Darkness Manipulation refers to the capability of managing darkness or shadows. As darkness can be a vague notion, individuals who possess this ability can utilize it in various ways, such as forming, molding, or shifting areas of darkness. Additionally, they may also have the ability to absorb or cancel out light.
Individuals who possess the ability of Darkness Manipulation can shape and control darkness and shadows to their will. While the primary use of darkness is to cast everything into complete darkness, it can also be utilized for various other effects. These include manipulating the creatures that reside in the darkness, producing areas of total darkness and shields, generating constructs and weapons, and transporting oneself across vast distances via shadows.
Individuals who possess Darkness Manipulation abilities usually gain them by entering shadowy realms or alternate dimensions, or by making deals with malevolent or demonic entities, or by practicing Dark Magic.
Individuals who possess the ability of Darkness Travel can use the darkness to traverse long distances and produce shadowy constructs to either harm, imitate, or manipulate others. This is usually accomplished through gaining entry to a shadowy realm that only they and other formidable entities can enter. Additionally, these individuals may have the ability to nullify light or generate darkness shields to safeguard themselves from it.
Individuals who possess Darkness Manipulation abilities can utilize both the literal and figurative meanings of darkness. They may use darkness to exploit people’s fears, manipulate their minds, or control them by tapping into their “dark side” or the “darkness in their hearts.” Additionally, these users may have the capability to transform themselves entirely into shadows or absorb shadows to increase their power. They can also inflict harm on their targets by disfiguring, contorting, or even annihilating their shadows. However, individuals with a strong will may be more resistant to the effects of this type of user.
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Let’s further continue this post with the 13 Legendary Comic Characters Who Are The Masters Of Darkness Manipulation
1Dracula (Marvel Comics)
Marvel Comics has created a fictional character dubbed as Dracula, who is featured in their American comic books. The character is inspired by Bram Stoker’s vampire Count Dracula from his novel of the same name. While originally depicted in The Tomb of Dracula series, Dracula now mainly serves as a villain to superheroes in the Marvel Universe. The character also made an appearance in the movie Blade: Trinity (2004), where he was played by Dominic Purcell in his human form and Brian Steele in his monstrous form called “Beast”.
Dracula is a powerful vampire with superhuman strength, speed, and the ability to manipulate minds, shadows, darkness and command animals. He is immune to aging, conventional diseases, and most forms of injury, and can rapidly regenerate damaged tissue. Dracula can shapeshift, control the weather, and has been greatly amplified by magical sources. However, he has a dependence on fresh blood and an inability to endure direct sunlight. He is vulnerable to garlic, silver, wood, and religious symbols wielded by believers. He can be killed by beheading, a wooden stake or blade made of silver driven through his heart, or the Montesi Formula spell in the Darkhold.
2The Darkness
The Darkness, a superhero in American comics, was created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl in 1996 and was published by Top Cow Productions. The character first appeared in Witchblade #10 and is set in the Image Universe. The protagonist, Jackie Estacado, is a member of the New York Mafia who inherited the curse of the Darkness upon turning 21. Recently, Top Cow relaunched The Darkness comic with Matt Hawkins as the writer and Tom Grindberg as the artist. The new series features Jackie Estacado and Sara Pezzini in supporting roles.
Jackie possessed the ability to control the Darkness, a powerful force that encompasses both chaos and creation. The primary skill of a Darkness wielder is their capacity to enter an alternate realm through the shadows and manipulate the numerous demonic creatures that reside there. These creatures, known as Darklings, typically take the form of mischievous and deadly serpent-like or goblin-like beings that communicate with their master through telepathy. They possess incredible strength and endurance, along with sharp claws and teeth.
Darklings possess a range of physical abilities that can vary depending on the intentions or requirements of their host. They share the same characteristics mentioned earlier, but some Darklings have wings or can breathe fire. In addition, Darklings have demonstrated the ability to cling to sheer surfaces easily, teleport through shadows with their host, and even produce corrosive substances through their saliva or excrement. While they are bound to their host, Darklings do exhibit their own level of independence.
During combat, Darkness wielders can encase their entire bodies in a mystical suit of shadowy metal. This provides them with strength and durability beyond that of their creatures, as well as razor-sharp fingers and bladed tendrils that can transform into wings. With practice and time, the wielder can modify the appearance of their armor to change their own appearance into someone else’s for a period. Similar to the Witchblade, they can also instinctively create weapons and shields from their armor.
When hurt, wielders of the darkness have a powerful healing factor that causes the shadows around them to be absorbed into their bodies and regenerate cells at an accelerated rate, even to the point of growing back lost limbs and rebuilding completely destroyed body parts. The vessels are effectively rendered immune to disease and poisons as well as resistant to supernatural afflictions like the abilities of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Because the Darkness keeps them preserved over millennia, this also grants them a measure of pseudo-immortality. Only the wielder’s imagination can constrain the Darkness’s other applications.
3Darkseid (DC Comics)
Darkseid is a villain who appears in DC Comics, created by Jack Kirby to be the main antagonist in his “Fourth World” metaseries. He first appeared briefly in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 in December 1970 before being formally introduced in Forever People #1 in February 1971. Kirby based Darkseid’s appearance on actor Jack Palance and his personality on Adolf Hitler and Richard Nixon.
Darkseid is a New God and the cruel ruler of Apokolips. He is one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe and seeks to enslave the multiverse by eradicating hope and free will in sentient beings. He is the father of Kalibak, Orion, and Grayven, and is one of Superman’s primary foes and the chief adversary of the Justice League.
Darkseid has appeared in various media adaptations, including the 2021 DC Extended Universe film Zack Snyder’s Justice League, where he was portrayed by Ray Porter. Other actors, such as Michael Ironside, Andre Braugher, and Tony Todd, have provided the character’s voice in animations and video games.
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Darkseid is a very powerful being in the DC Universe and is considered to be a New God. He possesses a number of abilities, including immortality and immense strength and darkness manipulation, one of his most prominent skills is his ability to shoot Omega Beams from his eyes. These beams are fueled by a cosmic energy known as the “Omega Effect” and can be used in a variety of ways, such as functioning as a concussive force, disintegrating organisms or objects, erasing targets from existence, or even resurrecting fallen beings. In one instance during the Final Crisis, Darkseid utilized his Omega Beams to bestow upon Mary Marvel the ability to wield power based on Anti-Life instead of magic. He has precise control over this energy and He has the ability to steer the beams in straight paths, maneuver them around corners, and even make them pass through solid matter or other types of energy. While some powerful beings like Superman and Doomsday can resist the beams, they still cause significant pain. However, characters like Orion and Diana can deflect them, Firestorm can redirect them, and in a crossover story, Galactus was not affected by them. Darkseid occasionally uses his beams to punish those who have failed him but are too important to kill.
Darkseid has several abilities, including telepathy and telekinesis, and he can even create psionic avatars. In “The Great Darkness Saga,” he exhibited god-like powers such as swapping the locations of two planets in different solar systems, taking control of an entire planet’s population, absorbing all information from another being’s mind, cursing others, materializing the worst fears of other beings, and easily defeating powerful beings like Mon-El, Mordru, and the Time Trapper.
He has also shown godly senses by detecting the death of his son Orion and changes in the energy of the “Godwave.” Darkseid is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat and has been trained in the art of war on Apokolips, making him one of the most formidable beings in the DC Universe. He is also skilled in the use of weapons, though he rarely uses them since he has other abilities like the Omega Beams. Despite his immense physical powers, Darkseid usually avoids direct confrontation, preferring to use his superhuman intellect to manipulate or control others to accomplish his goals.
4Knull (Marvel Comics)
Knull is a fictional villain in Marvel Comics who often appears in conjunction with Venom and Carnage. It was later revealed that he was behind Gorr the God Butcher’s mission to kill deities and had clashed with the Silver Surfer through a temporal black hole. Knull is portrayed as an evil god who created the All-Black the Necrosword weapon and the Klyntar/Symbiotes and Exolons alien races. He has since become a more significant figure in the Marvel Universe and is considered one of Marvel’s most prominent and formidable male villains.
Knull is an immortal supervillain from Marvel Comics known for his superhuman strength, durability, and regenerative healing factor. He can manipulate eldritch darkness and create living creatures known as the “Living Abyss,” using it to forge various types of symbiotes including dragon-like ones. He can remotely control and influence the symbiotes he creates, and also has shapeshifting abilities that allow him to transform his human-like mouth into fanged jaws with an elongated tongue.
Knull is an expert combatant who uses his weapon All-Black to kill Celestials and other gods. He wears an armor made from symbiote-matter decorated with a red dragon and spiral emblem. Despite being severed from the symbiotes, his influence can still be observed through characters like Gorr, Old Galactus, Ego, and King Loki, who continued his crusade to annihilate all existence. Similarly, Malekith bonded with the Venom symbiote and called himself the Butcher of Thor, while the Nameless, a group of Kree explorers, had their appearance gradually resembling Knull after being infected by the Exolons.
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5Nightshade (DC Comics)
Nightshade is a DC Comics superhero who was created by David Kaler and Steve Ditko. The character made her first appearance in Captain Atom #82, which was published by Charlton Comics in September 1966.
Nightshade, initially part of Charlton Comics, became a government spy for Task Force X in DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. She participated in the infiltration of the “Jihad” mercenary death squad as Chimera, leading to her removal as a spy and becoming the handler for the Enchantress. Nightshade’s post-Crisis origin was revealed as the princess of the Land of Nightshades, where her brother was possessed by the demonic entity, Incubus. She absorbed the powers of the Succubus and helped the Suicide Squad defeat Incubus. After the Suicide Squad series, Nightshade worked for Sarge Steel and appeared in other comics, including Superman/Batman where she was briefly under the control of Gorilla Grodd.
Nightshade’s powers are inherited from her royal family, as she is the only surviving member. She has the ability to teleport herself and others, but passing through the Land of Nightshades can subject them to their worst nightmares. Nightshade can also transform herself into a semi-solid shadow form with intense concentration or manipulate darkness. Additionally, she can create shadowly homunculus.
6Obsidian (DC Comics)
Obsidian, a DC Comics superhero, is actually Todd Rice, the biological son of Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and villain Thorn (Rose Canton). Todd had a difficult upbringing in an abusive adoptive home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Later on, he discovers that he has a twin sister named Jennie-Lynn Hayden, also known as Jade, and they both possess superpowers. Inspired by their father, they decide to become superheroes and join the Infinity, Inc. team, which consists of other superhero children, grandchildren, and protégés of the Justice Society of America. Despite initially being unsure about their parentage, Todd and Jennie-Lynn eventually learn that Green Lantern is indeed their father.
Todd Rice, also known as Obsidian, possesses shadow-based powers that are different from his sister Jade’s. His powers come from his father, Green Lantern’s, exposure to shadow energy during a fight with Ian Karkull. Obsidian is linked to the Shadowlands, which is a dimension of ancient darkness that has a level of consciousness. He has the ability to merge with his shadow and the shadows of others, become stronger in his shadow form, pass through solid objects, and fly. He was once corrupted by the Shadowlands, but he learned to control his powers, and he can now grow to enormous size and create objects out of shadows like his father and sister create objects out of green energy. Additionally, Obsidian possesses limited telepathic abilities and can make someone see the evil side of their soul. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Obsidian discovered that he is resistant to low levels of antimatter in his shadow form, making him invulnerable to shadow demons. However, it is unclear how his connection to the Shadowlands will affect his aging process, as some individuals linked to the Shadowlands, like the Shade, have exhibited immortality, and the residual Shadowlands energy slowed the aging process of the original JSA members.
7Darkstar (Marvel Comics)
Darkstar, also known as Laynia Petrovna, is a fictional character in Marvel Comics who is portrayed as a superhero with mutant abilities. Throughout her career, she has been affiliated with several superhero teams, including X-Corporation and the Champions of Los Angeles.
Darkstar, a mutant in Marvel Comics, has the power to tap into the Darkforce dimension using her psionic abilities, granting her various superhuman powers. She is able to split her consciousness between her Darkforce representation and physical body, which are symbiotically linked. Using the Darkforce, she can manipulate it to act like matter or energy, and create objects like pincers, rings, columns, and spheres. She can also use it to project a beam of concussive force. Additionally, Darkstar has the ability to teleport herself and three others by creating a portal to the Darkforce dimension and entering it, but this is a risky endeavor as it disorients her sense of direction and causes temporary blindness upon reemergence. Darkstar can fly and levitate herself at subsonic speeds by generating a nearly invisible portal into the Darkforce dimension along her body’s contours without passing through it. She is a proficient fighter, having been trained by the KGB and Black Widow and can speak Russian and English fluently. While her original costume was designed by the Soviet government and insulated against the cold, her later costumes are composed of Darkforce material. The limits of her powers are not entirely known.
8Sebastian Faust (DC Comics)
Sebastian Faust is a powerful sorcerer and a key character in the DC Comics universe. He first appeared in “The Books of Magic” #1 in 1990, created by writer Neil Gaiman and artist John Bolton. Faust is the son of the infamous Doctor Faustus, and he possesses vast magical abilities that he has honed through years of study and practice. Although he is often portrayed as a morally ambiguous figure, he has been both a hero and a villain throughout his appearances in DC Comics. Despite his complex nature, Sebastian Faust is a fascinating and formidable character who continues to captivate readers with his magical prowess and intriguing backstory.
Initially, Sebastian Faust was a skilled practitioner of magic, particularly in the dark art of black magic. He was regarded as a significant threat to the superhero community and considered one of the most dangerous magicians on Earth. In later stories, he also showed expertise in soul magic, which allowed him to control souls and perform various abilities such as mimicry, manipulation, and seeing auras. Faust also had a diverse range of magical powers, including shadow traveling, illusion casting, telekinesis, teleportation, and more. His magical abilities were a result of a demonic bargain, despite his homo magi roots. Besides his magical skills, he was also an expert occult investigator and possessed vast knowledge of the supernatural. Faust was resistant to mystical corruption and erosion due to lacking a soul and having a strong will. He had magical talismans, including a belt and pouches, which were mystically voluminous and held more artifacts than their size suggested.
In DC Rebirth, Faust’s background and magical abilities were different. He was considered the top arcane operative in the United States and the most proficient magic user in A.R.G.U.S, having formerly led its arcane division. Unlike his earlier versions, he mainly specialized in “logomancy,” similar to Zatanna and Zatara, allowing him to invoke magical effects and abilities by speaking them backward. He could create magical constructs, discharge energy blasts, control minds, cast energy shields, and endow himself with superhuman durability. It was also suggested that he still retained his mastery over soul magic.
9Shade (National Comics)
The Shade, also known as Richard Swift, is a comic book character created in the 1940s by National Comics. He first appeared in Flash Comics in a story called “The Man Who Commanded the Night” written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Hal Sharp. Originally, the Shade was a villain who battled against several generations of superheroes, particularly the Golden Age and Silver Age versions of the Flash. However, he later became a mentor to Jack Knight, the son of the Golden Age Starman, whom he had previously fought against.
In the Silver Age comics, the Shade was depicted as a thief who used a cane to manipulate shadows. But in 1994, the character was reinvented as a morally ambiguous, immortal figure from the Victorian era who gained the ability to control shadows and immortality through an unexplained mystical event.
The Shade was ranked as the 89th-greatest villain of all time by IGN in 2009. He is also a major character in the TV series Stargirl, portrayed by Jonathan Cake, appearing from the season 1 finale onward.
Currently, Shade is considered one of the most proficient users of the Shadowlands’ power, a shape-shifting and sentient mass of darkness from another dimension. He can manipulate it in various ways, using it as an absence of light or a physical substance. He can summon and control demons, create shields and areas of complete darkness, generate all kinds of shadow constructs, transport himself and others through it, and even use it as a prison dimension. Bright blasts of light or energy can dispel the darkness, but his experience with it has allowed him to create time corridors.
The Shadowlands have also granted Shade agelessness and immortality. Dr. Fate once noted that the Shade’s powers were from the former realm of a divine entity on par with God, making it incredibly difficult even for the Spectre to deal with him. Despite being heavily resistant to damage, Shade can be vulnerable if he loses his shadow. This can occur if a survivor from the same event in 1838 drains him of it or if he is surrounded by a strong enough light that he is unable to cast a shadow. Although Prometheus briefly stunned him with a burst of light, Shade survived even after having his heart torn out by Black Lantern David Knight.
10Shroud (Marvel Comics)
The Shroud made his debut in Super-Villain Team-Up #5 in April 1976. He was created by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe, with Englehart admitting that the character was a combination of DC Comics’ Batman and The Shadow. Since he was a Marvel writer, Englehart thought that he would never get the opportunity to write Batman, so he decided to merge some of Batman’s characteristics with those of The Shadow to create his own tribute to these dark knight characters, while also avoiding potential legal issues.
The Shroud’s exposure to the Red Skull’s hypno-ray activated a previously dormant ability to control darkness. He has the mystical power to create an opening into the Darkforce Dimension and project the dark gas-like substance into our world for his own use. The darkness he creates is not simply the absence of light, but a negation of it, impenetrable to any source of illumination. It is unclear how much darkness he can summon at once, but he can quickly fill a small auditorium. The darkness he produces takes time to fill a space, and its edges are visible, appearing like thick black smoke. The Shroud can maintain this darkness for an unlimited amount of time, but losing concentration can cause him to lose control. If he becomes unconscious, the darkness is naturally drawn back into the portal from which it came.
The Shroud has the ability to manipulate the darkness to create various shapes that have no features and appear black and hazy-edged. The level of complexity he can create is limited only by his own imagination. As an example, he once formed two small discs that covered Captain America’s eyes, which made him unable to see anything or become hypnotized, yet were so tiny that they resembled the pupils of his eyes. Shroud often transforms the darkness into his own shadow to serve as a decoy. Unlike Darkstar’s Darkforce, the darkness has no mass, and Shroud cannot travel in and out of the dimension from which he draws his darkness, unlike Cloak. He later learned to add enough mass to his darkness to function as a low-level thruster, enabling him to fly at least at walking speed when combined with the properties of his cape.
11Trigon (DC Comics)
Trigon (/tran/) is a supervillain who appears in DC Comics-related media. He is one of the most formidable characters in the DC Universe and has ruled over numerous planets. He is the enemy of the Teen Titans and the Justice League, the father and fiercest foe of Raven, a superhero, and the husband of Arella, a human. Trigon, a demon of extraterrestrial and interdimensional origin who is sadistic, cruel, and dangerous, was created when a female follower of a mystic sect mated with the god that sect worshiped.
This couple’s offspring’s personification of Azarath’s inhabitants was created as a result of their child being infused with the expelled evil energies of the city’s residents. Trigon killed everyone in his vicinity when he was born, including his mother. At age one, he ruled a whole planet, and at age six, he obliterated a whole planet. He was in charge of countless worlds in his dimension by the time he was 30. There is some ambiguity surrounding Trigon’s origins because he asserts that he has existed as formless energy since the creation of his own universe, whereas the energies released by Azar and Azarath only allowed him to assume physical form about a thousand years prior to the present day in DC.
Trigon is fast enough to keep up with characters like Superman and Flash, strong enough to knock members of Superman’s Regime around, and virtually impervious to most forms of attack after surviving attacks from the Teen Titans and reality-warping imp Mister Mxyzptlk. With enough strength, he can even cross the boundaries of other universes.
He can fly, teleport himself and others to different places, and fly. His energy blasts and hellfire blasts are his go-to attack techniques. He is capable of one-shotting both the Teen Titans and the Justice League with his energy blasts, and Mister Mxyzptlk was burned by his hellfire blasts. He also enjoys shooting energy blasts at his adversaries from his eyes. Additionally, he is an expert user of telekinesis, with the capacity to use it at a level that allows him to alter the space-time continuum and manipulate the fundamental forces of the universe.
He is also capable of manipulating matter, transforming substances, and warping reality to the point where he has effortlessly transformed the Earth and all of its inhabitants into stone, brought the dead back to life as skeletons, and dispersed the atoms of his slave Psimon through light while keeping him conscious. In addition, Trigon has the power to shape-shift, summon and materialize dark energy, as well as alter his size to either become as tall as a building or as short as the average person. Trigon, a demon, has a habit of consuming souls, but he does so on a grand scale; he once consumed the souls of an entire universe.
The evil Heart of Darkness artifact, which Trigon ingested in the New 52, makes him ravenous for evil and enables him to become stronger by ingesting the evil of other beings or energies around him. He is also a master sorcerer, with the ability to cast potent illusions, mind control countless creatures, and even temporarily or permanently endow other beings with superpowers, as he did once when he endowed an ordinary man with incredibly strong psychic abilities.
When Trigon is injured, he can regenerate almost instantly thanks to a potent healing factor, though it is unknown how quickly he can do so. In addition, because of his upper eyes, he has complete access to the universe, which gives him extensive knowledge of events before they occur. He frequently predicts the next move of an adversary before that adversary even considers it. He is therefore essentially Omniscient.
12Donna Troy (DC Comics)
Donna Troy is a female superhero who appears in DC Comics’ American comic books. She is known as the original Wonder Girl and at one point, she briefly takes on the name Troia. She was created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani and made her debut in The Brave and the Bold #60 in July of 1965. Donna is often seen in stories that center around the Teen Titans, a group she joined early on and is now considered a founding member.
Donna and Diana have a strong psychic connection that allows them to share experiences and even dreams. In the limited series Return of Donna Troy, her powers were enhanced and upgraded after she was resurrected as the Goddess of the Moon. Her cosmic-based energy manipulation abilities became even more powerful, and she gained the ability to command darkness and cold. While she hasn’t used these powers since regaining her memories, Donna has grown increasingly powerful over time and is now considered one of the strongest superheroes in the DC Universe, along with other powerful characters like Power Girl, Supergirl, Big Barda, Mary Marvel, Isis, Wonder Girl, and Wonder Woman. She is also incredibly fast, able to dodge bullets and move at speeds beyond the sound barrier. Donna has shown the ability to catch up to speedsters like Jesse Quick and has a high level of resistance to injury, having survived attacks from powerful beings like Etrigan, Black Mary Marvel, Wonder Woman, Superwoman, Black Adam, and Superman.
Donna’s magical abilities include the power to control darkness, cold, and the essence of night. She has immense magical potential due to her heritage as the child of magic, Amazon witches, and possibly goddesses like Hekate, Selene, and Nyx who are associated with magic and night. In addition to her magical abilities, Donna wields a magical sword and occasionally a shield. She also carries the Lasso of Persuasion, which was given to her by the gods and glows blue. The lasso is fueled by willpower and can compel anyone bound by it to obey the wielder’s commands. Even after the person is released from the lasso, they remain under Donna’s control until they obey. The lasso can also teleport to New Chronus and is unbreakable. Donna also wears Amazon gauntlets that can deflect any offensive attack.
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13Raven (DC Comics)
Raven is a superheroine in DC Comics who made her first appearance in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980). Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, Raven is the daughter of a demon father (Trigon) and a human mother (Arella). As a cambion, Raven possesses powerful empathic abilities that allow her to sense emotions and control her “soul-self”, which can physically fight and act as her eyes and ears when separated from her physical body. In recent years, she has also demonstrated proficiency in various types of magic and sorcery. Raven is a prominent member of the Teen Titans superhero team and uses the alias Rachel Roth as a false civilian name.
Raven is a demon with immense magical and psychic powers, inherited from her father, the cosmic demon Trigon. Her empathic abilities allow her to sense and remove pain and disease from others, as well as read and control their emotions. Raven is highly skilled in the mystical arts and can perform various magical acts, including teleportation, time travel, and manipulation of shadows and darkness. She can also induce and amplify the seven deadly sins in others, but this causes her to suffer spells of nausea and vomiting. Raven’s “soul-self” is a solid black energy form that can travel long distances, become intangible, and communicate telepathically. She can convert her physical body into her soul-self to carry or teleport herself and others over a limited distance. Raven’s soul-self can also mentally subdue a person and absorb energy and matter. Although she is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, she rarely uses these abilities.