"Superman: Doom"
Five years ago, a power-mad tyrant from planet Krypton came to Earth to topple the traitor Kal-El and take over the planet, but Kal-El/Superman defeated this invader and the city of Metropolis rejoiced Superman's victory, swearing to celebrate Superman's conquest every year on "K-Day". Clark Kent is seen interviewing Metropolis Police Commissioner Maggie Sawyer about that day, getting plenty of material for his story on the event. Afterwards, Clark uses his powers and resources to have dinner with Lois Lane on the Moon. It is up there that Clark proposes to Lois Lane. After she says yes, they share a kiss and fly off together to tell Martha Kent the great news. As they fly off, a satellite camera allows Lex Luthor to see all of this in his underground lab. In his lab we see a war suit, two test-tube fetuses, a meteor of Kryptonite, and a large metal box containing an alien monster (recovered during "Justice League: Breached Earth"). Lex has been experimenting on the alien and has synthesized a formula from it's saliva. When tested, this formula kills humans in minutes by rotting their skin and expanding their bones until their sharp bones pierce the organs. Luthor hypothesizes that such a formula could work on Superman given a few more hours since Superman heals faster than humans. Luthor prepares his war suit and the "Doom Formula".
Lois and Clark spend the night together and the next day Superman witnesses a group of heroes helping evacuate a sinking fishing boat off of the Metropolis coast. These heroes are The Metal Men, six robots made from different metals. Superman helps them save everyone and is met later by The Metal Men's creator, Will Magnus. Will explains he wanted to take the Metal Men to the K-Day event to teach them about heroism and sacrifice of one's own desires. Meanwhile at the Daily Planet, Lois Lane is getting attention from everyone about her engagement to Clark. Through the window comes a masked man in flying armor. This masked man kidnaps Lois and Jimmy Olson sneaks away to activate his Signal Watch and summon Superman. Superman is telling The Metal Men about the time he disabled his powers to fight in a charity boxing match when an explosion of the K-Day memorial plaque catches their attention. The Metal Men agree to take care of the memorial while Superman follows Jimmy's call. He arrives to see the Daily Planet office in shambles, but nobody is dead. He can't hear Lois' cry for help, but Superman uses his enhanced smell senses to track Lois by her perfume. He smells another familiar scent and flies off, making a cell phone call along the way.
The masked man in armor has Lois gagged and tied to a radio tower when Superman shows up. They begin fighting below the tower, but this masked man has prepared for this fight. His entire armor has Kryptonite lasers, daggers, and a liquid sheen to damage Superman. Additionally, the armor is made from synthesized alien metal and around the tower are floating lamps dispersing red sunlight to disable Superman's powers. As Superman is slowly dying, he sees someone climbing the radio tower and distracts the masked man by revealing he knows he is Lex Luthor. Superman could smell Lex's obscene cologne, too. Luthor brags about how easy it was to beat Superman on his own, that Superman could never learn from his mistakes because he's so used to not making mistakes. But Superman has learned. Suddenly, shotgun blasts take out the red lamps and Luthor sees Superman's friend John Henry Irons untying Lois and taking out the lamps. When Luthor goes to kill him, Superman pile drives him back down. Irons uses a collapsable sledgehammer to smash the systems panel on Lex's suit and police sirens are heard in the distance. Superman has Lex at his neck, but Lex shoots a bomb at Lois. Superman blocks the bomb and breaths in some of it's gas. Luthor then stabs Irons and flies off. Superman tells Lois to get Irons to a doctor and he flies after Luthor, but is unable to stay awake long enough to catch him.
Superman wakes up in the dense forest outside Metropolis's limits, he only hears the sounds of his friends. Lois, Jimmy, Irons, and Professor Hamilton are traversing the forest and they find Superman. On the car ride back to the city, Superman decides to ignore his injuries and visit the K-Day plaque, which was heavily damaged by Superman protestors. Lex Luthor returns bruised to his secret labs where his reluctant assistant Mercy Graves nurses him back to health. Luthor's scientists tell him that the Doom Formula has successfully gotten into Superman and that the effects will start soon. Luthor starts a clock that will sound when Superman dies, approximately 24 hours. He plans on releasing the alien monster onto Metropolis right before Superman dies, that way Lex Luthor can kill the monster and be Metropolis' savior. Sadly, Luthor is still struggling to find a means of killing the monster.
At the K-Day plaque, Superman stands beside Metropolis police, firemen, and political figures and talks to the public. Superman tells them that there will always be people who see the evil in others, that the good we all have inside of us will never be put on display enough and that it shouldn't. He says doing whats right is hard, but it's supposed to be hard, its supposed to be a challenge all good people can overcome. Not to gloat, but to inspire. Superman is noticeably sweating and falling over, when a cop tries to help him up, Superman pushes him off the stage by accident. Superman then uncontrollably fires his heat vision into the air and The Metal Men show up to contain him. Superman is wrapped in their metal bodies, but uses super speed to vibrate them off. He then flies into the Earth's atmosphere and burns his energy flying through the cosmos and blasting heat vision into the empty space. Superman's powers begin to fade and he flies his way back to his Fortress of Solitude.
Martha Kent, Pete Ross and Lana Lang Ross were watching Superman's freakout on the news in Smallville. Pete is concerned, but Martha explains Clark has lost control before. When Clark's alien ship crashed in Smallville thirty-something years ago, there was a doll-like machine inside the pod called Kelex. As the years went by, Kelex adapted along with Clark (from doll to necklace, necklace to key, key to The Fortress) in order to help guide him. Kelex taught Clark about his powers and the Kryptonian people. As we learn this we see Kelex-in a robot body-and Superman's branded helper-droids trying to study Superman in the Fortress. Superman is still conscious, so Kelex explains the poison of an alien life-form is killing him. The creature in question was the creation of an alien scientist named Byth. Codenamed "Ultra-1", this monster was repeatedly killed and cloned over an over until it adapted to every possible form of death, it was meant to be a war ender, but Brainiac stole the creature during his travels because of how unique the creature was.
Luthor has designed a cranial-operations device to give him mental control of the monster. He then prepares to have it released, but when he leaves the room the creature kills the guard Otis and breaks free, escaping the lab. Meanwhile, Superman's skin has turned gray and several bones have begun perturbing. He is trying to produce an antidote, but his too frustrated to focus. He begins smashing his robots and destroying the cages containing his alien animals. He almost crushes the bottled city of Kandor, but then he gets an idea. Luthor is told about the monsters escape and order his suit to be prepped, he then activates a program to block all signals between Earth and the JL Watchtower, that way no heroes can come help. Kelex uses Clark's space pod to develop a healing chamber, by using yellow sun rays on Kandor's Kryptonians and then asking to drain those sun rays from them and into Superman, they might be able to upgrade Superman enough to overpower the Doomsday formula. The monster leaps by a biker bar and trashes some bikes, when the bikers yell at it the monster kills them. The monster breaks into the bar and an old man gasps "Doomsday" by the mere sight of the monster. Doomsday sees Superman's greatest battles on the TV screen and points at the screen, the scared bar tender tells him Metropolis is to the north. Doomsday destroys the bar and leaps off.
Superman is dressed in a black and silver suit and stored inside the pod, in order to transfer the solar energy Kelex fuses with the pod and Superman to act as a conduit. The pod goes dark and Superman starts to go through comatose nightmares. In his dreams, Superman battles giant alien spiders, savage polar bears, a bizarre amalgamation of Starro and Brainiac. He dreams of being encased in neon webbing as his skin goes pale and his hair grows long. The very "S" he wears slowly swallowing him as the images of Lois, Jimmy, The Kent's and The El Family look down on him.
In Metropolis, Doomsday is breaking the city and growling Superman's name. As panic ensues and the police are failing, Lex Luthor appears and uses his cranial-operations device to defeat Doomsday, but it does not work and Doomsday rips the armor off Luthor and almost kills him. With Luthor beaten on TV, Hamilton, Irons, Magnus and The Metal Men watch in horror as Doomsday is about to rip Luthor in half. A yellow light blasts Doomsday and a new hero named Booster Gold appears. He brings Luthor to the news crew nearby and starts dispersing business cards to all the people there via his robotic assistant Skeets. Lois yells at him to fight Doomsday and Booster is royally beaten by the monster. Jimmy tries to summon Superman with his watch, but Superman doesn't show. Magnus is prepared to send out The Metal Men when Irons walks out in a robotic suit he's been working on, called The Steel Suit. Lois uses her signal watch in unison with Jimmy's to activate the JL emergency signal. Batman gets the signal while he and Robin are arresting Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman gets the signal while she is watching Steve Trevor get his butt kicked by Hawkgirl in combat, Martian Manhunter gets the signal while getting coffee with a fellow cop, The Flash and The Atom get the signal while they're visiting kids at a hospital, Aquaman gets the signal while overseeing the tunnels between Atlantis and the surface being built, and White Lantern Hal ignores the signal as he floats in empty white space.
Still dreaming, Superman walks through a hall of his foes: Luthor, General Zod, Brainiac, The Parasite, The Toyman, Metallo and finally Doomsday. A green light and a blue light speak to Superman from above as the Doomsday statue falls apart. The voices tell Superman that his greatest foe will be no monster, it will be no man, Superman's greatest foe is his quest. The Doomsday statue becomes a statue of Earth. By setting out to protect his new planet and to protect those he loves, Superman has divided his life. The only way Superman could ever force his quest to be completed is to choose: Fight for Earth or fight for humanity. Steel and The Metal Men fight Doomsday after Booster Gold is tosses aside. Steel's suit is almost as powerful as Superman and his special hammer does some damage, but it's not enough. Magnus commands The Metal Men to activate the Alloy Mode, which has the Metal Men bond together onto Steel's suit, strengthening him. Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman help fight Doomsday while Batman, The Flash, The Atom and the Metropolis PD evacuate the city and the US army creates a border around Metropolis so that the heroes can fight Doomsday. Superman tells the lights he doesn't have time to choose, that at this very moment the two things he tries to protect are in danger and that this is a job for Superman. The voices vanish and Superman crawls out of the pod cured of his disease. Kelex advises he take a few more hours in the pod to fully recover, but Superman sees what's happening in Metropolis. He rips off the black suit and digs out his first costume (undies included) and dons it. Kelex explains his powers are under control, but still stronger than ever with the Kandorian's strength contributed. When Kelex questions why the older costume, Superman tells him that the world needs to know Superman is back and at his best.
Doomsday has defeated the JL and the other heroes, but Booster Gold still tries to attack. Booster is smacked high into the air, but caught by Superman. Booster keeps repeating "Doomsday" before turning a dial on his belt and vanishing. Superman hears the pain of Metropolis and uses his speed and flight to get the remaining people in Metropolis-heroes too, but Luthor is gone-onto the army border. He then flies back into the middle of Metropolis. The JL, Steel and Superman's allies wait in baited breath, Lois insists Martian Manhunter give her a mental connection Superman. Magnus tries to sneak off while everyone is distracted, but General Wade Eiling finds him. He remarks on how all that damage broke The Metal Men again and he knocks Magnus out cold and takes him away.
Superman is staring down Doomsday in the remains of Metropolis. Superman removes his cape and ties it to a standing pipe like a flag. Lois talks to Superman, begging him not to lose. Superman tells Lois that he has and always will love her, but the world needs Superman one more time and he won't let a monster with no name be the destroyer of his home. Not like the last home. Superman and Doomsday commence an epic battle, with Doomsday's strength brutal enough to rip Superman's skin. By film standards it'd be a twenty-minute fight being dished throughout the city. Superman assures Lois that the damage Doomsday has taken from the other heroes was enough to level the playing field. Superman and Doomsday deliver one last blow to each other, the previous fights weakening Doomsday and the failure to fully recover weakening Superman. After Superman's mind goes silent, everyone outside heads into the city and Lois knees before Superman. Surrounded by his friends and loved ones, Superman dies.
We get a montage showing heroes rebuild Metropolis with a Superman shrine, the JL shooting Doomsday and Superman's corpses into the sun, Clark Kent's name being added to the death tole, people of Metropolis wearing Superman's symbol while helping others, and Lois Lane writing the obituary. Steel is in the hospital recovering and his daughter brings him a set of flowers. Will Magnus is held in a cage by Argus and Steve Trevor is being ordered to stay quiet about it. Lex Luthor goes before the public and crafts evidence of Brainiac being in control of his actions since the original K-Day. Lex swears to honor Superman by re-founding Lexcorp as "MetroCorp" and aiding the city in repairs. As the Justice League, Lois Lane and all of Metropolis attend Superman's funeral, Batman shows up after the service at Superman's shrine. He looks at Superman's cape being hung by the monument and says, "Thank you showing me there was another way. For helping me separate from the darkness, for showing me I'm not alone in this fight. I've sworn to continue that fight many times before, each time losing someone I love and respect in the process. But this will not change anything. I will keep fighting. I'll fight for the both of us". Wonder Woman stands behind Batman. Lois Lane is in her apartment, about to drink alcohol, but Wonder Woman and Batman appear and take the glass away. The three of them embrace over Superman's memory.
After the credits, Lex Luthor sits at his desk at MetroCorp. Mercy brings him some papers and asks why he's so miserable. Lex explains that Superman died a hero, meaning Lex will forever be inferior to Superman in the history books. He can't even take pride in killing him because of the embarrassment dealt by Doomsday and the humiliation of claiming he was brainwashed. Mercy leaves the room by his command, and Lex Luthor looks at his cloning files. "No, no imitations" Lex says to himself, "Metropolis doesn't need another Superman. Metropolis needs a new Superman".
Thank you for reading.
"Justice League: Godfall" is flying up next!
Facebook: The Panel Biter
Twitter: @ThePanelBiter
Podbean: Panelbiter.podbean.com
No comments:
Post a Comment