Respect Libra, Herald of Darkseid, The Anti-Life that Walks (DC Comics)

 

This blog was requested of me so....hope it helps.

Libra was originally the genius human Justin Ballantine. His mother died to her alcoholic pharmacist mismeasuring medicine she needs. His father became abusive after her death and one night found little Justin on the roof stargazing. Angry at him "wasting his time" he went to strike his son, but lost his balance and fell to his death. Justin found that all things seemed to revolve around balance; the balance of medicines, the balance of gravity, the balance of the stars. He created with his genius a device capable of removing half the power of anything, so he could absorb it, planning on absorbing the incalculable light of the stars.

But as he grew in power, he transcended past the human condition, losing himself to the cosmos. Far above on dark Apokalips, the dark tyrant Darkseid brought about the rebirth of Libra as a being like the new gods, wanting to use his unique power for his aim... After the great war in Heaven, as Darkseid dying finally triumphed over Heaven, his falling form fell into the multiverse he sent Libra as his herald to declare his triumph on the Earth. Libra was reborn as something akin to the new gods, but not. 

Intelligence/Cosmic Awareness:

Libra is a scientic supergenius, built his Energy Transmortifier, an incredible machine allowing him to absorb half the energy of the Milky Way Galaxy. This is a particularly impressive feat given that even Darkseid seems to be impressed with this ability, making Libra part of his plans, Darkseid being a Type 5 Hypergenius who can do things like create technology to turn people into cosmic forces.

 He is knowledgeable about the history of DC's Crisis. He's also a clever manipulator, using the JLA's foes as pawns against them and called a more fearsome foe than any of the JLA's previous ones as of his first appearence in the 1970s.

Libra as he ascended to the Sphere of the Gods gained a cosmic awareness, seeing sights and hearing sounds far beyond those man knows. He saw images, concepts, ideas, he could never dream off.

Power-Stealing:

Libra's most famous power, and during his first confrontation with the JLA in Bronze Age, his only ability. Libra created a machine that allowed him to steal the energies from others. He outfitted his minions with belts that let them drain the JLA's powers, even taking something as broad as Batman's intelligence. Libra's machine was so strong that it allowed him to steal half the energy of the Milky Way Galaxy itself which began his ascendance.

Power:

After reappearing Libra demonstrates advanced strength, though somewhat vaguely. He does not seem to demonstrate the godly physical stats of the New Gods. Libra physically overpowered Hawkgirl, throwing her a distance to protect the minor villain the Living Flame. However he never shows the ability to physically fight any of DC's large-name bricks physically. But his power is not primarily physical, and it is noted on another instance that his power is "Incalculable."

Teleportation/Conceptual Movement:

Libra teleports Martian Manhunter to him, and reached the Sphere of the Gods without a boom tube.

Fire Projection/Regeneration Negation:

Libra caused his weapon, a pair of scales to alight in flame and killed the Martian Manhunter with it despite his regeneration.

Paralysis:

Libra as he begins to ascend to Godhood, immobilized the JLA so they couldn't even try to stop him. 

Mental Manipulation/Aura/Passive Forcefield:

Libra's voice is supernaturally persuasive after becoming Herald of Darkseid. His aura naturally shields him temporarily shielding him from a repeated barrage of fists from the speedster Inertia.

Mental Manipulation Resistance and Granting:

As he was dying, Martian Manhunter tried to mentally overcome the Injustice Gang. Despite being highly weakened, he succeeded in mentally brainwashing all of them into seeing the JLA killing them brutally, however Libra was immune and Libra cleansed them of the effect. Spectre was also unable to read Libra's true name.

Spiritual Resistance:

Crispus Allen Spectre went to punish Libra. Libra however proved immune to the Spectre's powers proclaming himself a unique being in the universe, eternal and which the Spectre has no power over. He then sent the Spectre away forcefully.

Those are basically all the powers, Libra demonstrates. But it gets a bit more complex.

Stolen Powers:

During the first battle with the JLA, Libra uses minions to steal powers from the JLA. He stole Green Lantern's power ring's energy and Aquaman's "amphibian powers", Superman's strength, the Flash's speed, the Elongated Man's streching powers, and Batman's intelligence.

If you just used the powers listed that would suggest Libra gained universal level energy projection/constructs, Aquman's... water-breathing I guess?, universal strength/durability, Conceptual level speed, elasticisity and type 5 intelligence. 

But then he used the Energy Transmortifier to absorb half the power of the entire galaxy. The Earth and other inhabitated planets with metahumans are within the DC Milky Way Galaxy. So...it's possible he gained half of EVERY powerset that was on DC Earth at the time.

And that sounds insane, but...he's actually stronger after his rebirth.

Anti-Life Equation:

During the storyline "Death of the New Gods", a storyline which is considered apocryphal, meaning potentially canon potentially not, it is revealed what the Anti-Life is. Anti-Life is actually a living entity, and one half of the Source, the infinite energy representing imagination that created all the new gods according to it. It is possible that this half was what caused Libra's recreation for when Libra returns to Earth he is called by Lex Luthor the Anti-Life Equation itself suggesting he temporarily absorbed half of the Source itself. This is implied again with his being the cause of the Justifier Helmets which forcibly imbue one with Anti-Life making them slaves to Darkseid.

So what is the Anti-Life Equation? If Libra is truly host body to the ALE he is host to an unfathomably strong entity. The Anti-Life Equation is a mathematical equation proving life is meaningless. What can it do?

• Warp all of Creation to take away God's light.
• Turned the gods of New Genesis into homeless people on Earth.
• Nullified the powers of the New Gods by severing their connection to the Source.
• Usage of it can kill a large number of gods accidentally.
• A mere aspect of it controlled all of Thanagar.
• Can bind conceptual entities like the Black Racer to one's whim.
• Turned a regular scientist into the Anti-Monitor.

And this is really the tip of the iceberg. The Anti-Life Entity is a conceptual entity like the New Gods, but far greater. Libra is given the title "The Anti-Life that walks" seemingly because just as the New Gods took human body to manifest on Earth in FC, so too did the ALE manifest in Libra. 

Weaknesses:

Libra's human body is relatively speaking, cosmically fragile considering the force that seems to be within. Inertia managed to really beat him up after he got past the aura, he implied he wouldn't be able to beat Martian Manhunter in a fight, and Lex Luthor shot him dead with one strike.

Also Libra seems to have a strangely idealistic belief that all evil beings are mutually working towards the cause of evil's sake, and while he anticipates treacheries for evil, he never expects a villain to do good which has led to two of his defeats indirectly. He's like the moral opposite of the moral paragon hero who can't understand how any hero would ever turn from justice. Libra has lost 2-3 times, the first time being arguable during his first appearence where he gained so much power he ascended from reality uncontrollably. The other two times, once by the Flash's Rogue Gallery and once by Lex Luthor were both because a villain betrayed his expectations. He's never once been actually defeated by a member of the JLA or any hero.

Summary:

Name: Libra, Justin Ballantine, the Anti-Life that walks

Origin: DC Comics

Powers and Abilities: Possibly Conceptual Nature, Enhanced Stats and Intelligence, Power-Stealing, Teleportation, Conceptual Movement, Fire Projection, Regeneration Negation, Paralysis, Mental Manipulation, Aura/Passive Forcefield, Resistance to Mental and Spiritual Manipulation | Vastly Higher Stats, Elasiticity, Water-Breathing, Enhanced Senses, Cosmic Awareness, Likely far more | Infinite Conceptual Reality-Warping especially enslaving entities to Darkseid's will

Destructive Capacity: Building Level+ (Scales above low tiers physically) | Universal+ (Stole half of Superman's strength and Green Lantern's energy) | Infinite (Anti-Life granted Anti-Monitor enough power to reduce infinite universes to 5)

Range: At least Galactic (absorbed half the power of the Milky Way) | Possibly Universal | Possibly Infinite

Speed: Hypersonic (Scales to DC Low Tiers) | Infinite Conceptual Speed (Half the speed of Barry Allen who can travel to other realms a conceptually infinite distance away)

Durability: Building Level+ (Scales above low tiers physically), possibly higher (took a beating from Inertia) | Universal+ (Stole half of Superman's durability)

Stamina: Unknown

Standard Equipment: Spear, Scales, Energy Transmortifier

Intelligence: Possibly Type 5 Supergenius (Created technology that granted power considered notable by Darkseid) | Type 5 Supergenius (Half of Batman's intelligence)

Key: Base | With the stolen powers | Anti-Life