Doomsday (DC Comics) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Doomsday |
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Doomsday, as he appeared in Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #2 (May 1994). Art by Dan Jurgens (pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), and Greg Wright (colors)
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Cameo: Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992) Full appearance: Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992) |
| Created by | Dan Jurgens Brett Breeding Jerry Ordway Louise Simonson Roger Stern |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Prehistoric Kryptonian |
| Place of origin | Krypton |
| Notable aliases | The Ultimate The Destroyer Dooms-D |
| Abilities |
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Doomsday is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as one of Superman's deadliest foes, as well as a major adversary of the Justice League. Created by writer-artist Dan Jurgens, the character had a cameo appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992) and made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992).
Doomsday ranked as #46 on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time. He is best known as the character that killed Superman in The Death of Superman story arc "Doomsday!". He appears in the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where he was portrayed by Robin Atkin Downes through voice acting and motion capture.
Contents
Publication history
Doomsday was conceived in 1991 during an annual brainstorming session with the editors and writers of Superman comics, in response to a concern by some writers that most of Superman's foes at this point either relied on technology or their intellect to outmaneuver Superman or had some natural advantage against him, wanting to create a new foe with great physical power to match him. Several writers proposed having Superman die at the hands of a "bestial foe", and editor Mike Carlin scribbled this idea on the wall chart as "doomsday for Superman". Inspired, they chose "Doomsday" as the name for this villain.
Doomsday had a cameo appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992) and made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992).
Fictional character biography
Doomsday is depicted as a monstrous genetically engineered being from the depths of prehistoric Krypton. His creator imbued him with few feelings, mostly hate and desire for destruction, which led to his destroying worlds and eventually finding Earth, where he met Superman. The character is best known as Superman's murderer in the 1992 storyline, "The Death of Superman".
Powers and abilities
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Doomsday developed in one of the harshest habitats in all of existence: prehistoric Krypton. Through cloning technology, the infant continually returned to life and evolved, becoming resistant or immune to whatever killed him before, ultimately permanently acquiring the capability to regenerate and evolve without technology. After the Radiant killed him the first time they fought, Doomsday grew immune to the Radiant's energy-projection and even managed to withstand Darkseid's full Omega-Effect. The amount of damage dealt to Doomsday determined the length of time it took for him to fully recover. During his outwardly undamaged death at Superman's hands, he only needed some days to recover, but when Imperiex reduced him to a skeleton, it took months.
Doomsday had a highly accelerated healing factor that allowed him to quickly regenerate from most damage. When his side was cut by Superman with a plasma sword, it closed within moments. As a result of his engineering, Doomsday did not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep, and his body was almost solid mass with no internal organs, the masses of bone like material covering his body likely acting as some form of exoskeleton.
Resistance
Doomsday also was able to develop/evolve resistance from ordinary injuries. Superman once used a sound gun to greatly discomfort him, but Doomsday's auditory canals closed up, making him impervious to Superman's weapon.
In essence, Doomsday gradually became more invulnerable if not injured beyond his ability to recover, which has so far been undefined. Doomsday developed weapons and abilities that countered the powers of an opponent. He managed to cancel out the pure-energy Radiant by slamming into him while generating a dark counter-energy; to greatly extend his claws and develop a poison to strike Superman in flight and reel him in; to breathe flames against the fire-sensitive Martian Manhunter, and apparently neutralize his defensive phase-shifting power. Doomsday's skeleton protruded through his skin in razor-sharp spurs, which provided protection to his few vital organs (brain, eyes and nervous system), and acted as claw-like weapons on his hands, elbows, and knees. In addition, the tips of these protrusions are lethally poisonous even to powerful Apokoliptians like Darkseid.
Doomsday was immensely resistant to heat, cold, and conventional damage, allowing him to survive in the most inhospitable worlds, or in the vacuum of space. His superhuman endurance and invulnerability were able to withstand Darkseid's full-powered "Omega Effect" without any apparent damage. This is an immunity he shares with Superman, being as he is technically Kryptonian.
Waverider's words suggest that Doomsday's body could have been completely destroyed after his battle with the Radiant, suggesting that his healing factor has its limits, but at this point Doomsday was left so damaged that he remained 'comatose' for several thousand years while trapped and cut off from the solar energy he required to sustain himself. After his subsequent evolutions, it is unlikely that anything is capable of doing sufficient damage to him to bring him to this state again.
Strength
Doomsday possessed enormous superhuman strength that is significantly greater than Superman and at one point this enabled him to effortlessly stand his ground against the entire Justice League, including Superman and Orion. He was able to break Superman's left arm with limited effort, as well as outmatch and beat Darkseid unconscious in combat. However, his strength has limits: the immensely strong Calatonian alloy cables, in which he was entombed, continued to partially restrain him during his initial rampage on Earth, with the last of the cables only being destroyed when the Justice League unleashed a full-power assault to try and stop him. It was never stated how long he had struggled to free his left hand before his escape.
Doomsday possessed seemingly inexhaustible stamina, and was not noticeably slowed down from fighting Superman for an entire day. His speed and agility were vastly disproportionate to his bulky stature, and he was able to match Superman in this regard, once even managing to grab the Flash while the hero was in motion. He could not fly, but traveled by leaping miles at a time. Superman took advantage of this in their first battle by trying to keep him airborne by flying into the sky.
After being regrown by Lex Luthor, Doomsday was genetically part-Kryptonian due to his genes having been spliced with Kal-El's. However, with the exception of his flame-breath, he displayed no additional abilities. In fact, he was shown to be weaker than previously when he was single-handedly beaten by Superman. This was attributed to intelligence that he developed, causing him to fear the death that awaited him if he lost, but did not explain how a simple minor concussion could incapacitate his healing factor for the time he remained unconscious. He apparently lost his intelligence when he was sent back in time, reverting him to his original state of fearlessness.
Once he gained some of Superman's Kryptonian DNA, he became susceptible to kryptonite. Unlike Superman, it caused him pain, but could not kill him. This rendered him controllable, but given his ability to adapt, this may not be permanent – it is unknown if he must first die and resurrect in order to gain immunity to something.
See also
- List of Superman enemies
