DC Comics explore the dark side of power regularly. Many powers have significant downsides and the super-stardom of A-list heroes makes it notoriously hard for them to make real connections outside their costumes. Some superpowers are particularly dark and exact heavy physical or social tolls on their wielders.

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Darkness is so prevalent in the DC Universe that it occasionally manifests as a physical entity consisting of a massive hand moving to extinguish goodness and life in the universe. Some heroes and villains are more powerful agents of darkness than others, and the darkest among them have powers that hurt themselves and the world equally.

10 Experimental Powers

A psychedelic image of Damage in DC Comics

Physical powers granted by mad-science experiments usually lead to dark stories. Many of the most troubled souls in DC comics are the direct result of experiments that border on mutilation. Even hDC's heroic monsters like Man-Bat and Frankenstein usually tread dark waters in their solo stories, rubbing elbows with all manner of existential darkness.

Monsters spawned from experimental procedures are always deeply tragic in the end, and their stories explore dark aspects of society, independence, and control. Amygdala was experimented upon for medicine, Joe Angstrom and Ethan Avery unwittingly became similar brutes for the military, and Element Girl was resurrected by scientists, then cast out and left to suffer immortality alone.

9 Absorption

The Parasite feeding on Superman

Absorption-based superpowers have the potential for real darkness, especially when a metahuman can absorb energy or life force. Parasite does both, gaining proportionate strength and some of their thoughts in the process, but he’s vulnerable to whatever he absorbs.

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Ragman, on the other hand, doesn’t necessarily want to absorb the people he defeats, but his suit has a mind of its own. Flatline feeds on life energy, and the souls of Katana’s victims are notoriously stored in her blade. Draining someone’s essence is inherently dark, especially when it’s a character’s main superpower.

8 Everyman

Everyman reveals that he has eaten Skyman in 52 #39 DC Comics.

Everyman is inherently dark because of the nature of his shapeshifting ability. To take something’s form, he must eat a part of it. What makes him so dark in particular is his affinity for taking the shape of other humans, and for eating them to do so.

In his own words, he doesn’t need to eat a lot of something to turn into it. When Lex Luthor needed him to turn into Skyman, his incredibly boring Infinity Inc. teammate, he thoroughly enjoyed the dirty work of his ability.

7 Deadman

Deadman flies while wearing chains in DC Comics.

Boston Brand is a really nice guy, but he can’t stop entering people’s bodies without consent. He doesn’t want to, as it feels just as invasive to him as it does to his hosts, but his position in the metaphysical structure of the multiverse means he can’t have normal contact with people.

Boston’s curse isn’t his fault, and he doesn’t deserve it, which makes Deadman's creepy powers even darker. He’s a man constantly punished by existing unseen around the living. He usually makes the best out of being a ghost, which is good because it’s pretty much his only superpower.

6 Pariah

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths 6 by Daniel Sampere the Justice League vs Pariah

Kell Mossa witnessed the death of his world at the hands of the Anti-Monitor and, after, was cast out into the multiverse. His only metahuman ability is largely involuntary, causing him to travel between universes to herald impending doom. Inevitably, he watches billions die before moving on.

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He was mostly a witness to previous crises, but his relative invulnerability and powers of escape landed him squarely in the clutches of the Great Darkness in the abandoned Earth-0. Becoming an agent of darkness itself, this most recent Dark Crisis is more directly his fault than any other he’s been a part of.

5 Deathstorm

Deathstorm turns girlfriend into salt

Firestorm can transmute inorganic material, effectively wielding the power of the legendary philosopher’s stone. The only caveats to his power are his dual minds and his inability to affect organic matter. His antithesis, the zombified Ronnie Raymond, calls himself Deathstorm and has no problem affecting living tissue.

Where Firestorm is a torch guiding people to safety, Deathstorm is a raging inferno that burns everything in its path. Jason Rusch had to watch as Deathstorm’s body, piloted by zombie Ronnie Raymond, turned his girlfriend into salt. Afterward, the two had to work together to prevent their matrix from destroying the known universe.

4 Super Manipulation

DC Comics' Maxwell Lord holds up a champagne glass and cigar.

Mind control is relatively common in a world of telepaths, but some of DC’s metahumans combine their powers with manipulation to meet dark ends. Maxwell Lord and Cornelius Stirk both use telepathy to change how others perceive them, and neither has good intentions.

Lord was able to infiltrate and take charge of the Justice League International, giving him immense political power until his plot was exposed. Stirk, on the other hand, was a cannibal serial killer with the power to change how others saw his face. He usually took the form of a victim’s friend to capture and eat them.

3 Mister Bones

DC's Mister Bones from Blue Beetle.

The Dim-Mak, or “death touch,” changes forms throughout DC Comics to fit the select few who can use it. While Lord Death Man takes a traditional martial arts approach and others use magic, Mister Bones’ killing touch is a tragic byproduct of mutant biology.

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Rather than any mystical or technical ability, Mister Bones’ most lethal attribute is his own invisible skin. Where ordinary humans exude sweat and oils, Mister Bones produces deadly cyanide. As such he can never have physical contact with anyone, even if they aren’t frightened by his appearance as a literal walking skeleton.

2 The Rot

Swamp Thing and Anton Arcane in DC Comics

It’s hard to say what Anton Arcane’s darkest superpower is. It is true that he appointed himself avatar of the Rot and can command dead tissue at will. This gives him sway over any elements of life and makes him a constant and recurring threat to the entire world.

Ignoring the fact that he convinced Hitler to strive for world domination, Arcane’s other dark ability is his creation of the Un-Men. While they initially appeared mindless, the dark horror of the Un-Men deepens when readers later learn they’re sentient and always have been. Not only is Arcane essentially immortal via controlling his own corpse, but he also creates sentient slaves.

1 Dream's Ruby

the sandman comics john dee dreamstone ruby

Lord Morpheus’s dream ruby can shape the waking world with the power of its wielder’s dreams. Doctor Destiny used it to trick the Justice League until he proved too troublesome. The League took the ruby from him and rendered him unable to dream. Everyone escapes Arkham eventually, but John Dee was especially vengeful.

When Dream finally caught up with Dee in a small town diner, strange and violent incidents spiked around the world and the scene in the diner was truly grotesque. Dee’s ideals of sadism and selfishness coupled with the Ruby’s power made him one of the darkest and strongest villains on the planet.

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