Damien Darhk (Arrowverse)


 * "Humanity is feckless and I wanted to cleanse it of a millennia worth of rot it has been infected by, and I WILL DO IT!"

- Damien Darhk


 * "I get it, you think that I failed you because I joined with the Legends and trapped you here. Well you're right, I did fail you. But that's not how. I was a terrible father. I was obsessed with world domination. Because of that, I died. Leaving you all alone as a child. Trapped with my name and my foolish dream. Oh I turned you into a demon long before Mallus did. That's why I'm begging you, do not let him take you away from me."

- Damien Darhk to his daughter Nora

Damien Darhk was the main antagonist of Season 4 of the TV show Arrow, a secondary antagonist of Season 2 of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and a recurring anatagonist in Season 3 of Legends of Tomorrow. He was a former member of the League of Assassins and the former Heir to the Demon. After stealing waters from the Lazarus Pit, Darhk managed to live far more than a regular human can, and he formed his own version of the league known as H.I.V.E. In 2011, he gained access to the Khushu Idol, gaining magical powers beyond imagination. He attempted to reset the world by killing everyone with nuclear fire except those in his ark. Thanks to the Green Arrow's intervention, Darhk's plan failed, and he was ultimately killed by the former.

A version of Damien from 1987 discovered his ultimate demise, and was removed from the timeline to join the Legion of Doom and find the Spear of Destiny, a mystical object that has the power to rewrite reality. The Legion of Doom succeeded, and they formed the alternate reality known as Doomworld. However, the time-travelling team known as the Legends managed to travel before the Legion rewrote reality and prevented them from doing so, returning Damien to his own time and erasing his memory so that the original timeline would be restored.

Due to appearances of anachronisms, Darhk's corpse showed up in 1895 London, and his daughter Nora was ultimately able to resurrect him with the power of the time demon Mallus. Now serving Mallus, Darhk went about creating anachronisms to free Mallus from his cage. His plan was successful, but at the cost of his daughter's life. He later traveled back to before Nora's death to take her place, sacrificing his life in the process.

Darhk is portrayed by actor Neal McDonough.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) Darhk was portrayed fantastically by Neal McDonough.
 * 2) He saw how feckless humanity was, and tried to reset it just like God in the story of Noah's ark.
 * 3) He was a sarcastic villain that didn't feel over-the-top.
 * 4) His fight against the Time Bureau was truly awesome and savage.
 * 5) He had such a sick (yet great) sense of humor.
 * 6) Although not necessarily being a truly redeemed villain, he cared for his daughter Nora and was willing to sacrifice his life for her.
 * 7) He once even used a dad joke on Nora, but in a way that didn't feel too corny or cringy.
 * 8) Despite his sense of humor, Damien was a fearsome villain that any sane person would not mess with.
 * 9) Especially in Season 3 of Legends of Tomorrow, he was the center of much of the humor while remaining a threatening and antagonistic villain.
 * 10) He had a sense of honor despite his villainy. He spared the Green Arrow for a few weeks after learning that his team had saved his family from Lonnie Machin/Anarky.