Spotlight on Doomsday

Doomsday was originally created in the comics in 1992 as an instrument to kill Superman in the well publicized Death of Superman story. Over the years he has been given a backstory which varies from source to source, but usually involves genetic engineering and the notion that killing Doomsday results in him coming back to life stronger than before.

Outside of comics, Doomsday first appeared in the Justice League animated series episode "A Better World," in 2003. In the episode, parallel world Justice Lord Superman disposed of the beast by lobotomizing him with heat vision.

Doomsday's brain healed and he finally got to fight the real Superman. in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Doomsday Sanction," in 2005. In this continuity, Doomsday turned out to be a government weapon made using Superman DNA as a possible counter weapon to a rogue Justice League. Superman tried the heat vision trick again, but this time it didn't work and he ended up beating Doomsday by throwing him in a volcano. Doomsday was then banished to the Phantom Zone.

Doomsday could be spotted hanging out in the Zone in the Legion of Superheroes episode "Phantoms."

In 2007, Doomsday appeared in the DC direct to DVD movie Superman: Doomsday, an adaptation of the Death of Superman novel.

As in the original story, Superman was able to beat the killing machine, but it cost him his life... almost.

The eighth season of Smallville (2008-2009) seeking a villain to fill the gap left by the departing Lex Luthor character reimagined Doomsday as a having an alter ego, paramedic Davis Bloom.

In Smallville, Doomsday was genetically engineered on Krypton by General Zod. He hitched a ride to Earth in Clark's space ship with a mission to kill Kal-El and to become Earth's Ultimate Destroyer.

When I heard they were bringing Doomsday into Smallville, I was skeptical. Continuity issues aside (by now you can only really look at Smallville as an elseworlds reality), the dude doesn't really scream TV budget, and the alter ego thing sounded hokey. But the truth is, Doomsday has been the best aspect of the season, even surpassing the full-time status of Green Arrow. They have kept the reveals to a minimum which cuts on the cheese factor, and have made Doomsday a real threat. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, Smallville's takes on villains including Lex, Brainiac, and Bizarro were all outstanding and even Mxyzptlk, Zod, and Toyman have been respectable (Maxima was a tad lame).


With a rumored death of a main character in the finale (that is NOT Chloe, nor does its seem plausible to be Jimmy or Lois), and combined with the talk of Clark needing to be forged by his greatest challenge in last night's episode Eternal, I can't help but wonder if Smallville is about to give us its take on the Death of Superman...

12 Ways to Get Hulk Smashed

Check out this cool pictorial history of the animated Incredible Hulk over at Animated Superheroes: A Pictoral History of the Hulk.

I am partial to the Ultimate Avengers version, but something about the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends - Spidey Goes Hollywood version catches my fancy as well. The first version is freaky, but at least its sort of true to the original comic. I really hate the Iron Man - Hulkbuster version, which I realize is the "smart Hulk" but he really looks like a douche, complete with moussed hair.

What to Expect From Green Lantern: First Flight

When: 28 Jul 2009

Who is in it: There are any number of Green Lanterns in the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps. Perhaps the most iconic, and the star of this film is Hal Jordan. I guess that depends on who you ask though. My wife, who endures my obsession with Superheroes, saw the preview for this movie and said, "I thought the Green Lantern was black." Ah, Justice League, your impact has been felt.

My first exposure to Hal was through Superfriends. And although Batman is my favorite Superhero, I have always thought Green Lantern, with all of his constructs, was the coolest. Of course, the baddie (well one of the baddies) is Sinestro, and the Lantern that looks like a hippopotamus, Kilowog, will also be featured. A female named Boodikka will also shake her booty in the movie.

What to expect: I admit, my knowledge of the world of Green Lantern is pretty much limited to what I have learned from Justice League and Superfriends. I think his weakness is the color yellow, but I am not sure if that's still true. From the title, it sounds like this is an origin tale, and I know that it involves Hal's first days as a Lantern under the tutelage of Sinestro. Other than that I don't know much. If this will be pretty much the same plot as the upcoming Green Lantern feature film, I don't know either, but hopefully its got its own spin.

My hopes for this are pretty high for a couple of reasons. First, aside from the misfire of Batman: Gotham Knight the DC DtVs have been pretty good - the best of them being Wonder Woman and Superman: Doomsday. It just so happens that director Lauren Montgomery directed both of those and will direct GL too. Also, its about time GL got his due. If Iron Man can be a break out hit, why not GL?

Links: Official Site


Up Next: Thor: Tales of Asgard

I Spent the Night With Wolverine

Update: To avoid problems with Fox Studios, no details will be posted here until after Wolverine has hit theaters. Note also, I personally was not involved in any torrenting activities. Oh yeah, and "piracy is bad." Make it so.

What to Expect From X-Men Origins: Wolverine

When: 01 May 2009

Who is in it: As you can see from the poster, the characters included have more to do with "cool characters that haven't gotten their shot at the spotlight yet," than they have to do with established Weapon X folk. This includes fan favorites Gambit, Emma Frost, and Deadpool, and because they treated him so well in the X-Trilogy - Cyclops. Oh, and no X-Film would be complete without more Wolverine. We also get Sabretooth (forget that he was already in X-Men played by someone else), The Blob, Agent Zero AKA Maverick, Kestrel, Silver Fox, and of course, Bolt (not Beak). Maybe next we will get an Angel film featuring Cable, Bishop, and Psylocke.

What to expect: Just to be clear, I am one of the people who thinks X3 got a bad rap. Sure they messed up the Phoenix story big time, and the movie in no way reached its near infinite potential, but it was still better than X1 (though obviously it fell short of X2). And for perspective, in the world of superhero 3quels, I would take X3 over Batman Forever or Superman 3 any day. Having said all of that, I am not that "X-cited" for this movie. I just kind of feel like I have already seen the Wolverine origin in X2. Also, it just looks like a big jumble of characters with not too much of a compelling story.

Hopefully I will be proven wrong, but I don't think I am alone in my thinking. I am going to predict that Wolverine falls short of $200 million at the box office landing in the $185 range. No matter how the movie performs, Fox is going to keep churning out X-Spinoffs to retain the rights to the X-Men franchise (Coming Soon, Jubilee Goes to College). So, we may or may not see a Deadpool or Wolverine 2 film, but its going to be a long time before Wolverine finds his way into the establishing Marvel Movie Universe. Sadly, that means no Hulk vs Wolverine on the big screen for us.

Links: Official Site, Lots of Media



Up Next: Green Lantern: First Flight

The Brightest Days Are Yet to Come

Batman has had 7 feature films, Superman has had 5. Wolverine, er I mean the X-Men have had 3 with X-Men Origins: Wolverine just around the corner. The Punisher, surprisingly has also had 3. And just when it seems as though the "Superhero Movie Fad" is sure to end, you get a Summer like 2008 where the combined totals of The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army exceed $1 Billion. That's a lot of green, and hopefully there is a lot more green to come.

As this site launches, lets take a look at the Superhero films in the pipeline. What do we know? and more importantly, what do I think about them?

Up First: X-Men Origins: Wolverine