Superman Villains: How would you fix Doomsday?

[Lokimaru]

How about we just get rid of him?

[_Feely_]

I'll just parrot others, cos they're not wrong -

A one-note, plot device of a villain.

A black hole of dramatic composition.

Indicative of the lack of profundity that has swept Corporate comics since the late 80's.

52 was going in the right direction.

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Hi to the fellow Marvel Boy fans out there. It seems that there's so few of us we should start a support group or something

[Zero Hunter]

The only way at this point is to put him on the shelf for at least 5-10 years and not touch him. He just needs a long rest.

[Carabas]

I'd like to see Urko the Terrible again, haha!

I assume there is a reason he looks exactly like Doctor Light?

[Adekis]

I assume there is a reason he looks exactly like Doctor Light?

Sure, it's that they both look like a stereotypical cartoon devil.



Someone elsewhere on the infinite internet noted Urko's visual similarity to Ming the Merciless of Flash Gordon fame, and he was based on Fu Manchu, wasn't he? And Evil Spock basically looks like that, too. I just think all of them, and probably many more, tapped into a generically evil "devil" design, pulp-sci-fi'd it up, and went to the party, not realizing they were going to have the same costume. Classic sitcom stuff. Obviously, Arthur Light and Urko share the sunburst chest emblem and little fin on their head that I don't think any of the others have, but I just think that results from having the same basic design aesthetic.

I imagine that a revamped version of Urko would appear more obviously cloud-like, to match his "evil cloud intelligence" premise. As for Doctor Light - I always liked Kimiyo Hoshi better than the rapist bastard anyway.

[PyroTwilight]

I think Doomsday just needs an easier way to be stopped, but not one that's all that easy for Superman (or others) to access.

I mean we've already seen him be controlled by psychics such as Doctor Psycho controlling him in Infinite Crisis. So make it that Superman develops a technology that sedates him using a replica of psychic waves but doesn't work very easily.

Or that Doomsday has a weak point that only occurs when he's adapting to something. Didn't a story at one point imply Doomsday's possibly weak to Kryptonite himself, but not to the extent Superman is?

[Ascended]

I tend to agree.

That said, I also think an issue with some of Superman's b-list foes is that writers rarely use other writers' ideas in their own use of the characters. Two years worth of being forced to use Metallo is an awesome idea, but if in another half a year after that, another writer takes Metallo and totally ignores what had been done with him... For example, the New 52 Metallo was pretty well developed, but as soon as Rebirth hit, a totally irreconcilable John Corben took his place, you know? Same thing happened to New 52 Mxy. Bizarro's a little different, since there's room for more than one Bizarro (arguably a whole planetful, in fact).

Or heck, Kurt Busiek did a lot with the pernicious Prankster that was fun, memorable and worked within continuity- but since nobody else ever picked it up, history has largely forgotten it.

Hmm, good point.

Yknow, I understand writers wanting to put their own stamp on characters, and writing them to fit their sensibilities. But damn, editorial needs to be a lot tighter and stop letting the talent do whatever the hell they want.

Can't build forward if you're always tearing things back down to the foundation, DC!

[JBatmanFan05]

I agree with others that Doomsday doesn't need fixing*, because editors and writers have realized what he simply and truly is, as others have said: a plot device functional equivalent of a natural disaster.

(Doomy's 90s counterpart Bane did require some fixing IMHO and I thought King nicely achieved that)

*I mean, classic Doomsday doesn't need fixing.

[Lukmendes]

Yeah as others said, New 52 version is the "fix" he needed, unfortunately, classic Doomsday returned, although since the Doomsday virus is mentioned in New Super-Man, I guess New 52 version can still be used instead of the classic one, and I would prefer if they did that, because this is something New 52 did better.

[Ascended]

Yeah as others said, New 52 version is the "fix" he needed, unfortunately, classic Doomsday returned, although since the Doomsday virus is mentioned in New Super-Man, I guess New 52 version can still be used instead of the classic one, and I would prefer if they did that, because this is something New 52 did better.

Well, the New52 did a lot of things better that got thrown under the bus in favor of blanket nostalgia worship.

Dont get me wrong, there was plenty wrong with the New52. But there were things worth keeping, things that were better than previous versions, that DC should've kept if they had been truly interested in building the best Superman they could. Instead they threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Not the first time they've done it. Wont be the last. And Superman will continue to suffer for it until wiser minds take control.

[Kuwagaton]

We've had one Doomsday story since Rebirth, using the classic version. Between the beginning of 2013 and middle of 2014, the New 52 gave us three different takes on Doomsday including the classic version and the unceremonious assertion that they replaced the iconic Death of Superman with something they themselves hadn't figured out. Maybe a change to Doomsday would be for the (subjective) better but I would disagree that getting the character back to basics with a soft reset for one story is an example of the creators being clueless.

[Ascended]

but I would disagree that getting the character back to basics with a soft reset for one story is an example of the creators being clueless.

On its own, its just a creative decision I dont personally agree with, which isn't a problem at all. They're not writing these books just for me, I dont need to agree with everything they do.

Taken as part of a whole though, I think its pretty clear that virtually everything from the New52 was removed from Clark's titles regardless of its narrative worth. I think anyone who doesnt just blanket-hate the New52 would agree that there were things that Nuperman did better than other versions, that would've benefited the franchise had they remained (someone mentioned Metallo already). And Im willing to bet almost all of those things are now gone, in spirit if not fully retconned. There seems to be a fairly clear pattern here. Or are there New52 elements in Clark's books that I'm forgetting?

The side books like Supergirl, Superwoman, and New Super-Man obviously are a different matter, but Im talking Clark's books, not their's.

[Kuwagaton]

Oh, those things are definitely gone. I know there's no real choice since they're not running different continuities concurrently, but I'd be totally interested in seeing those things live on in a separate book rather than grafted into the current books. To me those ideas are only good when a creator has a heart for them, and I didn't quite get that from the Tomasi New 52 run (I I have a hard time telling with Jurgens because he and Giffen were out quicker than they'd said they'd be).

I'd have never gone with giving Mxy a background story, but Morrison went to work and it was great. But like with Doomsday and maybe some others (New Metallo didn't seem like the most difficult track to run, though) it rolled over to some people who probably weren't that stoked to try it, even if they did like it.

[Stanlos]

We've had one Doomsday story since Rebirth, using the classic version. Between the beginning of 2013 and middle of 2014, the New 52 gave us three different takes on Doomsday including the classic version and the unceremonious assertion that they replaced the iconic Death of Superman with something they themselves hadn't figured out. Maybe a change to Doomsday would be for the (subjective) better but I would disagree that getting the character back to basics with a soft reset for one story is an example of the creators being clueless.

That makes my head hurt so much