WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Stand Episode 5, "Fear and Loathing in New Vegas," now streaming on CBS All Access.

Of all the fearsome villains and unknowable terrors that Stephen King has concocted, none are more enduring than Randall Flagg. Taking on many names as he appears across various stories written by King, Flagg is the ultimate personification of evil that serves as the primary antagonist for much of the author's work, including The Stand and The Dark Tower series. However, as Flagg plays a progressively prominent role in CBS All Access' television miniseries adaptation of The Stand, what is the story behind the much-hyped Dark Man?

Clad in denim and a pair of worn cowboy boots, Flagg appears as the main villain of The Stand, leading a decidedly sinister group of survivors in Las Vegas in a world ravaged by lethal contagion. Forming a literal cult of personality around him, Flagg displays supernatural powers in both King's novel and the television miniseries, levitating over his followers, conjuring solid objects, possessing a cosmic awareness of things happening around the world and telepathically communicating with others through their dreams. And while Dayna Jurgens from the rival survivor community of Boulder was able to stab Flagg in the neck, the villain shrugged off the wound as he reasserted himself as one of the most unstoppable beings on Earth.

RELATED: The Stand: Captain Trips Is STILL the Most Ridiculous Name for a Fictional Virus

The full extent of Flagg's powers is currently unknown, but he has been shown to have his limits. While Flagg is aware that Boulder has dispatched three spies to infiltrate his community after he delivered an ominous warning to them, he isn't aware that Tom Cullen is one of them. Similarly, as he interrogates Dayna for the third spy's identity, he is surprised when she resists his mental control and kills herself to preserve Tom's secret. Both of these developments visibly frustrate Flagg as does his inability to peer directly into Boulder as it falls under Mother Abagail's protection, not able to take full control of the situation as he had for most of the story so far.

King created Flagg while in college in 1969, writing a poem titled "The Dark Man" told from the villain's point-of-view as he confessed to committing rape and murder while riding the rails. King wanted to create a villain shrouded in darkness that detested humanity's more optimistic and positive nature, reveling in chaos and violence with an intensely charismatic flair. Making his full debut in 1978's The Stand, Flagg would return in 1986's Eyes of the Dragon while his presence was felt throughout King's Dark Tower as the man that helped steer protagonist Roland Deschain's life under different monikers. King would revisit Flagg on several occasions even after his apparent demise in the final Dark Tower novel, revealing the villain studied magic in the series' fantasy world to gain his supernatural powers and a degree of immortality.

RELATED: The Stand Showrunner Teases Stephen King's New Coda to the Story

Portrayed by Alexander Skarsgard in the CBS All Access adaptation of The Stand, the miniseries actually expands Flagg's role as the figure responsible for causing the apocalypse in the first place rather than just having him rise to power in the immediate aftermath. A bit more understated than other portrayals, including Jamey Sheridan's performance as the character in the 1994 television adaptation and Matthew McConaughey's portrayal in The Dark Tower, the character is no less nefarious as he menaces Boulder. And with Flagg only becoming more violent as he grows more frustrated, the villain is sure to take on an even more terrifying role as The Stand continues.

Starring James Marsden, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo, Owen Teague, Greg Kinnear, Amber Heard, Henry Zaga, Nat Wolff, Brad William Henke, Irene Bedard, Whoopi Goldberg and Alexander Skarsgård, The Stand is now streaming on CBS All Access, with subsequent episodes premiering each Thursday.

KEEP READING: Benjamin Cavell Talks Bringing The Stand to CBS All Access