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Doomsday Comes to 'Batman vs Superman' - But Has DC Made a Mistake?

It's long been rumored that the monstrous #Doomsday will make an appearance in 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.'

By Tom BaconPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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It's long been rumored that the monstrous #Doomsday will make an appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Last night, Warner Brothers released a new trailer for the sure-to-be-a-hit superhero grudge match, and it gave us our first glimpse of the true villain of the film... In case you've been living under a rock, take a look!

Who is Doomsday?

The 1990s were a turbulent time for comic books, filled with gimmicks and overarching arcs that the writers and published hoped would lead to massive acclaim. In many ways, Doomsday was the start of that - he was a villain created for DC's biggest moment in the sun, when they decided to take a radical step.

They killed Superman.

Yes, that's right, in 1992 DC decided to create a threat so terrible, so fierce and uncontrollable, that he was able to steamroll his way through the entire Justice League of America and rampage across the nation.

A relentless engine of destruction, Doomsday's origin was shrouded in mystery - mainly because you didn't need to know it. You didn't need to know who had imprisoned him; you didn't need to know who gave him the containment suit that was gradually shredded as the arc went on. You just had to see what he did.

Naturally, it didn't take long before the world's superheroes began to respond to Doomsday's trail of destruction. First responders were the Justice League of America, whose ranks at the time included Maxima (a Wonder Woman analogue), Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, a heavy-duty mystic, a Yellow Lantern named Guy Gardner, and two powerful women who manipulated the elements. Swatting Booster Gold into another State, this was how Doomsday left the others:

#Superman proved the only one who could hold his own against this relentless force, and the two battled across the country, Doomsday making his way towards Metropolis.

Finally, both struck killing blows, and both fell. It was a moment that shook comic book fandom, that earned DC Comics international news attention, and that transformed the whole approach comic book companies had towards comics.

As the years have passed, the monster has constantly been revisited, albeit never so effectively. His origin - a Kryptonian genetic experiment from a time before Krypton became civilised - was fleshed out, but was pretty underwhelming. The truth is that Doomsday began as a plot device rather than as a character; DC needed to create a force that could match and even kill Superman, and they did so.

Now we know that Doomsday is making an appearance in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - as a force so powerful that Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman will unite against it, becoming the nucleus of the future Justice League.

In the movie, it looks as though Doomsday will be one of Lex Luthor's experiments, based on the body (or maybe just the genes) of General Zod. Rather than just be a physical powerhouse, Doomsday in the films will have all the powers a Kryptonian possesses - including heat vision and, presumably, flight.

Why is this a mistake?

A common fear among superhero fans is that DC are trying to do too much, too fast. Desperate to catch up with Marvel, whose Cinematic Universe is ahead of them by a decade, DC have jumped on to the continuity of Man of Steel and followed it up with a movie that really serves the purpose of building a whole Cinematic Universe out of it.

So a film with the title Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice also serves to introduce moviegoers to characters like Aquaman and Wonder Woman, while featuring cameos for other Justice League members.

But that's not the issue here. The issue here is that DC aren't playing the long game.

One of the reasons Marvel fans are so excited about Captain America: Civil War, (another superhero grudge match, this time between Iron Man and Captain America) is that they know how things ended in the comics.

In the comics, Civil War ended with Captain America surrendering - and then, in a shocking twist, he was assassinated. With Chris Evans' Marvel contract coming to an end, fans are wondering if the film will see the Sentinel of Liberty die...

Now imagine if DC / Warner Brothers do successfully pull off a Cinematic Universe. I truly hope they do; they have a wealth of original and creative characters they could use, and I'm seriously excited for some of the films they've been teasing.

But sooner or later, there's going to come a time when some of their big name cast-members want to move on, just as Chris Evans is nearing the end of his time with Marvel Studios. Sooner or later, Henry Cavill - Superman - is going to want to do something else.

So, to continue this hypothetical future, imagine that Warner Brothers announce the next Superman movie, and they tell us its called Doomsday. Suddenly comic book fans are sitting up in excitement, and everybody's looking over the Death of Superman graphic novel (the best-selling graphic novel of all time already). Everybody's wondering: are Warner Brothers going to do it? Will this movie follow the plot of the comic? Will Superman die?

What we have here is a missed opportunity, with Warner Brothers sacrificing a monster that could have driven a blockbuster, and shoehorning Doomsday into a film that didn't really need him. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will be an absolute hit, and Doomsday's presence adds next-to-nothing to that blockbuster performance.

Nobody believes for a moment that, at the very second that their Cinematic Universe is being born, DC / Warner Brothers will kill Superman. All the drama and menace of Doomsday is gone, lost in a movie where he's really just being used as a plot device once again - this time as a plot device to draw Batman and Superman together as allies.

The use of Doomsday in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is, to me, confirmation that DC / Warner Brothers don't have a long-term plan. Where Marvel are currently deciding what to do in the 2020s, DC / Warner Brothers aren't thinking ahead at all.

It might well mean that their standalone films do better, and stand more strongly on their own two feet; but it will certainly mean that their overall Cinematic Universe isn't as carefully thought out, and that tremendous opportunities - such as Superman: Doomsday - are sadly missed.

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About the Creator

Tom Bacon

A prolific writer and film fan, Tom has a deep love of the superhero genre.

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