Darkseid and he dealt the team their first defeat. Believing that Darkseid was seeking the Great Darkness for his own ends, the Justice League Incarnate tracked Darkseid to Earth-7, which was being attacked by the Empty Hand. There, the team learned that Darkseid was also trying to stop the Great Darkness. The Empty Hand, an immensely powerful being from outside the multiverse, has also been after the Great Darkness, and in an impressive display of power, nearly killed Darkseid. The Lord of Apokolips may be down but he is not out, and in a preview for Justice League Incarnate #5, he draws strength from a surprising source.

Related: Darkseid's Son Revealed the Real Reason He Can't Ever Be Defeated

The preview opens with Suli, Darkseid’s first wife as well as Kalibak’s mother, cradling her son. In the next panel, Suli lays dying in Darkseid’s arms. Darkseid cannot fathom why this happened, but his mother Heggra tells him it was done so he would not be weakened by love. She tells him that love leads to chaos, and the "gift" of Suli’s "mysterious death" will give him clarity. In the present, on Earth-7, Darkseid draws strength from the anger and confusion he felt and is able to turn the tide in his battle against the Empty Hand. Enjoy the preview, below:

Justice League Incarnate 5 cover
Justice League Incarnate 5 cover
Justice League Incarnate 5 preview page 1

In the DC Universe Darkseid has conquered countless worlds and enslaved untold numbers. For centuries he has sought to stamp out free will in the universe, bringing it all under his thumb. It becomes difficult to remember that he was once mortal, with fears and needs of his own - including companionship. Longtime Darkseid fans will know that Suli was the only woman Darkseid truly loved; she was killed as part of a conspiracy between Desad and Darkseid’s mother Heggra, in a plot to harden Darkseid’s heart. It worked too well; the rage that Darkseid felt is part of what drove him then and, in this preview, readers learn it still drives him today. Of course, as his son Orion points out, that doesn't make him a hero.

Justice League Incarnate 5 preview page 5

The notion that Darkseid could care for, let alone love, anyone seems out of step with what fans know of the Lord of Apokolips today, but he was once a more conflicted being, and DC reminds readers of this in a preview for Justice League Incarnate #5.

Next: Darkseid's True Opposite is the Last Version of Superman You'd Expect