History WesternAnimation / SupermanDoomsday

** A lot of the stuff in the Fortress is a callback to various other incarnations of Superman (the special mission suits from WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries, the prisoner rings from [[Film/SupermanFilmSeries the movies]], one of the Mechanical Monsters and the Bullet Car from two of the [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Fleischer Superman cartoons]]). Toyman's giant robot spider and Creator/KevinSmith's mocking of it refer to a well-known script that was proposed for a Superman movie. [[spoiler: The teenaged Superman clones in Luthor's lab resemble the Superman design from Season 1 of the WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes cartoon.]]

An illegal excavation funded by ComicBook/LexLuthor for an energy project inadvertently unleashes an unstoppable monster that had been buried there long ago, whom Franchise/{{Superman}} now has to fight, even at the cost of his own life. But shortly after his funeral, it appears the Man of Steel has returned. But things aren't all what they seem...

* BigBad: ComicBook/LexLuthor, who accidentally unleashed Doomsday and tries to take full advantage of Superman's demise.

** A lot of the stuff in the Fortress is a callback to various other incarnations of Superman (the special mission suits from WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries, the prisoner rings from [[Film/{{Superman}} the movies]], one of the Mechanical Monsters and the Bullet Car from two of the [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Fleischer Superman cartoons]]). Toyman's giant robot spider and Creator/KevinSmith's mocking of it refer to a well-known script that was proposed for a Superman movie. [[spoiler: The teenaged Superman clones in Luthor's lab resemble the Superman design from Season 1 of the WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes cartoon.]]

* CompositeCharacter: [[spoiler: The cloned Superman combines elements of three of the replacement Supermen from the comics-- The Last Son of Krypton (who killed common criminals), The Man of Tomorrow (who turned out to be the villain of the arc), and [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} The Metropolis Kid]] (who was a clone of Superman).]]

* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:The "revived" Superman turns out to actually be a clone, who ultimately goes off the deep end. Though whether this is due to being a clone or because of Luthor's own ineptitude is hard to really determine.]]

* AdaptationDyeJob: Mercy is blonde here as she is in the mainstream DC universe, instead of being brunette as per her native continuity, the Franchise/{{DCAU}}.

* DarkSkinnedBlond: Mercy Graves.

* WouldHurtAChild: Toyman [[spoiler:kills a 4 year old girl offscreen while taking a preschool hostage]]. Also Doomsday, due the whole biological imperative to {{kill e|mAll}}verything.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Among other things, it streamlined the Reign of the Supermen segment/act and put Luthor in his traditional appearance and role rather than the long hair and beard he was sporting and pretending to be his own son like he was at the time of the story it's based on. Unfortunately, they also had to cut out [[EnsembleDarkhorse Steel]]. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superboy#Legal_status The legal mess with Superboy at the time might've played a hand]].

* VillainInAWhiteSuit: Lex Luthor spends most of the film is an all-white suit.

* UpbringingMakesTheHero: When it's revealed that Luthor [[spoiler: cloned Superman, and essentially raised him,]] Clark realizes that he would've grown up to be like that had he been raised by someone like [[spoiler: Luthor, instead of Martha and Johnatan.]]

* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: In the making of the production, the production team mentioned that they had to redo several frames of animation so that Superman didn't save Lois by sending Doomsday into a occupied building.

* DeathFlight: After Toyman kills a four year old girl, [[spoiler: clone]] Superman goes to the police station where he's being held, picks him up and flies him several hundred feet above the ground, and drops him to his death.

* FamousLastWords:
-->'''[[spoiler:Clone Superman:]]''' Pro-.... protect the people...[[note]]'''Superman:''' That's why I'm here.[[/note]]

* AdaptationDistillation: [[spoiler:The ''four'' pretenders to the Superman name were pared down to a single clone of Superman who started out anti-hero like The Last Son of Krypton before becoming the big bad like The Man of Tomorrow.]]

* AdaptationalWimp: Unlike the comics, this Mercy isn't Luthor's bodyguard, but a personal assistant, akin to that of [[Film/SupermanTheMovie Eve Teschmacher]], lacking even the combat skills of her DCAU incarnation.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Toyman, for murdering Katie Albert. Even in-universe, the people of Metropolis seem more upset by Superman acting out-of-character than the fact that a child murderer died.]]

* BadBoss: Lex [[spoiler:kills his loyal underling Mercy just to ensure he can never be connected with Superman's death.]]

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Lois gets a slice on her cheek from flying glass, but barely reacts. Also a CallBack, to when she got blood on her face at the beginning.

* TheBigDamnKiss: Where Superman and Lois officially out their relationship. There's actually two of them -- a public kiss after Superman defeats his clone and confirms that he really is BackFromTheDead this time, and a later one in private; when Superman finally confirms to Lois that he really is Clark Kent, she enthusiastically throws herself into his embrace.

* CatUpATree: After [[spoiler:killing Toyman]], Superman rescues a cat from a tree, which seems a PetTheDog until he starts to lecture the owner about it.

* CompositeCharacter: [[spoiler: The cloned Superman combines elements of three of the replacement Supermen from the comics - The Last Son of Krypton (who killed common criminals), The Man of Tomorrow (who turned out to be the villain of the arc) and [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} The Metropolis Kid]] (who was a clone of Superman).]]
** Also seen [[spoiler: in using Luthor as the creator of the Superman clone as opposed to yet another character they would have had to introduce. In the comics, the "Last Son" was a byproduct of the Eradicator, Cadmus made the Superman clone, and Hank Henshaw actually has multiple origins through interactions with various forms of Phlebotinum]].

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Deconstructed - Lex invents a one-treatment cure for Muscular Dystrophy... and orders Mercy to have his scientists turn it into [[PhlebotinumDependence an expensive, lifetime-long treatment]]. Unfortunately, the scientists are too busy doing the same thing for the AIDS and Bird Flu cures, so he merely puts it aside, stating that "[[Creator/JerryLewis Jerry's Kids]]" will [[KickTheDog have to wait their turn]].
* DarkerAndEdgier: The sheer graphicness of the violence in the movie along with Toyman's paedophilia seem to be an exercise in seeing how much the moviemakers could get away with now that the rating was PG-13.

** Jonathan Kent was alive in ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', although the stress of his son's passing caused him to have a near-fatal heart attack. In this version, however, he appears to have been dead for some time seeing that until Lois went out to seek her, Martha Kent was left to grieve by herself.

* DeathSeeker: It's hinted that Lois may have developed some of these tendencies following Superman's death out of grief -- she's still throwing herself headlong into dangerous situations but, as Perry points out to her, Superman isn't around to swoop in and save her anymore.

* DisneyVillainDeath: How [[spoiler:Clone!Superman]] kills [[spoiler:Toyman]]. However the usual GoryDiscretionShot is averted with a CarCushion.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Supes not wanting to admit he's Clark to Lois, who already knows, is analogous to two things:

* DungeonBypass: Lex thinks he's safe in a panic room full of kryptonite and lit with red sunlight lamps. [[spoiler: Clone Superman locks the door, ''rips the room out of the building'', and drops it to the street below.]]

** Used for most of the murders Doomsday commits, but one example sticks in your mind. Towards the end of their fight Doomsday has Superman in a neck lift and is repeatedly ramming a fist into his stomach with enough force to make the ground shake. Cut to Lois looking on and flinching away as we hear the fourth punch... [[spoiler: and we hear ''Superman vomiting, and Superman's blood splatters across her face''.]] Her horrified expression as she realizes this says it all.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Toyman murdered a 4-year-old Katie Albert at a daycare center, for no reason. It's pretty hard to feel bad for him when Superman's clone kills him by dropping him from several hundred feet in the air.]]

* DirtyCoward: Toyman only goes after powerless children.

* DirtyCoward: Toyman could be considered one. He loves killing powerless children, but the moment he's faced with someone who can actually fight back like Superman, he's terrified.