However, Damien's methods were far more extreme which killed thousands of people. Using the Lazarus Pit, Damien continued his schemes for over a century, plotting to end the world in a nuclear fire to give it a fresh start. Damien spent years gathering the resources and followers to build a shelter to survive such an apocalypse. Around 2011, he obtained the Khushu Idol which gave him numerous powers and abilities and made him virtually unstoppable. In 2016, Damien brought H.I.V.E. to Star City to build his ark, destabilizing the city and minimizing outside interference.
Publication Information
- Arrow : Damien Darhk
- Version : The Arrow Series
- Multiverse : Earth One
- Known As :
- Black Knight
- Kenneth Bender
- Odin
- Type :
- Relative :
- Ruvé Adams : Wife
- Nora Darhk : Daughter
- Origin : Starling City, United State
- Season : Arrow
- First Appeareance : Arrow Season 3 Episod 21 : Al Sah-him (Mentioned)
- Last Appeareance :
- Number of Appeareance :
- Potrayer : Neal McDonough
- Main View : Full Episod
Leaving the League
At one point, Damien and an unnamed man were horsemen of Ra's al Ghul. The former thought himself worthy of taking the mantle, though the latter was the chosen one. Damien was to be killed but managed to escape, taking with him waters of the Lazarus Pit and some loyal followers. Damien founded his own organization called H.I.V.E. to continue the league's ways the way he saw fit.
Nazi Germany and Eobard Thawne
In 1942, Darhk was visited by Eobard Thawne who asked for his assistance in cooperating with the Nazis in order to obtain an artifact in his possession. He had him work with the Germans to kidnap Albert Einstein and create an atomic bomb to destroy New York. Darhk had gone to New York and met with the Nazis to inform them that he had acquired the Uranium needed for the weapon, but they still needed the proper expertise to weaponize it.
Original timeline
Darhk successfully killed Dr. Vogal, thus putting an end to the cold fusion and saving the oil industry.
Current timeline
Darhk tried to kill Vogal, but Ray Palmer and Nora Darhk rescued him and escaped. The following day, Darhk tried to kill Vogal again but failed as Vogal was rescued by Damien's future version. Later, Damien kidnapped Nora and offered a trade: Nora for Dr. Vogal. His future version agreed, but Darhk tricked him and threw Nora out of the roof, but not before he shot Vogal. Future Darhk used his magic to catch Nora, and Damien tried to use the situation for his adventage.
Sale of Vandal Savage's nuclear warhead
In October 1975, Damien planned on buying a nuclear warhead from the possession of Vandal Savage, accompanied by two of his Ghosts. He put in an initial bid of $100 million, but was outbid by Martin Stein. When Damien met him he suspected Martin wasn't as he appeared as he wasn't familiar with him or his organization, as he was aware of everyone. Stein's associate Mick Rory started to get angry with him as Damien did to him, forcing Savage to intervene. As a fight ensued, he left the premises of the Norwegian military storage facility.
Changing his destiny
In 1987, Damien was in the middle of a black market deal that the CIA had stumbled upon. Before he could handle the situation, Eobard Thawne arrived and killed everyone leaving only the two of them. Thawne told Darhk that he was looking for a partner but Damien told him that he preferred to work alone. Thawne told him that he knew what he was planning with his Ark and offered to give Damien actual power instead of symbols of power. Damien then went to the Nuclear Treaty being done in Washington D.C. and joined Ronald Reagan's administration as an advisor.
The Legion of Doom
Both Damien and Eobard went to the year 2016, just after his death where they met up with Malcolm Merlyn. Damien wasn't too impressed with Malcolm as he was binge drinking and living in squalor though Eobard told him that the man used to be Ra's Al Ghul but had fallen on hard times. Merlyn was surprised to see Damien as he had just watched his final moments on television just seconds before their arrival which Damien told him that he was driven to change. The two of them then offered Merlyn his own chance to change his destiny along with their own and the man agreed.
The Spear of Destiny
Damien was sent along with Merlyn to find the Calebros Manuscript and he had returned to the Vanishing Point to find that the Legends had infiltrated their headquarters and stole the spear fragments from under Eobard's nose. He blamed Eobard for their current problem but the speedster pointed out that it might actually be a positive development as now they didn't have to go after the spear piece by piece. Darhk was skeptical that they would be able to get the spear now as they were and told Thawne that they had to change their game.
New reality
When the Legion used the spear, Damien altered reality so as he was now the mayor of Star City and he also made it so that he retained his magical abilities. He also had it so Sara Lance and Amaya Jiwe were now his personal hitmen and were loyal to him though Malcolm thought his decision as well as Thawne's to have Stein and Jackson as loyal employees was foolish. Darhk had his two assailants go out and bring in a vigilante that was causing him problems who turned out to be this new reality's Felicity Smoak. He had her killed and then took her mask to add it to his collection of other masks from the various heroes and vigilantes that had stood against him and were now dead.
Return to the timeline
The Legends realized that to stop the Legion from rewriting reality, they had to risk going back in time to 1916, just before they had acquired the spear from their past selves. Damien had just been joined by Snart after he visited Mick Rory and learned of the Legends' plan for obtaining the blood of Christ when they were suddenly visited by Eobard and Malcolm. Damien was confused as he thought that Malcolm was hunting for the Calebros and Eobard revealed that he was from their future. He told them of the other set of Legends and told him, Malcolm and Snart to deal with them while the speedster went off to get backup.
Marriage to Ruvé
At some point, he met and married Ruvé Adams, who gave birth to their only child, Nora, on December 2, 2003.
H.I.V.E. operations
Around 2011, he obtained the Khushu Idol which gave him numerous powers and abilities and made him virtually unstoppable. In early 2014 H.I.V.E. attempted to gain possession of Malcolm Merlyn's prototype earthquake generator, sending Milo Armitage to obtain it using Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger to acquire the device itself. Then gave Gholem Qadir safe haven in Markovia to purchase it from Armitage, presumably for Qadir to take the fall in case the plan was compromised. However the organization's plans failed when The Arrow and Roy Harper destroyed the device.
Attacks on Star City
Later in 2015 Damien returned to Starling City, renamed "Star City" now, with a mission to see the city destroyed and sent his operatives to rob banks and jewelry stores to build up enough wealth for the operation. After accomplishing that Damien had his men steal weapons and munitions mainly from Kord Industries and began a killing spree that saw many civilians killed. Damien also managed to force the co-operation of police Captain Quentin Lance, using his daughter Laurel as leverage should he disagree, to aid him wherever he needed.
Attacking Oliver Queen
Damien would later send a drone to attack the Star City bay which was in the process of being cleaned by volunteers. However, due to his actions, Oliver Queen revealed his identity to the public as well as his connection to H.I.V.E. Much to his visitors from the organization's annoyance. In an act of revenge Damien attacked Oliver's Holiday Party, and took John Diggle, Felicity Smoak, and Thea Queen. Later, as he is speaking with the visiting H.I.V.E. agents he got a call from Oliver on his phone.
Trial and Imprisonment
During his trial, Darhk listens on as Fitzmartin, Darhk's attorney, destroys the credibility of Diggle and Thea's testimonies by proclaiming Diggle helped her purchase $74,000 worth of cocaine with an affidavit signed by Thea's dealer. However, Fitzmartin loses the case when Quentin comes forward as a witness due to his credibility as a police chief and exposes that he had been helping Darhk commit illegal activity due to Laurel's life being threatened. Darhk is then imprisoned without bail or the possibility of release but after he is escorted into his cell, he casually pulled a ring from between his teeth and slid it into his finger before smiling, implying his plans were still in effect
Original timeline
According to Rip Hunter in the original timeline where Sara never left Star City to join his team and take on Vandal Savage in the future, Damien would have killed both her and Laurel as well as their father.
Executing Genesis
Placing a tracker on Diggle after he is kidnapped by Andy, Darhk is able to locate Lyla. Easily penetrating the secured truck with his magic, Darhk extracts the Rubicon from Lyla, a device capable of controlling any nuclear missile. Having killed tens of thousands of people with a nuclear missile guided by the reprogrammed Rubicon, Darhk absorbed the dark energy channeled after their deaths, growing stronger than ever.
Death
After H.I.V.E.'s rampage through Star City while attempting to execute Operation Genesis, Damien was finally killed by Green Arrow, who was able to negate Damien's dark magic with Light Magic by drawing on the positive faith of the people of Star City and their belief in him, both as Oliver Queen and Green Arrow. Oliver then stabbed an arrow right into Damien's chest and looked down at him as he slowly died. His death was captured on someone's cell phone where it was televised for the world to see.
Resurrection
Darhk's corpse became time displaced as an anachronism and landed in 1895 London. There, it was taken by a cult in London that was led by one of Martin Stein's ancestors. The cult stole his body from where it had been buried and then set to work trying to preserve it for the upcoming blood moon. They procured fresh blood from people in order to begin the resurrection of Darhk but the deaths were labeled as vampire attacks. Nora Darhk arrived per the wishes of Mallus to prepare for the arrival of Rip Hunter and the Legends who were tracking their activities. When the blood moon had arrived, its and Mallus' power flowed into Darhk and brought him back to life.
Abilities
- Dark magic : Damien's powers came from the Khushu Idol, a mystical totem he acquired in 2011 that channels and harnesses primordial energies; specifically energies that come from death, destruction, and fear. The more Damien kills the more powerful he is at that moment, but gradually the power that he gains from that death will fade soon afterwards thus he must continue to kill in order to continue to use his magic. Damien's skill with Dark Magic is shown to be considerably advanced, as he is shown to be well known for his power among the world of occult and he is so skilled in Dark Magic that even John Constantine, a master sorcerer, did not dare face him. After causing the deaths of tens of thousands of people through the nuclear bombing of Havenrock, Damien's powers grew exponentially to a level even he wasn't aware of causing him to exercise more focus and control on using his powers. After being resurrected, Damien showed an ability to use his magic powers even without the aid of the idol.
- Accelerated healing : Damien gains advanced regenerative abilities. He was shown to be able to heal after being shot at by bullets and arrows. His healing abilities also seem to prevent him from suffering from fatigue and has been able to quickly recover from the effects of sedatives.
- Enhanced endurance : Damien gains inhuman levels of resilience, to the point where he could be shot repeatedly and be completely unfazed by it.
- Enhanced strength : Damien's physical strength becomes far greater than a normal human. Damien was strong enough to effortlessly lift a fully grown human over his head with a single hand, send a Time Agent flying with a kick, snap Oliver Queen's steel arrows with a single hand, and throw Oliver with enough force to deform a metal pole.
- Life-Force absorption : Damien can siphon the life-force from people and kill them through physical contact. According to Damien the process is quite painful, in addition it allowed Damien to take the darkness of the person he absorbs to add to his powers at the moment. After causing the destruction of Havenrock, Damien's power was strong enough to absorb the life-force of Oliver Queen, despite his use of Light Magic.
- Telekinesis : Damien can move and otherwise exert force objects and people with his mind. This notably allowed him to could stop and launch multiple projectiles or to crush objects, such as a TV or an armored truck, without physically touching them. He could also use his abilities to physically attack people from a distance, even if they are in different country, seen only through a video screen. He notably was able used this ability to immobilize, choke, strangle, levitate, and send people flying across rooms through mental effort and gestures alone. After causing the destruction of Havenrock, Damien could use this power to disintegrate objects with his mind such as steel arrows and lead bullets. Damien also demonstrated the ability to contain and miniaturized an explosion with this power.
- Teleportation : Damien can instantly relocate himself to another location, allowing him to catch his enemies off-guard or leave an area without a trace. The range of this power is unknown, but he could teleport himself with at least one other person.
- Electrokinesis : Damien can control and generate electricitiy.
- Longevity : After leaving the League of Assassins, Damien stole waters from the Lazarus Pit allowing him to live far longer than normal human without aging while maintaining his health, vitality, and appearance. With the waters, Damien has lived for at least as long as his former friend, Ra's al Ghul, making him well-over a century old. Given how Damien did not have access to all of the waters of the Lazarus Pit and that they gradually lose their potency over time, it is possible that Damien's life-force absorbing abilities granted to him by his idol also allow him to maintain his youth.
- Temporal awareness : After being resurrected, Damien showed that the mind-wipe that Sara Lance has performed on him wore off, allowing him to remember his time travel adventures as a member of the Legion of Doom.
- High tolerance for pain : Even without his magical powers, Damien has demonstrated a high threshold for pain due to his training with the League of Assassins; he was able to pull out arrows from his chest and still continue to remain physically active with little effort.
- League of Assassins training : As a former member of the league, Damien was trained in all of their ways with his skills far surpassing most members due to his former status as an "Heir to the Demon" and thus having received the highest level of training a League of Assassin member could have.
- Master hand-to-hand combatant / Martial artist : Due to his training as a former "Heir to the Demon" and having centuries of combat experience and training, Damien is a highly exceptional hand-to-hand combatant with his prowess being great enough that he is one of the few who is the equal of Ra's al Ghul himself in combat. Damien's skill has allowed him to go toe-to-toe with and even defeat the likes of Malcolm Merlyn, Oliver Queen, and Sara Lance. However, once Damien became a sorcerer, he developed an over-reliance on his supernatural powers granted by the Khushu Idol, causing his prowess as a combatant to noticeably decline; this was perhaps best highlighted in his younger 1987 version, who proved more physical and combat-finesse than he will be in the early 21st century, as his younger-self has yet to acquire the idol and it's mystical benefits at the time, enough so as to having pummeled Sara in a brawl within seconds and even dominate Sara using her signature weapon as well as having came close to defeating Malcolm in their duel. It appears that while magic gave him full access to his original level of skill, losing it can briefly deprive him of his combat skill, as while he proved to be able to match and even defeat Oliver after he received League's training as well as overpower Malcolm, once deprived he was swiftly beaten. In spite of that, Damien appears to have retrained himself after getting out of prison as he proved to be, despite having his magic negated by Oliver's light magic, able to match and briefly dominate him before being beaten. He is one of the most dangerous fighters of the multiverse
- Master swordsman : As a former member of the League of Assassins, especially as a former "Heir to the Demon", Damien is extremely skilled in swordsmanship. He was able to easily match Malcolm Merlyn in their duel and even briefly push him back. He also has twice been able to fight equally against Sara Lance after she was retrained by the League in a sword fight before being beaten.
- Master archer : Although not his favorite style, Damien is well trained and capable in archery due to his training as a former "Heir to the Demon", able to shoot Oliver in the shoulder at point blank range
- Master marksman / Firearms : While not his preferred method, Damien is well trained and very capable in the use of firearms. He easily took out several guards in a firefight using a laser gun.
- Master knife wielder / Knife-thrower : As shown from his method of stress-managing, Damien is very accurate with knife-throwing. He is also capable of skillfully using knives in single combat, evidenced when he fought Malcolm.
- Master interrogator / Torturer : Damien is a highly skilled torturer due to his training with the League and due to his psychopathy and genuine pleasure in inflicting pain, he is more skilled in this area than most. His skills proved valuable in extracting vital information from an amnesiac Rip Hunter which lead to the restoration of his memories and conversion to the Legion of Doom. As a sorcerer, Damien had built up as fearsome reputation so much that a noted sorcerer like John Constantine feared facing him.
- Genius-level intellect / Master tactician / Leader : As the founder and leader of H.I.V.E., Damien kept his organization a secret from the world at large while simultaneously avoiding capture from his former friend, Ra's al Ghul and the league for over a century. Damien is very perceptive able to tell that Speedy was trained by Malcolm, Sara's fighting style was the League of Assassins, and he was able to deduce the identities of Team Arrow. Due to his extended lifespan, Damien was able to gain the wisdom of the ages and has demonstrated an extensive knowledge of various subjects such as criminal enterprises, politics and science.
- Weapons mastery : Due to his training with the league and his extended lifespan, Damien has proven to be highly accomplished in using many weapons.
- Multilingual : Damien is capable of fluently speaking English, German, Russian and presumably Arabic due to his former status as an "Heir to the Demon".
- Network : As the leader of H.I.V.E., Damien had access to an entire enterprise of soldiers, political figures, scientists, and businesspersons. Despite being on the run from the league for over century, he still kept tabs on them and retained some connections on the League as he was aware of his former friend's demise, Nyssa's usurping of power from Malcolm and even the league's disbandment after only a day. During his prison break, Damien collected a large group of followers from his break out including Michael Amar and Danny Brickwell.
- Occult knowledge : As a sorcerer, Damien possesses vast knowledge of mysticism including details on his idol, the Lazarus Pit and the Anansi Totem. Using a blood ritual, Damien was able to maintain his sanity while using the Idol's powers. Damien was also collector of rare occult and historical artifacts even before attaining his powers.
- Peak of human physical condition : Even without his physical strength, durability and healing augmented by his idol, Damien is still in top physical form due to centuries of training and experience as well as being kept in peak physical condition by the Lazarus Pit's waters. During his fight with Sara Lance, Damien was able to repeatedly block Sara's bo-staff strikes with his forearms
- Light Magic : Due to the fact that Damien's magic comes from the absorption and manipulation of dark energy, if one can focus their natural life energy into positive sources of strength (i.e. hope and joy), Damien's magic will ultimately prove ineffective against the target and even physically repel him from trying to absorb the said person's life-force. It was this weakness that allowed Oliver to finally defeat him.
- Khushu Idol : The very source of Damien's dark power was also his key weakness. If the idol is destroyed, Damien will lose his powers, becoming a normal human again. If the idol can be reassembled and the sacrifice ritual is performed, it will restore Damien's powers. Damien will also lose his powers if he does not regularly absorb negative energy from others. As the idol normally corrupts all near it, to keep his sanity, Damien regularly performed a blood ritual before it.[5] As revealed by Mari McCabe, Damien must remain in close-range to the idol to remain empowered. The idol still has a great range, as Damien still had his powers from several city blocks away. Also, the idol must be near one of the Earth's so-called magical "lee-ways", which are essentially specific locales where concentrations of raw magic could be tapped into, with the idol itself as a mystical conduit for Damien to access that power. If it the idol were to be destroyed, he will lose his magic completely. After his resurrection, he apparently regained his powers without the need of the idol.
- Thea Queen : For reasons unknown, but because the Lazarus Pit's effects in making one emotionally and morally unstable, Thea was immune to Damien's life-siphoning power. When he used this power on her, he instead found his own life force depleting, severely weakening him. However, since Thea has been cured of the Lazarus Pit's effects, notably the insanity, she is likely no longer immune to Damien's ability to drain the life force of others.
- Lazarus Pit water : Damien used the Lazarus Pit's waters to live well beyond the natural length of his lifetime and run H.I.V.E.
- Time stone : Damien uses a mystical stone that he obtained from either Nora or Kuasa, allowing him the power of teleportation and time travel.
- Khushu Idol : The Khushu Idol is a mystical totem and the source of most of Damien's powers. However, after being resurrected, Damien has been shown to be able to use his powers without the idol. Laser pistol: Damien has a laser gun he uses and supposedly he got it from Eobard Thawne. It's unknown what became of the pistol following the disbandment of the Legion of Doom.
- Saber : Damien wielded a saber during the time he became a member of the Legion of Doom, until he was restored to his normal timeline.
