"Billion-Dollar" Bates is one of the many characters created by Jack Kirby. He is insanely rich, thus giving him the nickname "Billion-Dollar" Bates. Bates was known to be the possessor of the Anti-Life Equasion. He held rituals with "The Sect" beneith the catacombes of his mansion. During one of the rituals, he was killed by one of his body guards.

Since then, Darkseid has made "Clone Bates". A clone his minions created after the true Bates was killed. "Clone Bates" has stayed wired up on Earth and tormented by Desaad, trying to extract the equasion from his brain. He has then given his gift of the Anti-Life Equasion to Orion, after tracking and killing Desaad in the catacombs. With the Anti-Life Equasion, Orion also reserected Desaad.