Despero

"Bear witness to a coming Armageddon that you create 10 years from now, one that destroys your own planet. It's already happened Flash, that's why I, Despero, have to kill you. It's how I save our world."

—Despero to the Flash^[src]

Despero is a Kalanorian from the future and the former tyrannical ruler of Kalanor who was overthrown and banished by the rebels from his home planet for his misdeeds.

After arriving on Earth, Despero witnessed Armageddon and came to the present in order to stop Barry Allen from causing this event from ever happening. Despero ordered the Flash to kill Eobard Thawne as the latter will always be a danger to the Earth, but Barry refused to listen to his order and faced him in battle one last time, removing his connection to the Flame of Py'tar; which caused Despero's defeat.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Despero was born on the planet Kalanor. Eventually, Despero became the tyrannical ruler of Kalanor; who inflicted pain and suffering, as well as the fact that; he killed to get what he wanted. The Kalanorians rebels lead a war on Despero, and both sides suffered heavy losses. In the end, he was ultimately overthrown and banished; by the rebels from his home planet for his misdeeds.^[1]

After arriving on earth, Despero fabricated the truth; regarding his banishment, claiming that; he was the leader of a rebellion seeking to overthrow the ruling tyrant of Kalanor. After heavy losses on both sides, the rebels were victorious. But; when the time came to kill the tyrant, Despero chose to spare him. This act of mercy allowed the tyrant to rise again stronger than ever. He ended up sparing Despero; who he decided to banish to Earth; since he knew that losing his home world would be a fate far worse than death.^[2]

Armageddon[]

Eventually, after his banishment, Despero came to accept Earth as his new home. In 2031, Despero witnessed an Armageddon in Central City that he claimed was caused by the Flash. This event ended up destroying the planet. In order to prevent this from happening, Despero traveled back in time to kill the Flash.^[3]

Stopping Armageddon[]

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, which was caused by the Atom, and teleported Despero away to a random location. Sometime later, Despero teleported to S.T.A.R. 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 7 days to prove that he is not the man Despero believes he is and left.^[3]

Testing the Flash[]

Throughout the next few days, Despero would keep an eye on Barry to see if he was telling the truth or not. When "Barry" attacked Central City, Despero sought to complete his mission and kill the Flash.^[2] He tracked him to the Hall of Justice, where he fought Black Lightning and the other members of Team Flash, who were standing between him and Barry. After Barry escaped into the future, Despero left the Hall of Justice.^[4]

Rewriting of the timeline and returning to the future[]

Despero then returned to S.T.A.R. Labs and killed all of Team Flash by reading their minds when they refused to give up Barry's location, except Cecile Horton, who didn't know his location, when Despero tried to read Cecile's mind to see if she was lying, Barry resetted the timeline and Despero sensed it with pain, when he asked Barry what he had done, Barry told him about Eobard Thawne's actions and that the future is safe, he read Barry's mind and saw that he was telling the truth but Despero thought he had to see it for himself, he then returned to 2031 to see for himself; with the threat of his return if the world is still in danger.^[5]

Return to 2021 and final battle with the Flash[]

Despero returned to the present after sensing that the timeline was still in danger. He tried to convince the Flash that Eobard Thawne needed to die for the world to survive, but Barry refused to comply. Due to this Barry and Despero fought for one last time with Barry severing Despero's connection to the Flame of Py'tar. With his final threat to the Flash that he would pay, Despero disappears in a flash of fire, leaving his fate unknown.^[1]

Personality[]

Despero (apparently) has a sense of honor, as he refused to fight an unarmed individual, but he is also ruthless in battle and is not afraid to do what he has to do to complete his mission. Despero is also extremely aggressive and hostile towards his enemies as seen how he brutally murdered Team Flash in front of Cecile Horton in the other timeline; and caused Rosa Dillon extreme pain; when he almost killed her.

In Despero's travels on Earth and projecting his mind; into Barry Allen's, as he has bit of understanding of emotions as well as Earth's heroes. Although some lack of them as well; such as Team Flash's loyalty to Barry after discovering that; Despero might potentially be right.

Despite Despero's quest, he is quite arrogant about his powers, preparing a strike to take down Barry in one move and seeing Cecile as weaker in power to him. He also seems to consider Cecile his rival of sorts after seeing that; she was strong for a human empath and she managed to fend him off; when he attacked her and Rosa.

Despero is a tyrannical individual; who inflicted pain and suffering on other individuals, as well as the fact that; he killed to get what he wanted; even after being overthrown and banished; by the rebels from his home planet, Kalanor for his misdeeds, Despero did not reform at all.

When Despero had discovered that; Eobard Thawne was actually the one; who was behind all the events that; had led up to Armageddon not Barry, he wanted to have him killed so that; the apocalyptic future never happens. But; when he had learned that; Team Flash was going to save Eobard from being erased from existence, Despero became enraged; by this, believing that; as long as the latter still lives, he can still cause Armageddon. He was willing to wipe out all of Central City just to simply kill Eobard.

Powers and abilities[]

Powers[]

• Powers via Belt: Despero gains a few additional powers from his belt. These abilities do not come from Despero's connection to the Flame of Py'tar, and as such he did not lose them when he lost his other abilities.
  • Teleportation: With his belt, Despero was able to teleport to any location with a thought, and he could teleport others as well such as the Flash.
  • Time travel: Despero's belt also granted him the ability to travel through time. He used this power to travel from 2031 to 2021 to stop the Flash from causing Armageddon.
  • Shapeshifting: Despero could also use his belt to shape shift in between his true form and his human form; with the push of a button. In his true form, Despero is at full power.

Former powers[]

"This guy isn't just strong. I think he's messing with our minds."

—Ray Palmer to Barry Allen^[src]

• Flame of Py'tar connection/Kalanorian physiology: Due to Despero's connection to the Flame of Py'tar; he possess a wide array of incredible powers. As a Kalanorian, Despero is already unbelievably powerful; but after getting a boost from the particle accelerator, he has become next to invincible; making him one of the most powerful aliens to ever live as well as one of the strongest beings in the universe. But after Barry had severed Despero's connection to the Flame of Py'tar; he no longer possesses any powers.
  • Immortality: As a Kalanorian, Despero is immortal and is immune to age, disease and man-made weapons. He is also most probably immune to his own power as he got hit by the Flame of Py'tar and was unfazed, and was willing to destroy Central City using the Flame of Py'tar while he was still in it.
  • Telepathy: Despero can mentally communicate with other individuals, as demonstrated when he attacked the Central City Tech Convention.^[3] He can also mentally talk with others from a distance, as demonstrated during his final battle with the Flash. Due to the strength of his powers, Chester labeled him as at least a "9th level" telepath.^[2] In fact, his psychic abilities are so advanced, he's on par with Bashir Malik who is the avatar of the Sage Force.
    • Mind's eye: As an alien of vast psionic power, Despero has a third eye on his forehead that he can open and close at will. His mind's eye typically opens and glows red when he uses his telepathic powers.
    • Illusion inducement: Despero is able to plant illusions into other individuals' minds. He used this power on the Flash and the Atom, causing them to fire at nothing while Despero could sneak up behind them. He was also able to create illusions of himself while mentally spying on Barry. ^[3]
    • Sleep inducement: Despero was able to put Cecile to sleep with a mental command. Using his psychic powers to put people into a deep sleep, there is also a chance Despero can control people’s dreams as well, but this has yet to be seen.
    • Mind control: Despero was able to take control of a group of safety workers at S.T.A.R. Labs and cause them to attack each other, as well as Mia Queen to make her attack Team Flash.
    • Dowsing: Despero was able to scan the entire world's minds while he was looking for Barry, as well as lock onto Barry's mind when he was spying on him. Whenever Despero does this, he goes into a type of trance. Despero can also use this ability to see through illusions including speed mirages and find the real Flash.
    • Remote possession: Using his telepathic powers Despero was able to take possession of Mia Queen and use her to attack Team Flash without being anywhere near her. He was also able to speak through Mia in order to communicate with Team Flash.
    • Future vision bestowal: Despero was able to show the Flash the future by having him look into his third eye.^[3]
    • Pain inducement: After augmenting his powers using the Particle Accelerator, Despero's mind has become too powerful for any other mind to become entangled with it. Now whenever Despero looks inside someone else's mind he causes them immense pain.
    • Empathy: Despero like all Kalanorians has empathic abilities as an extension of his telepathy. Despero was able to sense that Cecile was scared of him.
  • Fire vision : Despero can generate a powerful fire-like energy from his third eye known as the Flame of Py'tar. There is also a chance that he can shoot this energy out of his normal eyes as well, but chooses not to. It's also been shown that the flame is a power source that boosts Despero's abilities.
  • Pyrokinesis: As a Kalanorian Despero not only receives enhanced power from the Flame of Py'tar, but also has the ability to control it at will. He was able to manipulate the Flame to use it to try and destroy Central City.
  • Space survivability: Despero was completely unaffected when the Flash tried to trap him in a vacuum to suck away his oxygen, indicating that he may be immune to the cold vastness of space.
  • Superhuman strength: Despero is extremely strong as he is able to pick up the Flash with one hand and slam him hard on the ground without any difficulty. Additionally, Despero was able to pick up and throw a taxi. Caitlin Snow has also stated that his strength is sufficient enough to match a Kryptonian in battle.^[3] Chester even stated his strength is equivalent to Alexa Rivera, who is the avatar of the Strength Force. However, despite how physically powerful Despero is, he seems to favor his mental abilities over his physical ones.
    • Superhuman jumping/leaping: The muscles in Despero's legs are extremely powerful, allowing him to jump great distances and heights and land without injuring himself.^[3]
    • Shockwave generation: Despero’s strength enables him to generate powerful shockwaves that can send grown men flying several meters. He punched Jefferson Pierce with such power it created a visible shockwave, and launched him across the room. In his alien form he's even stronger. He created a shockwave by punching the ground that caused the Flash to be blasted away.
    • Sonic scream/voice alteration: Despero's vocal cords are really strong, allowing Despero to enhance his voice. When Despero confronted the Flash, he altered his voice and made it partially echo.
  • Nigh-invulnerability : According to Caitlin, Despero's durability level is on par with solar powered Kryptonians. This is proven when the Flame of Py'tar was deflected back at him and he stood back up virtually unfazed in his human form. In his alien form, he's even harder to hurt, as Ray Palmer stated that Despero took his and Barry Allen's best shots like they were nothing. When Jefferson Pierce shot a lightning bolt into his third eye, he only felt mere discomfort.^[3] However, despite Despero’s body being practically indestructible, he does still feel minor pain from the fights he gets into, indicating the more damage he takes, the weaker he’ll get.
  • Superhuman speed: Despero can move much faster than a normal human. While not quite as fast as a Kryptonian or a Daxamite respectively, Despero is fast enough to appear as a blur when he runs, and leave behind afterimages. He ran up to the Flash and slammed him on the ground before Flash could react. Despero's reflexes were also equally sharp, as after the Flash knocked him down in their final battle, Despero was able to get up relatively quickly and grab the Flash before he could attack him.
  • Bioluminescence: Despero was able to make his eyes shine when confronting the Flash in his human form. He can also do the same with his third eye.^[3]
  • Regenerative health factor: Despero's enhanced physiology allows him to recover from injuries at a rapid pace. This is indicated by the few times Team Flash and their allies were actually able to land a decent hit on Despero, and he recovered in a few brief moments.
  • Temporal awareness: Despero was aware of the timeline changing after Barry caused Armageddon to undo the Reverse-Flashpoint.^[5]
  • Temporal immunity: Despero was unaffected when he was hit by the time wave the Flash created by undoing the Reverse-Flashpoint, indicating his powers grant him immunity to timeline changes.

Abilities[]

• Genius-level intellect/Master tactician/Leader: Due to growing up in an advanced civilization and being from the future, Despero is a tremendously intelligent alien. He knows how to operate various alien and futuristic technology, and could outthink his enemies in battle including the Flash, who is able to think at super speed.^[3] Chester P. Runk has even stated that Despero thinks like Gorilla Grodd. During his final conflict with Team Flash, he came up with a full proof plan to win the battle, and would have succeed if he hadn't gotten arrogant. Despero is also a highly skilled leader, as he once ruled over his home world with an iron fist, and as a result, all of the other Kalanorians feared him greatly and dared not to step out of line.
• Master hand-to-hand combatant: As the former ruler of Kalanor, Despero is a very skilled combatant. He was able to fight off the Flash even when the latter was using a speed mirage.^[3] He was also able to hold his own against and overpower Jefferson Pierce, but not before Barry could escape and Despero had to retreat.
• Expert archer: While possessing Mia Queen, Despero rapidly fired off several arrows at Team Flash with sufficient accuracy. However, there is a chance Despero was using Mia's archery skills.

Weaknesses[]

• Belt: Ray Palmer wore the A.T.O.M. Exosuit and destroyed the chips in Despero's belt.^[3]
• Strong wills: Despite the fact that Despero is an extremely powerful telepath, he cannot control other individuals who have a strong enough will; as seen with Mia Queen.
• Connection to the Flame of Py'tar: Due the fact that; all of Despero's powers comes from his connection to the Flame of Py'tar; if he becomes disconnected from it in any way; particualry; with it being turned against him; he will lose all of his powers.^[1] Despero's life force was also tied to the flame, so when he lost his connection to it, his body was incinerated, and he died.
• Charging up: Since the Flame of Py'tar practically; makes Despero a living bomb, it takes time for him to charge up. This is; partially what lead to his defeat as it took a while for him to power up and the Flash was able to stop him right as he was about to blow up the city.

Equipment[]

• Belt: Despero wears a high-tech belt that enables him to teleport, time travel, and transform into a human form.^[3] Despero also seems to have some mental control over his belt; allowing him to control who he wants to teleport and where he wants to teleport them to.

Appearances[]

The Flash[]

Trivia[]

• An alien that resembles Despero appears in the background of one of the D.E.O. monitors in the "Pilot" episode of Supergirl.
• Whenever Despero teleported, his belt generated a wall around him identical to glass. This is similar to the wall Stephen Strange's time manipulations created in the first Doctor Strange film.
• As of "Armageddon, Part 5", Despero's status is currently unknown. Following his final battle against Barry Allen, he disappeared in a flash of fire, implying that he may have been killed when his connection to the Flame of Py'tar was severed.
• Despero's powers share attributes with the Forces: Despero possesses psychic powers like Psych, he's just as strong as Fuerza and Despero's abilities grant him immunity to timeline changes identical to Deon Owens as the Still Force.
• In "Armageddon, Part 5", Barry comes to the conclusion that Despero is a villain, although it's not truly confirmed like previous antagonists. However, there are several nods shown in the episodes to support Barry's claim.
  • Despero speaks in a Shakespearean manner, through parables and words of grandeur. Not only does this frustrate Barry, it also hints at Despero's tyrannical nature. If he were telling the truth, he'd speak clearly and plainly.
  • Despero has no problem killing innocent city workers or Team Flash, who pose no threat to him aside from Flash himself.
  • In their final confrontation, Despero attempts to destroy Central City and kill both Flash and Thawne, for not choosing to let Thawne die.
    • Rather than make a scene, Despero could've reappeared in S.T.A.R. Labs, keeping Barry busy long enough until the timeline reset, erasing Thawne permanently.
• Despero possesses traits identical to that of an animal, such as when he roared at Chester, Allegra, Cecile and Iris as a way of threatening them.
• Despero should have vanished from 2021 after Barry undid the Reverse Flashpoint, since the version of 2031 that he came from no longer exist; like how Rex Tyler and Ray Palmer vanished when their pasts were changed.
  • However, the Flame of Py'tar most likely protected him from the ill effects of time travel. Only when his connection to the power source was severed was when his entire body combusted, presumably not just killing him but erasing his existence from the current timeline.
• In the end, Despero was proven right all along as Eobard got his speed back and technically managed to escape prison. Eobard should've gotten erased from existence to prevent the future for Armageddon from happening, which is also proven true in the final conflict between Barry and Eobard as their battle triggered Armageddon in Central City.^[6]

Behind the scenes[]

• In the DC comics, Despero is a warlord, an intergalactic conqueror and an enemy of the Justice League. He debuted in Justice League of America #1 (Oct. 1960), and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.
• Unlike in the DC comics, Despero is more of an anti-hero instead of an antagonist.
  • Though in an uneasy alliance with Vril Dox, Despero did serve to more heroic ends before.

References[]