Warning: contains spoilers for Infinite Frontier #6!
In DC Comics’ latest crossover event, the ur-villain Darkseid no longer desires that which he’s sought for centuries: the Anti-Life Equation. Infinite Frontier concludes with Infinite Frontier #6, written by Joshua Williamson with art by Xermánico and colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr., and the New God’s latest plan involves the restoration (or so it would seem) of the entire DC Multiverse. Darkseid has abandoned his dreams of acquiring the Anti-Life Equation in favor of finding something…darker.
In Infinite Frontier, the Multiverse has been restored and every superhero actually remembers the Multiverse – unlike the end of 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, in which only Psycho-Pirate remembered every change. Psycho-Pirate had kidnapped Barry Allen and brainwashed him into running on a cosmic treadmill to make the barriers between universes weak – weak enough for Darkseid to invade. But after Psycho-Pirate’s entire plan is stopped by President Superman and the Justice Society, Darkseid retreats (but not before brutally killing Machinehead, DC’s version of Iron Man).
At the end of the issue, Darkseid stands with his family (Granny Goodness and Steppenwolf among the others), revealing that the various Darkseids from across the Multiverse have merged into one – and Earth-Omega was never a single world. It was in fact a piece of “…a resting enemy. Dormant since the first Crisis. And now it wakes.” Darkseid isn’t the only one after this power, but he’s nevertheless determined to control “…The Great Darkness.”
![Darkseid’s Given Up Anti-Life For Something More Powerful](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/The-Great-Darkness-Darkseid.jpeg)
“The Great Darkness” refers to a Bronze Age DC Comics story arc from 1982 entitled The Great Darkness Saga, written by Paul Levitz with art by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt. Featuring practically every Legionnaire of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the story centers around the group fighting a being shrouded in darkness who was eventually revealed to be Darkseid himself, who became the ur-villain around this time in DC Comics history. This could also refer to the Primordial Darkness, which was left over from the time of creation (in which Darkness wasn’t replaced with Light, but rather continued to exist alongside Light). This is a new development for Darkseid; abandoning his quest for the Anti-Life Equation (a transcendental mathematical formula that allows one to control the free will of any sentient being) in favor of the Great Darkness means that the Darkness could, hypothetically speaking, do everything the Anti-Life Equation can do and more.
Some characters in comics are forever connected with their never-ending goals – for example, Thanos the Mad Titan’s quest for the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones. Darkseid without his constant search for the Anti-Life Equation is similar to Thanos without the Stones: the writers are allowing the character to stand alone and be defined by something other than a weapon. With Infinite Frontier concluded, readers must wait until Darkseid and the Great Darkness are explained further.