Warning: This article contains spoilers for Superman (Vol. 6) #19. The Ultimate Killing Machine is Superman’s ultimate enemy. Decades after Doomsday wreaked death and destruction in a march to Metropolis that ended with the death of Superman in 1993’s Superman #75, the Man of Steel’s strongest foe has evolved once again in this week’s Superman #19 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora. The monstrous creature, who was sent to hell when he was destroyed during Dark Crisis, reigned over the dark domain as King Doomsday in 2023’s Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special #1 — a one-shot that ended with Doomsday pummeling the gates of hell itself.
Mirroring his first appearance in 1992’s Superman: The Man of Steel #17, each powerful blow brought Doomsday closer to freedom — and Superman closer to doom. After the events of Absolute Power — which saw Superman resurrect his black recovery suit after he was temporarily stripped of his powers — Superman #19 begins at “The End.”
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Titled “The Many Deaths of Doomsday,” the issue opens with Superman and the Time Trapper in his domain at the End of Time. “Killing is never the answer,” Superman tells the hooded figure with the ability to manipulate all of time. “There must be another way.”
Time Trapper replies that Superman’s morals and ideals “meant nothing in your day,” and even less at the end of everything. “It has been said that everything dies, but we both know that is not true, don’t we, Kal-El?” he asks the Kryptonian. “Superman is forever. I am forever. Our conflict will never end.”
When Superman says that it will be different this time, the Time Trapper recalls the words of Tenzil Kem, a.k.a. the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Matter-Eater Lad: “As long as there is a Superman, there is hope in the universe for a better tomorrow. But here you are, the Last Son of Everything,” Time Trapper says. “If you won’t do what needs to be done… I will find someone who will.”
In present-day Metropolis, super partners Superman and Superwoman — a recently super-powered Lois Lane — encounter the new Doomsday. SuperCorp’s scientists deduce that Doomsday’s death and resurrection triggered his evolution into a hulking hellmonster, but before Superman and Superwoman can engage the creature in a fight, time suddenly stops.
“Have you told Lois yet?” Time Trapper asks. “That you will watch her wither with age and die? That you will outlive everything? All your family and friends will be like sand in an hourglass as they waste away. Forgotten to time.” Time Trapper taunts Superman further, telling him he’s witnessed timelines where Kal-El chose to live among the humans as Clark Kent. “A life without power. How selfish,” he hisses. “To deny the future a Superman.”
When Superman asks why he’s come to this time of all timelines, Time Trapper ominously warns: “Because this moment is special. The horror that happens next will decide the fate of everything.”
The Time Trapper has been known by many names: Death, Apocalypse, Eternity, Entropy, Time… and now Doomsday. “We have been enemies for a millennia, Superman,” the Time Trapper Doomsday says as he removes his hood, revealing a gaunt form. “But now I need your help.” Next: the future is doomed.
Superman #19, the first issue under the new DC All In initiative, is on sale now from DC Comics.
Here’s the synopsis for Superman #20, out Nov. 27: “Doomsday from hell! Superman and Superwoman investigate Lois Lane’s new powers as they deal with the unstoppable Doomsday… but when the mysterious Time Trapper reveals his ultimate secret, it shakes Clark, Lois, and the rest of the Super-Family to their core.”