Almost as shocking as the revelation that Sylar is Angela Petrelli’s son on Heroes was last night’s Smallville reveal that Davis Bloom (Sam Witwer), aka Doomsday, is the son of General Zod. It was a fascinating moment that changed the comic book mythology while amplifying the drama of Smallville.
Now everything is far more personal for Clark Kent. His old enemy Zod is back in the picture, and suddenly the storyline is all about the ancient Kryptonian mythology. The battle lines have been drawn, and things are sure to heat up for this rivalry.
In the comic books, Doomsday was created in vitro by an alien scientist long before the humanoid Kryptonians were even around. The Ultimate, as he was then named, was an experiment to breed the strongest creature that could kill the dangerous inhabitants of the planet. The scientist sped up the process of natural selection by killing the lifeform every time it matured, then cloned the genes to make it stronger. After a long process, the Ultimate grew to hate all life because it was killed so many times.
After hopping from planet to planet, leaving devastation in his wake, he was captured and blasted off into space, when he crashed on Earth and was freed. Obviously this is in no way similar to the route Smallville has taken.
The show wisely foresaw the problem that having a weird alien creature would necessitate too much make-up, so making him human in appearance as the only logical solution. From there, the decision to make him Zod and Faora’s son was simply a stroke of genius to tie the new version of Doomsday into the old comic mythology.
Fans of the Superman movies will recognize Faora as Ursa, the man-hating female Kryptonian from the second movie. In the comics, Faora and General Zod were trapped in the Phantom Zone, but there was never an indication of a romantic relationship and certainly no mention of a son.
This decision accomplishes everything Smallville has to do to be its own show. While the Superman mythology is rich in the comic books, the writers would be doing fans a disservice to simply follow the mythology exactly as it is. There would be no surprises and no room for growth or genuine development if Smallville were a simple retelling of the comic books.
From here, Smallville can go anywhere. Davis was reborn after being killed by his mother Faora, coming back seemingly invincible. Superman may be the “Man of Steel,” but Davis’ body is now impenetrable, with metal knives shattering on impact. That will definitely make him a tough rival for Clark Kent, and it sets the stage for the inevitable fight, and now it seems plausible that Davis could kill Clark Kent.
Read BuddyTV’s Recap of Smallville Episode 8.8, “Bloodline”
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
