"I’ll get into the DOD, take the pendant, and I’ll make it to the other Earth, where I can destroy it for good. I have to save our son if it’s the last thing I do. I have to save him. I’m so sorry. For everything."
After stealing the pendant of the dictator Ally Allston, Kal went to Earth-TUD25 to destroy her pendant before both versions could merge together, but he got stuck in the Shuster Mines. He was later released by AmerTek Industries and confronted by his Earth-TUD25 counterpart. Eventually, Kal was trapped by Superman in a fortress in the desert, but was freed by the A.I. of Lara Lor-Van to save her children from Lieutenant General Mitch Anderson, who ended up weakening Kal with X-Kryptonite and killing him.
Later, his body was taken by the Department of Defense and was eventually stolen by Intergang at the behest of Bruno Mannheim. He was then transported to an underground lab in Hobbs Bay where Mannheim brought him back to life to save his wife’s life. After Mannheim's arrest, Kal-El was released, becoming a zombie until he was found by Lex Luthor, who cruelly experimented on him and turned him into a mindless beast known as "Doomsday", beginning a life-to-death duel with Superman.
Kal-El and his brother Tal-Rho were born on Krypton and were sent by their mother to Earth when their planet exploded. Kal has an arctic fortress that contains an A.I. from his mother. At some point, he became a world famous superhero and married Lois Lane. Around 2005, Lois became pregnant with twin boys, Jonathan and Jordan-El. When he found out, he went to a bar in Smallville to tell his brother that he was going to be an uncle and was going to move from Metropolis to a farm in Smallville. There, Tal met bartender Lana, they fell in love and eventually got married, with Kal being his best man. Due to his work, Kal was largely absent from his children's lives.[3]
Another world[]
Rise of Ally Allston[]
Kal with his family.
In late 2021, Kal and his family went to an event and he didn't realize that a man was going to fall off a building, so Jon saved him, revealing his powers. Jon also became a famous superhero and his sidekick, helping him stop bad guys and eventually becoming more beloved by fans. At some point, Kal had trips with President Seinfeld. Later, Kal argued with Jon for acting alone and this led Jon to resent him even more and join Ally Allston's cult. Kal became obsessed with stopping Ally and began using Green Kryptonite to increase his powers, causing Lois to be disappointed and leave the farm with Jordan. Kal became enraged and burned the ranch using his heat breath. Eventually, the prolonged use of Kryptonite had psychological and physical side effects.
Kal, suffering from the prolonged use of Green Kryptonite.
Tal visited Kal at the farm, warning him about what the Kryptonite was doing to him and that he and Lana had decided to team up with Ally, Kal felt betrayed and furiously ordered him to leave. When Ally and her followers took control of the government, Kal tracked Lois, Jordan, and Sam Lane to a hidden bunker where they took refuge. By then, the effects of the Kryptonite had already warped him. He apologized to his family for never being present and said that he planned to steal Ally's pendant (an ancient artifact that was capable of granting the user godhood if paired with its other half) and take it to another Earth, where he believed he could destroy it and stop her from merging the two worlds.[3] After having defeated her guards, including Lana, Kal stole Ally's pendant. Later on, he put on armor, took another dose of Kryptonite, and traveled to the mines, where he went through a portal, ending up in Smallville's Shuster Mines in another dimension.[4]
Despite his intake of Kryptonite, Kal remained stuck in the Shuster Mines in Smallville due to the X-Kryptonite there weakening him,[4] resulting in him being sealed into his armor. His efforts to get out caused several earthquakes in the city and Superman, his Earth-TUD25 counterpart, to suffer seizures with painful headaches, intense visions, and fits of rage.[5]
When several members of AmerTek went into the mines to investigate, Kal killed them all. Dr. Kit Faulkner described him as "even more powerful than [she] hoped."[6]
Kal escapes from the mines.
Later, Kal was able to escape the mines and fought Superman and John Henry Irons, during which time he said "leave me alone" backwards. When Superman started receiving painful visions, Kal did too and flew away to the Fortress of Solitude. When his armor was removed, he resembled Superman, down to a damaged suit with a backwards S on his chest. Kal then said the word "home" backwards.[7]
Later, he flew to the Kent Farm to kill Superman, so his visions would stop.[4] After a brief confrontation with Superman and John Irons, he fled and flew to Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. There, he was confronted by the Supermen of America. In his battle with them, he killed two of the Supermen, with Tag Harris being the sole survivor. Superman appeared and fought Kal. John Irons attempted to help Superman with his hammer but was struck by Kal, who ran away again. John was later hospitalized because of this.[8]
Kal reveals that he wants to stop Ally.
Kal discovered that Dr. Kit Faulkner was one of Ally Allston's followers and killed her in her office. Lois Lane walked in and he ran away instead of hurting her. He tracked Ally down and tried to kill her, but Superman stopped him, and they had a brief fight, where Superman realized that Kal was his inverse due to them having opposing powers. Superman led Kal to the Shuster Mines and knocked him unconscious with a shard of X-Kryptonite. Superman took Kal to Tal-Rho's Fortress, where his counterpart's mother, Lara Lor-Van's A.I. trapped him in yellow energy and was able to give him the ability to speak coherently. When he woke up, he told Superman that he needed to kill Ally before she destroyed his world.[9] He also told how he got to this world and why he's been killing people, to destroy Ally's pendant, but Superman was afraid to believe it.[4]
Death[]
Kal is killed by Anderson.
Superman and Tal-Rho went to the fortress. Kal was still trapped and remembered Tal's counterpart from the Inverse World, whose wife tried to kill him. Eventually, they were tracked down by Lieutenant General Mitch Anderson, who used X-Kryptonite to give himself superpowers. Superman and Tal-Rho were weakened by red solar radiation and Anderson managed to overpower them and shoot Tal-Rho with Kryptonite bullets. Because of this, Lara Lor-Van's A.I. released Kal so he could save her children. As he fought Anderson, Kal proved to be immune to green kryptonite. Anderson deduced that X-Kryptonite was his weakness and repeatedly hit Kal with X-Kryptonite gas, weakening him to the point where Anderson could break his neck and kill him.[1]
Post-Mortem[]
Used by the Mannheims[]
Kal-El's body with Henry Miller watching on.
His corpse would then be transported to one of the DOD's secret facilities and be kept there for several months. However he would then be stolen by Intergang on the orders of Bruno Mannheim after James Distefano successfully transmitted all of the locations of the DOD's secret facilities back to him. His corpse would then be transported to an underground lab underneath Hobbs Bay medical facility. It was there that Mannheim resurrected Kal so he may use him to try and find a cure for Peia Mannheim's terminal cancer.[10]
Mannheim kept Kal comatose so it would be easier to operate on him. The plan ended up failing, and after Peia's powers destroyed Bruno's lab, Kal woke up, screaming in pain as bumps developed across his face and hands.[11]
Spending weeks locked up, Kal became a cannibal, eating several mice before being found by the evil billionaire Lex Luthor and his henchman Otis Grisham, whom he attacked in a rage, eating him while Lex looked.[12]
Becoming Doomsday[]
Tortured by Lex Luthor[]
Bizarro is captured by Luthor.
After Kal bit off Otis' ear, Lex managed to kill him by shooting him several times with a X-Kryptonite based weapon. A few moments later, Kal woke up again, which prompted Lex to shoot him once more. After once again killing a revived Kal, Lex laughed as he realized Kal cannot be permanently killed, and knew he could use him as a weapon to kill Superman. Kal was then hung up in chains by Lex, who told him "Everytime you die, it just makes you stronger. This is a gift. A wonderful gift. Let me help you." After Lex asks if he could kill him over and over, Kal bows his head down, saddened and afraid of dying again. Kal reluctanty agrees after Lex promises him that nothing in this world would be able to stop him.
He gets shot with X-Kryptonite, drowned, cut by a chainsaw and an axe, blasted with yellow sun radiation and shot with a bazooka. All of this causes him to mutate into a mindless monstrous creature with spikes coming out of his body.[13]
Battle against Superman[]
Bizarro's original form as Doomsday
Kal was kept by Luthor in the same subway station where Mannheim experimented on him, regularly being fed live animals to satisfy his bloodlust. After orchestrating the kidnapping of General Lane, Luthor drove to the Kent Farm, knowing Superman would confront him. Luthor then used the modified ELT to bring Kal to the farm, who destroyed the barn upon landing. Superman recognized Kal thanks to the inverted "S" symbol on his chest and was horrified of what he has become, asking Kal "What's he done to you?". Lex told him this would be a fight to the death, and ordered Kal to bring him Superman's heart after he was done. The two began to fight, flying from Smallvile to Metropolis. While submerged in the river, Superman used his freeze breath to trap Kal in ice and tried to fly him away, but had to resort to impaling him on a mast as he was breaking out. Superman landed on the ground, reassuring bystanders that it's okay, but was shocked to see Kal resurrect. Kal managed to completely overpower Superman, even made him bleed and knocked him out. He then grabbed him and flew to space. Superman heard Lois calling his name, and thanks to being closer to the Sun, he healed, broke out of Kal's hold and punched him to the moon, where they continued fighting.[13]
Doomsday vs Superman.
As the two prepared to charge at each other, Kal pulled out X-Kryptonite shards from each of his shoulders and slammed Superman down onto the surface of the moon, which caused the latter’s cape to be torn off. Eventually, Kal and Superman were in deep space still battling. They landed powerful hits against each other, though Kal kept managing to gain the upper hand. One point during the fight Superman stabbed Kal with an XK shard, which only caused the beast to become even stronger while evolving further. When the fight came near its end, Kal punched the exhausted Superman into a huge meteor, making a crater. Superman, struggling to see, tiredly stood up and faced his incoming enemy. As Kal flew towards Superman, the latter used his remaining strength to fire a beam of heat vision at the twisted monster, to no avail.
At that moment, Kal drove his fist directly through the Kryptonian’s chest and took out his heart, ultimately resulting in the death of Superman. The impending combination of the punch and heat vision made the meteor explode. Kal, having survived, levitated in the vacuum of space, with his dead enemy’s heart in his hand. The monster then made his way back to Earth with Superman’s corpse and landed in Smallville, encountering Lois, Jordan, and Jonathan who had all arrived after hearing Kal come back. Staring at the three, Kal let out an ear-piercing and ferocious roar, before throwing down Superman’s body. Leaving the Kent family to grieve, Kal returned to Luthor. After asking his pet if he had gotten what he wanted, Kal presented Superman’s heart.[14]
Killing Sam Lane[]
A handful of days after Kal killed Clark, Kal was summoned, and was prompted by Sam Lane to kill him, all as a part to resurrect Clark. Kal not being aware of the hidden plan grabbed Sam by the head and snapped his neck before flying off.[15][16]
Freedom[]
Not long after Kal killed Sam and returned to his cage inside Lex Luthor’s lair, Lois used Sam’s ELT to summon Kal to her. Once arrived, Lois managed to break through to the little sanity Kal had left by reminding him of his Lois and his two sons. Taking a minute to think about the situation, Kal then decided to abandon Luthor, and fly off to never be seen again.[17]
Back in Smallville[]
With his memories back, Kal had flown off to Shuster Mines, desperately attempting to reopen the entrance to the portal to return to his world and his family. Unfortunately, due to Superman unmerging the two worlds, Kal was unable to get through the entrance.
Lex later found Kal again after Milton showed him the DOD's information on "Project Doomsday", intent on using him to destroy Smallville. Lex attempts to appeal to Kal's primal side, with Kal disinterested and only hearing him out due to feeling pacifistic because of Lois.
Lex shoots Kal with kryptonite-laced screws, which Kal frantically attempts to remove. The resulting explosions trigger a massive evolution, causing Kal to go berserk due to the pain and being powered up by kryptonite. Kal storms off to destroy and burn down Smallville.[18]
"You are barely 15. That is not your call to make.” ”Yeah, I’m pretty sure that that unicorn left the barn as soon as the world saw what I could do.” ”I am your father. You do what I tell you to do, you understand?” ”Oh, so now you wanna be my dad now that I have powers. Where were you before?” ”Don’t you take that tone with me. You know exactly where I was.” ”Actually, yeah, yeah, I do. Uh, selling your shoe line and hosting the Kevins. Oh, and the trips with President Seinfeld.” ”I have responsibilities, Jonathan! I thought, by now, you would understand that.” ”That’s the thing, dad! It’s always, always about me understanding you. Maybe, for once in your life, you should think about how I’m feeling."
According to Jonathan-El, Kal-El once embodied the same noble and selfless nature of a hero as his Earth-TUD25counterpart. Likewise, he was a loving family man, eager to be there for his family. However, between never having a civilian disguise that his counterpart has and the constant fame and wealth he was showered with, Kal eventually lets the ego boost to go to his head.
Kal became cocky, showboating, self-entitled and careless, he came to see being famous and beloved as no different than helping people, spending more time working on his public image and endorsements than protecting society. He would pander to the fans so much, failing to hear people in need, once letting a person fall to their demise if not for Jonathan's intervention. While still truly loving his family, his shameless glory-seeking unintentionally led to neglecting them.
Kal only began retaking an interest in Jonathan when his powers manifested. While attempting to teach Jonathan to be a hero, Kal's efforts became more about promoting his son as part of his commercial brand. With his insecurity at Jonathan becoming more popular than him and his arrogant control of how Jonathan was to perform as a hero, Kal ultimately further pushed his son away. This continued self-entitlement eventually also led to Lois and Jordan leaving him because his inability to see fame made him neglect his family and actual hero duties.[3]
Kal-El as Bizarro.
"And now, I'm stuck once again... because of you." "Not because of me. Because you killed innocent people. Two teenagers." "Only by necessity." "You almost killed my friend." "He attacked me." "You tried to kill me!" "Because I needed those visions to stop!"
Kal becomes addicted to the power Green Kryptonite gave him, which ultimately led to his downfall.[3] It made him very aggressive and reckless. Following his various failings, Kal eventually came to admit to hoping to make up for all of it. Risking everything, he came to Earth-TUD25 with good intentions, hoping to save both worlds. However, unlike his Earth-TUD25 counterpart, Kal was willing to kill to protect the world.[9]
Kal-El as a beast.
When Mannheim brought Kal back to life and he was trapped in the tunnels under Metropolis for several weeks, Kal regressed, due to the resurrection scrambling his brain. Kal was solely driven by the primal instinct to hunt and eat, no longer speaking but simply making noises. He eats other living things to survive; including other individuals. After being experimented on by Lex Luthor and becoming Doomsday, Kal is now an aggressive beast that is unwillingly loyal to Lex - loyalty that was only contingent on Lex indulging his appetite.
Even though Kal can no longer speak, he can still understand human language, as seen when Lex gives Kal an order to kill Superman, and Kal understands him. He also understood Lois's pleas not to hurt her family and acknowledged this by extinguishing his flared gills, not killing her and Jon on the spot, and not returning to Luthor.
Kal retains his memories, although he was unable to properly recall them until after killing Superman, due to the shock of his innumerable deaths causing his brain to regress and get scrambled. Once he killed Superman and had time to adjust to his new form, he was able to recognize Lois as being a doppleganger of his wife, albeit vaguely. Once Lois summoned him with the ELT to have a heart-to-heart, he was able to fully recall his memories of his former self and his family.
Kal later goes completely berserk after Lex forces an evolution using Kryptonite explosives, back to being mindless and now intent on destroying any and everything in his path.
Powers and abilities[]
Powers[]
Altered Kryptonian physiology: As an Inverse World Kryptonian, once charged by the energy spectrum of a red sun, Kal possesses various superhuman attributes. Upon being resurrected by Aleister Hook's experiments, Kal's physiology was greatly altered, seemingly no longer requiring red sunlight to power him from how long he was without exposure to such yet survived having Bruno's lab collapse on top of him. His altered state caused his eyes to constantly glow blue. After being experimented on by Lex Luthor, his body mutated into a hulking, rock-like creature whose abilities were enhanced, enough to visibly hurt and knock out Superman. By the end of their confrontation in space, Superman was defeated and killed and Kal was the only one left standing. This makes him the only living being to ever defeat the man of steel in one-on-one combat with such brutality, making Kal very powerful indeed.
Red solar absorption: As an inverse of his Earth-TUD25 counterpart, Kal's cellular structure allows him to absorb, store and metabolize the wavelength of red sun radiation to fuel all of his abilities. Direct exposure to sunlight will also accelerate his absorption rate.
Accelerated healing: As long as Kal's cells are supercharged, he can heal extremely fast. Kal's healing factor vastly increased due to the experiments of Dr. Aleister Hook and Lex Luthor discovered it practically made him immortal.[13]
Resurrection: Upon Kal's resurrection, his mutated biology allows him to heal and resurrect himself on his own after each death without any aid. This power seemingly has no limits. However, it comes with reduced mental capabilities, a known side effect of the resurrection drug, having since become a mindless animal with immense bloodlust.[13]
Adaptational evolution: One of the effects of Kal's mutation that with each maiming experience he endures, his body instantly adapts to as he resurrects, becoming immune to whatever method of death previously killed him.[13]
Fire breath: He is able to produce an amount of fire from his mouth, in a similar but inverse manner to Superman's ice breath.[8] When Kal grew into a beast, his fire breath has become a lot bigger and stronger than it was before.
Inverse of Superman's heat vision, Kal-El is able to produce very cold beams from his eyes, that can freeze his target and, additionally, create icicles if he chooses to.[9] After mutating, it is unknown if Kal can still use his freeze vision.
Flight: Kal is able to fly at tremendous speeds.[7] Even after being transformed into a giant monster, his flying ability wasn’t hindered at all.
Green Kryptonite empowerment: Exposure to green kryptonite makes him stronger.[1]
Superhuman durability: Kal possesses extraordinary durability, able to endure very powerful explosions, hits from Superman and even intense blasts of the latter's heat vision with little to no noticeable harm at all.[7][8]
Superhuman hearing: Kal was able to hear an ELT that Lex Luthor activated to summon him from far away.
Superhuman speed: Kal is able to move at immense speeds, able to match Superman in combat.[7][8]
When Kal was beneath the Shuster Mines, his punches at the rock caused several earthquakes.[5] He was also able to equal Superman who is the physically strongest being on Earth.[7][8] Upon losing his humanity after being mutated into a mindless beast, Kal's strength became enhanced, enough to make even Superman bleed.
Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Being a parallel version of Superman and with the aid of his remarkable powers, Kal is the most powerful combatant on his Earth. After being transformed into a giant mindless monster, Kal's physical strength and durability have surpassed those of his counterpart, which combined with his senseless rage and aggression allowed him to easily defeat him in a fight. This makes Kal one of the most deadliest combatants in the entire multiverse.
Weaknesses[]
Hunger: While not exactly a true weakness, due to Kal not being under a red sun to provide him self-sustenance, he has developed a large carnivorous appetite/lust for eating. However, he does not actually need to eat due to his mutated biology providing him with unlimited stamina, as seen when he battled Superman for days on end.
Brute force: Beings of similar power like Kal can possibly kill him since Superman's punch caused him to bleed a little when he hit the moon's surface, but it must be noted that even if he is killed he only becomes stronger.[13]
Water submergence: Despite Kal's now-virtual invulnerability, he is vulnerable when submerged underwater, as his vastly increased size and weight make him slower and open to being temporarily frozen by fellow Kryptonians. Being frozen within a large enough body of frozen water could theoretically stop him, though it wouldn't kill him for good.[13]
Yellow sun energy: As Kal has an inverse biology to Superman, yellow sun energy weakens him in a similar way to how red sun energy weakens Kryptonians native to Earth-TUD25.[9]
Green Kryptonite addiction: While Green Kryptonite empowers Kal, it also causes him to become more cocky like his son's Earth-TUD25 counterpart, along with other side effects, which ultimately led to his death.[3]
Degeneration: While Green Kryptonite makes Kal stronger, it seemingly only extends to his powers, not his durability. Kal's skin became a pale white and the skin around his eyes, mouth and cheeks turned black.[3] However his former appearance started to be restored thanks to the experiments conducted on him by Dr. Aleister Hook[19]. This is likely due to the chemicals Hook injecting Kal with burning off the Kryptonite in his system.
Headaches: Prolonged usage of green kryptonite gave Kal headaches. These headaches would worsen when he arrived on Earth-TUD25, due to telepathic connection with his counterpart. Kal acted even more aggressive than usual, as he crossed a line he usually wouldn't, killing the teens on Superman of America - even if he believed they were allied with Ally Allston.[3]
X-Kryptonite: As Kal has an inverse biology to Superman, rather than empower the being, X-Kryptonite weakens him to a certain extent, allowing Superman to knock him out.[9] An injection of this substance may be enough to weaken him to such an extent that a similarly powered human such as Mitch Anderson was able to snap Kal's neck. [1] After repeatedly being killed by Lex Luthor using X-Kryptonite and becoming a monster, Kal is no longer vulnerable to the substance, as it has now become a part of his body and he can use it for offensive purposes.
Monstrous appearance: Although Kal's physical appearance appeared to be healed from Mannheim's experiments, this was only superficial, as once his normal biological functions resumed after he awoke from his coma, he started screaming in pain as bumps developed across his face and hands. It appears he was mutated by Hook's experiments, although what exactly was done to him is unclear. What is known is that the resurrection drug was used on him, although it's not known if he was injected with his counterpart's blood as well.[13] This mutation extended far more prominently, across his entire body, once Lex's experiments turned Kal into a monstrous being capable of invulnerable resurrection.
Equipment[]
Suit: Kal has a protective suit similar to the one of his Earth-TUD25 counterpart, only with the symbol of House of El inverted and the cape in tatters.[7] Prior to this, his suit was blue like his counterpart’s but with the cape still torn, until it became damaged after Ally Allston’s takeover of the world and his usage of Kryptonite.[3]
Former equipment[]
Armor: Kal used an armor to travel between the Inverse World and Earth-TUD25.[4] His armor was damaged during his confrontation with his Earth-TUD25 counterpart and he got rid of it in the Fortress of Solitude.[7] The helmet component of the armor was later found by Mitch Anderson’s team.[1]
Ally Allston's pendant.
The Pendant: The pendant is an artifact as old as time, born when the Inverse World and Earth-TUD25 were split.[4] The pendant produces waves of energy when in the presence of Superman.[8] He stole the pendant from the Ally Allston of the Inverse World.[4] It was later stolen by Tag Harris and given to Mitch Anderson.[8]
Green Kryptonite affects him the same way as it did the artificialKryptonianBizarro, making him degenerate into a gray form with black eye with enhanced powers: only his irises glowed blue, likely due to his mind not having deteriorated from a coma/brain death. Though he was still as violent as Jane Doe, albeit because his self-restraint was diminished from the psychological effects, much like how Red Kryptonite affects a regular Kryptonian by removing their inhibitions.
"She's not gonna stop until she completes everyone by combining them with their counterparts from that Bizarro World."[21]
Kal's bizarre, zombie-like behavior upon resurrection may have something to do with his neck being snapped, as another test subject, Henry Miller, was left dead when John Henry Irons killed him with his hammer.
Before being transformed into a beast, the resurrected Kal-El appears to have a brief moment of consciousness and clarity that resembles his former self. As he does not know Ally Allston was defeated and imprisoned, it may be possible that his somber, apparent consent for Lex to continue killing him was so he could become strong enough to protect his family from Ally, at the sacrifice of his soul.
Though it is possible that Kal reacted this way as Lex gave him no choice.
Although Kal has become the first version of Doomsday in the Arrowverse to appear onscreen, he is not the first in general, as Lois Lane from Earth-38 referenced her Earth's Doomsday being defeated by Superman during the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.
As Doomsday, Kal's roars are similar, if not identical, to the roars that Bowser makes in the Super Mario games.
Behind the scenes[]
In the DC comics, Bizarro was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman. He debuted in Superboy #68 (October, 1958). However, unlike Kal-El, the comic version of Bizarro is an artificially created being, originating from the same universe as Superman and with a severely diminished intellect. Like Kal-El, some comic versions of Bizarro have a family, comprised of a Bizarro Lois Lane, and their son, Bizarro, Jr, both of whom have the same chalky skin and low intellect as Bizarro.
The armor he wore resembles Doomsday's containment suit after it was defeated by Radiant.
Paul Lazenby confirmed that he played an adaptation of Doomsday.[22]
Boxel Studios, which was responsible for Bizarro's new form from concept to final product, refers to this new form as Bizarro-Doomsday in their project files.
Paul Lazenby began to be credited as Doomsday in Season 4.
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