Darkseid first became aware of the equation approximately 300 years ago when he made contact with the people of Mars. Upon learning of the Martian philosophy that free will could be defined by a "Life Equation", Darkseid postulated that there must exist a negative equivalent. Kirby's original comics established the Anti-Life Equation as giving the being who learns it power to dominate the will of all sentient and sapient races. It is called the Anti-Life Equation because "if someone possesses absolute control over you - you're not really alive."[2] Most stories featuring the Equation use this concept. A full version of the Equation supposedly existed in the mind of the billionaire "Billion Dollar" Bates, but he took it to his death. The Forever People's Mother Box found the Anti-Life Equation in Sonny Sumo, but Darkseid, unaware of this, stranded him in ancient Japan.
When Metron and Swamp Thing attempt to breach the source, which drives Swamp Thing temporarily mad, Darkseid discovers that part of the formula is love.[3]
In Walt Simonson's Orion (2001), it is revealed that Darkseid and Desaad have gained the Equation from clones of Billion Dollar Bates. In stopping them Orion learned the Equation, and tried to use it to make people happy and good, but decided that the suppression of free will is always a bad thing. It was later revealed that Mister Miracle knows the formula, but is one of the few with the willpower not to use it. During the series Young Justice, it was stated that the mystical heroine Empress holds within her a piece of an Anti-Life Equation, which allows her to control the minds of others to limited extents. Countdown to Final Crisis #10 reveals that the Pied Piper also contained the equation within his mind, as Desaad attempts to use Piper as his pawn to help him destroy Brother Eye and Darkseid so that he could rule Apokolips.
During the Final Crisis, Darkseid's plan comes to fruition even without Pied Piper's help. In fact, using the "spoken form" of the Anti-Life, Darkseid (reborn after his death as "Boss Dark Side" on Earth) is able to rebuild a strong power base on Earth. By having Mokkari unleash the Anti-Life Equation through the internet by E-Mail, it turned those exposed to it into his mindless slaves. Libra used the Anti-Life Equation to turn several members of his Secret Society of Super Villains into Justifiers while some of Earth's superheroines and supervillainesses were converted into a new version of the Female Furies.
It was revealed that the equation can be countered by drawing the New Genesis word for "freedom" on one's face. Also, Doctor Sivana invented a device that allowed Lex Luthor to wrest control of the Equation-controlled Justifiers from Libra and Darkseid. In Terror Titans #4, it is revealed that because of the brain's status as an electromagnetic organ, Static is immune to the Equation's effects. In Final Crisis #7, Wonder Woman breaks the Equation's hold over the people of Earth by binding Darkseid's body with the Lasso of Truth.
After Darkseid's disappearance, the Calculator tasks himself with the role of tracking down the fragments of the Equation left in the Internet, who had taken the appearance of floating diamonds in Alta Viva, a multi-player online game, similar to Second Life. By having real diamonds cut in the shape of the virtual ones, the Calculator hopes to harness and restore its power for himself.[4]
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