From an ultimate being of mass destruction to a God-killer

Doomsday, the monster who killed Superman, first appeared in Death of Superman. The arc was an astounding one. The clashes and the punches thrown had such intensity that the readers could feel it. After that series, the monster was more like a household name; every comic fan knew it.

In time, Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey, Doomsday’s origin was linked with Krypton and the torture showered by Berton. Originally, it was explained as an ultimate experiment;  it was created by killing, cloning, killing again, and re-cloning again, and the process continued until it evolved into an unkillable being. Doomsday made its appearance many times from then on, though mostly to fight Superman. In The New 52, Batman/Superman #3.1: Doomsday, Doomsday’s origin was rebooted as a mutated Kryptonian stopped by Zod, which sets the stage for the Superman: Doomed arc. But that somewhat ceased to exist after the events of Superman Reborn. But recently, we witnessed Doomsday’s character evolve from an unstoppable animalistic creature of destruction to a tad civilized Time Trapper’s form.

In Amalgam Comics, X-Patrol #1, Doctor Doomsday (amalgamation of Doomsday and Dr. Doom), made its debut. In this version, Doctor Doom mutated into his spiked monstrous form after a bone fragment from the creature Doomsday exploded in his face, incorporating the monster’s DNA into him.

Dark Nights: Metal introduced the Devastator, Batman of Dark Multiverse’s Earth -1, who injected himself with the Doomsday virus and became evil after killing that world’s Superman.

But now, DC has retconned Doomsday’s origin. In Superman #31 (2023), and as per that, Doomsday was created to be an opposite to Darkseid; an Alpha against the Omega King, a God Killer, revolving around the current DC event DC K.O. in the DCU.

In DCEU, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, directed by Zack Snyder, Doomsday was created by reanimating Zod’s corpse with Lex’s DNA by using the Genesis Chamber. Doomsday was just an evolving one, and not as great as the OG Doomsday. Also, DC Animations: DCAU, DCUAOM, and DCAMU, had different animated versions of Doomsday, with slightly different versions of origin stories, pitting against their versions of Supes. In CW’s Superman & Lois Season 2 had Bizarro as Doomsday, and later in Season 3, ending, and in Season 4, Bizarro transforms to Doomsday through the same process as the original one in comics, but instead of Berton, we have Lex Luthor. In Syfy’s Krypton Season 2, we had Doomsday created almost the same way as in The New 52. And in Smallville Season 8, Doomsday persona is formed within Davis Bloome, and later it’s revealed that Doomsday’s genetics, combined with various Kryptonian monsters, were sent with baby Kal-El to Earth.

On a personal note, this retcon feels a tad off, as making villains into heroes looks kiddish, tbh, and this seems a bit coerced sort. The original form had the brutality and the air of monstrosity, and a hand in shaping Superman’s stories. No idea what’s gonna happen with the character now!

^{Pic Credits: DC Comics}