WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: DC Comics' Doomsday

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters

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<v Speaker 2>in time. We've been covering some d C comics monsters

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<v Speaker 2>of late, and today I'd like to talk about Doomsday,

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<v Speaker 2>the brutal, spiny shouldered Kryptonian monster best known for killing

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<v Speaker 2>Superman in the early nineteen nineties. While the superhero's death

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<v Speaker 2>didn't last too long, it was certainly a great way

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<v Speaker 2>to launch a supervillain's career, and Doomsday has remained one

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<v Speaker 2>of the resurrected Superman's most recognizable foes. His creation is

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<v Speaker 2>credited to Jan Jurgens Brett Breeding, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson,

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<v Speaker 2>and Roger Stern. In d C Anatomy of a Meta

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<v Speaker 2>Human by S. D. Perry and Matthew K. Manning, with

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<v Speaker 2>illustrations by Ming Doyle, the author's lay out Doomsday's tragic

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<v Speaker 2>origin story. An alien scientist named Bertron takes a humanoid

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<v Speaker 2>child and exposes that child to the deadly prehistoric environment

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<v Speaker 2>of the planet Krypton. The child dies but Bertron resurrects

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<v Speaker 2>the child via advanced cloning technology and reintroduces the child

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<v Speaker 2>to the wild with added traits to protect them. The

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<v Speaker 2>child dies again, and the amoral Bertrron continues the cycle

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<v Speaker 2>over and over again, using sci fi cloning technology in

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<v Speaker 2>the place of natural selection to eventually produce an incredibly

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<v Speaker 2>tough super being, the ultimate metahuman combatant, now virtually undying

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<v Speaker 2>himself incapable of amazing feats of regeneration. This is the

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<v Speaker 2>being that will become known as Doomsday. However, as Doomsday

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<v Speaker 2>retains the traumatic memory of his many formative deaths, he's

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<v Speaker 2>ultimately tormented by the rage so much that he eventually

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<v Speaker 2>kills his mad scientist creator and continues to see the

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<v Speaker 2>face of his hated creator in others and rages against

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<v Speaker 2>them incessantly. It's a clever twist on evolution, melding the

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<v Speaker 2>science of natural selection, the philosophy of Frederic Nietzsche, and

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<v Speaker 2>the psychological trauma. It's also interesting when we start considering

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<v Speaker 2>the idea of resurrection from a religious and mythological standpoint.

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<v Speaker 2>Superman in the Death of Superman's story arc quite clearly

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<v Speaker 2>echoes the religious motif of the dying and rising god,

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<v Speaker 2>famously seen in such figures as the ancient Egyptian Osiris

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<v Speaker 2>and the Christian Jesus. Doomsday is seemingly something else, though

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<v Speaker 2>not a god who has died and come back, but

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<v Speaker 2>a mortal who has died and come back so many

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<v Speaker 2>times that he has become at least a demi god

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<v Speaker 2>and a potential slayer of the divine. Though in many

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<v Speaker 2>ways Doomsday is not so different. After all, there is

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<v Speaker 2>a cyclical aspect to the death and resurrection of such

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<v Speaker 2>religious figures as of Cyrus and Jesus as well, making

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<v Speaker 2>their deaths and resurrections also quite numerable in a sense,

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<v Speaker 2>even in cases where there is only the singular death

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<v Speaker 2>in the singular resurrection. These events are often remembered or

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<v Speaker 2>celebrated alongside cyclical events like the passing of the seasons

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<v Speaker 2>and the inundation of the Nile River, but they are

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<v Speaker 2>still singular resurrections celebrated cyclically in multitude. Doomsday, however, has

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<v Speaker 2>experienced a multitude of deaths across linear time. In this

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<v Speaker 2>you could argue that he is a modern secular linear

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<v Speaker 2>perversion of the cyclical sacred and mythic and therefore a

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<v Speaker 2>fitting opponent for the godlike Superman, but I would be

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<v Speaker 2>very interested to hear what you think about the matter.

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<v Speaker 2>You can tune in for additional episodes of The Monster

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<v Speaker 2>Fact each week, and as always, you can email me

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<v Speaker 2>at contact at Stuff to Blow Your Mind.

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