Ricky Church continues his countdown to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with The Death of Superman…
Prior to last December, a long running rumour circling around Batman v Superman was that Doomsday, one of the deadliest enemies in all of the DC universe, would be making an appearance as a secondary villain in the film. The rumour was finally confirmed as Doomsday’s inclusion was revealed in the third trailer for the film. This revelation sparked a lot of controversy over whether or not Zack Snyder gave too much away to fans, but still had a lot of people unfamiliar with the comics asking “Who is that?” It’s only appropriate, then, to recommend Doomsday’s very first appearance, which also happens to be The Death of Superman.
Doomsday broke onto the scene in a big way, breaking out of a mysterious underground cage, trapped in a containment suit. He immediately went on a rampage across America, terrorizing the countryside and countless civilians. The Justice League tried to stop him, but to no avail; Doomsday easily overpowered every hero thrown at him and the more heroes fought him, the more his containment suit ripped off, revealing a monster underneath with bone protrusions spouting from nearly every joint on him. As his rampage continued, he eventually got to Metropolis where Superman put everything on the line to stop Doomsday.
Superman #75 is one of the most famous comics in history because this was the issue depicting Superman’s final fight with Doomsday and the death of the world’s most famous hero. To showcase the epic nature of this struggle, splash pages are used throughout the entire issue so readers would get a greater sense of the danger Superman was in. When Doomsday and Superman traded their final blows, Superman got a brief moment to say farewell to Lois Lane, ensuring he stopped Metropolis and saved everyone else in the city. It was a very emotional moment as he passed and the image of Superman’s ripped cape, as well as the bloody S sigil used for Superman #75’s cover, is one of the most famous images in comic history.
Doomsday is without a doubt one of the most deadly villains in the DC universe. However, despite multiple appearances throughout the last 20+ years, Doomsday has never had more impact than he did in his first appearance. Various writers have attempted over the years to make Doomsday stand out more from a mindless brute to an intelligent monster, but the latter interpretation has never quite stuck. Doomsday has always reverted back to a relatively one-note villain bent solely on destruction.
Despite being such an unforgettable story, The Death of Superman is also an example of what was wrong with comics in the 90s. Faced with low sales, DC decided they needed to shake things up throughout this period to boost interest in their comics. Superman died in 1992, then Batman got his back broken in 1993, Green Lantern went insane in the aftermath of Coast City’s destruction while over at Marvel, Spider-Man went through the prolonged and convoluted Clone Saga. Much of this stank of publicity winning out over good storytelling, drawing condemnation from fans.
That being said, Death of Superman and its aftermath explored what the DC Universe would be like without Superman and how his absence left a gaping hole in the Justice League. Whatever stance you take regarding the 90s era, its undeniable the effect Death of Superman, and Doomsday himself, has had on the comic industry and the Superman mythos. The Death and Return of Superman was also very loosely adapted as the animated film Superman: Doomsday, DC’s first of its Animated Original Movie line-up in 2007. If you want to know why Doomsday is such a big deal, start here.
Ricky Church
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Originally published March 7, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
