Doomsday

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The Ultimate Killing Machine

Originally known as "The Ultimate", Doomsday was born in prehistoric times on Krypton, long before the humanoid Kryptonian race gained dominance over the planet about 250,000 years ago. It was at that time a violent, hellish world, where only the absolute strongest of creatures could survive. In a cruel experiment involving evolution, intended to create the perfect living being, the alien scientist Bertron released a humanoid infant (born in vitro in a lab) onto the surface of the planet, where he was promptly killed by the harsh environment. The baby's remains were collected and used to clone a stronger version. This process was repeated over and over for decades as a form of accelerated natural evolution. The agony of these repeated deaths was recorded in his genes, driving the being insane and instilling hatred of all life.

As it evolved, the child eventually became able to survive the high temperatures and searing atmosphere, only to be quickly slain by the vicious predators that inhabited the planet. Over time, and without the assistance of Bertron's technology, he gained the ability to thrive on solar energy without the need for food or air, to return to life and adapt to overcome whatever had previously killed him. The Ultimate hunted and exterminated the dangerous predators of Krypton. He then killed Bertron, whom he had come to identify as an enemy.

The Ultimate escaped Krypton via a ship that regularly arrived to deliver supplies to Bertron (who had wanted little contact with the planet's natives) and went on a killing spree across several planets. It began 245,000 years earlier on planet Bylan 5, where Apokoliptian prince Uxas (the future Darkseid) was about to wed a princess (to obtain that planet's chemical deposits for Apokolips's weapons factories). The Ultimate killed Uxas' ally Master Mayhem almost instantly and instilled great fear in Uxas, having watched their fight. Just as the Ultimate and Uxas were about to meet in combat, Uxas was forced to flee; the Ultimate's rampage had caused the planet's atmosphere to become toxic, thereby rendering the chemicals worthless to Apokolips. The Ultimate hitched a ride on an escaping shuttle, which crashed on Khundia. The warring Khundian clans united to build protective armor for a warrior named Kobald, who they hoped would survive long enough to force the Ultimate onto a rocket. Once the rocket was in space, the Ultimate killed Kobald and the resulting explosion sent him hurtling through space.

He next crossed paths with a Green Lantern named Zharan Pel, beating him to death. The Ultimate took the Lantern's power ring and, sensing the power of the Guardians of the Universe, headed towards them. Thousands of Green Lanterns were slain attempting to stop him. Upon reaching Oa, a lone Guardian lured him away from the planet and engaged the creature in battle. Wary of the others joining the fight, fearing the Ultimate would absorb their powers as he believed was happening to his powers, the Guardian turned his powers on himself as a sacrifice. The release of energies by the Guardian's actions tore a void in the fabric of space through which the Ultimate fell.

Eventually arriving on the planet Calaton, he ravaged that world for three years. With only the capital city left, the royal family underwent a ritual to merge their life forces into a being called the "Radiant", a being of living energy. The Radiant killed the Ultimate with a huge blast of energy, laying waste to over a fifth of his planet in the process. In common Calatonian burial procedures, the Ultimate's seemingly dead body was suited and shackled to prevent his spirit from escaping into the afterlife, and he was shot into space because the murders he committed made him unworthy of burial on Calaton. Eventually, his metallic casket crashed on Earth, the force of the impact driving it deep underground.

Rematch: Hunter/Prey

After passing through a wormhole, Doomsday's asteroid was found by a deep-space scavenger ship en route to Apokolips. Doomsday was fully rested and, after killing the crew of the salvage ship, found himself landing on Apokolips. This was to be the setup for a final showdown between Doomsday and Superman, who had been uneasy about the possibility of Doomsday's resurrection. With the help of his Justice League contacts, Superman procured a Mother Box after Darkseid's servant DeSaad contacted Earth about a problem on Apokolips.

Unknown to Superman, Doomsday had faced and beaten Darkseid in single combat despite being empowered by the Omega Force, even after withstanding the full effect of Darkseid's beams, and was laying waste to Apokolips. Before Superman could deal with Doomsday, DeSaad opened a Boom Tube to Calaton – the first world where Doomsday was successfully defeated – and sent Doomsday through to what he believed was his defeat at the hands of the Radiant. Doomsday was able to adapt, however, and overcome any opponent because of the process by which he was created, so, although the Radiant had defeated him once, he would not be able to defeat him again. Likewise, even though Superman had killed Doomsday once before, he was unable to do so again. Superman, while knowing this – having learned Doomsday's history from Waverider – was obsessed with stopping Doomsday and followed him to Calaton. He fought Doomsday again with the help of the Mother Box, but, despite it providing him with extra weapons such as an ultrasonic gun and an energy sword, Superman met with defeat as Doomsday's evolution rendered him immune to Superman's attacks, such as his auditory channels being sealed by new bone growths or his knuckle-bones being able to shoot out of his body to 'pin' Superman in the air. Eventually, with his left arm having suffered a compound fracture and most of his weapons lost, Superman was forced to use one of Waverider's time travel devices to leave Doomsday stranded at the End of Time, where Doomsday met the one force he could not overcome: entropy. Upon returning Superman to the present, the Mother Box healed Superman's injuries and then "died". On Apokolips, Darkseid, despite being beaten to the brink of death by Doomsday, became fascinated by him after witnessing his abilities firsthand and learning his origin from Waverider.

Sentience

Superman (vol. 2) #175 commemorated the 100th issue since the death of Superman in battle with Doomsday, by staging a rematch. Doomsday's skeleton was retrieved and his flesh regrown by Lex Luthor using Superman's Kryptonian DNA, who gave Doomsday to Darkseid to repay Earth's war debt to Apokolips (Darkseid sought to control Doomsday since their last encounter). By this time, Doomsday had evolved sentience. Luthor arranged for the Joker to set Doomsday loose in Washington, D.C., to demonstrate that he was "in good working condition". It also happened to be the anniversary of the day that Superman had died while stopping Doomsday. Despite being weakened by kryptonite exposure when Luthor attempted to exploit Doomsday's Kryptonian origins, Superman's heart was restarted by Black Lightning and he reached Doomsday just as the monster was struggling with Martian Manhunter. Learning from J'onzz that Doomsday wanted to kill Luthor because he blamed Luthor for his "death" in the Imperiex War, Superman would soon fight Doomsday again and, this time, humbly defeat the creature by knocking him out and proving to himself and the world that Doomsday would never again be Superman's equal.

Darkseid attempted to replicate Doomsday, producing an army of Doomsday "clones". Darkseid was unable to duplicate perfectly the creature in all its raw power but still used the replicates as his foot soldiers, typically for diversions or intimidations. They were defeated by a combination of heat vision and Batman's batarangs during an attack on Paradise Island, while Darkseid kidnapped Supergirl.

When Superman travels to Apokolips to reclaim the life of Steel, Darkseid's wife Mortalla orders 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.

With his newfound intelligence, Doomsday escapes Apokolips and returns to Earth. He assists Superman in battling Gog and is viewed as a hero in the future.

Reign of Doomsday

During the "Reign of Doomsday" storyline, Doomsday returned to carve a new path of destruction throughout the DC Universe. His journey started in the Steel one-shot and continued into Outsiders (vol. 4) #37, Justice League of America (vol. 2) #55, Superman/Batman Annual #5, Superboy (vol. 4) #6 and into the milestone Action Comics #900. Doomsday, exhibiting an increased, broadened power set which seemed to adapt to each of his opponents, attacked, defeated and abducted Steel, the Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator, Supergirl, and Superboy, before taking them to a cloaked satellite at the former location of New Krypton. Superman discovered that this was all part of a plot by Lex Luthor. After locating the satellite, Superman attempted to free his allies, only for them all to discover the apparently still-inert body of Doomsday, as well as three separate clones, each with a different power set.

Attempting to flee from the clones with Doomsday, the Superman Family discovered that their ship was on course for Earth with the potential to trigger an extinction-level event if it were to strike. Their attempt to divert the ship was interrupted by a being called "Doomslayer", who resembled a cyborg version of Doomsday and was later revealed to be a Doomsday clone who was tossed down an infinite tube that gave it time to evolve. Doomslayer effortlessly tore Eradicator apart and proclaimed that Earth must die for the future.

Doomslayer believed the original Doomsday to be an infection, so it planned to destroy Earth, as it considered Earth to be ground zero for Doomsday's "infection". Superman and his friends escaped the ship with the original Doomsday and stopped the ship from crashing onto Earth, pushing it into Metropolis's bay. Afterward, Doomslayer attacked the city with the Doomsday clones, determined to erase all trace and knowledge of Doomsday from existence.

The clones spread across the world, wreaking havoc, while Doomslayer's second plan was to entice the Doomsdays to reach the Earth's core so that he could expand the universe inside the ship's tower and destroy the planet from within, thus erasing all knowledge of Doomsday from the universe. In S.T.A.R. Labs, Superman's allies used the original Doomsday's body to try to find a way to stop the Doomsday clones. Doomsday awakened, but Eradicator (who was thought to be killed by Doomslayer) was in control. As Eradicator and the heroes attacked the Doomsday clones, he warned that Doomsday's mind was beginning to awaken.

In the final battle, a weakened Superman made contact with the ship's artificial intelligence before it reached Earth's core, hoping to have the tower teleport away. Meanwhile, the Doomsday clones were defeated by Earth's heroes and sent back into the pit in which the tower was located. Eradicator arrived and defended Superman, now very weak, from Doomslayer, quickly throwing Superman out of the tower and allowing himself to be trapped with Doomslayer before the tower teleported away.

The New 52

In The New 52 (a 2011 reboot of the DC Comics universe), Doomsday made his official debut in September 2013 as a part of "Villains Month". In Batman/Superman #3.1, Doomsday attacked Krypton many years ago when Lara was a lieutenant in the elite military seminary. Colonel Zod faced him wearing an ancient armor of Krypton's warrior founders but their battle caused the death of thousands of Kryptonians. Zod apparently defeated Doomsday, sending him to the Phantom Zone. Years later, Zod, now also imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, communicated with the child Kara Zor-El, telling her how he admired the creature because it destroyed everything, an attribute he sought for his people to be strong as years of complacency had made the Kryptonians weak. Zor-El narrated a prophecy in which the last knight of the House of El will travel to a distant planet after the destruction of Krypton. The last knight will be found by Doomsday later and will battle him to save his people, sacrificing his own life to do so.

In Superman/Wonder Woman, Doomsday mysteriously appears in the North Atlantic Ocean and fights Wonder Woman, breaking her arm before vanishing. After describing her attacker to Superman, both travel to the Fortress of Solitude, where Diana identifies Doomsday on a Phantom Zone viewing device. Superman assumes that the walls of the Phantom Zone are failing, which has allowed the momentary escapes for Doomsday.

Months later, the creature once again escapes the Phantom Zone to wreak havoc across the globe, changing into an even deadlier form; now, every living thing in its vicinity dies, and even physical structures crumble. Superman, Wonder Woman, Steel, and the Justice League struggle to defeat it, even calling on the aid of Lex Luthor; in the end, Superman drags Doomsday's body to the planet Venus and incinerates it. Believing Doomsday dead, Superman returns to Earth, only to watch in horror as the creature teleports there. Finally realizing he has no choice, Superman kills Doomsday, slicing the monster in half and, as it disintegrates, inhaling its ash-like remains to contain them within his indestructible body. However, soon after, he starts to change, mentally showing signs of exacerbated stress and aggression, and gradually physically as well, resembling Doomsday more and more. It is revealed that Doomsday was released by the Phantom King (Xa-Du), on instigation of Brainiac; the latter orchestrated it to get rid of Superman as he prepared to assimilate the consciousnesses of all human beings in the world. Superman managed to take control of the raging power and fury of Doomsday for long enough, however, to attack and defeat Brainiac's ship, dragging it into a black hole, ridding himself of the Doomsday infection in the process.

DC Rebirth

In 2016, DC Comics implemented a relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". After the death of the New 52 Superman, the pre-Flashpoint Superman appears to confront Lex Luthor as he attempts to proclaim his new role as Metropolis's protector in the absence of the Man of Steel, but their fight is interrupted when Doomsday emerges from a coffin that was being transported by an unidentified group in a hovercar above them. As Superman and Lex attempt to fight the creature, Superman is troubled to realize that this Doomsday operates at a strength level similar to the creature he faced for the first time in his world, but also has some degree of strategic planning, attacking passing trains and civilians to distract Superman and Luthor. As Wonder Woman appears to assist, Doomsday departs, but Superman and Wonder Woman are able to intercept him before he reaches Superman's wife, Lois, and their son Jon. While Wonder Woman takes Lois and Jon to the JLA Watchtower for safety, Superman is confused when an unknown group appears and attacks Doomsday, but they are swiftly defeated. He subsequently manages to lure Doomsday to his own makeshift Fortress. Lois and Jon plea to Diana to help Clark when he struggles in containing him and she soon joins the battle again. This allows Clark time to use the Phantom Zone projector to trap his foe, but he is unaware that the unknown group led by Mr. Oz intercepted the Phantom Zone beam and have captured Doomsday for their own unknown purposes.

After the merging of the timelines of both pre and post-Flashpoint Superman in "Superman Reborn", Doomsday had become smarter and escaped from his confinement when Tim Drake, who had also been imprisoned by Mr. Oz, opened all the cells to escape. Tim Drake from the "Titans Tomorrow" timeline, who had also been imprisoned there, came to his rescue and stunned Doomsday several times with Kryptonite ammunition. Unable to take him down, he tricked him into re-entering his cell by chasing a hologram of Superman.

Television

Doomsday appears in the eighth season of Smallville, portrayed by Dario Delacio. This version was created on Krypton via its strongest creatures' DNA to serve as Major Zod and Faora's "son" and kill Kal-El. Its genetic material became attached to the young Kal-El's spaceship and traveled to Earth, where it befriended Lex Luthor and was given up for adoption in 1989. Receiving the name "Davis Bloome" (portrayed by Sam Witwer), he went on to become a paramedic and fall in love with Chloe Sullivan before recognizing Clark Kent as Kal-El, which causes him to periodically transform into Doomsday. Throughout the season, Bloome struggles to maintain control over Doomsday before Sullivan uses black kryptonite to separate them and Kent traps Doomsday underground. Following this, Bloome and Jimmy Olsen fight over their shared love of Sullivan before mortally wounding each other. Witwer was offered the chance to return in the ninth season as Zod, but ultimately declined as he felt it would be difficult for both the characters and audience to accept.

Doomsday appears in Krypton. This version was originally Dax-Baron (portrayed by Staz Nair), a Kandorian with a unique genetic mutation who was convinced he would be the one to end a Kryptonian civil war and allowed Kryptonian scientists Wedna-El and Van-Zod to experiment on him until he became Doomsday. He was subsequently put into cryo-stasis, but is eventually freed in the present by Seg-El, who seeks his power to stop Brainiac despite Adam Strange's protests. Zod eventually captures Doomsday to weaponize him in his campaign to colonize other planets before sending him to Krypton's moon Wegthor to defeat a rebellion against him. After Wegthor is destroyed, Doomsday is presumed dead before being found in a frozen meteorite.

Doomsday appears in Superman & Lois, initially portrayed by Tyler Hoechlin and later motion-captured by Paul Lazenby. This version was originally Kal-El / Bizarro, a corrupted version of Superman from an inverted universe who was killed by Mitch Anderson before being resurrected by Bruno Mannheim, experimented on by Lex Luthor, which turns him into Doomsday. Throughout the third and fourth seasons, Doomsday serves as Luthor's enforcer until Lois Lane reminds the former of his time as Bizarro. Nonetheless, Luthor mutates Doomsday further, diminishing the latter's mental capacity, before Steel incapacitates the monster and Superman flies him into the sun. Though Bizarro's memories return, he allows Superman to kill him.

Doomsday appears in series set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), voiced by Michael Jai White. This version is an altered clone of Superman who was created by Project Cadmus to serve as the former's superior and indoctrinated with hatred for him.

Doomsday was considered to appear in Superman: The Animated Series, but writer Paul Dini refused to include him.

Doomsday appears in the Justice League two-part episode "A Better World". When he grew too difficult to control, Cadmus abandoned the project and launched Doomsday into space, but he damaged the rocket before leaving Earth's orbit and crash-landed. After returning to Earth, he battles the Justice Lords, who arrived from their native universe to conquer the main universe, until their version of Superman lobotomizes him.

In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Doomsday Sanction", Doomsday regenerates his brain and is taken into Project Cadmus' custody until disgraced member Achilles Milo releases him to kill his superior Amanda Waller. However, Doomsday kills Milo instead and escapes to fight Superman before being defeated. After failing to interrogate him for information on Cadmus, Superman imprisons Doomsday in the Phantom Zone.

Doomsday makes a cameo appearance in the Legion of Super Heroes episode "Phantoms" as a prisoner of the Phantom Zone.

Doomsday appears in the Teen Titans Go! episode "Doomsday Preppers", voiced by Asher Bishop. This version is childish and wants to befriend the Teen Titans.

Film

Doomsday was considered to appear in Superman Reborn and Superman Lives as a creation of Brainiac's before the films were scrapped.

Doomsday appears in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, voiced and motion-captured by Robin Atkin Downes, with Gary Hecker providing additional voice work. This version was created by Lex Luthor using his blood and the body of General Zod to recreate a monster detailed in the files of a crashed Kryptonian scout ship. It is ultimately defeated by Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, though Doomsday kills Superman in turn.

Doomsday makes a cameo appearance in the DCEU film Zack Snyder's Justice League via a recap of the previous film shown at the beginning.

Doomsday appears in Superman: Doomsday. This version is an improperly programmed biomechanical supersoldier and doomsday device that is incapable of distinguishing friend from foe, destroying everything in its path because it must. After being unearthed by LexCorp, Doomsday rampages throughout Metropolis before fighting and eventually being killed by Superman.

An army of Doomsday clones appear in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. Darkseid creates them to attack Themyscira, but they prove significantly weaker than the original. While Superman easily defeats them, he and the other heroes involved realize the clones were used as a distraction so Darkseid could kill Lyla and kidnap Kara Zor-El.

Doomsday appears in the DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU) film The Death of Superman. This version is an Apokoliptian biological weapon created by Darkseid to kill Superman in preparation for an Apokoliptian invasion.

In the DCAMU film Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, Darkseid used Doomsday's DNA and spliced them with Parademon DNA to create an army of hybrid creatures called Paradooms.

An illusion of Doomsday makes a cameo appearance in Injustice.

A Yakuza-inspired alternate timeline incarnation of Doomsday called Deiō Dōmuzu appears as a posthumous antagonist in Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, voiced by Tesshō Genda in Japanese and English. He serves as a leading member of a Yakuza faction called the Hagane family before he is killed by Yakuza League member Kuraku, the Man of Steel.

About Doomsday

About Doomsday

Article

Notable quotes

Where does Doomsday rank?

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Notable quotes

Article

Publication history

Fictional character biography

The Ultimate Killing Machine

The Death of Superman

Rematch: Hunter/Prey

The Doomsday Wars

Our Worlds at War

Sentience

Infinite Crisis

New Krypton

Reign of Doomsday

The New 52

DC Rebirth

DC All In

Powers and abilities

Other powers

Doomsday-related characters

All-American Boy

Clones of Doomsday

Devastator

Doombreaker

Doomed

Doomslayer

Other versions

All-Star Superman

Bizarro Doomsday

DC Comics Bombshells

Flashpoint

Hypertension

Mash-Up

Superman: Red Son

Tangent Comics

World Without Young Justice

In other media

Television

Film

Video games

Miscellaneous

Merchandise

Where does Doomsday rank?