In conclusion, the fantastic team of David Wohl, Marc Silvestri, and Garth Ennis produced The Darkness, one of the best Gothic urban fantasy comics ever published. The Darkness, which was first presented by Top Cow Productions in 1996, is depicted more as a cosmic force that predates recorded history.
In fact, the entire concept of the Darkness using human vessels, inherited through the sons of its chosen bloodline over an approximate ten-thousand-year period, then the father passing the curse to his child, and finally the power awakening on the son’s 21st birthday – all of this makes the entire storyline so intriguing.
Today, however, we have a really intriguing film for you in which we will go further into the Darkness’s history and examine every aspect in great detail. Have you prepared?
What Is The Darkness?
“The Earth was formless and void, and Darkness was over the surface of the deep. Then God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light, and God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the Darkness. And the Darkness? The Darkness resented it, and so bitterness and spite were born before time itself.”
When the mysterious race known as the Ancient Ones were finally confined to their own universe 10,000 years ago, a trace of their energy remained. Darkness and its opponent Angelus were created from this energy, and ever since then, the two have been at war with one another. These prehistoric individuals were equal in rank and authority, and were therefore incapable of annihilating one another.
Well, in a way they could end each other but that would lead them to cause some major damage to the universe and perhaps the end of the world too. Therefore, to avoid such devastation from taking place, a truce was formulated. The duo consummated, yes you heard that right, in the interests of mutual survival and conceived the Witchblade, as a means to create harmony and a sense of balance in between them.
But in spite of the Witchblade’s birth, the Darkness absolutely loathed God. The constant distressing anger of the Darkness could not be made known till a certain vessel for his limitless hate was finally found. No points for guessing that it was God’s most favorite creation – mankind, to be more precise.
What followed next was Darkness finding his way into the genes of a distinctly fertile bloodline and making use of them as a channel to exhibit his wrath on Earth. Every generation was bestowed with virtually infinite continental powers and the sole goal of spilling unthinkable chaos, evil, disorder and darkness over the world of light. The chosen hosts have typically been of a violent predisposition, from the ranks of murderers, dictators, abusers, thieves, rapists and warlords.
This ancient entity here is an amorphous form of force often defined more as a power than a being. It would be fair to address this as an unfocussed mind, one that requires a host to manifest its personality. The fact that the Darkness has had a very lengthy list of human vessels shouldn’t come as a surprise to you at all. Speaking of hosts, Christian Estacado happens to be the first known host in the Estacado bloodline.
He’s said to be a dark prince of the House of Estacado who ruled viciously over a darkened world. Christian Estacado was misled into mating with an Angelus host and their child ended up inheriting the role of the Darkness on his 21st birthday. Jackie Estacado is the present wielder of the Darkness, and has used his powers in ways that one can hardly imagine and in fact, no other vessel ever has, easily making him the utmost and most powerful vessel of the Darkness till date.
What Are The Powers That Make Darkness So Terrifying
Darklings
This elemental force of chaos and creation not only showers the host with an unlimited amount of demonic power but also gives them the access to an unearthly realm along with dominance over the veritable horde of Darklings dwelling there. Now, one might wonder what are these Darklings? Formed from the necroplasmic materials and animated by the spirit of the Darkness, the Darklings are aberrant, mischievous, foul-mouthed foot-soldiers of the Darkness host always at his service, complying with every whim of his, tending to all his desires and safeguarding him from every form of danger.
Darkness Armor
Missing out on describing this essential thing here would be nothing short of a cardinal sin. The Darkness is capable of creating invulnerable mystical armour, one that boosts the stamina, speed and strength of the host eventually converting him into a powerhouse. Look wise, the armour is more like a reflection of the character of the host.
Stressing more on the abilities of the armour, it is resistant to what can easily be regarded as the most destructive of weapons. Agreed that a tank cracker is capable of draining the host for the time being but it is just not capable of killing him. The armour besides boasting of superhuman strength, speed and stamina also brags about the ability to shape-shift, one where the host can literally transform the look of the armour to effortlessly imitate the appearance as well as the voice of another.
Well, on a superior level, they can also change into dragon-like creatures having on display bat-like or feathered wings, razor sharp talons as well as blades and spikes mostly to eliminate their enemies. Other abilities include superhuman senses, agility, respiration protection, reactive adaptation, shadow manipulation as well as respiration protection.
Mystical Powers
There’s teleportation which means that the host can literally travel anywhere in the shadows, they are immortal, their senses are augmented, they are capable of reviving the dead, they can absorb souls, they can overpower a witch’s immortality by filling her mind with overwhelming memories and emotions. Lastly, as a personification of Darkness, he just happens to be everywhere.
Jackie Estacado The Current Wielder Of The Darkness
Meet the magnetic and iron-willed former hitman for the Franchetti Mafia, Jackie Estacado, one who is often regarded as the most powerful and enduring host of the Darkness. Born somewhere in New York City in the year 1981, Jackie’s mother had died while giving birth to him and his sibling, Capris.
He was sent to Saint Garards orphanage around the same time as Jenny Romano, one with whom Jackie developed quite a close bond. He was extremely protective of her and did not let anyone for that matter, not even the officials at the orphanage to lay a single finger on her, so much so that he would actually become violent if anyone even dared to abuse Jenny in any manner and would lead them straight to the hospital for their actions.
Jackie became a part of the Mafia life at the tender age of 6. He was picked up straight from the orphanage by Frankie Franchetti after the latter was encouraged by some mysterious stranger called Sonatine to have Jackie around him as that would bring him incredible power.
It goes without saying how exposed he was to such a violent, raw, negative life. In fact, this might come as a shock to many but the first time Jackie had sex, it was with a female cop while he was being interrogated by her and all of this only at the age of 14. Okay just in case we miss this out, he claimed his first hit when he was 16 and if it makes you feel any better, Jackie was also to an extent taught about having good morals and value things like loyalty.
So, he grew up on his own, pretty matured to be honest and at the same time also relished the life of sex and violence side by side. No wonder, Franchetti ended up becoming the most powerful don in the city as Sonatine had predicted and all thanks to Jackie Estacado and his actions within the mob. But unbeknownst to Jackie, The Angelus kept a pretty close check on Jackie all throughout.
It was on the eve of his 21st birthday, when Jackie heard the Darkness telepathically reaching out to him for the first time and telling him how he could have everything he has ever wanted by embracing The Darkness. There are no second thoughts about the Darkness awakening within him and Jackie finally learning of his legacy as the host of The Darkness. Of course, the power was a blessing but he made several enemies in the process. For starters, there was The Angelus who desired to kill him and then there were Sonatine and his Brotherhood of The Darkness who wanted to capture him and then have him under their control for their own sinister plans.
Jackie stopped serving Frankie Franchetti post coming across Batman, something that eventually made him turn Frankie over to the authorities and take a retirement from his mob life. Of course, this cost him the life of his girlfriend Jenny Romano, whom Frankie killed in cold blood as part of retribution. Severely anguished and absolutely grief-stricken by his actions, Jackie had plans for both Frankie and himself. He led Frankie to an isolated warehouse, one that was already drenched with gasoline and set himself along with Frankie on fire leading to their deaths.
The Darkness in due course, brought him back to life from Hell. Jackie was initially forced to work for Paulie Franchetti, who happened to be the cousin of Frankie but that was just for a while. Jackie not only killed him later but also took charge of The Franchetti Mafia.
Speaking of his powers and abilities, Jackie possessed the endless power of The Darkness, one that allowed him access to an unearthly realm along with dominance over the veritable horde of Darklings dwelling there. Right from destroying tanks, helicopters, butchering vampires and werewolves to smoothly crushing human beings, Jackie Estacado as the host of the Darkness was literally capable of doing just about anything and everything. Besides having the power that we have already mentioned before, he also happens to be a challenging hand-to-hand fighter as well as a master marksman, one with a particular penchant for dual 9mm handguns.
Appearance
In Film
So back in the year 2004 around December, Dimension Films was reported to have been paid an undisclosed six-figure amount to come up with a movie based on the comic series and have it released in the year 2008. But from what we have gathered, the film rights were later sold to the Pang Brothers in December 2005. Also, at the 2009 Comic-Con, Matt Hawkins as the Top Cow president disclosed that a live action film was in development, one that had roped in Scott Stuber Productions. But it was in 2012 when celebrated film director, screenwriter and producer Len Wiseman signed on to produce the film. There has been no news post that.
Video Games
It is the only main Top Cow comics series to have its own game series. The Darkness was let out for the PlayStation 3 back in June, 2007 and for the Xbox 360 about a week later. Published by 2K Games and developed by Starbreeze Studios, the storyline follows a different version, one that gives way more depth to the characterization to the Darkness. Also, a sequel called The Darkness II, developed by digital Extremes and published by 2K Games was released for the PC, the Xbox 360 as well as the PlayStation 3 in February, 2012.
Now, as easy it is to come up with a new game, put it on a video shelf and urge people to ‘play’, one thing is for sure – if the mindset of the audience is somewhat like they don’t care, it is a given thing that the game will not really last there for a very long time. After all, why would someone be inclined towards completing a story that they don’t really care about in the first place?
This is what brings The Darkness in the picture. Of course, you are entitled to think what is it that makes this so special. For starters, it did not simply put you in a world where you felt real while walking around non-combat zones. It gave you relationships, it tried to do something different and it was successful. It makes you be more focused on the environment along with the people within it. One of the main reasons why this video game works is because it gives one the time to breathe. It shows us the world that Jackie Estacado could have had. Well of course, it is about a shooter, there’s no denying that but it is a shooter that gives us an emotional connection, conclusively making it a classic in every way.