If you haven’t caught the new “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” trailer, go check it out now. You’ll notice a big rocky monster who serves as the physical challenge for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to confront. And it’s got everyone who knows who he is going crazy!
Doomsday who?
So this creature is called Doomsday, and he’s the monster that killed Superman in the comics back in 1992/1993. He didn’t do it with Kryptonite or magic (Superman’s two traditional weaknesses), neither did he have any special gimmick to focus red sun radiation on the Man of Steel or drain his powers.
He did it by just punching Superman to death.
That’s how strong, tough, and unstoppable Doomsday is. After Doomsday killed Superman, there was an extended saga which culminated in Superman’s resurrection, and it also started a trend of killing off superheroes in comics. Doomsday also came back to life too, since it’s one of his superpowers (coming back from the dead).
But whenever he appears, there’s always one question on everyone’s mind. Will Doomsday kill Superman this time?
Doomsday in the comics
Long before Superman was born and Krypton (Superman’s birth planet) had any form of civilisation, it was a harsh, inhospitable planet. Its environment killed all but the most powerful creatures (Krypton’s a really bad planet to live on, since it just flat out exploded years later).
It was here that a scientist released an infant into the wilds to die, then cloned a stronger baby from the corpse. He repeated the process countless times, effectively forcing the infant through millions of years of evolution within a fraction of the time. The creature came to be dubbed “the Ultimate” and in a completely expected turn of events, killed his own creator and went on a murderous rampage throughout the galaxy.
He was eventually defeated by a foe with powers it had never encountered before, and his corpse was sent hurtling through space, where it landed on Earth. But all that dying and cloning had given Doomsday the ability to come back from the dead, immune to whatever had previously killed him. Stronger than ever, Doomsday bashed his way to Metropolis, where he faced Superman in a battle that killed both of them.
Doomsday in the movie (as deduced from the trailer)
So in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” it looks like Doomsday will have more terrestrial origins. It seems that Lex Luthor’s experimentation on the corpse of General Zod will lead to the creation of Doomsday. This is further supported by Doomsday’s tremendous blast of heat vision in the trailer (blocked by Wonder Woman’s shield, no less!).
He might have a similar origin as the version in the “Justice League Unlimited” animated series. There, Doomsday was created from Kryptonian DNA and brainwashed to specifically kill Superman. Unfortunately, his creators found him uncontrollable (gee, we could have told them that too) and tried to rocket him into space, but he broke free and clashed with Superman.
Why Doomsday adds that much needed balance in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
Up till now, we haven’t seen a threat capable of facing down Superman, let alone Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg. So Doomsday serves as the powerhouse antagonist that can physically fight our heroes.
Also, just as Lex Luthor is Superman’s smartest foe, Doomsday is Superman’s strongest villain (he’s defeated Darkseid before, the DC equivalent of Thanos). So in this film, Superman is challenged both physically and intellectually.
Doomsday’s other appearances
So this isn’t the first time Doomsday has appeared in a feature film. He appeared in the 2007 animated film “Superman: Doomsday,” where he and Superman brawl through buildings, subway stations and electrical power plants. He plays a supporting role in the “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse” animated film, where an army of cloned (but weaker) Doomsdays go up against Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and an island full of Amazonians. So this isn’t his first outing in a movie!
Doomsday also appeared in the aforementioned “Justice League Unlimited” animated series, as well as serving as the big bad of Season 8 in the TV series “Smallville.” So again, it’s not the first time he’s been depicted as a live action character!
Feats of Doomsday
So what else is Doomsday famous for? He defeated Darkseid, as mentioned earlier, and Darkseid is usually a threat for entire teams of superheroes. If you’re not convinced about how powerful Darkseid is, well, he wields the Omega Beams, which flat out disintegrate its targets. But of course, Doomsday survived them and then beat Darkseid into the floor.
He also took down the Justice League sans Superman — twice. Once in his first appearance (but to be fair, this was a pretty watered down version of the Justice League, consisting of Guy Gardner [a Green Lantern], Fire, Ice, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Maxima, and Bloodwynd [Martian Manhunter in disguise]), and again in “The Doomsday Wars” storyline (where this time, the Justice League was made up of Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash Martian Manhunter, Orion, and Plasticman).
Doomsday was also possessed once by Brainiac, the evil sentient supercomputer foe of Superman. In that vastly smarter form, he again beat Superman up, but was outwitted by the Man of Steel.
So now the question is — will Superman survive his second movie, or will we see a Justice League without a Superman?
This article was first published on Yahoo.
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