Orion (comics) - Character Biography

Character Biography

Orion is the second son of Darkseid, half brother of Kalibak and Grayven, and the husband of Bekka. As a child, he was traded for Scott Free in a peace effort between New Genesis and Apokolips. Raised as the son of Highfather Izaya, he was taught to control his rage and anger, becoming the most powerful warrior either world has ever known. This in itself was not an easy task given that his heritage boiled with the rage of the brutal and merciless Darkseid. Learning how to control his dark nature consumed much of Orion's youth, but as he grew, his friends among the New Gods helped him direct his anger. Orion counts among his friends Lightray, Metron, Jezebelle, Scott Free, Big Barda, and Forager. He is a hero dedicated to the ideals of New Genesis. His fighting skill and stamina have earned him the nickname "The Dog of War".

The 25 issue Walt Simonson series was designed to follow the continuity of the original Fourth World series, and was published after John Byrne's "Jack Kirby's Fourth World" series ended. To flesh out the series, characters such as Fourth World stalwarts Lightray, Darkseid, Desaad, and Kalibak, in addition to lesser used characters such as Tigra (early on in the series), Mortalla, and the Newsgroup Legion (an update of the Newsboy Legion) often supplied aid or ill intentions to the quick tempered Orion.

During Simonson's series, Orion was able to obtain the Anti-Life Equation, the source Darkseid was in search of. He then went to Apokolips and confronted Darkseid about his birth, and fought for control of Apokolips. He refused to use the Anti-Life Equation due to issues of pride and earning his destiny unaided. He defeated Darkseid and gained control of Apokolips. With the Anti-Life Equation, Orion went to Earth to begin creating intergalactic peace. He turned Earth into a utopian world that began disrupting the balance of the universe. It was revealed that Darkseid, alongside Metron, allowed Orion to defeat him, so he could understand the potential of the Anti-Life Equation.

Orion has served two terms with the Justice League. He first demanded to join the League alongside his friend, Lightray. (Justice League of America #42, Sept. 1990). They were accepted into the ranks and stayed on until after the battle with the Evil Eye. (issue #50) Later, he and Big Barda were sent as agents of New Genesis to serve in the JLA. (JLA #17, April 1998) During his time in the League, Orion helped to defeat the returned Starro when its actions put almost the entirety of North America to sleep, and also aided Green Lantern, Steel, Plastic Man, and Barda in capturing a White Martian that had regained its original memory. On one occasion, when he and some of the other Leaguers were abducted by the apparently insane Adam Strange as part of a plot to defeat a telepathic race, Steel was forced to steal Orion's Mother Box and use it as a telepathic shield; Orion was so enraged that the Mother Box was devoting too much energy to keeping him calm to do anything else. However, Orion and Barda's central mission was to help mobilize Earth's heroes against the coming of the omnipotent Mageddon. Once again, Orion abandoned his Mother Box, giving it to Oracle while he confronted Mageddon at full ferocity, Oracle using it to set up a telepathic online network that could coordinate the heroes as they fought to stop the wars that Mageddon's presence was inciting. Once Mageddon was defeated, he and Barda resigned. (Ibid #41)

Years later, Orion returns to Earth via Boom Tube for his final battle with Darkseid. During the massive fight, Orion ultimately kills him by ripping his heart out, creating a firepit of Apokolips from Darkseid's chest cavity in reference to the prophecy of their final battle. As Darkseid dies, a battered, wounded Orion walks away from the battlefield having "won" the battle against his father once and for all.

However, Darkseid's life essence endured even the death of his body and fell back in time, where he was reborn as "Boss Dark Side". Aided by his resurrected minions and the super-villain Libra, Darkseid successfully unleashed the Anti-Life Equation onto humanity and in the process, dragged Earth outside time and space, threatening the entire multiverse in the process. From this point, Darkseid sought his revenge against his son by firing a time travel-based gun backwards in time to kill Orion once and for all. The bullet killed Orion, who by this point had realized that his father and his fellow evil New Gods still lived and were now possessing human beings as host bodies. With his last strength, Orion warns the man who finds his dying body, Detective Dan "Terrible" Turpin, that "They are not dead- He is in you all." His final command, appropriate for the Dog of War, is for humanity to "Fight..." before he finally dies.

Ironically, Darkseid's murder of his son would ultimately backfire on him. Green Lantern John Stewart would recover the bullet used to kill Orion and give it to Batman, who would ultimately be forced to mortally wound Darkseid with the very same bullet Darkseid used to kill his own son; an irony Superman pointed out, when he described the murder of Orion as "suicide" on Darkseid's part, due to the fate of the bullet.

While many of the Gods from New Genesis were reborn following Final Crisis, Orion is not among them. Metron is seen standing over his astro-harness in effigy.

In 2012, as part of The New 52, Orion appears at the end of issue #12 of Wonder Woman.