Metropolis Mailbag: Doomsday's origin?
@imatlasarrestmeplease said in reply to yesterday's post (Doomsday origin spoilers ahead, for our readers living in 1992):
“Theory: Doomsday’s survival instincts give him a specific protocol for exterminating threats to his existence. When he wakes up on an inhabited planet, he makes a beeline for the most populated area to kill them first. On Earth, that’s Metropolis.
“The revelation in “Hunter/Prey” was that Doomsday recognized Superman from their original battle, and he called him “Muh-Truh-Plus”, linking Supes to the city. Superman concluded that Doomsday somehow knew he was a Kryptonian, and deduced that Doomsday was a Kryptonian genetics experiment. He then assumed that Doomsday was attracted to Metropolis because of the Krypton connection.
But I think that’s a bit specious. Doomsday didn’t particularly care about Superman in the “Death” arc, but he became fixated on Metropolis even before he knew what to call it. He may have recognized Superman as one of his creator’s species, but that didn’t mean anything to him until they actually fought in the city. Where they killed each other.
That’s the link Doomsday sees between Superman and Bertron. Bertron killed Doomsday over and over again to evolve him into an unstoppable monster, right up until Doomsday smashed into his bunker and killed him. On Earth, the same events played out, with Superman and Doomsday killing each other. Prior to this, Superman was just another alien in Doomsday’s way, but in “Hunter/Prey”, it became personal. Because Superman defeated him, he sees him as a second Betron, eager to renew his deadly experiments.Maybe he somehow associated Metropolis with Betron’s laboratory, but I bet it was just the biggest concentration of life in his immediate vicinity.”
I buy it! Have an inverted Baldy:
