In this review of Batman Superman: World’s Finest #45, what twisted scheme could make Joker and Lex Luthor collaborate again? (Hint: it’s not Lex’s idea). This issue also redefines the team-up concept in a way you cannot unsee.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #45 main cover by Dan Mora (DC Comics)
BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #45
Written by MARK WAID
Art by ADRIÁN GUTIÉRREZ
Main Cover: DAN MORA
Variant Covers: JORGE FORNÉS, ADRIÁN GUTIÉRREZ, DANI
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 11/19/25
This review contains spoilers
Batman Superman: World’s Finest #45 starts with Batman and Superman enjoying some downtime in the Bat-Cave watching their respective football teams go head-to-head. Their friendly rivalry is interrupted when Superman hears a break in at Gotham City’s S.T.A.R. Labs where the group is currently testing a new brain enhancement device. The World’s Finest duo are on the case (and about twenty minutes late to the party).
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Lex Luthor (rocking his classic green/purple outfit complete with gas mask) stands amid unconscious employees as he admires his latest acquisition, but moments later he is tumbling through the complex (intangibly). Lex finally lands in an underground tunnel…and directly into the path of an oncoming train. A perplexed Lex jumps out of the way, and comes face-to-face with Joker, who used a stolen portable dematerializer to abduct Lex. Joker is keeping Lex intangible until he hears Joker’s pitch for his own sinister heist (copycat).
At Joker’s (hideously designed) hideout the clown prince of crime lays out his scheme to steal a Thanagarian Absorbascon (also a knowledge enhancer), and a short while later they arrive at the Midway City Museum, where curator Carter Hall investigates the break-in as Hawkman.
Joker and Lex surprisingly hold their own against Hawkman’s brutal tactics with a few of their own. Joker ditches Lex and sneaks off to steal the Absorbascon. The World’s Finest team arrive to even the odds a bit, and Joker uses his dematerializer to collapse part of the museum ceiling and escape with his prize (and Lex).
Batman Superman: World’s Finest #45 ends with Lex and Joker in flight (boot-jets) with the World’s Finest team in hot pursuit them. The bickering villains struggle over the Absorbascon and crash onto a roof and the resulting energy discharge merges the villains into a giant Joker-Lex hybrid being who turns Superman and Batman intangible.
Analysis
Batman Superman: World’s Finest #45 kicks off another enjoyable multi-part saga that is equal parts road trip, mismatched buddy comedy and old school supervillain team-up. Writer Mark Waid continues to reinvent the absurdity of Silver Age DC Comics for a modern audience with remarkable results. The friendly Clark/Bruce football rivalry opening chapter is a nice contrast to the carefree mayhem of Joker’s scheme (which includes conscripting a dour Lex Luthor from a similar scheme at S.T.A.R. Labs).
Are the parallels between the heists of two different knowledge enhancing artifacts (McGuffins) intentional? Regardless, Waid illustrates the easy rapport between the World’s Finest duo, while the Joker/Lex forced partnership makes for dramatic tension and nice one-liners as each villain jockeys for the upper hand in the ultimate battle of egos.
The Joker-Lex hybrid is a nice, with Joker’s dematerializer also probably also part of their new “merger”.
Introducing Hawkman into the mix (fueled by barely contained rage) is a fun addition, especially for fans of action, and it’s likely Carter will have to help out against the Joker/Lex hybrid while the World’s Finest reintegrate themselves somehow.
Artist Adrian Gutierrez gets in on the fun with nods to classic Silver Age strangeness, along with sequences that seem straight out of classic Bugs Bunny cartoons (you can practically hear the accompanying sound effects). From the giant Joker head hideout to the giant rubber duck in the Batcave (Penguin), Gutierrez peppers the pages with east eggs and sight gags without going overboard. Still, the artist also brings plenty of intensity to Hawkman’s fight scenes.
The body language/posture for each character is distinct, and the Joker-Lex hybrid is an interesting design, while Gutierrez also excels at subtle facial expressions that speak volumes.
Props to colorist Tamra Bonvillain for her own contributions to Batman Superman: World’s Finest #45 including the single panel featuring Superman stopping the ceiling collapse which is in shadow with a blood red background, also that six-panel sequence in Joker’s HQ featuring Joker and Lex in silhouette, contrasted by the yellow projection screen and the red Absorbascon.
Final Thoughts
Batman Superman: World’s Finest #45 continues to be one of the most imaginative and enjoyable comics currently in publication with story, art and plot remixes for fans new and old.
