Despero initially appeared in the first issue of Justice League of America, published by DC Comics in October 1960, and was created by renowned comic book writer Gardner Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky.
Of fact, this was not the official launch of the iconic superhero coalition, which includes Batman and Wonder Woman (who had initially joined forces in Issue #28 of The Brave and the Bold two months previously), but it was their first appearance together in their own self-titled comic book series.
This makes Despero’s initial encounter with the JLA a watershed moment, especially when you consider the intriguing detail that the interplanetary villain scarcely resembled his later appearance and was significantly weaker in contrast.
He is a Silver Age Supervillain, and his recent appearance in the Arrowverse, starring Tony Curran, has made him quite the talk of the town. We shall look at his beginnings in today’s video. Who is Despero, exactly?
His transformation from a weak ruler to the powerful villain
Despero was one of the Justice League of America’s very first antagonists, and he’s been around for a long time. Though he began as a pink-skinned alien genius with a third eye that conferred upon him hypnotic abilities, he has evolved into one of the League’s most powerful and dangerous antagonists while maintaining all of his mental abilities.
It’s not uncommon for a comic book character to undergo a dramatic transformation after their first appearance, and Despero – the red-skinned, fin-headed ruler of his home planet Kalanor – is no exception. Despite his lack of physical strength, he was able to brutalize his way into the throne through despotic means.
The people of Despero’s homeworld of Kalanor were similar to humans but had far superior technology. They were able to create a tremendously powerful nuclear energy source. Many people believed that this new force was dangerous, but the cautionary warnings were disregarded, and the planet was later devastated by high-energy plasmas.
The majority of Kalanor species were wiped out, but those that made it out alive were mutated into completely different creatures. Despero’s race arose from the chaos and quickly surpassed the other species through telepathic subjugation. On Kalanor, there was immense unrest, and war broke out, with Despero’s father emerging victorious. Despero however murdered his father and seized command of Kalanor when he was old enough.
In his first appearance, the character is defined largely by his intelligence and devious demeanor, as he challenges The Flash to a game of chess that is fixed to lead to deadly consequences for his fellow superheroes. However, simply outwitting Despero wasn’t enough to bring him down in the Justice League of America’s subsequent encounters.
His newly acquired strengths came from resurrecting himself in the Flame of Py’tar, the very last remnant of the same nuclear energy that created his race. Despero made contact with the Flame of Py’tar, a magical source of nuclear energy from which his alien race originated after his villainous plans were foiled for the second time by the Justice League.
This would end up causing him to undergo the radical transformation mentioned earlier, transforming him into an 8-foot-tall, 850-pound monster with physical strength comparable to Red Hulk, and allowing him to defeat Superman, Shazam, Power Girl, Hour-Man, and Wonder Woman in the same fight, besting each of them. The Flame of Py’tar transformed Despero not only on the exterior but also on the interior, bestowing upon him a new set of astounding abilities.
The First Appearance in comic books
On the very first page of the first issue of Justice League of America, we see Despero, a pink-faced being with flippers surrounding his skull, sitting at the same table as many of our favorite heroes such as Flash and Wonder Woman.
The story begins when Barry Allen’s convertible breaks down on a lonely country road. The story is largely concerned with a class war on the planet Kalanor. Saranna, a green-haired alien, tries to explain that her home planet has been captured by a tyrannical nutcase named Despero, who maintains his grasp on power using his energy weapons. When The Flash uses his signal device to summon the Justice League, he discovers his allies paralyzed and a three-eyed pink-skinned people-eating alien autocrat challenging him to a chess match!
Despero’s chessboard is quickly revealed to be sabotaged, disadvantaging The Flash. Each League member is teleported away to some desolate planet with each move as part of Despero’s devious scheme. A frustrated Flash gives up after losing the game, but JLA mascot Snapper Carr sneaks aboard the alien’s spacecraft.
The Justice League, luckily, is a resilient bunch, and they quickly figure out how to deal with the threats on Despero’s titular World of No Return. Superman and Wonder Woman are stranded on the same planet, fighting pterosaurs side by side. He first helps in saving her from quicksand, but when he is subdued by Kryptonite, she repays the favor.
Aquaman and Green Lantern team up on some other planet in the very same system, but they are not able to tear through the yellow radiation field that surrounds the world. Worse yet, a massive lens is warming the oceans, putting all of the world’s sea creatures in jeopardy. Because moving the entire planet would kill all of the native lifeforms, they must devise a plan that involves only a potent omni-weapon and a swarm of alien octopi.
Green Lantern is able to disable the device once it is no longer yellow, and the two are hailed as heroes, fleeing to find their companions. On yet another planet, Batman and Martian Manhunter must team up to defeat another alien trap, with The Flash arriving just in time to put out fires that would have otherwise managed to kill J’onn.
Snapper saves the day by depleting Despero’s energies and rendering his hypnotic third eye ineffective. Snapper then returns Despero to Kalanor to be tried and punished for his atrocities. All of this showed that Despero was an intelligent and cunning villain and his later transformation into a hulking beast only enhanced his abilities.
Despero in some other storylines
Despero has since appeared in numerous storylines after breaking out from his imprisonment and bathing in the Flames of Py’tar. He returned to Earth, using his newfound powers to exact vengeance on the League, and resurrected the Flames of Py’tar to fuel his power.
Despero vanquished the League quickly and kidnapped Batman and Vixen. However, the source of Despero’s powers was quickly discovered, and Batman was able to free Vixen from his shackles. Gypsy distracted Despero with the illusion of being incinerated by the sun and this allowed Vibe to decimate the Flames of Py’tar, expelling Despero’s energy source and causing Despero to devour himself.
Despero managed to survive in the form of shapeless conscious matter. His will and loathing eventually gave him a new body, allowing him to retaliate against the Justice League. He killed Steel and then went after Gypsy. When J’onn J’onzz arrived, he had already killed both of her parents and was about to kill her when Guy Gardner intervened and propelled Despero away. The League eventually found Despero in downtown Manhattan and fought him with all of their might, but they were unable to defeat him. They were unable to stop him, and Mr. Miracle, who was an android replacement, lost his “life” as a result.
Despero was about to murder Ted Kord when the Martian Manhunter bestowed Mayavanna upon him, a sacred gift bestowed by Martians that allows them to reach into someone else’s mind and provide a reality more influential than our own. This gift allows the recipient to live in a world where they have everything they desire.
Despero envisions himself assassinating the League and ruining the planet before finally finding peace. He reverted to a Despero fetus and was later given to Manga Khan for preservation. Manga Khan ended up selling Despero to a race of aliens who used him to strike a Khund outpost, along with a control collar. However, it is here that Despero was freed as a result of the remote control being damaged. Despero returned to his mission to defeat the Justice League after realizing what the Martian had done to him.
Despero came back to Earth, as incensed as ever, to exact his vengeance for his apparent embarrassment, destroying much of New York in the process. Guy Gardner, Power Girl, Ice, Fire, Metamorpho, Flash, Rocket Red, and Martian Manhunter all attack Despero and he eventually fights the Justice League of America, the Justice League of Europe, The Conglomerate, and Lobo all at the same time, showing the true extent of his power.
Meanwhile, Kilowog was working on a new slave collar control device for Manga Khan, which Despero was still having to wear. Unfortunately, L-Ron’s circuitry was the only one that worked. Kilowog used the device to incapacitate Despero after constructing it from L-Ron’s circuits. Surprisingly, the device imprinted L-Ron’s consciousness into Despero’s body and the other way around. Despero was seemingly destroyed when L-body Ron’s was destroyed.
His consciousness survived the death of his body and manifested as a free-floating essence. He takes on the bodies of a number of individuals in this form, using their skills to further his own goals. He also assumes control of his body for a brief period, battling Supergirl while fighting L-Ron for his body. Despero tried to possess Supergirl after L-Ron regained control, but she could not be possessed because she was an angel, according to Lord Satanus. Despero’s spirit appears to have been destroyed, but he returns and reclaims his physical body.
Despero runs into Johnny Sorrow while navigating the Abyssal Plains in JSA/JLA: Virtue and Vice, as their tangible bodies had been destroyed. They devise a scheme to exact vengeance on the Justice League and the Justice Society of America. Despero then possesses Lex Luthor who was serving as the President of the USA while Johnny Sorrow travels to the Rock of Eternity, where he paralyzes Shazam and unleashes the Seven Deadly Sins upon the world.
The villainous pair battles the two superhero team members in a world of chaos. Despero fights most of the JSA and JLA at the same time, appearing invincible until Captain Marvel, with the help of Kyle Rayner and Alan Scott, redirects Johnny Sorrow’s gaze to expunge Despero and put an end to the threat.
Despero strikes the Justice League once more in Crisis of Conscience, which takes place before Infinite Crisis. By the time Zatanna arrived to stop him, only Superman and Red Tornado were still fighting him.
In his next appearance, Vixen, Dr. Light, Plastic Man, and Red Tornado were talking about the future of the Justice League during the occurrences of Blackest Night when Despero bursts in, having already vanquished Gypsy. Zatanna reappears to save the League and is about to send Despero to the Earth’s core when he mysteriously vanishes.
When Starro the Conqueror tried to invade Kalanor, he reappeared and when Despero confronted Starro and tried to awe him with mental pictures of his clashes with the Justice League, Starro overpowered him, drawing on the mental resilience of the trillions of minds connected to him. This astounds Despero, and Starro beheads him. Despero, unbeknownst to Starro, survives by faking death.
Despero’s grotesque shape from the Pre-52 continuity is retained as he appears in the New 52. He strikes the Justice League Watchtower during his first appearance while the majority of the members are away, having left only Firestorm, Element Woman, and Atomica to combat him. Manhunter is the one who finally manages to stop him and knock him out.
During the happenings of Forever Evil, Despero was collaborating with the Crime Syndicate. He attacks the surviving members of the Justice League of America, seeking vengeance on Martian Manhunter for their last encounter.
Lastly, Despero managed to escape confinement and decided to return to his homeworld of Kalanor during the Death of Hawkman miniseries. He used his psychological manipulation skills to revive his fanatical followers after killing the elders who had banished him. With a large force at his discretion, he launched an attack on the people of Rann and Thanagar, using his telepathic powers to take control of the citizens’ minds and use them as improvised troops against those who stood in his way.
He is able to construct a massive zeta-portal using the citizens of Rann and Thanagar, which he uses to meld his body with an enormous quantity of Nth Metal. Hawkman and Adam Strange attack him next, but they are unable to beat him and three months later, Despero is shown to be reformed and apparently, immortal.
Despero in Justice League animated series
In the 35th and 36th episodes of the Justice League Animated series, we come across Despero who as usual, is up to no good and this time, the heroes have to go up against him and the Legion of the Third Eye, his fanatical cult. John goes to Kalanor to see what exactly was happening but he is apprehended by two guards and taken to the royal palace where he meets Despero, the Legion’s leader.
Despero explains that he’d been shunned because of his third eye for a long time but while traveling through the desert, he was attacked by thieves and then saved by the Flame of Py’tar. Despero had learned that he would lead Kalanor to a nirvana, according to the Star, and had subsequently seized command of Kalanor using the Py’tar’s powers. He now plans to spread the Py’tar’s glory all through the universe.
John had heard enough and attacks him, but Despero’s Py’tar-provided powers are quite powerful and are further bolstered by his own anger and hatred. John is defeated and knocked to the ground, landing at the foot of none other than Katma Tui, Despero’s newest priestess. She obeys Despero’s command to sacrifice John to the Py’tar. Katma leads John to the Py’tar’s main room, where the Py’tar is revealed to be a massive fire. Despite John’s protests, Katma throws him into the Py’tar flames.
However, it is revealed that Katma has not been brainwashed and instead was working undercover to help support the resistance or anti-Despero movement that had formed in Kalanor at the time. Thus, she did not kill John and they later reunited.
Despero then gives his soldiers the strength of the Py’tar, which will be used to propagate Despero’s and the Py’tar’s greatness throughout the universe thus setting The Third Eye Legion on its way to causing havoc.
Post this there are clashes and fights between Despero and the heroes but finally, they near the Py’tar. John figures out that the Py’tar is a sentient entity who is in pain and wishes to communicate and hence, he leaps into its flames. John rises from the Py’tar, bathed in flame and now sporting a third eye, as soldiers, priests, and priestess work their way into the chamber. According to the Py’tar, it is Kalanor’s organic life force, which was repressed aeons ago. Despero was supposed to release the Py’tar and let it reinstate Kalanor’s ecosystem, but instead, he used it for his own nefarious purposes.
The Py’tar offers a safe haven for all creatures living in Kalanor, but its condition was that Despero must be rejected by the Kalanorians. As the soldiers lay down their weapons, the Kalanorians kneel in front of the Py’tar. J’onn collapses to the ground as the Py’tar transforms into a massive tree. Despero is devoured by a tree in the passageways, while the Legion soldiers energized by the Py’tar transform into trees, putting an end to Despero’s rampage.
What makes Despero so deadly?
Despero was quite formidable due to the vast variety of powers he possessed. Many were a result of his natural evolution, while others were bestowed upon him by the Flame of Py’tar. Attempts to remove Despero’s Third Eye have failed due to the eye’s ability to heal no matter how much injury it has suffered.
This makes sure that he always has strength in him to use in battle. Despero can project telekinetic shields for protection or focus his telekinetic energy to fire a psionic beam from his third eye, which has been used to KO Powergirl. In addition, he has the ability to project illusions into the psyches of his targets. He did this to Martian Manhunter in order to make him see Despero murdering all of his dear ones on Mars.
Despero possesses a high level of telepathic power, which he can use to bend and exploit other people’s minds to his will. He’s used his telepathic abilities to control the minds of Martian Manhunter and Aquaman in the past. Despero can also use his telepathy to protect himself and others around him from other telepaths by using it defensively. He can also project his consciousness into others, assuming a spiritual form, to modify other people’s minds and jumps from body to body, as he did when L-Ron inhabited his original body, giving him the power of possession.
Despero’s physical abilities surpass those of Superman and Martian Manhunter. Because of his time spent bathing in the Flame of Py’tar, he has a larger body build than the others on his homeworld and has a great deal of control over the molecules in his own body.
He has regressed to a fetus-like state and can control the rate at which his body ages in order to maintain his youth and appearance. Despero is more powerful than Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Captain Marvel combined. Because he can hold off numerous high-powered opponents at once, he is regarded as a team buster. He also has a high level of resistance to blunt-force attacks. His piercing durability, on the other hand, is extremely low.
Despero has superhuman speed, as he can travel from the moon to the earth in a matter of seconds. In battle, he’s also been able to react to incredibly fast foes like The Flash, hitting him twice with his talons and once with a psionic blast. He can also heal himself from any injuries he sustains.
Small cuts heal in a matter of seconds, but total-body restoration takes weeks. Because his body was bonded with Nth metal during the ‘Death of Hawkman’ mini-series, his rehabilitation abilities have been greatly accelerated. Despero can also spout scorching fire from his mouth to burn or fry his opponents, but he is more than just a brute; he is also a brilliant strategist in battle.
Despero’s powers were greatly enhanced for a short time after he used the Flame of Py’tar as a direct source of power. He could alter reality to his will, transforming skyscrapers into dragon-like creatures and rocks into demons, thanks to the Flame of Py’tar. He could also teleport over long distances in a matter of seconds. Due to the break in the link between Despero and the flame, he has since ended up losing these abilities.
Despero is thus a highly formidable foe and his evolution into a tough adversary who can defeat even the strongest of heroes has been one to behold. Do you think he is a villain worthy of making it to the big screens? Let us know in the comments section below!