The Superman of Kingdom Come (usually referred to as Kingdom Come Superman) is a fictional superhero, an alternate version of Superman in the DC Comics universe. First introduced in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996), Kingdom Come Superman was created by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. The character was loosely adapted in the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths", portrayed by Brandon Routh.
Publication history The Superman of Kingdom Come first appeared as the main character of the 1996 Elseworlds miniseries Kingdom Come written by Mark Waid and Alex Ross with art by Ross, set in the future of the DC Universe. In 1999, The Kingdom, a sequel to Kingdom Come written by Waid but without the involvement of Ross, was published. This series again featured this version of Superman as a central character. In 52 #52, the Kingdom Come universe is shown in the DC Multiverse as becoming, for the first time, a part of the mainstream DC continuity. Starting with Justice Society of America #9, Kingdom Come Superman appears as a member of the Justice Society of America. The character also received a solo one-shot, Justice Society of America: Kingdom Come Special: Superman.
Fictional character biography
Kingdom Come
Ten years prior to the start of the events of Kingdom Come, the Joker floods the offices of the Daily Planet with his trademark toxin, killing all the staff except for Lois Lane, who finds a gas mask. Lois tries to attack the Joker, who fractures her skull in retaliation. Superman returns as Lois succumbs to her injuries and dies. As the Joker arrives for his trial, he is killed by a new superhero named Magog. Through jury nullification, Magog is acquitted for his actions. Superman is appalled that the public embraces a killer as a hero simply because he eliminated the Joker, while only a select few recognize the danger of this violent precedent. Already disheartened at the death of Lois, Kal-El abandons his life as Superman and spends the next decade in the Fortress of Solitude, where he establishes vertical farms for his anonymous world hunger relief efforts. In his absence, a team of new heroes, led by Magog, attempts to capture the Parasite, which results in the irradiation of the Midwestern United States when the Parasite kills Captain Atom in Kansas. Coaxed back into action by Wonder Woman, Superman decides to return to Metropolis and re-form the Justice League. He manages to collect former heroes (including Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman and Dick Grayson, now known as Red Robin, among others) and some of the newer heroes who had risen during his absence. The Justice League constructs a prison and gathers up new violent heroes who followed in the example of Magog. A battle soon breaks out between the imprisoned heroes, the Justice League, a third group of heroes led by Batman, and Lex Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front—which includes a mind-controlled Captain Marvel. As conditions worsen, the United Nations Secretary General Wyrmwood authorizes the deployment of three tactical nuclear warheads, hardened against certain metahuman powers. The battling heroes manage to stop two of the bombers, but the third drops its warhead. Superman attempts to stop the bomb, but Captain Marvel frees himself from Luthor's control and sacrifices himself in Superman's place. The bomb goes off, killing many superhumans. In the aftermath of the battle, Superman settles back in Kansas to help fix the damage done to the American Midwest and resumes his identity as Clark Kent. He begins a romantic relationship with Wonder Woman. At the end of Kingdom Come, the two are expecting a child.
The Kingdom
Twenty years after the events of Kingdom Come, a survivor of the Kansas disaster is granted power by the Quintessence, who dub him Gog. The power drives him mad and he takes out his anger on Superman, killing him and carving his "S" shield on the ground. He then travels a day backward in time and kills him again and repeats the process. As Gog travels closer to the modern DC universe, the Linear Men panic when they see that their ordered index of time is unraveling; Superman is dead in the 21st century, yet alive in the 853rd, and their instruments register no error. When Rip Hunter tries to stop Gog from killing Superman on the day his and Wonder Woman's child is born, Gog manages to steal the infant (named Jonathan), whom he plans to raise and name Magog. Rip Hunter recruits Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman from the Kingdom Come era to stop Gog in 1998. The three team up with their 'past selves' and battle Gog to a final confrontation in a restaurant outside of reality, where they use various weapons gathered from across Hypertime. During the fight, the future Wonder Woman reveals to the Superman of the present why Gog is after him, and Superman vows that the timeline of Kingdom Come will never happen in his universe. He strikes back at Gog, finishing the battle once and for all. As the heroes return to their proper places in time, Rip Hunter explains that there is existence of alternate timelines, so the Kingdom Come reality still exists, but it will no longer be the future of the DC universe.
Justice Society of America
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