#dcu doomsday

✨ DAVIS BLOOME ✨

Redemption is a BIG theme throughout this story - it's the whole reason Maggie is "inside" Alicia & plans on redeeming Lex Luthor. But they aren't the only tragic characters in this show who got shitty endings for the sake of Clark's character development.

I think Davis Bloome (Doomsday) should be a solid contender for a Maggie Redemption Special.

KEY POINT: "Second Life" takes place during the events of Season 3 (2004). Nothing Davis Bloome related will happen (canonically) until Season 8 (2008). If Maggie has anything to say about it, we could see him sooner. . .

Backstory if you're not familiar:

The human persona "Davis Bloome" is entirely original to Smallville, but the character of Doomsday is the creature that kills Superman (for the 1st time!)

While including the Doomsday concept in Smallville was an interesting choice (a little early for Season 8 in my opinon....), I have a love-hate relationship with it. I loved the conflicted humanity his character brought to the table, but I think the showrunners handled it like hot garbage.

Before everything spiraled out of control because of Braniac's influence, Davis wasn't some power-hungry villain. He was an ordinary paramedic who genuinely tried to help people and that's all he's ever wanted from life.

The genetically manufactured darkness inside him was a literal science experiment created by the Kryptonian warlord Zod & his wife Faora to destroy humanity and take over Earth for the House of Zod by combining their DNA with that of the planet's strongest and most violent creatures. His genetic material was attached to Kal-El's escape pod and "hatched" on Earth at the age of 3, abandoned in a corn field.

Fun Fact: Bloome is technically 5 months younger than Clark.

Unlike Clark, Davis never knew his fucked up parentage or anything related to Krypton - he was completely isolated from his heritage with a ticking time bomb of an imposed "familial destiny" simmering inside of him.

Davis and Clark (Kal-El) are phenomenal mirrors/foils to each other & no one talks about that enough!!!

What's also tragically sad is that Davis woke up (hatched) just a little too late. He watched from behind a burned bush as the Kents took Clark home with them. Davis was found by Lionel Luthor's search team, imprisoned, experimented on, and eventually abandoned on the streets of Metropolis. AT THREE YEARS OLD!

After Brainiac's manipulation and his darker instincts emerged, Davis honestly tried his best to resist them. When his "alter-ego" took over, Davis was no longer in control. Think of it like a Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde or a Bruce Banner/Hulk situation - when the monster "checks in," the human "checks out."

Davis knew how violent and unstable his "alter-ego" was & tried everything he could to suppress it. He was horrified by himself that he went so far as to take anti-psychotic pills in order to control his transformations. But his adaptive abilities ("what kills him makes him stronger") eventually made him immune to the effects of the pills.

And when help didn't work, he attempted suicide to keep this monster he had no way of understanding or controlling from hurting anyone. Again, because of the adaptive ability failsafe his Kryptonian "parents" baked into his DNA, his suicide wasn't successful.

All he wanted to do was help people, not hurt them. And the best way he knew to help his friends and keep them safe was to kill himself. And when that didn't work. . . can you imagine how isolating that can be? Knowing that you were capable of hurting everyone you ever cared about and being unable to stop yourself?

The only thing that could keep Doomsday at bay was killing, acting on those dark urges. And you know what Davis did? He became a serial killer that only targeted bad people! (Ethical issues of justifying this aside for now). He confessed to a priest that he could control his "inner beast" by ridding the world of those he deemed evil.

Rather than trying to find a way to help Davis (their friend!), the Justice League hunted him down to kill him to preemptively protect Clark. When Davis began transforming into Doomsday, Chloe used Black Kryptonite to separate Doomsday from Davis.

Clark fought Doomsday, won, and buried the creature deep within Earth's crust. Being separated from Doomsday meant that Davis lost everything Kryptonian about himself & became 100% human.

What should have followed was redemption and a shit-ton of therapy. Instead, the series killed him off in a Chloe Sullivan-Jimmy Olsen-Davis Bloome love-triangle subplot that was absolute shit & completely undermined the tragedy of his character.

So here's my question:

When I eventually introduce Davis Bloome, would you rather see me explore a redemption arc that gives him the chance the show never did, or would you prefer I keep his story closer to the original series?

I'd love to hear your what you think in the comments as much as your vote. I'm especially interested in why you feel the way you do. And if you've never seen the show, that's even better to have a fresh perspective!