What’s up nerds? We’re here with another segment of Cool Nerd Knowledge. Today we are going to take a look at one of Superman’s most formidable opponents, Doomsday!
Watch the video about to see Scott break down all you need to know about the beast known as Doomsday, or if you’re not the video viewing type, read the bio below:
Doomsday’s Creation
Doomsday first appeared in ‘Superman: The Man of Steel #17’, in November 1992. Writer and author Dan Jurgens offered his design for Doomsday as a character that could physically match up against The Man of Steel.
Doomsday’s errr… father? Was an emotionless alien named Bertron. Betron was a geneticist who visited Krypton hundreds of thousands of years before the Kryptonian race ruled the land, a time when only deadly monsters roamed the planet (so, kinda like Earth with the dinosaurs, cept… y’know… scarier.)
Bertron had an obsession with creating a being that could survive an environment or encounter. This obsession led Bertron to experiment with humanoid test tube infants. Bertron would expose the infants to Krypton’s harsh environments. Each time an infant was released into the wild it would be killed by Krypton’s poisonous atmosphere, harsh temperatures or monstrous inhabitants.
The infant’s remains would be gathered and used to make the next child. This process lasted for years until eventually a subject managed to not only survive the environment, but also be able to regenerate itself. Every time the subject would “die” it would regenerate later with an immunity to what had killed it, making it the ultimate killing machine. Due to a decade of repeat deaths recorded within its genes, the subject came to hate all life and after spending two years killing every beast on Krypton, the subject came for Bertron, killing him and everyone within his lab.
A Path of Destruction
If you haven’t guessed by now, they subject later went on to become known as Doomsday. For hundreds of thousands of years Doomsday made his way from planet to planet by jumping aboard supply ships and eliminating every living thing in his path.
One of Doomsday’s first encounters was with Darkseid on Bylan 5. Doomsday crash landed on Bylan 5 and immediately tore Darkseid’s longtime friend, Master Mayhem, limb from limb. Darkseid challenged Doomsday and the 2 duked it out. The fight ceased when Bylan 5’s atmosphere became too toxic due to its destruction, causing Darkseid and his men to flee. During the exodus, Doomsday boarded an escape vessel and killed all of its occupants. The vessel later crash landed on the planet of Khundia.
After crash landing, Doomsday’s destruction continued until a brave warrior named Kobald lured the beast into a rocket that shot him back into space. Aboard the rocket, the battle between Kobald and Doomsday raged on until Doomsday killed Kobald, causing the rocket to explode. Doomsday then drifted throughout space for an unknown period of time. It is speculated that Doomsday was likely killed by the vacuum of space, only to revive later, immune to the void. It is also noteworthy to say Doomsday gains his energy from solar radiation, because of this he does not need to eat or sleep.
During his drift, Doomsday came across Green Lantern Zharan Pel and The Guardians of Oa. Many Green Lanterns were slaughtered during this battle. One Guardian sacrificed himself in order to create a dimensional tear in space, sending Doomsday towards the world of Calaton.
Doomsday caused a path of destruction on Calaton for years until one of the planet’s royal families sacrificed their lives and focused their souls into one single being named Radiant.
Radiant and Doomsday battled for days on end, causing much of the planet to suffer. Eventually Radiant was able to put an end to Doomsday (for now.) The remaining inhabitants of Calaton gave Doomsday a unique burial by strapping him up, loading him onto a ship and… yup, you guessed it, blasting him back into space. The ship traveled for another unknown period of time until it made its crash landing on Earth, where it lay dormant for several years.
Doomsday Kills Superman
Wreaking havoc on Earth drew the attention of the newly formed Justice League of America, consisting of: Ice, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Bloodwynd, and Maxima. The team began fighting the creature but proved no match to Doomsday. Blue Beetle was nearly killed, Bloodwynd was sent careening into an oil fire, and Booster Gold got launched at a rate of speed that not even his flight ring could stop. It was at this time that Superman arrived to catch Booster Gold, at which the witty warrior came up with a name for the beast stating “…it’s like Doomsday is here!”
The battle between Superman and Doomsday made its way to Metropolis. Superman was having little to no effect at harming the being until he began focusing on the bony exoskeleton, which seemed to do the trick. After a heated battle that destroyed much of Metropolis, Superman and Doomsday both landed mortal head shots on each other at the same time, killing them both.
In the aftermath, the world mourned Superman and would study Doomsday. Luckily, Hank Henshaw (Cyborg Superman) flung Doomsday back into space before the creature could resurrect itself again. Doomsday found himself traveling the cosmos yet again.
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