Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Jabroniville]

Why do I get the impression the creators had more fun designing her appearance than actually writing stories featuring her?

OBSESSION (Dana Dearden, aka Superwoman, Mrs. Superman)
Created By: Stuart Immonen
First Appearance: The Adventures of Superman #532 (Feb. 1996)
Role: Future-Seeing Would-Be Hero
Group Affiliations: None

-Superman seems to have to deal with overly-amorous would-be lovers in the '90s- Maxima and Obsession came out with this concept. Dana Dearden is a more standard obsessed fangirl, but started out asking Jimmy Olsen on a date. However, she obtained some magical coins during a fight at a museum between two other superhumans- Scavenger & Alpha Centurion. It then turned out that Dana had only asked out the smitten Jimmy to get close to Superman- she was completely infatuated with the Man of Steel. When Jimmy didn't deliver on getting her to meet Supes, she dumped Jimmy and started using her new powers to beat him up. Calling herself "Superwoman", she used the Signal Watch to lure in Superman, who was horrified by her shrine. She knocked him across a harbor and set fire to a tanker, but helped Superman rescue the crew, disappearing when the tanker exploded. Jimmy labeled her "Obsession".

-Later, when Superman was split into Superman Red & Superman Blue, Dana reappeared, having finally recovered her memory after amnesia. Then MAXIMA showed up, both women competing after Supes (Dana was willing to share- calling "Red"- Maxima was not). Maxima telepathically created the illusion that Dana had accidentally killed Superman, causing her to flee the scene in horror. She showed up in a new costume later when Superman was spotted wearing a wedding ring. Called "Mrs. Superman" when she arrived in hew outfit, she attacked Supes in a jealous rage, but helped him fight some thugs on Satanus's "Demon Drugs" and was seemingly killed in the process. A demonic figure came to claim her. During her time in Hell, Harley Quinn recruited the deceased Dana into her gang. Dana ultimately sacrificed herself to save the team from the Cerberus. All in all, the character only lasted four years, but the writers apparently dug her at the time, as she got used a fair bit.

-Dana uses magical coins to have Flying Brick-esque powers similar to those empowered by Shazam- the Strength of Hercules, Speed & Flight of Mercury, Lightning & Durability of Zeus, and Sight of Heimdall. Seemingly not that powerful, though, as she's been killed by regular goons on demon drugs once.

[Ken]

Dana Dearden is a more standard obsessed fangirl, but started out asking Jimmy Olsen on a date. However, she obtained some magical coins during a fight at a museum

-Dana uses magical coins to have Flying Brick-esque powers similar to those empowered by Shazam- the Strength of Hercules, Speed & Flight of Mercury, Lightning & Durability of Zeus, and Sight of Heimdall. Seemingly not that powerful, though, as she's been killed by regular goons on demon drugs once.

More precisely, she went from dating "Mr. Action" to using the coins of Captain Action.

Captain Action was an action figure that came out in 1966. He was about the size of a classic G.I. Joe figure (prior to the 1980s, G. I. Joe was the lead character in a line of 12" action figures that he shared a name with; it was the success of the Star Wars line that led to G.I. Joe being retooled as a line of 3.25" figures), and the gimmick was that one could buy costumes w/masks so that Captain Action could become Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Phantom, The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Sgt. Fury, Steve Canyon, or the Green Hornet. There was an Action Boy who could be turned into Robin, Kato, Aqualad. Eventually, Ideal would try to move Captain Action into being his own hero, not just a stand-in for others.

But in 1968, Ideal Toys licensed Captain Action to National Comics (re: DC) for a comic book series. And in the pages of Captain Action, the eponymous hero used magical god-headed coins of Zeus, Heimdall, Mercury, and Hercules that provided the powers Jab listed for Obsession. Those weren't an element of the toy, just the comic. So, 28 years later, the Superman Writers' Room decided to revive the coins with a new character.

[Jabroniville]

THE MASTER JAILER (Carl Draper, aka Moosie, Kator, Deathtrap, The Locksmith)
Created By: Martin Pasko & Curt Swan
First Appearance: Superman #331 (Jan. 1979)
Role: Master Jailer
PL 4 (90), PL 6 Jailer
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 3 (+8)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 4 (+7)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+6)
Technology 5 (+10)
Technology 6 (+16) (Flaws: Limited to Restraints/Bonds/Cells)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Inventor, Ranged Attack 4

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Enemy (Superman)

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 38--18 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 9 (90)

-Carl "Moosie" Draper is a recurring foe of Superman's, but a minor one. He debuted in 1979 as a former Smallville resident known for being overweight and clumsy- crushing on Lana Lang, he was deeply resentful of her crush, Superboy, and grew into a bitter man. He went into a "self-improvement" phase, turning into a supreme specimen thanks to exercise and cosmetic surgery, and built an inescapable prison for supervillains called "Mount Olympus". Superman himself was impressed by the prison, agumenting it by putting it on an antigravity platform. Superman nicknamed it "Draper's Island", but Lana's nickname, "Superman Island", stuck, and Draper continued to be immensely resentful, never having let it go. This final straw caused him to snap, becoming the "Master Jailer". He kidnapped Lana and attacked Superman, but was beaten and sent to his own prison.

-A Superboy story written a couple years later uses the teen self of Carl, who impersonates the robot "Kator" that Superboy built as a sparring partner. Kator had gained artificial intelligence and nearly killed Superboy before being destroyed, and Carl put on the gear to restart the fight. But Jonathan Kent had the "cutoff" safety switch, and removed Kator's powers. Superboy then removed the memory of Draper ever being Kator, because even '80s Pre-Crisis comics were funny like that.

-Post-Crisis Draper first appeared in 1994- he was hired by S.T.A.R. Labs to design a holding cell for Conduit, but his daughter Carla asked him if he could build a prison that could hold even Superman. This apparently immediately inspired him to name himself "Deathtrap" and lure Superman, who was then thought of as an impostor after returning from death, into a trap that only the real Superman could escape from. Naturally Supes escaped and Draper was like "Oh it's really him"... but then grew obsessed with proving that he could entrap the REAL THING. Deathtrap appears a few times over the years, usually with a hologram pre-set so he could be elsewhere when the trap is sprung (as well as indirectly advertising for Draper's company). "The Locksmith" appears with the old hologram and captures Superman (in his blue energy form at the time), but it turns out this time that it was CARLA operating it without Carl's knowledge.

-Later, Manchester Black controls "Master Jailer" (with his old costume) in a 2002 story. In 2007, Checkmate shows him having been found out by the organization and made to serve them as a security consultant. He proves successful enough that he's promoted to head of security, and secretly suspects his daughter Carla as the aggressor against the organization- a website (actually shown on a computer screen in the comic) suggests that Draper was only ever the Master Jailer and that others were the Post-Crisis version. But that's about where the character ends. Honestly it's kind of funny how even a D-Leaguer like this (albeit an interesting, somewhat credible threat) ends up with like FOUR identities and shitloads of potential retcons. That's comics for ya.

-Draper is a physically-fit man who is an expert at traps- ones that could theoretically even hold Superman for a time. Essentially, every Draper story is "The GM against the Player", where a variety of high save DCs are put against the hero, testing their intelligence, versatility and ingenuity. Carl himself is smart enough to avoid capture more often than most bad guys, especially Post-Crisis.

[Jabroniville]

Dana Dearden is a more standard obsessed fangirl, but started out asking Jimmy Olsen on a date. However, she obtained some magical coins during a fight at a museum

-Dana uses magical coins to have Flying Brick-esque powers similar to those empowered by Shazam- the Strength of Hercules, Speed & Flight of Mercury, Lightning & Durability of Zeus, and Sight of Heimdall. Seemingly not that powerful, though, as she's been killed by regular goons on demon drugs once.

More precisely, she went from dating "Mr. Action" to using the coins of Captain Action.

Captain Action was an action figure that came out in 1966. He was about the size of a classic G.I. Joe figure (prior to the 1980s, G. I. Joe was the lead character in a line of 12" action figures that he shared a name with; it was the success of the Star Wars line that led to G.I. Joe being retooled as a line of 3.25" figures), and the gimmick was that one could buy costumes w/masks so that Captain Action could become Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Phantom, The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Sgt. Fury, Steve Canyon, or the Green Hornet. There was an Action Boy who could be turned into Robin, Kato, Aqualad. Eventually, Ideal would try to move Captain Action into being his own hero, not just a stand-in for others.

But in 1968, Ideal Toys licensed Captain Action to National Comics (re: DC) for a comic book series. And in the pages of Captain Action, the eponymous hero used magical god-headed coins of Zeus, Heimdall, Mercury, and Hercules that provided the powers Jab listed for Obsession. Those weren't an element of the toy, just the comic. So, 28 years later, the Superman Writers' Room decided to revive the coins with a new character.

Ahhhhhhhhh I've seen those things! The local antique mall had some Captain Actions with I think the Lone Ranger and someone else. I didn't realize he used coins- that's a pretty deep cut for a 1990s comic!

[Batgirl III]

My mum was from England and my dad from the States, so I spent a significant amount of the Eighties bouncing back and forth. Like any red-blooded American lad (despite being a lass), I was really into the “holy trinity” of Eighties toy lines: G.I. Joe, Transformers, and (briefly) He-Man (who was usurped by) TMNT.

Kids in England had never heard of G.I. Joe and their dad’s all thought I was talking about a 12” dress-up doll. But neither the boys nor their dads would ever shut-up about a comic book called Action Force (or Battle Action Force for the dads) and how cool the Red Shadow villains were. Then some of them showed me the toys…

The Action Force name originally came about for a
50’s/60’s era comic about WWII action, no real continuity, mostly just short stories. When Hasbro decided to bring G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero overseas, they dropped the yankee-centric “American” subtitle and “G.I. Joe” name. They dusted off the old “Action Force” branding and went with it. Cobra remained the villains, at least at first, but as the comics continued they diverged and the villains were replaced by the Red Shadows (same eighties villain schtick, new characters).

It was a wild time.

[M4C8]

My mum was from England and my dad from the States, so I spent a significant amount of the Eighties bouncing back and forth. Like any red-blooded American lad (despite being a lass), I was really into the “holy trinity” of Eighties toy lines: G.I. Joe, Transformers, and (briefly) He-Man (who was usurped by) TMNT.

Kids in England had never heard of G.I. Joe and their dad’s all thought I was talking about a 12” dress-up doll. But neither the boys nor their dads would ever shut-up about a comic book called Action Force (or Battle Action Force for the dads) and how cool the Red Shadow villains were. Then some of them showed me the toys…

The Action Force name originally came about for a
50’s/60’s era comic about WWII action, no real continuity, mostly just short stories. When Hasbro decided to bring G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero overseas, they dropped the yankee-centric “American” subtitle and “G.I. Joe” name. They dusted off the old “Action Force” branding and went with it. Cobra remained the villains, at least at first, but as the comics continued they diverged and the villains were replaced by the Red Shadows (same eighties villain schtick, new characters).

It was a wild time.

I'm surprised that the kids you talked to didn't know about G.I Joe toys, I had loads of the figures and several of the vehicles (mostly those released from 89-91), though saying that I didn't know much about them outside of the toys, I'd never read a G.I Joe comic and as far as I can remember I never watched the cartoon. Maybe by the time I started collecting them the franchise was a bit more popular here in England or maybe it was just the toys.

Of all the many toys I had throughout my childhood it's probably the G.I Joe toys that I now most regret not keeping.

[greycrusader]

Master Jailer, AKA Deathtrap, AKA Locksmith is kind of interesting; I mean, technically he's a one-note villain, essentially if Lex Luthor was really brilliant at just creating traps and prisons, but not a bad concept for an occasional foe, basically a less sadistic Arcade. Shouldn't he have a bunch of Equipment points in headquarters, though? And maybe a Variable to represent on-hand traps (though I think there's actually an Advantage that allows for that with inventions).

Batman:TAS used a guy with a really similar M.O., Lockup, and M&M's Freedom City setting has The Warden. The Legion of Super-Heroes also had Grimsbor the Chainsman back in the 80s, though he was also a physical threat, able to fight Timber Wolf one-on-one and carried around a bunch of power-nullifiers and unbreakable chains.

All my best.

[Ares]

Terra-Man is way too good a concept to just leave off on the side. The idea of this Old West cowboy using alien technology that lets him fight Superman is just fantastic and a lot of fun.

I think if I were going to do explore that concept, I might try and revitalize several concepts that have gone unused for a while and link them all together.

I think I might have some alien or New God take interest in Earth, and kind of views humanity as fascinating with it's various cultures, how its history changes over time, etc. So what said entity does is periodically go to Earth and selects one member from a culture that it finds particularly interesting, takes said human back to his homeworld, enhances them, and then works with them to develop technology that serves as enhanced versions of their own gear. If the Milestone characters are a part of the DCU (and they should be), the process could include the "optimization" process that made Icon a Superman-level hero and which made DMZ a powerful flying brick in his own right. It's also possible that the enhancement process depends the individual, so while some gain physical power, some gain other abilities.

So this alien would have gone to ancient Rome and selected the man who would become the Alpha Centurion. He focused on being a flying brick and his armor / gear is designed to basically make him a more enhanced Roman fighter. Maybe include some of the old Super Friends characters like Apache Chief, Samurai and El Dorado, possibly characters from the Super Powers toyline like Golden Pharoah. Maybe even have the robot Cyclotron be an android designed to catalogue, train and otherwise interact with these characters. Maybe Zan and Jayna are relatives of the alien doing all of this. Maybe include some other characters that would fit as well.

In any case, Terra-Man would be the latest character selected by the alien, and he does the same thing where he gets enhanced and develops alien tech versions of old west gear. Only Terra-Man eventually decides to kill the alien and leaves to become an intergalactic outlaw, eventually returning to Earth. The others would either use this opportunity to head to Earth themselves or chase after Terra-Man to bring him to justice (the alien was actually their friend and mentor and they'd all willingly gone with him).

Some of the other characters might need some new names (Apache Chief especially), but it would be a fun way to reintroduce those characters and tie their origins all together.

[Jabroniville]

DOOMSDAY (aka "The Ultimate")
Created By: Dan Jurgens
First Appearance: Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (Nov. 1992)
Role: Powerhouse, The One-Note Villain, Death in Bicycle Shorts
PL 14 (174)
STRENGTH 20 STAMINA 15 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -3 AWARENESS -3 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Intimidation 18 (+15)
Perception 8 (+5)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Fast Grab, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed) 2, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Startle

Powers:
"Super-Heavyweight" Features 2: Increased Mass 2 [2]
Protection 4 (Extras: Impervious 17) [21]
Regeneration 4 (Feats: Regrowth) [5]
Immunity 11 (Aging, Life Support) [11]
Senses 3 (Extended Vision 2, Low-Light Vision) [3]

"Groundstrike" Affliction 12 (Dodge; Hindered/Prone) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Instant Recovery, Limited to Grounded Targets) Linked to Damage 12 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Limited to Objects) (30) -- [32]

• AE: "Spike Fists" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Penetrating 10) (11)
• AE: Leaping 7 (1,000 feet) (7)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Spiked Fists +7 (+21 Damage, DC 26)
Impact Blast +12 Area (+21 Damage, DC 36)
Groundstrike +12 Area (+12 Affliction, DC 22)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +19 (+9 Impervious), Fortitude +15, Will +7

Complications:
Obsession (Destruction)- Doomday hates all life, and lives only to destroy.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 74 / Defenses: 16 (174)

The Monster Who Killed Superman:
-Doomday is a villain infamous for a feat that can never be repeated- fatally injuring Superman himself during the Death of Superman saga. A being created literally just to do this very thing, he was bereft of anything, even a PERSONALITY, and was almost literally just there to kill Superman. He was created at the summit where it was decided to kill Superman (to buy time for the Lois & Clark TV series to have the two characters form a relationship and marry), as they wanted to avoid the cliche of Superman's foes always using high technology. Instead, a bestial monster was created. And in so doing created one of the embodiments of '90s comics: a personality-free raging monster made of pointy rocks, with the '90s favorite weapon: claws.

-Doomsday's origins are largely immaterial, but he was created from the depths of prehistoric Krypton itself, having been imbued with nothing but hatred and a desire for destruction. Krypton was then a violent, hellish world, and an alien scientist named Berton touched down on the planet to create the ultimate weapon, dropping a humanoid infant he'd built in a lab on the world. The baby was swiftly killed, and its remains collected and used to create a clone. Furthermore clones were created via this method, artificially creating "evolution" in making a monster that was immune to all past forms of harm- these repeated deaths drove the creature insane with rage, giving it a hatred of all life. Initially called "The Ultimate", the creature soon learned to live only on solar energy, survive any environment, and more, and ultimately hunted and exterminated the dangerous predators on Krypton, then killed the alien scientist himself.

-Doomsday thus escaped on Berton's supply ship and flew around the universe getting into fights and killing things. Starting hundreds of thousands of years ago, he killed millions but was ultimately slain by an alien superweapon and his corpse sent adrift in space in a locked rocket. Finally, however, this crash-landed on Earth, and the revived creature escaped. He effortlessly defeated the Justice League, literally with one hand tied behind his back, but ultimately freed the other arm in the attack meant to stop him. Superman himself had to fight the creature, but had finally met his match: over the course of several issues, the two were deadlocked, Superman unable to harm the beast but taking massive damage in return. Superman finally maintained a bit of a comeback, using sheer attrition to wear Doomsday down, and ultimately the monster was killed in the bare-handed beatdown... at the cost of the life of Superman as well.

Doomsday Returns; Means Jack Shit:
-So the Death of Superman was a HUGE deal, gaining mainstream media attention. Doomsday himself was temporarily memorable but largely discarded- when four Superman stand-ins arrived, Doomsday was revealed to have been tossed back into space, where he inevitably revived himself. DC wasn't done "putting him over", though, as he is unleashed on Apokolips and defeats Darkseid himself, withstanding the unreal Omega Beams as he did so. Doomsday had "evolved" past both prior methods used to kill him- the alien super-weapon and Superman himself (now revived). Superman ultimately had to use a time travel device to strand Doomsday at the end of time itself.

-Doomsday, naturally given his hype as the killer of Superman, would be re-used. Trouble was, there was no surpassing that feat, and the guy has zero character of his own. And so when he was returned to our time by a minion of Brainiac's and possessed by Brainiac himself, he was more easily defeated (put in "stasis" by some JLA teleporters working in unison). Later, he was released by Manchester Black's Suicide Squad to battle Imperiex during Our Worlds At War- Doomsday slaughtered the Squad and tore through several Imperiex Probes (which had by this point killed or maimed many DC superheroes, like Queen Hippolyta and Aquaman), but was immolated by Imperiex, who disintegrated him into a glowing skeleton. Yes, the mighty DOOMSDAY was now reduced to a pawn for other characters and a guy used to "put over" Jeph Loeb's big new cosmic threat.

-And so, only eight or so years later, Doomsday had been nullified as a threat- the "ooh, ah, he killed Superman" rep ultimately went nowhere and the fear he provoked was diminished. The 100th issue since the Death of Superman led to Lex Luthor regenerating Doomsday's skeleton with Kryptonian DNA (Superman's, naturally) and given to Darkseid as payment for Earth's war debt to Apokolips during OWAW. Doomsday was now intelligent and sentient... but was by this point just knocked out by Superman, who proved that he had now surpassed the creature. So yeah, they basically went "LOL f*ck Doomsday- this guy sucks". Later, Darkseid attempts to create an army of Doomsday Clones, but most are weakened and are mere foot soldiers- even Batman's batarangs can blow them up and the clone army was just used as a temporary "OMG a bunch of Doomsdays!" scare.

The Doomsday Stuff Nobody Cares About:
-Doomsday's new sentience gave him emotions, and it was teased that he was turning good- he saved Superman against the threat of Gog in one story, but Gog "learned the error of his ways" and apparently undid the character development by reverting Doomsday to a prior point. During Infinite Crisis, Doomsday fought on the side of the villains, but was crushed by the team-up of Kal-El & Kal-L- two Supermen from different worlds. He was later killed by Superman, Supergirl and many Kandorites in Geoff Johns & Richard Donner's Superman run.

-Doomsday would return in The Reign of Doomsday, where he attacked, defeated and abducted Steel, the Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator, Supergirl, and Superboy, showcasing new powers as he did so. However, it was a Luthor plot, with four Doomsday clones with different powers, and later a cybernetic Doomsday named "Doomslayer" appeared and threatened the heroes before being stopped. The character reappeared frequently in both the "New 52" and "Rebirth" continuities as well.

Doomsday As A Whole:
-Ultimately, though, the character is a joke. His origins are relentlessly '90s and largely unimportant anyways, as the character spent the vast majority of his time as this mindless savage beast, so what does he even matter? His big bit of business was killing SUPERMAN, a great feat... but by Our Worlds At War he was reduced to being the "Worf", curbstomped to put over other, cooler threats. Which completely neutered the character and made him never matter again.

Doomsday's Powers:
-Appearing to be almost literally unstoppable, to the point of KILLING Superman, Doomsday appears to be a god-tier being at first, but in every appearance thereafter, appears diminished, stopped by Superman solo. So like the guy whose most vaunted power is "Evolves past the last thing that killed him"... isn't actually a thing, because Superman can just beat him up. His power is enough that "New Villain Stink" can justify the killing of Superman, but he's otherwise "just" a PL 14- equivalent to Wonder Woman, Thor and others.

[Ares]

DC was actually kind of smart about using Doomsday early on. They had this mindless monster that even Superman couldn't beat one-on-one, and they used him sparingly so as to not dilute him. After his initial story he only appeared in two other storylines: Hunter/Prey and Doomsday Wars. In both instances he was shown to be a true beast, stomping his way through Darkseid's forces, breaking Superman's arm, taking on the Morrison-era Justice League and winning, etc. He was perfectly serviceable as a major physical threat that existed only to destroy.

. . . then of course Jeph Loeb got involved, and after killing Doomsday to sell his lame Galactus knock off Imperiex, he then allowed Superman to do something that had never been allowed previously: he let Superman get a clean, uncontested win over Doomsday and beat him unconscious. It was very emblematic of Loeb's whole run, where he had to show how dangerous Superman was by beating the thing he previously couldn't beat with physical force via physical force.

Doomsday and Amazo are kind of similar in that they aren't really meant to be characters, they're extinction level threats the heroes have to fight and either need really good teamwork or something super clever to take down. They're almost always being used as tools by other villains, which is fine. They're effectively human-sized kaiju.

[Batgirl III]

Someone should publish a story that slightly retcons Doomsday’s origins. He doesn’t get stronger with each death, he gets weaker… Make his “Worf Effect” canon.

[Jabroniville]

Master Jailer, AKA Deathtrap, AKA Locksmith is kind of interesting; I mean, technically he's a one-note villain, essentially if Lex Luthor was really brilliant at just creating traps and prisons, but not a bad concept for an occasional foe, basically a less sadistic Arcade. Shouldn't he have a bunch of Equipment points in headquarters, though? And maybe a Variable to represent on-hand traps (though I think there's actually an Advantage that allows for that with inventions).
All my best.

Uh, yeah, maybe. I just realized right before posting that I should do an actual BUILD of the guy, since I had more than enough information to. I figured I covered all the bases XD. To be fair, most science or gear guys should have Equipment that changes based off of the story.

[Skavenger]

I've said elsewhere, it's really fascinating how Bane and Doomsday, the two big poster boys for 90s Major Event Villains, both got the acclaim of putting two of the biggest superheroes in history out of operation for a not-insignificant amount of time, but only one of them has had any kind of arc since then. Bane was intelligent, a thinker as well as a brute, and further stories were able to explore his motivations, his purpose, whether he had any nobility, and even put him in new situations where he had to amend his thinking or behavior. It wasn't always good, but at least the guy has character arcs. It's just...even when you see interesting new takes on him, it underscores the major issue, he was a plot-driven character, and now he's just kind of looking for a purpose.

Doomsday, on the other hand, I think is just awful. A bone monster in bike shorts with no personality, no character, who could have just been replaced with a giant cartoon anvil falling on Superman's head for all the story purpose it served. That's not to say there weren't powerful moments from what happened after the fight, because DC played the whole thing remarkably straight. The Funeral For A Friend storyline was powerful, with moments like how the superheroes all gathered at the Justice League headquarters because they felt lost, and because the whole "death and return" thing hadn't been overdone by that point, there was that thought that maybe they would leave Superman dead. They had already replaced Flash and Robin, why not Superman? And then they break Batman's back shortly after (I sometimes have to remind myself that Death & Return of Superman and Knightfall were happening at the SAME TIME, with Bruce Wayne showing up at the funeral, and then Clark meeting Az-Bats upon his return).

But it's also funny that the death of Superman and the (near) destruction of Metropolis was played up as this huge disaster that people kept talking about for months, but then you have the destruction of Coast City and, while sure, it became a major plot point in Green Lantern, it was just a story beat for the whole business with Engine City and defeating Mongol. You get mention of thousands of people dying in Portland and Denver from the Earth-shattering force that can obliterate a chunk of California, and then...that's it. I don't think California was ever shown to have a massive crater in it all the times you saw North America from space in future comics.

[greycrusader]

Terra-Man is way too good a concept to just leave off on the side. The idea of this Old West cowboy using alien technology that lets him fight Superman is just fantastic and a lot of fun...
....In any case, Terra-Man would be the latest character selected by the alien, and he does the same thing where he gets enhanced and develops alien tech versions of old west gear. Only Terra-Man eventually decides to kill the alien and leaves to become an intergalactic outlaw, eventually returning to Earth. The others would either use this opportunity to head to Earth themselves or chase after Terra-Man to bring him to justice (the alien was actually their friend and mentor and they'd all willingly gone with him).

Some of the other characters might need some new names (Apache Chief especially), but it would be a fun way to reintroduce those characters and tie their origins all together.

I agree that Terra-Man is too appealing a villain to just let fall into comics oblivion; I actually like the original Bronze Age Terra-Man's origin, though I'd expand on it a bit, give more of the alien's backstory (not sure I'd tie him in to the New Gods or other empowered humans from history, though), and have Manning feel real conflict and guilt over gunning down his father's killer-but I'd also have him do so by calling his step-father out in a duel, rahter than Terra-Man backshooting his mentor, with the kicker being the alien refused to draw a weapon against his adopted son. Like the original, he'd have a few quintessential Wild-West themed gimmicks-an alien mount, a high-powered energy rifle, futuristic pistols adapted to fire a variety of advanced ammunition. But I wouldn't feel the need to turn EVERYTHING into cowboy-gear; no extraterrestrial tumbleweeds, the mount would be an space-beast that only vaguely resembled a horse, no super-powered branding irons...he'd might have spurs forged from Thanagarian Nth Metal, an energy lash formed of Red Lantern solid-flame (having stole and reforged a ring fragment), but it would be clear these were extraterrestrial artifacts which he repurposed after stealing them, i.e., they wouldn't look like Old West relics.

HIs look would be tough to get right; update it too much and he's just a generic hi-tech villain, or worse a "grimdark" refugee from the 90s, but you really can't keep his yellow and green dude-ranch outfit either. I'd do my best to evoke the desperado gunslinger without just putting him in cowboy gear, kind of like his weapons.

Personality wise, Terra-Man would have a code, though its an outlaw's code. Keep his sworn word, don't give up his partners, lawmen are fair game but no drawing down on bystanders, don't steal from the poor and split what you take even-steven. He mostly engages in robberie and hijackings, though Manning occasionally goes after bounties if the price is right. He's encountered Lobo and come to loathe the Czarian, mostly because to Terra-Man keeping your word is just that-no twisting the phrasing to your benefit and NO "sloppy shooting" that gets innocent people killed. I'd actually have a history with the GL Corps and Hal Jordan before ever encountering Superman. He's got no personal grudge against the Man of Steel, but as Earth's self-proclaimed greatest outlaw he's just GOT to take out the world's greatest "marshal".

All my best.

[Ken]

Doomsday As A-Hole:

Needed to be said.