10 Shockingly Dark Origins Of Comic Villains

2. Doomsday

Batman White Knight Mr Freeze Nora Fries Cover
DC Comics

The creature that would become Doomsday was an artificially-created being made to be the ultimate life form. In its earliest days, Krypton was a harsh hellscape and the perfect laboratory for the alien, Bertron. He and his team sent a baby out into that world and it was killed immediately. They harvested what was left and used it to create another being that was immune to what had killed its previous iteration. Bertron named his creation Ultimate. After decades of this process, Ultimate could evolve independently and grew to hate all life. When it discovered the scientists, it killed them as well.

This being encountered Zharan Pel, took his Green Lantern ring, and discovered the Guardians of the Universe. Hundreds of Emerald Knights opposed the creature and were killed. A Guardian was forced to sacrifice his life to finally kill Ultimate.

The death of that Guardian opened a hole in space to the planet Calaton where Ultimate fell. It ravaged the planet for three years, until the final members of the royal family fused their essences together to become the Radiant. It killed the creature and they wrapped and chained it up, then shot it into space. Ultimate landed on Earth and was buried miles beneath the ground. It escaped and fought the Justice League, decimating the team. Booster Gold gave the creature the moniker Doomsday. Superman was Earth’s only hope against the rampaging monster.

Contributor
Contributor

John Wilson has been a comic book and pop culture fan his entire life. He has written for a number of websites on the subject over the years and is especially pleased to be at WhatCulture. John has written two comic books for Last Ember Press Studio and has recently self-published a children's book called "Blue." When not spending far too much time on the internet, John spends time with his lovely wife, Kim, their goofy dog, Tesla, and two very spoiled cats.