Warning: Potential SPOILERS for Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special #1The unlikely duo of Supergirl and Martian Manhunter may just do the impossible, proving they’re DC’s strongest team-up. The two heroes are about to be on a collision course with Doomsday. Are they strong enough to do what even Superman couldn’t and defeat this monster?
The now-classic Superman villain Doomsday debuted just over 30 years ago in the Death of Superman storyline. Created by a team of legendary Superman creators—Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, and Roger Stern—Doomsday is more of a monster than a scheming supervillain in the mold of Lex Luthor. He’s usually depicted as raw hatred and chaos, a genetically-engineered Kryptonian beast powerful enough to literally kill Superman—which is just what Doomsday once did. Not even the Justice League could stop him. Now it’s possible Supergirl and Martian Manhunter will prove that they’re combined might is strong enough to do what Superman and the Justice League couldn’t: defeat Doomsday.
Can Supergirl and Martian Manhunter Stop Doomsday Once and For All?
Doomsday is getting his own spotlight just over 30 years after his creation in August 2023’s Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special #1 by Dan Watters and Eddy Barrows. DC announced the special with its August solicits, and the summary pronounces Doomsday not only as “the living embodiment of death, destruction, and evolution,” but as “King Doomsday.” In the wake of Dark Crisis and the Lazarus Planet event, Doomsday is more powerful than ever, maybe even ruling over Hell itself. As the solicits says, “It’s now up to Supergirl and Martian Manhunter to drive the beast back and see that he never again returns to our earthly plane—even if they must die to do it!“
Though the issue’s summary teases the potential deaths of these Superman allies, it’s certainly possible that Supergirl and Martian Manhunter are more than capable of taking Doomsday down once and for all. Superman himself has acknowledged on multiple occasions just how powerful Supergirl and Martian Manhunter are as separate, individual heroes.Combining the powers of one of the universe’s strongest Kryptonians—Supergirl, of course—with the utterly terrifying psychic strength of Martian Manhunter could spell final doom for King Doomsday.
Beyond the potential of Doomsday’s defeat, this new team-up combination should be an exciting prospect for readers, especially as DC continues to give the spotlight to “second-tier” characters. However, Supergirl and Martian Manhunter are about to prove that they should already be considered top tier.
Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special #1 will be available August 29 from DC Comics.
