Ever since his debut, Darkseid has been one of the DC Universe's biggest threats. His strength, endurance, and cunning make him not just tough to kill, but nearly invincible. Even DC's strongest heroes can only ever manage a temporary victory against the Lord of Apokolips. Once, however, Darkseid was killed by none other than his adopted son, Mister Miracle, in the most unexpected way possible. Mister Miracle used a vegetable tray to take down Darkseid.
In 2017, writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads anti-life equation on one condition: Darkseid wants Scott's child.
The decision almost tears Scott in half. While giving in might save millions of lives, he would be dooming his own child to a life of torture and misery. When Scott initially accepts, his wife, Big Barda, is furious about it. Realizing that he can't condemn his son to the same life he grew up in, Mister Miracle devises a plan. He and Barda go to Darkseid with their baby Jacob and another gift, a vegetable tray. Just as Darkseid is ready to take Jacob, Barda blasts him with a cannon hidden in Jacob's carriage. With Darkseid blindsided, Scott reveals a knife hidden in the vegetable tray. A knife forged from the bones of Orion. Fulfilling the prophecy that Darkseid would be killed by his son, Mister Miracle stabs Darkseid to death, killing the Lord of Apokolips once and for all.
Though Darkseid is dead at the end of the story, it is made clear that the war which has so traumatized Mister Miracle is far from over. The final issue shows Scott going about his day, hallucinating all those he lost over the course of the story, including Darkseid. A notable element of the book is that Darkseid never speaks. That, coupled with the repetition of the phrase, "Darkseid is" makes it clear that this version of Darkseid is a metaphor for Scott's trauma. While Scott may have killed Darkseid and come to with his trauma, he'll still carry it with him for the rest of his life.
One of the things that make the Mister Miracle series so effective is how personal it feels, and there is a very good reason for that. The series was incredibly personal for writer Tom King. The knowledge that King himself is a veteran and new father makes Scott's problems feel so much more real.
While the knife placed in a vegetable tray might seem like a silly way to end a comic about the emotional toll of war, it works as a perfect metaphor. Killing Darkseid required Mister Miracle to appear pleasant on the surface while hiding something much darker underneath.
