Spoilers for Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #20!The seminal DC Comics story Kingdom Come killed off more than its fair share of characters in its genre-defining tale of old and new superheroes colliding in a fateful battle that put the entire DC Universe in danger. And now, in a return to that harrowing future world, DC has finally confirmed which heroes didn’t make it out of this iconic story alive and which might still be fighting the good fight against evil in all its forms.
An Elseworlds story published in 1996, Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, takes place in a future where the newest generation of metahumans — led by the ruthless Magog — have taken to brutally beating or outright killing their foes in an attempt to eradicate crime for good.
Eventually challenged by a reunited Justice League, Kingdom Come saw more than a few heroes and villains killed off during its events, with millions incinerated when Captain Atom exploded and subsequently irradiated Kansas, dozens snuffed out when a nuclear warhead exploded in the final battle of the series, and more utterly decimated by the time this story was through. And now fans officially know the names of those who died, with some coming as a complete and total surprise.
Countless Heroes Have Died in the Kingdom Come Universe
Confirming dozens of heroes’ deaths with countless others still yet to be made official in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #20, by Mark Waid and Dan Mora, this issue sees Batman and Superman accidentally visit Kingdom Come’s universe after taking Flash’s Cosmic Treadmill for a spin. Arriving to see the older versions of this Earth’s Batman and Superman mourning over the skeletal remains of “Ted,” “Kara,” and “Ray,” or Blue Beetle, Power Girl, and The Ray, it isn’t until attention is turned to the sight of a graveyard full of perfectly in-line tombstones that the weight of Kingdom Come’s death toll is finally confirmed.
Reading a few select headstones that are visible on this double-page spread, it’s shown that Atom Smasher, Plastic Man, Red Arrow, Peacemaker, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkman, Kid Flash, Starman, Doctor Fate, Wildcat, Green Lantern, The Question, Batwoman, Zatanna, Donna Troy, Red Hood, Elongated Man, Obsidian, and Jace Fox, are confirmed dead, with even more populating the hallowed grounds of this mass superhero grave. And while it’s true that some of these reveals are characters fans have already seen perish on panel, most are heavy hitters whose deaths hadn’t been made official just yet, with Red Robin (Dick Grayson in this continuity) being a big one that even the reality-traveling Batman can’t believe.
Batman and Superman Can’t Believe Kingdom Come‘s Death Toll
So while there looks to be hundreds, if not thousands, of gravestones too far away to make out who they belong to, there could be a lot of heroes still alive and kicking to help these older versions of Batman and Superman keep the peace. Kingdom Come is a brutal and dark place where many DC heroes have fallen in the line of duty, so fans should take a moment to scour these tragic images and pay respects to the rest of the warriors who died trying to secure a better tomorrow.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #20 is now available from DC Comics.
