In Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #24, Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain & creative team deliver the finale to their epic, 5-part Return to “Kingdom Come” story.
Title: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #24 – “Return to Kingdom Come Part 5”
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Dan Mora
Colors: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters: Steve Wands
Main Cover: Dan Mora
Variant Covers: Dave Wilkins, Tamra Bonvillain, Mahmud Asrar & Sweeney Boo
Release Date: February 20, 2024
Please Note: This comic book review may contain spoilers
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #24 opens on a smoldering stare from Darkseid, the true villain behind this “Return to Kingdom Come” storyline. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel (also known as “Shazam” to the uninitiated), the Batman of Earth-22, and the main Batman watch in shock. The main Superman and the Superman of Earth-22 tell the others to flee, and they’ll do what they can to hold Darkseid off.
It’s a beautiful opening page that immediately sucks us right back into the storyline after its interruption with the Batman / Superman: World’s Finest 2024 Annual. That smoldering stare is haunting, cool, and definitively Darkseid.
The main Batman urges Magog to flee with the others, but Magog hesitates. Batman’s reasoning is, Darkseid wants the piece of Anti-Life Equation that lived in Gog’s brain, and they heroes can rally around and defend from that position as both Supermen take shots at Darkseid. As Magog continues to hesitate, Batman apologizes, and then sends him to get help. This was never his fight to begin with anyway.
Darkseid uses his Omega Beams to knock out both Supermen, walking over their fallen bodies as if they were mere flies. The Flash jumps in, offering to help buy some time, but Darkseid swats the Scarlet Speedster away.
Batman orders the remaining heroes to get Gog’s body as far away as possible, just as Darkseid takes down Captain Marvel. Green Lantern and Wonder Woman fly at Darkseid, only to be thrown into rocks.
For fans of the lord of Apokolips, these few opening pages are pure fan service, reaffirming Darkseid’s spot as one of the strongest and deadliest DC villains of all time. Dan Mora is careful to never show much movement from Darkseid, just a swat here and a step there, which makes each one of his movements seem effortless. Colorist Tamra Bonvillain gives everything a smoky, brimstone tint, as if the world of Apokolips has rained down ash over everything and everyone. Simply put, it’s a cool opening and one more than worthy of Superman’s arch-villain.
As Darkseid reaches the body of Gog, there’s a break in the beatings for a close-up of Magog’s youthful face. It’s full of fear and horror, watching as Darkseid reaches the Batmen, demanding to take knowledge from the “pretend god.”
As the Batmen go flying, Magog snaps to action. He confronts Darkseid just as the villain is about to extract the knowledge he seeks from Gog. Magog raises his staff, and the body of Gog dissolves into bones and then nothingness. Darkseid pauses, momentarily shocked, then turns and leaves.
Magog confronts the lord of Apokolips, but Darkseid dismisses him with words. To the villain, Magog is insignificant, as are the rest of Earth’s heroes. He won’t waste his time any longer. Magog refuses to believe it, shouting out that he won. It’s a classic characterization we’ve seen from this character before, back when he was simply David (or “Boy Thunder” to Superman). Though he’s grown into a man now, he still retains some of the same ego and brashness that worried Batman and Superman so many issues ago.
And that’s the beauty of this story. The climax of this ultimate battle isn’t this showdown between Darkseid and everybody else. What starts as an effortless smackdown of Earth’s heroes ends in a whisper, and the real hurt of the story returns. It’s one that writer Mark Waid and artists Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain have been building for a while — the ends don’t justify the means and what seems like an easy solution could have grave consequences.
Once Darkseid is gone, Magog bursts into jubilation, but Superman from the main DC Universe stops him. In plain language, Superman tells David that he murdered Gog in cold blood. When Magog pushes back, saying that he saved billions of lives, the Superman of Earth-22 notes that there are more measures of morality than a numbers game. The main Batman chimes in, reminding Magog that he ignored explicit orders to bring reinforcements. The way he delivers it, however, carries so much dramatic weight and impact.
“I told you explicitly to bring reinforcements so we could regroup! Instead you did what? Hid until you thought you had no choice but to step up?” – Batman
Still, Magog refuses to accept to the truth, and when he counters again by claiming he did what had to be done, the main Superman flat-out tells Magog that he took the easy way out. “That doesn’t make you a hero. It makes you a weapon.”
The other heroes chime in, unifying around the notion that Magog had other options and chose, instead, to become a killer.
Magog asks, “How is this world a worse place without Gog in it?” Batman of Earth-22 responds, “Because we simply traded one killer for another.”
Magog storms off, and Superman takes his anger out on the Superman of Earth-22, claiming that his counterpart didn’t train David well enough. The main Batman intervenes, telling Superman that he’s taking his fear and anger out on the wrong person, that this Superman’s future, the one in Kingdom Come, isn’t necessarily theirs.
The Spectre arrives, saying that the crisis has passed and that he’s come to take Batman and Superman home. Superman demands to know what will happen to David. Spectre roughly walks Superman through the plot of Kingdom Come, and Batman takes it to mean that the problem wasn’t that Superman didn’t do his job, it’s that he didn’t think he was needed anymore once the citizens of Metropolis applauded Magog and rejected Superman’s old-fashioned morals.
They travel to the future again, where an old Magog cries before a gravestone. Finally, Magog blames himself, acquiescing to the idea that he’s a weapon and not a real hero. The main Superman shows up, and Magog cries out, “My Superman?!”
Superman tells Magog that once, long ago, David asked Superman what he wanted from him after killing Gog. Superman tells David that, while he can’t erase his actions or the past, he can burn those regrets and use them to light a better path to the future. Superman tells David that he still believes in him, that all he needs to do is pick himself up and do better.
The two hug. Finally, Batman and Superman return back to their own world, leaving David alone, with tears in his eyes. David promises to do better.
This is What Comics are Meant to be
The “Return to Kingdom Come” arc revisits many of the themes of heroism and morality covered in the original Kingdom Come story by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. While there’s no way it can compare to the original story, the ideas that are present, as well as expanded upon, are timeless and in every way reflect the beauty, support, and aspirations behind superhero comics. From their earliest origins nearly 100 years ago, to now, the same messages of love, support, and willingness to do what’s right rings true.
Batman / Superman: World’s Finest #24 isn’t the best comic you’ll ever read. The action beats, while beautiful and eye-catching, drop off. What starts as a towering battle between the ultimate good and the ultimate evil is set aside for another day. However, it’s an important story that aims higher than just a visually appealing climactic battle, it aims to reaffirm the value of superheroes and how they’re designed to make us better people.
When Superman hugs David at the end, telling the former hero that he still believes there’s good in him, he’s not just talking to Magog. Superman is talking to us. He’s talking to our friends, family, and coworkers. Superman is even talking to those who’ve wronged us.
Superman was created in 1938 as a response to the darkness cast over the world. From the Great Depression, rise of Hitler, the start of World War II to hatred, antisemitism, and extermination of people with different lifestyles, religions, races, developmental abilities, and more, Superman was a response to all of this. He was our defender and a beacon of light that reminded us of the goodness in us, of what and who we could be.
In 2024, in many ways, the world is a different place, but there are also plenty of similarities. Some of the same threats we face today were ones many groups faced nearly 100 years ago, and these last words by Superman embody the emotional weight and meaning they did back when Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster came up with the idea of Superman.
When I say Superman is talking to us, he’s talking to every single person on the planet. As we face our trials and tribulations in 2024, Superman is telling us that he believes that we can make the right choice, that we can pick ourselves up and do good for the world. And he does it in a way only a Superman-focused title can.
It’s up to us now. Heed his words, mull them over, and share this book with a friend.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
