The Fall of Doomsday

*Originally published on 2/10/11



Back in the 90's DC Comics decided to kill Superman, their longest lasting and one of their most iconic characters. Rather than have the hero fall at the hands of Brainiac, Darkseid, or even Lex Luthor; they decided to introduce a new villain. A monster that would be later named "Doomsday".
No explanation was given for its appearance. The readers only saw the creature break out of its underground prison before it began a rampage across the country. Was it a two-dimensional character? Yes, but that didn't take away from the threat it posed.

Doomsday managed to take down the entire Justice League (the JLI incarnation for those wondering) and managed to even gain the upper hand in a one on one fist fight with the man of steel himself.

The fight between the two was so vicious that it ended up taking both down. Superman ended up giving his life to ensure that the monster was killed.

As is often the case with comics, both characters ended up coming back from the dead. In fact, Doomsday's constant resurrections were made into a part of his back story, which was revealed later.

After Superman came back from the dead, Doomsday was brought in from time to time. This added a rather interesting element to the mix as Superman was legitimately afraid of the creature. The fact that it actually managed to go toe to toe with Darkseid and prove too savage for even Brainiac to control made it seem like the creature was bound for "villain sue" territory.

Yet somehow, the villain still managed to suffer from villain decay. In Infinite Crisis, there is one scene near the end where all the heroes and all of the villains meet for one big, epic showdown. The showdown pretty much occurs off panel, but Doomsday is one of the villain army's front runners. Some of the heroes express fear at facing the creature, yet Superman, along with one of his alternate universe doppelgangers have no problem taking the creature down.

The monster recently made an appearance in the New Krypton arc that was going on in the Superman titles. It appeared at a press conference where it was summarily beaten down by an army of Kryptonians and sent to the moon.

One of the more egregious instances was in the recent Superman/Batman: Apocalypse direct to video movie. At one point, when Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are talking on Themyscira (home of the Amazons), a boom tube opens up and Doomsday emerges. Things are made worse when another comes out, followed by dozens more.

This might be a fearsome sight, but they were extremely vulnerable. Heck, Batman fights them off with an axe! No, just no. We're talking about a creature that took every beam weapon the JLI had at its disposal (including Superman's heat vision) and didn't even flinch. You can't have a villain like that, even a clone of said villain, taken out by a medieval weapon.

Had it been one single Doomsday in his prime against DC's big three and an army of Amazons, that would've been a superior fight. Instead, they diluted the character even further.

They try to hand wave this by saying that these are clones and that, due to Doomsday's complex genetic makeup, they will never be as powerful as the original, but it still does the character a disservice.

The fact that the character keeps coming back makes the whole cloning thing superfluous.

I can understand some writers' distaste for the character. As said before, there isn't much depth, it's just a mindless monster that beats the hell out of everything in its path. Really, the only thing Doomsday is good for is a good ol' super-powered round of fisticuffs. You know when this brute shows up, that he and Superman are going to throw down, and it's going to be fierce.

That's OK from time to time. I wouldn't want every comic story to boil down to one large fist fight, but on occasion, it can be a fun time reading about super strong characters beating the hell out of one another.

The problem is that we're reaching a point where the character can't even do that. Not only does Superman win now, but he wins handily. It just leaves the reader wondering what the point was.

If you plan on using the character, make sure that he can at least deliver on the one thing he's good at. Bringing out this major villain, only to have him promptly pummeled into the pavement (I love alliteration) doesn't do the story, the character, or the readers any good.