Doomsday (DC)
Doomsday is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Doomsday was a creature that was once native to the planet Krypton. His origins was traced to 250,000 years ago when Krypton was a harsh inhospitable planet with the only habitation being an extraterrestrial laboratory headed by the scientist Bertron. He was looking to breed the ultimate lifeform and created an infant that was sent out into the wild where he was killed within seconds by the deadly savage beasts of the world. The remains were recovered and a clone was bred with the new born infant once more sent to the surface who was once again killed either by the creatures or by the harsh planetary atmosphere. Bertron simply had the child's remains taken again and a fresh clone being bred who was once more set out again and again over the course of ten years. Each time, the infant survived longer in the harsh environment but still perished only for a new clone to be made of him. In the span of thirty years, millions of years of evolution were circumvented as the infant began to adapt to his harsh surroundings and grow more adept at surviving. On one occasion, the infant survived for several hours on Krypton's surface before perishing in an encounter with predators and was once more cloned as evolutionary adaptations formed on the offspring's body. The grand experiment continued until a new clone of the infant was grown that was now an adult which Bertron referred to as the Ultimate. He was dispatched to the surface where the creature survived for two years and followed a mission to live with the Ultimate hunting all the harsh predators of the planet to extinction. By this point, the creature was believed to had achieved perfection as it had evolved by defeating death. He then returned to the laboratory where he was created and remembered all the deaths he had experienced from his previous incarnations with him considering his creators a threat. After destroying the research complex, he wandered the surface and discovered a ship which supplied Bertron's expedition. He went on-board the craft that took the Ultimate into space who began to move from world to world bringing destruction in his wake. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2)
Around 245,000 years ago, the ship carrying Doomsday crashed on the world of Bylan 5 where he emerged from site unscathed. At the time, the world's inhabitants were being visited by the New Gods of Apokolips with it being expected that Darkseid was to marry their princess. The arrival of Doomsday led to the Apokoliptians dispatching Master Mayhem to deal with the threat where the skilled warrior was ripped apart by his foe. Such was the brutality of his death that Darkseid experienced fear for the first time in his life after seeing his old friend and comrade being killed. It was then Doomsday went on a rampage in the planet's chemical mines whose deposits were a valuable resource for Apokolips. This led to Darkseid intervening where he intended to defeat the beast using his bare hands. However, the damage to the mine had created a chemical reaction that made the planet toxic and no longer of any use. Thus, Steppenwolf ordered a retreat via a Boom Tube where Darkseid expected his foe to die on the world. Meanwhile, Doomsday continued his rampage where he sighted a fleeing shuttle and attacked it thus leading him back into space. This shuttle later crashed on the world of Khundia where the native war-like Khunds were engaged in a duel between two factions. Arriving on the world, Doomsday went on a rampage killing everyone in his path leading to the Khunds uniting to fight this threat. Despite their efforts, they were unable to stop the beast until one of their champions named Kobald decided to lure Doomsday onto a shuttle that went into space. He was killed but their fight resulted in the crafts destruction thus sending the beast tumbling through the vacuum of space. (Doomsday Annual v1 #1)
This led to him eventually arriving on the advanced world of Calaton where he ravaged the world for three years leaving only the capital city standing in the end. The royal family sacrificed their lives to embody a being that combined their abilities leading to the creation of the Radiant. The two artificially engineered beings battled one another in a fight that lasted over a week with Doomsday unable to fight a creature made of energy. Thus, the Ultimate was defeated by the stronger foe with his dead body being encased in a prison suit and left on a ship to wander space as they believed the murderer did not deserve burial on their ruined world of Calaton. The ship became trapped in an asteroid belt and fell to the surface on Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2)
Modern
Whilst floating in space, the asteroid was found by a starship that was salvaging raw material with them bringing their find on board only to discover the creature chained to it. They attempted to jettison the asteroid but Doomsday awakened having resurrected from his death and freed himself where he massacred the crew. The ship then went on its automated flight program to Apokolips where Doomsday escaped onto the surface. The Apokoliptians gathered their forces but were unable to stop the legendary Armageddon Creature that tore through their forces. At this time, the villainous Cyborg Superman whose mind was contained in a piece of technology he placed on Doomsday's corpse took over a dead body and fashioned it into a copy of his form whereupon he assisted the monsters rampage with the intention of taking the planet over once the Armageddon Creature was through with it. Darkseid then intervened and used his Omega Beams to disintegrate Doomsday but the had no affect on the beast. The creature then proceeded to brutally beat Darkseid and leaving him for dead whereupon he continued his rampage. By this point, Superman had arrived on Apokolips as he was searching for clues on Doomsday's origins only to be shocked to find the creature still alive and destroying the planet. Desaad used this as an opportunity to open a Boom Tube and sent the creature elsewhere with Superman failing to stop the monster from being sent away. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #1) Doomsday was transported to Calaton where he went on a rampage and devastated that world whose people before had defeated by calling for their champion the Radiant. However, this time, the Radiant was unable to fell the creature who had adapted to the energy based attacks leading to the Calatonian to be slain. Superman arrived at the scene alongside Waverider as the pair sought to stop Doomsday who had evolved new abilities allowing him to overpower and badly wound the Man of Steel. Even with the assistance of Waverider, they were unable to stop the persistence of Doomsday with Superman hatching on a plan where he took himself along with the creature into the timestream. Doomsday was deposited at the end of time when the universe collapsed and ceased to exist with the creature finally slain in this time period whilst Superman was saved by Waverider. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #3) Though defeated, the timeline was affected by the actions of Parallax during the Zero Hour incident. This allowed a Coluan by the name of Prin Vnok to use forbidden time travel technology to recover Doomsday prior to his death and returning him to the present. Once there, he was brought to Colu so he could transfer his master Brainiac's mind into Doomsday which he took as his new body. However, the strong survival instinct of Doomsday threatened to expel Brainiac from the body and he sought an alternative. He found one in the infant child of Pete Ross and Lana Lang who he sought to mutate with Doomsday's genetic material and claim as his new body. However, he was stopped by Superman who planted a psi-blocker on the body thus forcing Brainiac out and restoring Doomsday to his true nature. He attempted to attack the Man of Steel who tricked the beast into a transporter pod leaving him at first on the Moon then he rigged it so that the creature was in a constant state of transport to prevent his escape. (Superman: Doomsday Wars v1 #3)
During the Imperiex crisis, members of the United States government became desperate in forming a countermeasure against the cosmic conqueror. Thus, they dispatched the Suicide Squad headed by Manchester Black to reach the Justice League base on the Moon. Once there, they activated the teleporter and released Doomsday who defeated much of the Squad but it allowed Black to use his telepathic powers to embed within the creature a single minded directive to destroy Imperiex. This saw Doomsday charge against the Imperiex Probes that had been sent to Earth where he destroyed many of them alongside Superman. This was until Imperiex himself arrived with Doomsday charging at the cosmic being in space only to be reduced to a skeleton by the villain leaving the creatures body floating in space. (Adventures of Superman v1 #594)
Whilst on Apokolips, scientists attempted to replicate the creature but failed to do so due to his complex DNA. Thus, they used samples of it that were merged with Doctor Bedlam's Animates creating weaker copies of Doomsday. An army of such Doomsday animates were then deployed to fight the Amazons on Themyscira when Darkseid sought the capture of Kara Zor-El. (Superman/Batman v1 #10) When Superman traveled to Apokolips to reclaim the life of Steel, Mortalla ordered his troops to release Doomsday to help Darkseid. Doomsday's short freedom was quickly halted by Steel in the Entropy Aegis, an armor with incredible power that had been built out of the remains of an Imperiex probe. Doomsday disappeared and was seen wandering the harsh lands of Apokolips. (Superman Versus Darkseid: Apokolips Now v1 #1)
The Society later released Doomsday from his prison in the center of the Earth. Doomsday was freed from captivity in a cavern near the center of the Earth by Doctor Psycho and Warp. Doctor Psycho mind-controlled him and used him as the 'spear-carrier' of a super villain assault on Metropolis. Doomsday and the Society massed in Metropolis, where they were confronted by virtually every hero on Earth. Doomsday was there largely for symbolic value; the heroes could not help but remember that he was the monster who had killed Superman. The heroes and villains engaged in an epic battle. (Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special v1 #1) As he came into full view in front of Green Arrow, he was stopped by Kal-El and Kal-L, who made quick work of the villain as, for the first time since the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the two Supermen acted as a team. (Infinite Crisis v1 #6)
Doomsday reappeared shortly after the establishment of New Krypton in the North Pole. He fell from the sky during a Kryptonian delegation to Washington, D.C. Despite Doomsday's prodigious might, the battle was short-lived. Fighting against Superman would have been difficult enough, but he had little hope of winning against dozens of super-powered Kryptonians. Superman, Supergirl, Zor-El, Alura In-Ze and several others took Doomsday to the moon where they incapacitated him. (Action Comics v1 #871)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
Sometime after his defeat, Doomsday discovered a way to teleport in between the Earth and the Phantom Zone at will, allowing him to ravage a location and then return to the safety of the Zone. Around this time he also reached the next stage in his evolution Doomsday now secreted a toxin that would destroy or kill everyone within a few mile radius. With this new power Doomsday teleported himself to 'Honeymoon Island' in the Bahamas where he merely stood and let his new toxins annihilate the populace of three-thousand people. The U.S. military soon arrived however they were no match for his toxins, as they all burned. Doomsday then retreated into the Phantom Zone. Doomsday then re-emerged in Botswana where he began slaughtering the wild life. He was quickly met by the arrival of hero Steel. However Steel was no match for Doomsday who dispatched him in mere seconds. Before Doomsday could end Steel's life Wonder Woman arrived for a rematch. After a few seconds of conflict Doomsday's toxin began affecting Diana, although this didn't stop her from releasing her fury on the beast. Superman soon arrived on the scene, the arrival of such a force made Doomsday retreat into the Phantom Zone as he recognized that he might not win the battle. Doomsday would ravage huge portions of the planet, with the Justice League always missing him due to his dimensional travel. Eventually Superman was able to catch up to him in Mumbai. Superman immediately attacked the beast, dragging it outside of the Earth's atmosphere and into the solar system. The pair waged a titanic battle across the solar system until Superman seemingly incinerated Doomsday with his heat vision. However Doomsday survived and returned to Earth where he attacked Superman in Smallville. Overcome by anger caused by the slaughter of innocents, Superman ripped Doomsday in half. (Superman: Doomed v1 #1) In the aftermath of the battle Doomsday's toxins began infecting Superman. Slowly Superman began to turn into a Doomsday like creature known as SuperDoom, who would continue Doomsday's carnage. (Action Comics v2 #31) However in a climactic battle with Brainiac, Superman was cured of his affliction. (Superman: Doomed v1 #2)
Overview
Personality and attributes
His creator Bertron referred to the creature as the Ultimate as he believed it to be perfect being. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2)
He was driven by an instinct to survive with him being programmed to live and looking to kill threats. As such, he looked to sense, seek out and destroy those he considered hostile. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2)
An aspect of his biology meant that his genetic makeup meant that he remembered all the times he was killed. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2) This also meant that he saw Bertron as a threat to himself and despite his creators death he still saw the face of his maker in Superman which was why he sought to kill the Man of Steel. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #3)
It was said that he was a monster without a heart. Even beings who called themselves gods were said to had learnt to fear the name Doomsday. (Doomsday Annual v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
His eyesight was said to be incredibly acute that he could see objects with fine detail even if they were miles away from him. (Superman: Doomsday Wars v1 #2) He did not need to breathe or eat and lacked any internal organs along with had minimal fluids in his body and his form solid throughout. Doomsday was nourished by solar energy and could store a millennium of it within his body if necessary. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2) The creature had the ability to regrow the spiked bone growths on his body if they were shattered in combat. A key strength of the creature was his ability to adapt to attacks made against him. In one case, he adapted to ultrasonic attacks by having his auditory canals close off in an instant and making him impervious to such attacks. He also developed the ability to shoot out the spikes on his fists to pierce the skin of an opponent then pull it back to bring a distant foe to a closer range. These could also be coated in poisons which could affect even super-powered Kryptonians. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #3)
In one instance, he breathed flames against the fire-sensitive Martian Manhunter, and apparently neutralize his defensive phase-shifting power. (Superman v2 #175)
Doomsday was capable of surviving in any environment and said to be capable of destroying any foe. The creature was believed to had defeated death and had become immortal. In fact, if he was ever killed by a stronger foe than he simply returned back to life and evolved into a more superior being. He was incapable of dying as his body regenerated and Doomsday came back stronger than before making him unkillable. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2)
Notes
- Doomsday was created by Dan Jurgens where he made a cameo appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel v1 #17 (November, 1992) and made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel v1 #18 (December, 1992).
- IGN had ranked the character as number #46 on their list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time.
Alternate Versions
- In Flashpoint: Project Superman v1 #1 (2011), an alternate version of Doomsday appeared in the altered reality of the Flashpoint.
- In Dark Nights: Metal v1 (2017), an alternate version of the world designated as Earth -1 was shown in the Dark Multiverse. On this world, Superman went rogue for reasons unknown and killed Lois Lane whereupon he turned against the Justice League. In an effort to stop him, Batman engineered the Doomsday Virus to make him powerful enough to defeat the mad Kryptonian with him able to shift between his human form and his transformed state where he was known as the Devastator. However, the nature of his world meant that it was going to disappear into the Multiverse but the Batman Who Laughs recruited the Devastator to join him alongside their master Barbatos as they attacked the prime Earth.
In other media
Television
- In Justice League, the character made an appearance as an antagonist in the episode "A Better World" where he was voiced by Michael Jai White. He was shown crashing onto Earth where he proceeded to lay waste to Metropolis only to be confronted by the Superman of the parallel world of the Justice Lords. During the fight, this Superman lobotimized Doomsday with his heat vision.
- In Smallville, Doomsday appeared in the setting of the live-action television series in the form of the character Davis Bloome.
- In Krypton, Doomsday appeared in the setting of the live-action television series. This incarnation was Dax-Bron who was a Kandaorian with a unique genetic mutation who a thousand cycles ago was convinced to be the saviour in the civil war waged on Krypton. This saw him volunteering to be a test subject for the scientists Wedna-El and Van-Zod where their experiments in reactive evolution transformed Dax-Bron into Doomsday. The danger posed by him led to Doomsday being trapped in cryogenic stasis and guarded by a number of Kryptonians who wanted to prevent him from ever being released.
- In Superman & Lois, a character resembling Doomsday wearing his armored suit appeared in the setting of the live-action television series second season. It was later revealed that the person inside the suit was actually Bizarro.
Films
- In Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Doomsday featured as an antagonist in the live-action movie where motion capture was performed by actor Robin Atkin Downes. He was created from the dead remains of General Zod whose body was experimented by Lex Luthor. After gaining access to a crashed Kryptonian ship, Luthor managed to get the genesis chamber to mix his own DNA with Zod's to create a forbidden Deformity. Zod emerged from the chrysalis as Doomsday who was dispatched to kill Superman. The battle with Doomsday later involved Batman and Wonder Woman who fought at the abandoned pier at Gotham City. In the fight, Doomsday hand was severed but was regenerating when Superman pierced the creature with a Kryptonite spear. As Doomsday died, he similarly pierced Superman with a bone blade leading to the death of both fighters.
- In The Death of Superman, Doomsday appeared in the setting of the 2018 animated film where his vocals were provided by actor Fred Tatasciore.
- In Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, Doomsday himself did not appear but variations of him appeared in the setting of the animated film. Darkseid had merged the genetic material of Doomsday with that of the Parademons creating a powerful strain known as Paradooms which were deployed against Earth. They were used in the ambush against the Justice League where they dealt heavy casualties to the heroes after which they were deployed against Earth leading to the quick conquest of the planet.
Video games
- In The Death and Return of Superman, Doomsday appeared as a secondary boss villain in the 1994 side scrolling beat em' video game adaptation of the comic storyline.
- In DC Universe Online, Doomsday appeared as one of the antagonists in the MMORPG with him being voiced by actor Benjamin Jansen.
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Doomsday appeared as a playable character that featured both as a fighter and in the story mode where he was voiced by actor Khary Payton. He had a number of alternate skins available that included Doomsday, Regime, Blackest Night and Containment Suit. He was among the villains that battled the Justice League during Lex Luthors attack on the Watchtower. On the alternate Earth, that version of Superman was poisoned by Joker by chemicals to make him believe he was fightin Doomsday when in reality he had killed his wife Lois Lane along with their unborn child. This chain of events led him to establish the One Earth Regime with himself as a dictator who became the High Councillor. On this Earth, that version was captured and enslaved by High Councillor Superman through the use of implants. During the story mode, the Regime Doomsday was deployed to level Metropolis after the world population turned against the High Councillor. The main reality Superman was brought to this world where he battled the Regime Doomsday whereupon he took their fight to the Fortress of Solitude and on the fight Doomsday was banished to the Phantom Zone.
- In Infinite Crisis, Doomsday featured as a playable character in the MOBA game where he was voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore.
- In DC Legends, Doomsday appeared in the iOS video game with a Bio including his backstory.
Appearances
- Superman: Man of Steel v1: (1992)
- Action Comics v1:
- Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1:
- Doomsday Annual v1: (1995)
- Superman: Doomsday Wars:
- Adventures of Superman v1:
- Superman/Batman:
- Action Comics:
- Superman:
- Superman: Doomed v1:
- Batman/Superman:
- Superman/Wonder Woman:
External Links
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