| “ | Look at them praying for a miracle that isn't coming. Who knows, maybe it's my curse to leave one betrayal behind, only to fight a greater one here amongst the stars? They could've stopped this, but none of them had the strength to do what must be done, but I do. | „ |
| ~ Despero's first words in Armageddon. |
| “ | As you wish. Bear witness to a coming Armageddon that you create ten years from now, one that destroys your own planet. It already happened, Flash. That's why I, Despero, have to kill you. It's how I save our world. | „ |
| ~ Despero explaining his reasons to the Flash on why he has to kill him. |
| “ | Flash: What you told me about your home world, that was a lie wasn't it? You weren't the heroic rebel leader. You were the despot. The one who inflicted pain and suffering. Who killed to get what he wanted. Despero: I did what was necessary. Flash: No, you're wrong. You've been wrong this whole time about everything. You're no hero, Despero. You're just like Thawne. |
„ |
| ~ The Flash realizing the truth about Despero as he reveals his true colors. |
Despero is the secondary antagonist of the 2021 Arrowverse crossover, Armageddon which is a part of Season 8 of the 2014-2023 TV Series, The Flash.
He is a powerful and intelligent Kalanorian from the future possessing incredible telepathic powers who left his homeworld, Kalanor, under mysterious circumstances. Now he’s facing a deadly mission on Earth: to prevent Armageddon, one whose outcome will decide the fate of humankind and put him on a collision course with Team Flash.
He was portrayed by Tony Curran, who also played Marcus Corvinus in Underworld: Evolution, Finn Cooley in Marvel's Daredevil, Throk in Voltron: Legendary Defender, Chirkoff in Big Momma's House: Like Father Like Son and Alexander Kincaid in Battlefield 6.
Biography[]
Despero was born on the mysterious planet, Kalanor, where he eventually became the leader but as time went on, Despero became a tyrant who inflicted pain and suffering toward his enemies and killed to get what he wanted. As time went on in his reign, a rebellion was formed against him to free Kalanor. After heavy losses on both sides, the rebels were victorious and they ended up sparing Despero, whom they decided to banish to Earth since he knew that losing his homeworld would be a fate worse than death.
Eventually, after his banishment, Despero came to accept Earth as his new home. In 2031, Despero witnessed an Armageddon in Central City that was caused by the Flash and the Reverse-Flash. This event ended up destroying the planet. To prevent this from happening, Despero traveled back to the year 2021 to kill the Flash.
At the Central City Tech Convention, Despero interrupted Iris West-Allen's interview with Ray Palmer, luring the Flash towards him. The Flash tried to create a vacuum around Despero, but Despero punched the ground, taking the battle outside. Eventually, the Atom showed up and tried to help the Flash, just before being misled by one of Despero's illusions. After Despero threw a taxi at the superheroes, the Flash attacked him with a speed mirage but still wasn't able to get a hit in on Despero. As Despero had the Flash pinned down, the Flash asked what happened to him in the future. Despero then showed him this future using his third eye. Just as Despero was about to kill the Flash, his belt malfunctioned because of the Atom, and teleported Despero away to a random location. Sometime later, Despero teleported to STAR Labs, where he was confronted by the Flash. After being impressed by the Flash by reading his mind and him showing Despero his real identity, Despero gave the Flash seven days to prove that he won't go mad and cause Armageddon and then he left.
Throughout the next few days, Despero would keep an eye on Barry to see if he was telling the truth or not. In those seven days, he told the Flash that on his world, he was leader of a rebellion seeking to overthrow the supposed tyrant of Kalanor and after heavy losses on both sides, the rebels were victorious. However, when the time came to kill the tyrant, Despero chose to spare him. His act of mercy allowed the tyrant to rise again stronger than ever and he ended up sparing Despero, whom he decided to banish to Earth, since he knew that losing his home world would be a fate worse than death. When the Flash attacked Central City, Despero went back on his word and sought to complete his mission and kill the Flash. He tried to kill him at the West house before he was stopped by Team Flash and the Flash escaped. He scolded Team Flash for intervening and told them, he will find Flash and kill him.
Soon, he went back to STAR Labs to psychically track the track but was unable, so he activated the particle accelerator to increase his powers and left the government agents fighting themselves to death. He tracked Team Flash to their temporary hideout, where he psychologically tortures Top and Cecille Horton into giving up Flash's location, but Cecille pushes back on him, forcing him away. Using Cecille' mind, he then tracked the Barry to the Hall of Justice, where he fought Black Lightning who was standing between him and Barry. After Barry escaped into the future, Despero left the Hall of Justice to track him down again.
Despero then kidnaps Team Flash and psychologically tortures them one by one until they die. Just as Despero is about to kill Cecile Horton, a wave of temporal energy floods the room and erases the timeline, including Team Flash, except him. After the Flash returns the timeline, he tells him that Eobard Thawne manipulated the timeline into making him think he was crazy into causing Armageddon, and Despero senses that the future is safe, so he returns to 2031 to see for himself and threatens to return with a death threat if the world is still in danger.
Despero returns to the present to convince the Flash to let Eobard Thawne die in order for Armageddon to end. At first Barry complies, but changes his mind after Joe, Cecile, Allegra and Chester convince Barry to save Thawne. Knowing that Flash will save Thawne instead of ending him, Despero takes it upon himself to kill Barry and his team in order for Thawne to perish. In the end, Barry strips Despero of his powers, causing him to disappear in a swirl of fire. It is unknown what happened to Despero after this, either he was killed by the flame or teleported away like before.
Personality[]
Despero is brutal in battle and isn't hesitant to do whatever actions are necessary to fulfill his job, thus it appears that he has a sense of honor as seen by his refusal to attack an unarmed person. As seen by the savage murder of the Team Flash in front of Cecile Horton in the alternate reality and the severe anguish Rosa Dillon experienced when he nearly killed her, Despero is also incredibly angry and aggressive toward his opponents. Despite his mission, Despero is highly conceited about his abilities. He is planning a strike to eliminate Barry in a single motion and regards Cecile as having less strength than him. Cecile was a powerful human empath who managed to repel him when he assaulted her and Rosa, thus it appears that he views her as somewhat of a competition.
According to Despero, he was the rebel leader of Kalanor who deposed the oppressive monarch of his home planet but spared him out of pity, enabling the tyrant to regain power and be exiled from Kalanor. Despero was attempting to prevent Armageddon from occurring because of the crimes the governing tyrant had performed on Kalanor, which he had observed. In the end, Despero's claims that he is the rebel leader on Kalanor are nothing more than a deception; in reality, he is the tyrant dictator of his home planet, who inflicted misery and suffering on others and killed them in order to achieve his goals.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Super Strength: Despero is described as having strength on par with a Kryptonian.
- Super Toughness: Despero is able to tank attacks from the Flash and the Atom with no sign of injury in the slightest.
- Telepathy/Psychic powers: Using his third eye, Despero is able to read minds, create illusions, and psychically assault his enemies.
- Shapeshifting: Despero can change between his true form and his human form with the help of his high-tech belt. In his true form, Despero is a gigantic 10’ tall red alien with pointy ears, black claws, and a fin on the top of his head. In his human form he takes on the appearance of a tall middle aged man standing at about 6’1 with an orange goatee, an orange faux hawk, and with rather muscular arms.
Trivia[]
- There are major differences with Despero between the comics and the TV series. In the comics, Despero was the tyrannical dictator of the planet Kalanor, who is an enemy of the Justice League; while in the show, he was a time-traveling rebel from the planet Kalanor, who is an enemy of the Flash.
- However, this proved to be a lie as Despero was actually the tyrant who did what was needed to be done, and he is now doing the same to Earth, which makes him no better than his comic book counterpart.
- The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace has stated that, had The Flash been renewed for an additional tenth season, the Arrowverse would have had a "Blackest Night" crossover event in which Despero would have invaded the Earth again and force the Flash to gather all of the Justice League whose formation was hinted at the end of the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" four-parter crossover. However, as The Flash was only renewed for a ninth season, these plans were cancelled.
