The execution of the Phantom Zone criminals

[Ascended]

There's this to consider. Also, he was arguably just trying to stop Doomsday (not necessarily intending to kill him, which is at least partially relevant). "Death" is a complex topic when it comes to Doomsday to begin with. We all know that Doomsday didn't stay dead or perhaps "die" at all. In so many ways, I see what Superman did to Doomsday as very different than other killing topics. Whatever Superman did or didn't do precisely to Doomsday, it seems very justified in many ways. I think that's why instinctually, I don't much think about it and neither did writers or editors.

Yeah, Doomsday tends to get a pass from even the staunchest 'never kills' advocates. As has been said, the degree to which Doomsday is even fully sentient is up for debate and in most regards the thing was little more than a rabid animal. It was also perhaps the craziest slugfest post-Crisis Clark had seen and maybe the tightest corner he had been pushed into, the threat to innocents was very direct and real.....and in the end Doomsday didn't even stay dead. Real easy to justify this fight.

Whether Clark thought Henshaw would survive is much more open to interpretation, and I think perhaps it's Clark's intent that really matters here. He knew Henshaw was a technopath and so might have survived being shattered. But Henshaw was also beat to crap and had a fist put through his chest, it'd be fair to assume the man might struggle mustering the concentration needed to escape. He 'could' have died there, but what did Clark 'hope' would happen? Did he break Henshaw hoping the man would die, or with the presumption that he'd live? I read the scene as Clark going for the kill. I don't remember any attempt to contain or imprison Henshaw and Clark didn't have the resources to do that anyway, so destroying the body just forces Henshaw to become a ghost in the machine; harder to find and arguably more dangerous. I just don't see Clark letting that slide. One thing for the villain to escape despite Clark's best efforts, another thing to help that along. No, I think Clark was going for the kill, hoping it'd stick. Just like when he shoved Henshaw into the Source Wall a few years later: a genuine attempt to put an end to something that's functionally immortal.

[Stanlos]

As we've moved on to Doomsday, I think it can be argued that Superman considered it akin to a wild, uncontrollable animal. He was effectively putting it down for the greater good, as it was a danger to all around and had no ability to reason.

He's a farm boy, so it's not like he would be sheltered from animal culling in one form or another.

Henshaw is more open to debate, but I think Superman knew he'd be back. He'd already seen the guy shift his consciousness multiple times into random things (anything metal, which makes no sense but looks cool), but I don't think he cared if it was Henshaw's end.

Isn't Henshaw like the WW villain Decay in that it's an unencumbered consciousness that jumps from form to form?

[exile001]

Isn't Henshaw like the WW villain Decay in that it's an unencumbered consciousness that jumps from form to form?

Pretty much, yeah, as long as it's metal (and supposedly a computer of some kind). He's assembled bodies from random assorted metal devices in the past, too. I think the consciousness has to be in something for him to survive, but the definition of what he has to be in is pretty vague.

In the climax to Reign of the Supermen, Henshaw's body was made of Kryptionian elements and he'd been exposed to Kryptonite which hindered his ability to transfer his consciousness. That's where the question of him surviving comes from, but it's highly likely he'll return (and he did many times).

Probably a good time to mention the Cyborg Superman, as he was in the 90's especially, is one of my favourite Superman enemies.

[JBatmanFan05]

Yeah, Doomsday tends to get a pass from even the staunchest 'never kills' advocates. As has been said, the degree to which Doomsday is even fully sentient is up for debate and in most regards the thing was little more than a rabid animal. It was also perhaps the craziest slugfest post-Crisis Clark had seen and maybe the tightest corner he had been pushed into, the threat to innocents was very direct and real.....and in the end Doomsday didn't even stay dead. Real easy to justify this fight.

Yeah. Whether it's the muddiness or mootness of Doomsday's nature or what Superman did or did not do to him precisely, and/or whether it's the clear enough justified nature of whatever precise act Superman committed upon Doomsday, the topic of Doomsday possibly being killed by Superman is just a non-topic for me personally, nothing clear enough to get interested in discussing in depth or at length. And I'm a staunch 'never kills' advocate, as you term it.