Kalibak
1164 - Kalibak is born, the love child of Darkseid and Suli. His mother is poisoned, and his father marries Tigra.
1195 - Kalibak, not part of the Apokolips war engine, begins to travel to New Genesis to do battle with other New Gods for sport and honor.
1752 - Kalibak is no longer allowed to travel to New Genesis to hunt due to the non-aggression pact.
1767 - Kalibak attacks Orion off of New Genesis, constantly looking for new ways to challenge his half-brother and prove himself the true son of Darkseid.
52 years ago - Kalibak kills the wife of Himon.
7 years ago - Kalibak travels to Earth to defeat Scott Free on his own to earn the approval of his father Darkseid, but returns to Apokolips in shame.
4 years ago - Kalibak travels to Earth with the Parademon wave invasion, single-handedly wreaking mass destruction before he is stopped by Superman.
The Fourth World is built, primarily, out of three different actual comic series; New Gods (starring Orion), Mister Miracle, and the Forever People. There are lots of shared villains that cross over through the whole narrative, but each of those three books did function independently, and in each case the book featured one particular villain specifically designed for the hero in question.
A lot of the intrigue of the New Gods came from the book of the same name, but it was really about the adventures of Orion, a lot of which took place on Earth. While he had a decent variety of enemies, one of them absolutely stands out head and extremely hairy shoulders above the rest; Orion's actual half brother, Kalibak.
A lot of the intrigue of the New Gods came from the book of the same name, but it was really about the adventures of Orion, a lot of which took place on Earth. While he had a decent variety of enemies, one of them absolutely stands out head and extremely hairy shoulders above the rest; Orion's actual half brother, Kalibak.
Kalibak's Comic HistoryKalibak appeared in the first issue of New Gods during Orion's very first assault on Apokolips, He's monstrous, huge, and ready to fight our hero, but Metron throws a barrier between them, delaying their inevitable battle. His coming to earth is treated like a pending cataclysm, and their eventual fight is a highlight of the series. Issue eight features the phenomenal sequence of the very human Dan Turpin standing up to Kalibak despite having no chance of winning the fight, and then the fantastic first titanic battle between these two mortal enemies. We find that they have fought each other since childhood, but it isn't until issue eleven, the original final issue of the series, that their connection is revealed; they are half brothers, the two sons of Darkseid himself.
The issue seems to end with Kalibak's death, but of course he's returned as a regular part of Darkseid's forces. He's gone on to be used fairly regularly as a Superman villain, since his intense strength, brutality, and low intelligence make him a great blunt instrument to hurl at the Man of Steel. |
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Our Kalibak StoryKalibak is by far one of the most recognizable of the Fourth World characters, thanks in no small part to his incredibly prolific appearances in animation. There really isn't a lot of setup that has to be done to use him, but we did want to make a few small ideas clear when building our version of the character. Specifically, despite his vast strength and battle prowess, he's never operating as part of Apokolips regular war machine. He doesn't have rank in their military. As Darkseid's son, he is instead privledged nobility. If he goes out and wreaks havoc, he does so entirely of his own volition, and always in an attempt to win the favor of his father.
By doing this we get to use Kalibak all over the place. He is the constant, lifelong foe of Orion, facing him on every battlefield imaginable, killing Himon's wife and Tigra, and challenging Scott Free on Earth. We also wanted to make it very clear that he does face off against Superman during the big invasion. He's not a Superman foe in the traditional sense, but it's absolutely classic to pit those two against each other. |
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