1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:12,040 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the 3 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters 5 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 2: in time. We've been covering some d C comics monsters 6 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 2: of late, and today I'd like to talk about Doomsday, 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 2: the brutal, spiny shouldered Kryptonian monster best known for killing 8 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 2: Superman in the early nineteen nineties. While the superhero's death 9 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 2: didn't last too long, it was certainly a great way 10 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 2: to launch a supervillain's career, and Doomsday has remained one 11 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 2: of the resurrected Superman's most recognizable foes. His creation is 12 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 2: credited to Jan Jurgens Brett Breeding, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 2: and Roger Stern. In d C Anatomy of a Meta 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 2: Human by S. D. Perry and Matthew K. Manning, with 15 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 2: illustrations by Ming Doyle, the author's lay out Doomsday's tragic 16 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 2: origin story. An alien scientist named Bertron takes a humanoid 17 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,839 Speaker 2: child and exposes that child to the deadly prehistoric environment 18 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 2: of the planet Krypton. The child dies but Bertron resurrects 19 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,919 Speaker 2: the child via advanced cloning technology and reintroduces the child 20 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 2: to the wild with added traits to protect them. The 21 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 2: child dies again, and the amoral Bertrron continues the cycle 22 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 2: over and over again, using sci fi cloning technology in 23 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 2: the place of natural selection to eventually produce an incredibly 24 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 2: tough super being, the ultimate metahuman combatant, now virtually undying 25 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 2: himself incapable of amazing feats of regeneration. This is the 26 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 2: being that will become known as Doomsday. However, as Doomsday 27 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 2: retains the traumatic memory of his many formative deaths, he's 28 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 2: ultimately tormented by the rage so much that he eventually 29 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 2: kills his mad scientist creator and continues to see the 30 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 2: face of his hated creator in others and rages against 31 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 2: them incessantly. It's a clever twist on evolution, melding the 32 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 2: science of natural selection, the philosophy of Frederic Nietzsche, and 33 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,639 Speaker 2: the psychological trauma. It's also interesting when we start considering 34 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:25,079 Speaker 2: the idea of resurrection from a religious and mythological standpoint. 35 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 2: Superman in the Death of Superman's story arc quite clearly 36 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,279 Speaker 2: echoes the religious motif of the dying and rising god, 37 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 2: famously seen in such figures as the ancient Egyptian Osiris 38 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:43,399 Speaker 2: and the Christian Jesus. Doomsday is seemingly something else, though 39 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 2: not a god who has died and come back, but 40 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 2: a mortal who has died and come back so many 41 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 2: times that he has become at least a demi god 42 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 2: and a potential slayer of the divine. Though in many 43 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 2: ways Doomsday is not so different. After all, there is 44 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 2: a cyclical aspect to the death and resurrection of such 45 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 2: religious figures as of Cyrus and Jesus as well, making 46 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 2: their deaths and resurrections also quite numerable in a sense, 47 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 2: even in cases where there is only the singular death 48 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 2: in the singular resurrection. These events are often remembered or 49 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: celebrated alongside cyclical events like the passing of the seasons 50 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 2: and the inundation of the Nile River, but they are 51 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 2: still singular resurrections celebrated cyclically in multitude. Doomsday, however, has 52 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 2: experienced a multitude of deaths across linear time. In this 53 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 2: you could argue that he is a modern secular linear 54 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 2: perversion of the cyclical sacred and mythic and therefore a 55 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 2: fitting opponent for the godlike Superman, but I would be 56 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 2: very interested to hear what you think about the matter. 57 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 2: You can tune in for additional episodes of The Monster 58 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 2: Fact each week, and as always, you can email me 59 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 2: at contact at Stuff to Blow Your Mind. 60 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 61 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 62 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.