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Quote1 Most predators attack their attackers...but this beast...it destroyed everything. That was its function, after all...to ensure that no Kryptonian would ever be safe again. Quote2
General Zod src

"Doomsday" is a being of unimaginable power and bloodlust tied to the past of Krypton.

Origin and Ancient Legends

Though by the time of its destruction, Kryptonians had long since abandoned the worship of their Old Gods, nor believed in any sort of Heaven or Hell, they maintained belief in a devil figure; that of the beast that would eventually become known as Doomsday.[1]

Kryptonians told the story of a rogue scientist who created a being of immense power; a mindless, hateful thing that grew more powerful each time it died. The being was considered to be the inescapable great sin of Krypton. The being was considered to be "Shik'lrith", a Kryptonian word.[1]

The monster featured in the legends of the House of El, which prophecized that the the Last Knight of the House of El would travel to a new world and become its protector only to face the arrival of the being and die defending his new world from the monster.

The creature was unleashed onto Krypton, only to be repelled by Colonel Zod using an ancient Kryptonian warsuit. This conflict became known as Remembrance Day, a solemn occasion mourning those who died during the calamitous battle. It became something of a mixed occasion for Kryptonians following Zod's exile to the Phantom Zone.

From his prison in the Phantom Zone, Dru-Zod later appeared as a ghostly being to Kara Zor-El as her parents and family held a vigil for Remembrance Day. As he did so, he revealed to her that he himself had unleashed the monster on his world, believing that they had become complacent and weak. He implied to her that the being remained within the Phantom Zone, and that he was working on a way to return and bring Doomsday along with him.[2]

The Death and Return of Superman

Decades later, the creature would come to Earth, where it would find Superman. Doomsday's arrival was heralded by the sky burning red, and when it appeared, it killed Superman after a long, desperate Brawlbrawl.[3] and destroyed Metropolis, a day that would be known forever after as 'Doomsday', giving the monster a name.

The property damage caused by Doomsday was calculated between five to ten billions of dollars and it caused the death of more than two hundred people while psychological trauma and aftereffects of toxic-chemical inhalation were reported for years to come.[4]

However, Superman returned and ultimately defeated the beast, afterwards rebuilding Metropolis.[5] Doomsday would later be exiled to the Phantom Zone, but appeared sporadically in the material world[6], eventually breaking free altogether.

New 52

The Next Step in Evolution

Sometime after his defeat, Doomsday discovered a way to teleport in between the Earth and the Phantom Zone at will, allowing him to ravage a location and then return to the safety of the Zone. Around this time he also reached the next stage in his evolution Doomsday now secreted a toxin that would destroy or kill everyone within a few mile radius. With this new power Doomsday teleported himself to "Honeymoon Island" in the Bahamas where he merely stood and let his new toxins annihilate the populace of three-thousand people. The U.S. military soon arrived however they were no match for his toxins, as they all burned. Doomsday then retreated into the Phantom Zone. Doomsday then reemerged in Botswana where he began slaughtering the wild life. He was quickly met by the arrival of hero Steel. However Steel was no match for Doomsday who dispatched him in mere seconds. Before Doomsday could end Steel's life Wonder Woman arrived for a rematch. After a few seconds of conflict Doomsday's toxin began affecting Diana, although this didn't stop her from releasing her fury on the beast. Superman soon arrived on the scene, the arrival of such a force made Doomsday retreat into the Phantom Zone as he recognized that he might not win the battle.[7]

Doomsday would ravage huge portions of the planet, with the Justice League always missing him due to his dimensional travel. Eventually Superman was able to catch up to him in Mumbai. Superman immediately attacked the beast, dragging it outside of the Earth's atmosphere and into the solar system. The pair waged a titanic battle across the solar system until Superman seemingly incinerated Doomsday with his heat vision. However Doomsday survived and returned to Earth where he attacked Superman in Smallville, Kansas. Overcome by anger caused by the slaughter of innocents, Superman ripped Doomsday in half.[7]

In the aftermath of the battle Doomsday's toxins began infecting Superman. Slowly Superman began to turn into a Doomsday like creature known as SuperDoom, who would continue Doomsday's carnage.[8] However in a climactic battle with Brainiac, Superman was cured of his affliction.[9]

DC Rebirth

Superman Reborn and Imprisonment

As a result of the intervention of Mister Mxyzptlk, history was altered, resulting in the apparent rebirth of Doomsday. The reborn monster attacked Superman and Lex Luthor. Having grown more intelligent, this version of the beast was capable of using more complicated strategies than before. Eventually, the pair, assisted by Wonder Woman, were able to lure Doomsday to the Fortress of Solitude and cast the monster into the Phantom Zone; however, the monster was in truth intercepted by the figure known as Mister Oz and imprisoned.[10][11]

Detective Comics Vol 1 966 Textless

Doomsday hunts Batman and Red Robin

During his stay in Jor-El's prison Doomsday was set free by the man as one of this other prisoners, Red Robin, had escaped and Doomsday was to hunt him down. Tearing through the complex, Doomsday eventually found his prey with a Batman from the future who had come to save Red Robin. He attacked the pair by knocking Red Robin into a wall, however the pair were able to flee after Batman shot him with synthetic kryptonite which momentarily disabled him. Doomsday was quickly back on the pair's trail. Before he could reach the pair they enclosed themselves behind a blast door. Doomsday began unrelentingly punching the door, hoping to smash the door and kill the two heroes inside. He was eventually able to break through the door, as he prepared to kill Batman and Red Robin Superman arrived.[12]

Superman led Doomsday back to his cell where it was revealed to the beast that he had been chasing a hologram created by Batman. With Doomsday once again encaged, the two heroes were able to escape the prison.[12] Doomsday was later in cryostasis when Superman confronted Jor-El in his prison, who tried to convince Superman that he meant no harm by displaying his capture of Doomsday.[13]

Infinite Frontier

Dark Crisis

The Great Darkness eventually took control of Doomsday's mind, alongside many other cosmic forces of evil who had sought its power.[14]

The Darkness' forces invaded the Multiverse, and Justice League Incarnate and the Justice League of Earth 0 tracked the origin point of the invasion to the ruins of the pre-Crisis Multiverse. Doctor Multiverse teleported the teams to Multiverse-2 where Pariah was modifying his antimatter chamber from the first Crisis to allow the Darkness to enter reality.

The heroes attempted to reason with Pariah but he refused to listen and summoned Doomsday and the other possessed villains. However, Green Arrow was able to destroy the chamber, cutting the Darkness' link to reality and causing Doomsday and the rest of the Darkness' forces to dissipate.[15]

Doomsday and the rest of the Dark Army later invaded Earth 0.[16] The heroes managed to banish Pariah to a pocket universe but Doomsday and the others remained possessed as the corrupted Darkness transferred to Deathstroke.[17] Black Adam used his lightning again to purge the Darkness from Deathstroke, freeing Doomsday and the other possessed villains.[18]

Doomsday In Hell


Powers

  • Unique Physiology: Doomsday was created by a rogue Kryptonian scientist, through cloning an infant and having it killed and re-cloned hundreds of thousands of times, pushing him through millions of years of hyper-accelerated evolution to become the ultimate killing machine. As such, he returns to life every time he dies and becomes near invulnerable to what killed him before. The agony of each of his deaths became embedded into his DNA, causing him to hate all life - especially Kryptonians. His entire body is built as a defensive structure which continues to arm itself the more it is damaged.[19] Doomsday's limitless rage and ability to self-adapt makes him one the most powerful beings in the multiverse.[1]
    • Unlimited Strength: Doomsday is incredibly strong, possessing an unlimited strength level that through his history enabled him to fight and once even kill the mighty Superman in combat.[20] He also broke one of Wonder Woman's arms just by punching it.[21] His blows are so powerful that both Supermen needed both arms to block his punches and the following shockwave was strong enough to destroy the surrounding area.[22] While evolving, Doomsday could shatter a dimension within the Phantom Zone using nothing but brute force.[23] He was even powerful enough to gain the upper hand in a battle with Supergirl, while she was wearing a mystical armor created to combat The Presence.[1]
    • Self-Evolution: Doomsday's main function is to adapt to whatever he is killed by. If Doomsday is killed by something once, it cannot kill him again. He will either instantaneously heal from it instead or become invulnerable to it.[7]
      • Immortality: Doomsday is functionally immortal, meaning he will never age or wither due to time.
      • Invulnerability: Doomsday is invulnerable to almost every form of damage. He is completely unharmed by bullets, bombs, missiles and other ballistic weaponry employed by humans. Punches from the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman do little to harm him.
      • Life-Force Absorption: To aid in his growth cycle, Doomsday would siphon the very energy and life force of anything around him, allowing him to become evermore powerful and expedite his further evolution.[7]
      • Regeneration: Doomsday can reconstitute himself from whatever is left after his death, such as a scrap of flesh or even a nucleotide. Even a memory is enough for him to reproduce from.[24] When Martian Manhunter attempted to contain the memory of Doomsday within his own psyche so that he couldn't reconstitute himself, Doomsday used this to his advantage and attempted to spread like a tumor across the world's psychic web, in search of resurrection. He was able to spawn eggs in The Red, as well as in the Forgotten Zone - where the first murder on earth took place, he attempted to grow from the evil that seeped in the rock and soil. He was also able to manifest physical form in The Bleed.[24]
    • Doomsday Virus: Prior to his death, Doomsday was capable of emitting viral spores called the Doomsday Virus, which slowly turn those infected into beings like itself, or killed outright by molecular disassembly if the dosage is too high. Even Superman could only confront him for a short while before succumbing to his presence.[7]
      • Infection: An effect of Doomsday's Virus is to convert others afflicted by his toxins into Doomsday-like monstrosities.[25] Doomsday's Virus is even powerful enough to effect Superman. Upon his death by the hands of Superman, Doomsday was able to adversely affect him. Due to absorbing all of his toxins, Kal-El began to warp biologically to resemble Doomsday.[8]
      • Disintegration: Doomsday emits a highly toxic aura, due to his viral spores created by his body, causing anything within his 100 yard radius began to degenerate and die; desert sand burned into onyx in his wake, people a good distance away burst' into flames, brick & stone spontaneously dissolving at a molecular level, etc.[5]
    • Unlimited Stamina: Doomsday's is able to maintain continuous strenuous physical action for a seemingly unlimited amount of time.[1]
    • Superhuman Reflexes
  • Teleportation (Formerly): While imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, Doomsday was capable of warping from location to location via the dimension before he was able to fully escape.[21]

Abilities

Weaknesses


  • Doomsday (Prime Earth) appears as Doomsday (Prime) a playable character in the Infinite Crisis video game.

Related

Footnotes


Villains-secret-files
Superman Villain(s)
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This character has been primarily an enemy of Superman in any of his various incarnations, or members of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Villains category."

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