Darkseid Meets Marvel

Jack Kirby created some of the most important concepts for Marvel Comics, such as the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and the X-Men, along with their friends and foes. 

"The King" also created Darkseid, one of the vilest villains of the DC Universe, the ruler of the planet of Apokolips, the evil side of the New Gods.

Seems like those heroes should protect us from that fearsome foe, but they weren't in the same universes....

...or, were they?

Two special comics show they could reach each other....

Marvel and DC Present #1

In Marvel and DC Present Featuring The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans #1  (1982), the two teams of heroes seem to exist on the same world, and face the menace of Darkseid as he tries to revive the power of the Dark Phoenix in "Apokolips...Now" by Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson and Terry Austin.

Darkseid plans to breach the Source Wall and to do that, tries to collect the memories of the Dark Phoenix from the X-Men, but while doing that, it also alerts the Titans' psychic, Raven, to have visions of a fiery bird, which her alien team mate of Starfire recognizes as the Dark Phoenix.  Deathstroke the Terminator is there to prevent trouble in case the X-Men retaliate, and has a battle with Wolverine (at the time, two of the greatest fighters of their respective universes, but in one universe here).  Professor X even makes use of Metron's Mobius Chair, and after the Dark Phoenix is  revived, the two teams work together (called collectively the X-Titans, showing a little favoritism to the Marvel heroes, as their regular writer did script this tale) to stop Darkseid's plan.

An ambitious story, made all the more enjoyable that it was all done in one issue, as were most of the team-ups between DC and Marvel characters in the day, such as the two Superman/Spider-Man tales and one Batman/Hulk tale, but this tale also signaled the end of the company crossovers for a time. 

Darkseid Vs. Galactus: The Hunger

Many years later, Darkseid faced off against the world-eater of Galactus in Darkseid Vs. Galactus: The Hunger (1995) by John Byrne, as DC and Marvel brought back their intercompany team-ups.

Here most of the battles are between the subordinates of the main villains, as Galactus plans to eat Apokolips, with Silver Surfer facing off against Darkseid's Para-Demons, as well as the New Genesis warrior of Orion, as well as covering the origins of Galactus, the Silver Surfer and the founding of the two worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips.  Galactus does indeed finally land on Apokolips, only to find the planet devoid of life, and thus useless to the eater of worlds, though Darkseid fought tooth and nail to keep this worthless garden, simply because it was his.

The Big Two Crossovers 

Darkseid had a small role in the DC Vs. Marvel mini-series of 1996, where he confronted the evil Thanos (worshiper of Death), and likely the result of that battle was shown in JLA Vs. Avengers (2003 and 2004), where Darkseid showed off a new accessory a bejeweled glove (the Infinity Gauntlet), which, the Lord of Apokolips was unable to use (likely due to the fact that its infinite power was only that in the Marvel Universe, not in the DC Universe).

Jack Kirby Beginning The New Gods

New Gods #1 came out in February-March, 1971, introducing the world to the main concepts of Jack Kirby's Fourth World as "Orion Fights For Earth" (by writer/artist Jack Kirby, and inked by Vince Colletta) .  This was the first appearance of Orion, the dog of war, who uses the astro-force to fight the forces of Apokolips (like Kalibak, Darkseid's brutal son), working for Highfather (Izaya, who is connected to the mysterious "Source"), working with jovial Lightray (a young New God of New Genesis), and using Mother Boxes made by Metron....

...but, the beginning of the battle started before New Gods #1.

Darkseid

Leader of the forces of Apokolips, Darkseid had already appeared in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134 to #136 (also by Jack Kirby, from 1970/1971), and in Forever People #1 (February-March, 1971, by Kirby/Colletta), where he was the force behind Inter-Gang, a new group of gangsters that used futuristic weapons, and were fought by Jimmy Olsen, Superman, a new Newsboy Legion and the Forever People (a group of kids who came to Earth, but were from New Genesis).

But, this didn't tell where the war between New Genesis and Apokolips started, nor why it moved to Earth...

The Pact

The start of the war was revealed in "The Pact" in New Gods #7 (February-March, 1972 by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer).  Izaya the Inheritor was enjoying the peace on New Genesis with his wife, Avia, when their picnic was set upon by Steppenwolf of the Dog Cavalry and his nephew, Darkseid, and attacked, resulting in the death of Avia by Steppenwolf's hands.  Darkseid promised his uncle he killed Izaya, but he lied, allowing Izaya to lead New Genesis' forces against Apokolips, and kill Steppenwolf, which allowed him to take over Apokolips from his mother, Heggra, and give enigmatic Metron the "X-Element", which would allow him to travel anywhere in the galaxy in his Mobius Chair.

After killing Steppenwolf, and the terrible aftermath of the many battles, Izaya tired of fighting, and went to find himself, instead connecting with the all-powerful "Source", becoming the Highfather of New Genesis.  Darkseid, meanwhile, came up with "The Pact", where he and Izaya would exchange sons (with Darkseid angering his wife, Tigra) as they gave up their angry red-haired boy to Highfather, and Darkseid accepted Izaya's heir, giving him to Granny Goodness for soldier training.  Darkseid schemed, planning on angering the lad so much that he'd escape eventually, breaking the Pact, allowing Darkseid to attack (which eventually happened).

But, Darkseid didn't count on his own son, Orion, becoming such a loyal fighter for the forces of New Genesis, destined to face his father in a final battle, nor on what Izaya's boy would do after escaping to Earth (but, his story developed elsewhere, and will be revealed "soon"....).