Summary

• Doomsday became famous for killing Superman in DC Comics' famous Death of Superman event.
• While Doomsday became one of Superman's greatest enemies, the villain had dueled many other opponents during his centuries-long lifespan.
• Doomsday's number one enemy during that time, was none other than a powerful scientific creation that proved capable of evolving beyond what DC's villain could accomplish.

Doomsday has become an icon of Superman's long list of villains thanks to his brutal debut, where he murdered the Man of Steel in a shockingly violent manner. But while Doomsday is most well known as one of Superman's most powerful enemies, the gray monstrosity did not always consider the Man of Steel to be his greatest threat. Doomsday has existed for thousands of years, besting hundreds of superpowered entities before Superman was even born; but there was only one like Superman who could beat Doomsday.

In DC Comics' three-issue Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey miniseries (by Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Gregory Wright, Bill Oakley, Chris Duffy, Mike Carlin, and Frank Pittarese) readers learned that before Superman felled Doomsday in the famous Death of Superman comic book event, there was another alien superhero that defeated Doomsday several times over the span of a thousand years. This hero was known as The Radiant, the protector of the planet Calaton, and one of the few people aside from Superman who managed to strike fear into the heart of Doomsday.

The Radiant Was Doomsday's Greatest Opponent

First debuting in Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #2, Radiant was created by a coalition of Calatonian scientists to answer the rising threat of Doomsday while he devastated the universe thousands of years before Superman's birth. The Radiant sported a design very reminiscent of the omnipotent Doctor Manhattan from 1986's Watchmen and with incredibly powerful superpowers to match. During Radiant's first battle with Doomsday, the hulking monstrosity had evolved to a point similar to his first battle with Superman; in which he killed the Man of Steel.

However, unlike Superman, Radiant easily triumphed over Doomsday, allowing the Calatonian scientists to subdue the beast. The unprecedented power displayed by the alien superhero rivaled that of Superman's own power during the 1990s, which was incredibly substantial. The Radiant assisted the Green Lanterns in keeping his sector safe from the likes of Doomsday for centuries, with seemingly no issue. Perhaps if Radiant had ever journeyed to earth, he could have become one of the Justice League's most powerful members. Unfortunately, no such event occurred since Radiant soon found his hands full fighting Doomsday again in the present day during Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #3.

The Radiant Became A God After His Death

After attacking the planet Apokolips, Doomsday returned to Calaton to face his oldest enemy a second time. However, Doomsday had evolved far beyond his first battle with Radiant. At first, Radiant appeared to have the upper hand, seemingly disintegrating Doomsday with a massive blast. However, Doomsday's regenerative abilities saved himself, and thanks to his new matter transformation powers, Doomsday finally vanquished his ancient foe, splitting Radiant's hard-light body in two. Despite Radiant's seeming demise, the spectral hero appeared one final time in 1995's Doomsday: Year One (Jerry Ordway, Dennis Janke, Glenn Whitmore, and Kevin Cunningham). After his defeat, a religious order had formed to worship Radiant.

This perceived divination of Radiant proved to have more substance to it. By the end of the comic, Radiant seemingly returns from the dead in a new spectral form. With this new form, it was implied that Radiant might have achieved a form of divinity, although he stoutly refused the title of "god." Considering that Radiant's original form was powerful enough to rival Doomsday, his new spectral form could probably rival Superman himself. Unfortunately, the true power of Radiant compared to Superman's is never properly depicted. However, considering that the Man of Steel ultimately needed a Mother Box-powered battle armor to defeat Doomsday, it is safe to assume they were similar in terms of power. Ultimately, Superman will always be considered Doomsday's archnemesis, but it is interesting to know that, at least at one point, that was not the case.

How DC Comics Remade Radiant into a Literally Divine Force of Nature

Although the original Radiant appeared to ascend to a higher plane of existence despite his own objections to it, he was not the last Radiant to inhabit that space. Introduced in the modern era of the DC Universe in the pages of 2008's Final Crisis: Revelations #2 (by Greg Rucka, Philip Tan, Jonathan Glapion, Jeff de los Santos, Nei RuffinoIan Hannin, and John J. Hill), the current Radiant is an aspect of God, or the Presence, in the same vein as the Spectre. Whereas the Spectre is the personified Spirit of Vengeance, Radiant is the Spirit of Mercy, created to balance the Spectre's actions and wrath as it is dispensed upon the DC Universe. By inhabiting the body of the tragically murdered nun Sister Clarice Coeur, the Radiant imparted not just her Mercy, but her knowledge upon the most invaluable of heroes during the events of Final Crisis.

Instead of fighting directly herself, this Radiant instead reminded Earth's heroes that it was they who had to determine and ultimately secure the fate of their future. This distancing of herself from the battles being waged was on account of her divine nature, leaving her unable to interfere in the events that would be steered one way or another by the free will of the mortals fighting through them. This didn't mean that the Radiant couldn't offer her assistance where applicable. Radiant used her powers on at least one occasion to save the lives of those who would have otherwise died as innocent bystanders caught between the superpowered beings who had no regard for their safety.

At that rate, Radiant's current form is far from the overt superhero that the original became. All the same, her impact on the wider DC Comics mythos can't be denied, nor should it be ignored in the grand scope of how that mythos formed over the years. Like the previous Radiant, her story doesn't need to work its way into the annals of pop culture in any indelible way to have value, especially not when everything she did impacted well-known heroes and villains.