Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Superman and Lois' season 2 premiere.
Superman and Lois will bring Doomsday into the Arrowverse, but fans are already wondering how will it compare to the DCEU Doomsday seen in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Superman and Lois season 2 premiere showed a super-strong figure punching their way out of the bedrock beneath Smallville. This is exactly how Doomsday first appeared in The Death of Superman comics and this figure was later revealed to be Doomsday by Superman and Lois showrunner Todd Helbing.
Doomsday is perhaps the most physically powerful of Superman's enemies and the two nearly killed one another in their first battle. Since that time, Doomsday has been one of the most frequently adapted aspects of Superman lore from the comics, with nearly every animated series and live-action Superman film or television series introducing their own different versions of Doomsday, often with highly altered backstories. The Doomsday of Batman V Superman, created by Lex Luthor using the corpse of General Zod, is easily the most famous modern take on the character, inviting comparison between it and the Arrowverse Doomsday.
The Arrowverse's use of Doomsday is an interesting point, as it represents a retcon from the previously established history before Crisis on Infinite Earths, where Lois Lane made a reference to Superman having fought Doomsday before. However, since the Crisis event also changed history so that Lois and Clark got married sooner and were the parents of twin teenagers rather than a single infant son, it's possible the timeline was changed so that Doomsday never appeared on the new Earth-Prime. This could also tie into the threat of Reign and the Worldkillers from Supergirl season 3 and the promise of a fifth Worldkiller who was mentioned but never emerged. While Doomsday was never established as a Worldkiller in the comics, his origins are similar enough for a connection to be made.
Created by writer/artist Dan Jurgens, Doomsday made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #18, one month after making a cameo in Superman: The Man of Steel #17. In his first appearance, Doomsday's origins were a mystery, with the monstrous being beating his way out of a sealed vault buried deep within the Earth. Superman and the entire Justice League of America fought the creature across the American Mid-West in a long-running battle, with Superman seemingly sacrificing himself to best the creature in Superman (Vol. 2) #75, which was the final chapter of The Death of Superman storyline.
Doomsday's origins were later revealed in the mini-series Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey. Doomsday was the final product of an experiment by an amoral alien scientist named Bertron, who intended to breed a life form that would be able to evolve instantly to overcome any threat. This experiment involved repeatedly cloning the same baby, allowing it to die, and altering its genetics to make it stronger with every death. Eventually, Bertron created a being he called "The Ultimate," which was able to subsist on solar energy and, if slain, return to life immune to whatever had killed it. The Ultimate killed Bertron and went on a killing spree across several planets, eventually being slain and bound on the planet Calaton. They shot the vault containing the monster into space, where it came to rest on Earth. It became buried beneath the planet's surface until the day the Ultimate escaped and the hero Booster Gold dubbed him Doomsday.
The battle with Doomsday dominated the climax of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, with Batman and Superman joining forces with a newly arrived Wonder Woman to slay the monster that Lex Luthor had created in a desperate bid to finish both heroes off, after his plan to pit them against one other failed. The DCEU version of Doomsday was not well received for a number of reasons. Chief among them was a rough CGI design, which many felt bore a closer resemblance to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than the Doomsday of the comics. Some also felt that Doomsday's origin in Batman V Superman, being the product of Lex Luthor's hurried experiment, seemed similarly sloppy and a flimsy excuse to recreate the ending of The Death of Superman from the comics.
Related: Superman & Lois Retcon Theory: The Arrowverse Is Setting Up Doomsday
Beyond that, the rush to pit Doomsday against Superman and end Batman V Superman with the world mourning his heroic sacrifice left a bad taste in many fans' mouths. Much of Batman V Superman's story was devoted to exploring how Superman was viewed with suspicion and fear by the people of Earth following the events of Man of Steel and how that, in turn, fueled Batman's fears of Superman going out of control. It beggared belief that the same people who were so skeptical of Superman's intentions before would suddenly change their minds in the face of his death fighting Doomsday and the sudden worship of the character did not quite feel earned.
Superman and Lois' season 2 premiere slowly set up the reveal of Doomsday, with the monstrous villain not appearing until the final scene. The episode found Clark troubled by strange visions, which left him feeling disoriented and overwhelmed. At the same time, a series of vibrations shook the area around the Kent family farm, resulting in widespread damage and chaos. The source of this damage was revealed in the episode's ending, as the camera panned down into the ground underneath Smallville, revealing a large figure punching its way upward.
It remains to be seen if the design of the Arrowverse Doomsday will be closer in appearance to the Doomsday of the comics than the DCEU Doomsday in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. While tremendous strides have been made in digital technology since Batman V Superman's release and the Krypton version of Doomsday was well-received, Superman and Lois has a much more limited budget. However, the Arrowverse version of Superman played by Tyler Hoechlin has also had more time to grow on fans than Henry Cavill's DCEU Superman did. In the event that Superman and Lois is using Doomsday as part of a more comics-accurate adaptation of The Death of Superman, Earth Prime's mourning Superman will not seem as forced or as rushed.
New episodes of Superman and Lois season 2 air on Tuesday nights on The CW.
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