Villain Profile: Doomsday

I believe that science is ultimately a force of good. Scientific advancements have helped promote longer, healthier lives, and our improved everyday lives. Even the rather controversial branch of scientific research, cloning, will most likely prove to be more helpful than harmful in the long run. Although, if there were scientists like the one who made the monster Doomsday, then I could understand being apprehensive.

He kills, therefore he...is?

The being known as Doomsday was created eons ago on Krypton, some 250 thousand years before the humanoid Kryptonians came into being. In its primordial days Krypton was a hellish world populated by the monstrous Kryptonian equivalent of dinosaurs. It was a planet where only the strongest, most destructive creatures had any hope of survival. An alien scientist known as Bertron came to this world to complete his research on creating the Ultimate being. His methods were…sadistic. And that’s putting it lightly. Bertron created a humanoid infant via in vitro, whom he named Baby. As soon as Baby was finished, Bertron put Baby out onto Krypton. He died within minutes because of the scorching heat of Krypton. Bertron then collected Baby’s corpse and then cloned him. As soon as the new Baby was cloned, it was put out onto Krypton again, and then died again. Bertron did this again, and again, and again, over decades. Over time, Baby’s clones grew stronger with each generation. Eventually Baby adapted to Krypton’s hellish environment, to the point where he stopped dying from exposure. Which is exactly what Bertron hoped for, but there was an unfortunate side effect. Somehow, Baby’s deaths were recorded in his genes. Basically, each new clone of Baby retained all the memories of his previous incarnations. And, since he only lived long enough to die, Baby developed an intense hatred for his maker.

God, I hope this fight is happening on another planet. In another
solar system. Two Galaxies away.

Even after Baby grew strong enough to not die from Krypton’s harsh environment, the various native beasts still found him to be a tasty snack. This altered the nature of his hate, from just Bertron to all living things. After a few more decades of death and rebirth via cloning, Baby started evolving on his own. First he gained the ability to survive without food, water, or air, getting all the energy he needed from solar energy. A few more clones later, he actually gained the power to regenerate and revive himself after each death, and adapt to whatever killed him. Each death made his skin, muscles, and bones harder, or added sharp, boney ridges on his body for additional weapons, and always increased his hatred for life. Bertron took to calling him the Ultimate once he started to revive himself. After a few more deaths and resurrections from his new “die and revive” ability, The Ultimate went on a rampage. A genocidal rampage. Er, rampages. He personally hunted down and slaughtered every predator on Krypton. This carnage ironically created the nitch in Krypton’s environment necessary for Kryptonian’s to evolve and dominate the planet. Some good from some bad. While still several decades away from getting his name, I think it’s safe to call him Doomsday now.

Doomsday is not amused.

After he basically killed a planet, Doomsday turned his hatred on Bertron. Keep in mind, Doomsday remembers every death, every cry of agony, every drop of his blood spilt, and each and every time that Bertron left him outside. I haven’t seen it, but I imagine the only thing left of Bertron after this was a bloody smear on the ground, and bits of flesh in between Doomsday various horns. He escaped Krypton when Bertron’s regular delivery of supplies came. Open the door, expect to see a smarmy little scientist, and get a seven foot tall avatar of destruction and death. The delivery guy must have died from either heart attack or dismemberment. Of the two, I hope heart attack, it’s a little cleaner way to go. Doomsday flew the ship (somehow) across the cosmos, killing everything that got in his way. He eventually crossed paths with Darkseid on a planet called Bylan 5. Darkseid was there to marry a princess, as part of a plan to get access to Bylan 5’s chemical deposits, when Doomsday attacked. The two would have met in battle, which probably would have destroyed the planet, had Doomsday’s initial rampage hadn’t destroyed Bylan 5’s resources. Rather than dirty his hands, Darkseid fled, though not before taking in the creature’s destructive power.

Surprisingly strong
cables.

Doomsday ravaged several other planets, and the Green Lantern Corps before landing on a planet called Calaton. He killed the majority of the Calatonians over the course of three years, until the capital city was the only place left standing. The royal family of Calaton, having run out of options, combined their life energies and transformed into a being known as the Radiant. The Radiant hit Doomsday with an energy burst that laid waste to a fifth of the planet as well. Doomsday’s body remained largely intact, but the blast was enough to remain dead for several weeks while regenerating. The surviving Calatonian’s prepared Doomsday “dead” body in the traditional manner for horrid killers, encasing his body in armor so his soul couldn’t enter the spirit world and then launching Doomsday into space. The bonds they forged for the burial armor must have been incredibly strong, for Doomsday remained chained after regaining consciousness in space. Doomsday drifted through space for a time before crashing on Earth, burying himself miles underground. This kept Doomsday imprisoned for several millennia, given that he was cut off from the solar energy that he needed to thrive. But it didn’t stop him completely. Think of it being switched to power save mode, he’s running slower but he’s still active.

About the face I'd make if I was forced to see my inner evil
personified.

After a few thousand years beneath the Earth, Doomsday broke an arm free. This was all the monster needed to free the rest of himself and dig his way to the surface. He started laying waste to the Midwest, which drew the attention of the Justice League. Doomsday fought the entire League, including Superman, with one arm literally tied behind his back. It was during this fight that Doomsday earned his name, as the Justice Leaguer Booster Gold said the creature’s rampage was like “the arrival of Doomsday.” Superman and four other Justice Leaguers combined their energy powers together, but only succeeded in freeing Doomsday’s other arm. What would have been at least a stunning blow before Calaton was reduced to a minor annoyance.  So… not a great turn of events. Doomsday honed in on Superman and started hunting the Kryptonian. Apparently all of his time dying Krypton had caused the creature to develop a “Krypton sense,” and told the beast to kill whatever the thing from Krypton with extreme prejudice. His body came up with a clever trick to ensure the most unbridled, destructive, rage filled attack. To Doomsday’s eyes, Superman looked like Bertron. The best way to keep his attention. Superman and Doomsday fought across the Midwest. During their battle Superman realized that Doomsday would continue to hunt him and attack him without fear or compassion. Worse, as they battled Doomsday continued to adapt and grow stronger. He developed the ability to fly and also gained harder armor as the two titans clashed. The fight finally ends with Doomsday and Superman beating each other to death at the steps of the Daily Planet.  The monster was slain, but the price was very heavy.

Davis Bloomesday.

In the wake of Superman’s death, several other Supermen came forward to take Superman’s place. One of them, Cyborg Superman, chained Doomsday’s body to an asteroid and flung him into deep space. This story ends with Doomsday awakening and laughing madly as he drifted through space. Despite Cyborg Superman’s assurances, Doomsday has returned several times to menace Earth and the rest of the universe. Overtime he’s actually developed intelligence, advanced enough for him to reason and speak. This change doesn’t stop him from killing things, but now he can make evil speeches while killing things.

Doomsday is the single most perfect predator in the universe. His ability to heal and adapt making him an unstoppable killing machine. His healing factor varies with how much damage he’s sustained. For example, it took him days to resurrect after his brawl with Superman, but after a confrontation with a powerful being called Imperiex he was reduced to a skeleton, this took several months to recover from. His various deaths have left him with very few weak points, and virtually no internal organs. The dude is just a giant lump of scar tissue and bone. He’s grown so resistant to damage that even Darkseid’s Omega Beams, those laser eyes that reduce almost anything to dust, just annoy him more than anything. He’s strong enough to break Superman’s bones, and fast enough to catch the Flash when he’s in motion. And each defeat ultimately only makes him more powerful. Despite technically being from Krypton, he’s only recently developed a weakness to Kryptonite. And it doesn’t kill him, but only severely weakens him.

The face of the real monster, Bertron.

Doomsday has appeared in several DC franchise, and is usually depicted as one of the greatest foes Superman has ever faced. Surpassing even Darkseid in terms of his destructive power.

Doomsday appeared in a Justice League episode entitled “A Better World.” He crash landed on a parallel Earth and was defeated by the Justice Lords, an evil tyrannical version of the Justice League. He returned in the main universe in Justice League Unlimited. This version is an evil clone of Superman created by Project Cadmus designed to hate Superman and be superior to him in every way. After Project Cadmus tried to destroy him, Doomsday escaped and went on a rampage. He and Superman eventually duke it out. The fight only ended when Superman tossed Doomsday into an active volcano, encasing him in lava. They tried to reason with the beast, but he was hostile and immune to any forms of interrogation. They imprisoned Doomsday in the Phantom Zone, since, you know, he’d probably just break out of any prison they threw him in.

A version of Doomsday appeared in Smallville in the eight season. This version had a human form by the name of Davis Bloome. Not a very subtle name, it has Evil and Doom in it. Davis Bloome is portrayed by Sam Witwer, while Dario Delacio played the actual monster. Over the course of the series we learn that he arrived on Earth with Clark, and that he’s the genetic son of General Zod and his second in command Faora spliced together with the strongest creatures of Krypton. Initially Doomsday is shown to be a Jekyll and Hyde style villain, Davis trying his damnedest to keep the beast in check with anti-psychotics, but the beast continues to break free. Clark Kent’s friend Chloe Sullivan tried to help Davis, but only succeeded in making Doomsday more powerful. She made him immune to Kryptonite in an attempt to mercifully kill him. For a while Davis keeps the beast in check by killing criminals, but even that fails to stop his rages entirely. The beast is… calmed by the presence of Chloe. This is later explained as Davis’ obsessive feelings for Chloe, which were necessary to bring about the Doomsday mutations, also helped force the beast back. Convoluted? A little, but hey, Doomsday is a cool enough baddy for me to give it a pass. Upon discovering her power over Doomsday, Chloe resolves to be with Davis to keep him in check and protect Clark from Doomsday. In the end, Clark uses black kryptonite (a more exotic kryptonite that causes beings to split into “good” and “evil” halves) to split Doomsday from Davis and then buries the beast deep in the Earth. Unfortunately, Davis proves to be a monster too, murdering Chloe’s husband Jimmy Olsen (not that Jimmy Olsen) when he discovers that she only stayed with Davis to help Clark. Jimmy pushes Davis onto some spikes just before dying. This entire endeavor shakes Clark Kent’s faith in Humanity, and puts him into a depression for the next few episodes. It’s a unique take on Doomsday, showing Davis to be a tragic figure that was consumed by the evil of his creation and destiny.

He loves breaking Superman

Doomsday was the titular villain of Superman: Doomsday. In it, he’s a monster released from his prison by some Lex Corp scientist that were performing illegal experiments. He is described as a Kryptonian bioweapon designed to kill any living creature it comes across. Superman and Doomsday battle across Metropolis, and is ultimately defeated when Superman flies them both into orbit then drops back to Earth. He doesn’t revive like in the comics, but is still seen as Superman’s greatest foe. Despite being the titular bad guy, Doomsday is only in the film for the first twenty minutes or so. They might have wanted to call it, After Doomsday, to highlight the fact the film focuses on what happens when the world lost Superman. Just a thought.

Doomsday clones appear in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. They are used by Darkseid to distract Superman, Batman, and the Themyscirans while Darkseid kidnapped Supergirl. And that’s it. He got a little action, but left a big impact. And by impact, I mean craters.

Doomsday is an interesting villain. He’s not really evil, he’s more a force of nature. He kills because he must, it is his entire reason for being. The monster is nearly unstoppable and unfeeling, and yet given his backstory I can’t help feeling sorry for him. He didn’t want to be a monster, he didn’t even get a chance to be anything else. He was made by one sick scientist in an attempt to prove himself right. Bertron got exactly what he wanted, an unstoppable, invincible super being. It’s a shame that Bertron’s death couldn’t bring some peace to Doomsday. Instead, it just fueled his rage. He’s like a dog from one of those dog fighting rings, he’s been forced to kill so much, and so often that he doesn’t really understand that he doesn’t have to kill to survive. Other peoples choices shaped him, he just goes by what he knows.  He’s the Deadly, Destructive, Demonic, Dastardly Doomsday.

 http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Doomsday

 http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/File:SupesvsDoomsdayConcept.jpg

 http://dcmovies.wikia.com/wiki/Doomsday_%28Superman:_Doomsday%29

 http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Doomsday

 http://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/File:DavisMeetsDoomsdayDVD.jpg

 http://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/File:S08e22_%284%29.png

 http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Bertron

 http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman/Superman_Vol_1_3.1:_Doomsday