The Dark Knight. The Man of Steel. They are the two finest heroes the world has ever known... and together their combined might stand in the face of the galaxy's greatest threats.
Batman/Superman: World's Finest is a Superman/Batman team-up book started in 2022. The creative team is formed by writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora.
The beginning arc, named The Devil Nezha features the World's Finest, their partners Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and Robin (Dick Grayson), and the Doom Patrol trying to stop the return of a powerful demon which has remained sealed for centuries.
In July 2023, Waid and Emanuela Luppachino launched a spinoff book focusing on the classic Teen Titans and likewise set in the not-too distant past.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Modesty:
- While much of DC's pre-Flashpoint history was restored thanks to Doomsday Clock and Dark Nights: Death Metal, the series takes a page from Batman: Noël's Jason Todd and depicts Dick in a modified version of the classic Robin costume that switched the shorts with long pants.
- Likewise, the series depicts Garth as Aqualad wearing a version of his original costume where the shorts were replaced with long pants.
- Alone with the Psycho: Nezha's containment chamber can only be locked from the inside, making a Heroic Sacrifice necessary. Given the characters involved, all the team members volunteer - Supes managing to be the actual one simply because he's faster.
- Arc Welding: The second and fourth arcs (Secret Visitor and Heir to the Kingdom) act as continuations of the Kingdom Come saga following The Kingdom, "Thy Kingdome Come" and Justice League: Generation Lost.
- Ascended Meme: The infamous "Batman slaps Robin" meme was parodied with two variant
◊ covers◊ of the first issue, with Batman and Superman slapping each other for putting their own name first in the title. - Backported Development: Planet Krypton is shown to have a statue of the new Composite Superman-Batman design that was introduced in issue #4 of this very series, implying an incident like it happened in Earth-22 as well.
- Badass Boast: Darkseid puts out one when he returns to Apokolips, unbothered by the loss of victory when Magog kills Gog and prevents him from acquiring the Anti-Life Equation:Darkseid: Until we meet again, you immature whelp, whenever you cry out in your nightmares— it is Darkseid you will see.
- Batman Gambit: When Superman seals himself in a cave together with the devil Nezha, the heroes are despairing...until Batman realizes the Phantom Zone Projector, which Superman used to try to send Nezha into the Phantom Zone, is missing. Quickly the group hurry back to the dimensional tear which was created when Nezha tore his way out of the Zone, and pull Superman out. When Batman comment Superman's gambit was very risky, his old buddy replies that a plan which relies on Batman noticing something isn't a gambit. It is strategy.Batman: That was a Hell of a gamble.
Superman: I was depending on Batman to notice something. That's not a gamble. That's a plan. - The Bus Came Back: In Issue #11, The Key brings several practically unknown villains to deal with Superman and Batman. They are Zebra Man, Bag o'Bones, Ferlin Nyxly, Dr. Phoenix the Abominable Snowman, and Acid Master. While the first one had a supporting role on the Suicide Squad, and the second one became an Outsiders villain, the others hadn't appeared in decades (Vyndktvx from Action Comics (New 52) was loosely based on Nyxly, but is a very different character).
- Issue #15 features cameos of several lesser known robotic villains who hadn't appeared in years, like Mekanique, Ultivac, The Magneto and The Claw.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: For David/Magog, killing Gog and preventing Darkseid from gaining the Anti-Life Equation was a great victory. But as Darkseid refutes, the battle doesn't even register too much in the grand scheme of his plans for universal conquest. And as he leaves, he tells David that he ultimately just regards him as an annoyance that wasted his time rather than a grand hero who foiled his plans.
- Call-Forward:
- In issue #14, when trying to figure out who killed Simon Stagg, Robin says that Bruce wouldn't kill anyone so forward, he'd probably hire someone to do it, someone with a personal grudge. This is basically the plot of Bruce Wayne: Fugitive.
- After killing Gog, David gets chewed out by the other heroes for crossing a line that was completely avoidable. Alan Scott in particular warns David that setting an example this way will undoubtedly cause a severe domino effect.
- The Cameo: Duncan and Bridgette from Once & Future, one of Dan Mora's previous works, can be seen among the civilians captured by the Big Bad in Issue #16.
- Canon Character All Along: David Sikela / Boy Thunder is introduced as an original character, a boy from another Earth that gets superpowers and seemingly becomes a previously unmentioned sidekick for Superman. After the Joker captures and tortures him to find the superheroes' secret identities, David swears he'll kill him, no matter how long it takes, with the story revealing David to be a teenage version of Magog, who did in fact kill the Joker after the supervillain had gassed the Daily Planet.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: At the end of Issue #9, David is kidnapped and subject to Joker Venom. By the time we see him again in Issue #10, Joker has been repeatedly electrocuting David and subjecting him to Scarecrow's fear toxin in an attempt to get him to divulge Superman's Secret Identity. David's pain, suffering, and outrage result in him trying to kill Joker, setting David on the path toward becoming Magog.
- Composite Character: The final splash of issue #24 shows post-Kingdom Come heroes of Earth-22, including some kind of multi-elemental that looks like Metamorpho combined with Swamp Thing, and a figure in what appears to be a Batman Beyond costume with a Nightwing mask and an "R" insignia.
- Continuity Snarl: There are a lot of names on the graves in Issue #20 that show characters that weren't supposed to have died in the Gulag battle, including Red Robin and Green Lantern.
- Crazy-Prepared: Parodied. When Batman wants Robin to meet up with the House of Ji—a group of sixteenth-century heroes—and the latter sarcastically replies he forgot carrying his portable time-travel machine with him, Negative Man believes Robin is in fact serious.Batman: Robin, I need you to meet the House of Ji and learn firsthand exactly how they defeated Nezha.
Robin: You know I left my Bat-Time-Travel Ray in my other belt, right?
Negative Man: Do you really ha—
Robin: No. - Dead Alternate Counterpart: The Sikelas are still alive on the main Earth the story takes place in, resulting in David rushing to meet them. Unbeknownst to him, these Sikelas had recently lost their son David and the "reunion" goes poorly.
- Didn't Think This Through: Professor Ivo captured Will Magnus and forced him to build a Responsometer for Amazo. Whoops — once he activated it, the robot immediately rebelled against his creator, captured the two along with other major scientists and begin a Robot Uprising.
- Disability Immunity: Lex Luthor attempts to basically use this by recruiting the Joker to read a map that can supposedly lead him to a source of magical power that would allow Luthor to defeat Superman; according to legend, everyone who has ever attempted to read this map has been driven mad, so Luthor reasons that the Joker won't be affected by that particular issue as he's already insane.
- Disintegrator Ray: The Key unveils one to use on David, calling it the ultimate key because it "unlocks" atomic bonds, disintegrating the target completely. It fortunately gets knocked out of his hand before he actually fires it.
- Expressive Mask: In traditional fashion, Batman's cowl and Robin's mask emote with their eyes, as does David's cowl as Boy Thunder.
- Failed a Spot Check: After the Kingdom Come Superman and Batman witness their counterparts being captured on the word of "Thunderman", Batman reveals to Superman that he's actually double-checked Thunderman's alleged origin and the facts don't match up. When Superman protests that he's a living lie detector and would have known if Thunderman was lying, Batman counters that Superman can only spot lies if he's looking for them.
- Flying Firepower: David's powers grant him the ability to fly at will as well as emit powerful blasts of superheated energy strong enough to melt metal and shatter stone. These energy blasts are so hot that they cause thunderclaps from the sudden and rapid expansion of air, resulting in his alias, Boy Thunder.
- Fusion Dance: Combining the magic of Nezha and Green Lantern's ring allows Batman and Superman to temporarily fuse together.
- Hand Blast: David's powers allow him to emit superheated energy from his body with concussive force on lower settings and shatter boulders and inflict life-threatening burns on higher settings.
- Hypocrite: Simon Stagg gets murdered and Rex Mason is the most likely suspect. Superman believes he's innocent while Batman tells him not to be so naive as to take the chance he isn't without properly investigating. Unfortunately evidence comes to light that makes Bruce Wayne look like an even bigger suspect, as he has more to gain from Stagg's death. When the Daily Planet runs a piece on it, Batman takes Clark to task for allowing it to happen, even though Clark tries to explain that he has no way of disproving it without compromising their identities and the Planet is running on similarly objective logic that Bruce himself is.
- Insistent Terminology: Batman is ticked off when he learns the Doom Patrol's leader routinely spies on heroes. Niles insists that he is merely "monitoring" them.Batman: You spy on heroes? As a matter of routine?
Niles Caulder: I prefer to think of it as monitoring allies and threats. - It's All My Fault: David blames himself for fooling around with his parents' prototype rocket, preventing them from finishing it on time to save their entire family. His intense Survivor Guilt and shame over this makes him crack under the pressure when Batman tasks him with using carefully controlled applications of his powers to free trapped miners who are running out of air in a shaft full of flammable gas. But that same shame ultimately motivates him to go back and do it despite the risk of blowing himself and the miners to kingdom come.
- The Juggernaut: Nezha's magic lets him overcome any threat. When the team manage to send him to the Phantom Zone, he quickly rips a rift open to return before they can even catch their breath. Their only option is to seal him in the same can that's enchanted to contain him.
- Let's You and Him Fight:
- Nezha uses his powers to mentally control several superheroes, forcing Batman and Superman to fight them.
- When Supergirl and Robin arrive in the past to ask how Nezha was defeated the first time, they're immediately attacked by the heroes they're looking for. This is justified by them having just defeated Nezha themselves, and mistaking the duo for his lackeys because they're carrying his sword, being incredibly fearful of him being released.
- Logical Weakness: Felix Faust is cautioned to keep Billy Batson silent when attacking him, so he magically fuses his lips together before engaging him. Being unable to transform into his super-powerful alter ego, Billy is forced to run away.
- Medieval Morons: As stranded in the year 1892, Robin tries to solve the murder of two circus workers. Dick insists to his co-workers that the circus's bear and lion are innocent, but he does not explain why, since he assumes those folks cannnot even begin to understand 21st century science... even though his first clue -if the bear and the lion had mauled those men, their fur should have been covered with blood- requires no understanding of modern forensic science. Nonetheless, he assumes 19th century people are too backwards to use simple common sense.
- My God, What Have I Done?: David is horrified by how he didn't take the destruction of his world seriously, toying around with his parent's prototype rocket and ruining it in the process. This forces them to build a new rocket from scratch so they can save David alone instead of their whole family.
- My Suit Is Also Super: David is given a costume woven from nigh-indestructible Kryptonian fabrics to handle his super-hot energy powers.
- Mythology Gag:
- In issue #6, Superman poses as a circus strongman, which the character is originally partially based on.
- The cover for issue #8 is a homage to Batman #1.
- In issue #8, Supergirl reminds Superman that he put her in an orphanage in the 1959 story "The Supergirl From Krypton".
- Issue #13 references "The Supergirl-Batgirl Plot" when Supergirl and Batgirl express disbelief in Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite posing as them and actually fooling Superman and Batman.
- Superman at one point quips to David that if he knew how useful having a sidekick was, he'd have put Jimmy Olsen in a costume. (Which, in previous continuities, he did. Many times. Including several stints as the Kandorian crimefighting duo, Nightwing and Flamebird.)
- Issue #18 is an entirely new "first meeting" between the two heroes, but includes a brief appearance by Magpie, from the continuity-before-last's first meeting in The Man of Steel, and Spellbinder, who in pre-Crisis continuity fought Batman and Superman separately. Superman also references "The Super Dog from Krypton" when he mentions his Kryptonian dog.
- In the same issue, when Bruce tells Clark he's deduced his identity, he matter-of-factly reveals his own, saying there wasn't much point in trying to keep it secret unless he wore a lead-lined cowl. When Batman tells Superman he's deduced his identity in Adventures of Superman #440, he is wearing a lead-lined cowl (it doesn't help).
- In #20, Superman discovers that Earth-22 has no record of any encounters with beings from another universe. This possibly reflects that it was originally a possible future, not of Earth Prime, but of New Earth prior to Infinite Crisis, when DC's official policy was that there were no alternate universes, or simply that in the period of it that they are visiting, the stories where they interact with other timelines (The Kingdom, Thy Kingdom Come, Absolute Power, Infinite Frontier, etc.) had not yet ocurred from either world's perspective.
- In Issue #22, Metron of the New Gods recaps the fate of the Third World, and says that after it was torn asunder to create Apokolips and New Genesis, the Urgrundians were brought to Valhalla, the warriors' paradise of Norse mythology, and we see a panel of an Urgrundian warrior wielding a familiar-looking hammer with lightning bolts all around. One of many references to the Fourth World being meant as a
Spiritual Sequel to Jack Kirby's run on Thor.
- Narnia Time: The relationship of time between Prime Earth and Earth-22 is weird, possibly because Earth-22 only exists as a "near future". When Superman and Batman travel there, they initally find themselves at the end of Kingdom Come, before bouncing back to some years prior to it, which arguably makes more sense. What's been "a few months" for them has still been long enough for Boy Thunder to become Thunderman, though.
- 90% of Your Brain: Mocked by The Key, who once claimed usage of this trope, who tells a captive David that the whole idea is a load of BS made up by self-help gurus to steal money.
- Noodle Incident: Robin and Supergirl must team up, but apparently they aren't getting on for some reason. At first they refuse to discuss it, and then:Robin: It was an accident!
Supergirl: You were showing off!
Robin: Who knew there'd be a monkey there?
Supergirl: And you wore your costume!
Robin: That fountain was already half empty!
Supergirl: Were you raised in a circus?
Robin: You weren't much help with the avalanche!
Supergirl: I did not flirt with THE SERVER! - Not So Stoic: One sure way to crack the Dark Knight's composure is to put Clark in danger. Incidents include near tearful pleading to an injured Clark to hold on, and straight up losing it and screaming in horror when it looks like Clark has pulled off a Heroic Sacrifice and sealed himself in with the demon Nezha.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While held captive in the Kingdom Come reality, Superman and Batman are able to convince their counterparts to listen them in time for Metron to reveal Gog's true agenda; he is manipulating the heroes of this Earth into mounting a suicide run on Apokolips to kill Darkseid.
- Off with His Head!: After being brought back to life, Nezha immediately cuts his father's head off.
- Other Me Annoys Me: When Superman and Batman arrive in the Kingdom Come universe, both are disappointed at how their other selves are so quick to react with hostility to their presence rather than ask for more details.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: Unintentional example. Strange Visitor had retroactively become this thanks to upcoming launch of World's Finest: Teen Titans (as the book loosely spins out of this arc).
- Power Incontinence:
- David accidentally lights a forest ablaze when he develops his powers after arriving on the main Earth. A combination of the stress from losing his world and suddenness of his abilities prevents him from controlling them until Superman uses his Super Breath to cool David off and helps him calm down.
- Supes himself ends up on the wrong end of this when dosed with Red Kryptonite. Batman manages to calm him down in time to avert major disaster.
- Prequel: Generally takes place in a fusion of Silver Age and Bronze Age eras DC Universe during the period where Dick Grayson was still Robin instead of Nightwing. Batman and Superman are BF Fs who regularly hang out together and show next to no hostility of the later versions.
- Required Secondary Powers: Subverted. Mxyzptlk gives Robin the powers of Superman in order to defeat Sinestro, but tries to warn Robin not use his Super-Senses, as Superman had years to master them and filter out unwanted sensory information. But Robin doesn't listen and collapses as his brain isn't trained to handle so much stimulus.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: Issue #12 reveals the full specifics of what happened during Robin and Supergirl's disastrous date (and why Dick and Kara are still feuding about it to this day): Supergirl asked Robin out on a date due to the fact that he was able to save himself easily during a Man-Bat invasion. They both wore their costumes due to the fact that they hadn't revealed their identities and Dick didn't want to blow his. Kara was flirting with the server. To try and smooth things over, Robin tried to explain how he performed with his acrobatic parents until they died and Batman took him in. A monkey named Bingo was loosed on the city due to a sleazy apartment owner, causing a truck filled with bowling balls to crash when the monkey landed on the cab. Robin was forced to handle the avalanche of bowling balls by himself while Supergirl casually handled the wrecked cars and any injured people. The monkey lept onto Robin and pushed away, shoving the two of them into a fountain.
- Retcon:
- Billy Batson is shown living in Fawcett and is a solo hero as Shazam, indicating his New 52 origin has been overwritten. It turns out this isn't a retcon, Billy is able to time travel into the past through the Rock of Eternity.
- Likewise, Kara has been around since Dick was Robin, and references her original debut story.
- The Reveal: In the second storyline, "Strange Visitor", we meet David, a young teen from an alternate Earth. In issue #10, we find out that, in twenty years he'll become Magog, the Anti-Hero who kills the Joker in Kingdom Come.
- Revenge by Proxy: When Batman uses defoliant to counter Poison Ivy's murderous vines, the latter roars "You kill something dear to me— I'll do the same!" before trying to throw Robin off a rooftop. Fortunately, this is Metropolis and a certain Boy Scout is around...
- Secret Identity: Discussed. When David becomes Boy Thunder, Superman advises him to wear his mask to keep his identity a secret and maintain his privacy. David points out that Superman doesn't wear a mask, to which Superman replies that he has other ways of keeping his identity safe.
- Sensory Overload: Mr. Mxyzptlk temporarily grants Robin powers like Superman's to fight Sinestro. After beating Sinestro, Robin tries to use his Super-Senses to check on the rest of the League above Batman's and Mxyzptlk's warnings. Robin is soon overwhelmed by the sheer amount of visual and auditory stimulus. and begs Mxyzptlk to take the powers back.
- Series Continuity Error: "Heir to the Kingdom" kicks off when Barry Allen finds the Kingdom Come universe during his regular mapping of the "thousands and thousands" of worlds in the multiverse. This takes place "a few months" after "Strange Visitor", but current continuity has it that Earth Prime only learned there were more than 51 other Earths, and Barry started exploring them, during Dark Crisis.
- Semantic Superpower: Parasite is able to absorb sources of energy to sustain himself as a Power Parasite. While he typically does this to life energy and superpowers, he learns from a fifth-dimensional imp that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Parasite learns how to absorb the energy from atomic bonds to break any restraint before absorbing the volume and mass of his victims, reducing them to 2-D images. He leaves Superman, Batman, and Robin as street art on a nearby wall at the end of Issue #26.
- Sequel Hook: The end of the first storyline sets up the events of Batman vs. Robin. The Story Arc itself then segues into the event Lazarus Planet.
- Ship Tease: Between Supergirl and Robin. It’s implied that the two teenagers have been on a disastrous date, and Batman teases Robin by asking if he’d asked Kara about her plans for Saturday night.
- Spotting the Thread: The Kingdom Come Batman points out that Thunderman's claim that "the other" Superman and Batman are villains doesn't account for them knowing his real name.
- Start of Darkness: The "Strange Visitor" and "Heir to the Kingdom" storyline is this for Magog.
- Super-Empowering: Mr. Mxyzptlk gives Robin powers like Superman's in order to defeat Sinestro, including everything from Super-Strength to Heat Vision. As cool as this is, the fun doesn't last for Robin as he's completely overwhelmed by stimuli when he tries to use his Super-Senses, begging Mxyzptlk to take the powers back.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Defied in the first issue. Poison Ivy decides to make trouble in Metropolis and is shocked when she discovers Batman and Robin have followed her from Gotham City. Later, a flashback scene shows Superman going to Gotham and disguising himself as Batman in order to serve as a distraction as the real Batman saves Robin from the Penguin's death trap.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Niles Caulder's remote cameras show hero vs villain battles happening in three different cities.
- Temporary Bulk Change: During the "Impossible" story arc, Robin takes up Mxyzptlk's offer to be granted a full suite of superpowers to counter Sinestro and Sin-mite. Getting powers like a Kryptonian's gives Robin the physique of one, making him as muscular as Superman while he has them.
- This Bear Was Framed: Issue #6 opens In Medias Res with Robin at a circus insisting that the lion is not responsible for a recent death, he just needs time to figure out who is. It turns out to be the animal trainer, whose sorrow at having to put the lion down is entirely feigned.
- Time Travel: In order to meet the ancient House of Ji and learn how they defeated the devil Nezha, Supergirl takes Robin and breaks the time barrier to travel to 16th Century China.
- Time-Travel Tense Trouble: When trying to explain his adventures as stranded in the year 1892, Robin tries to find the right tense before giving up in frustration.Robin: How do I know all this? Because I was born in the circus and raised on its history. And also because...I was there. Am there. Here. Right now. Back then. Forget it.
- Transformation Horror: Metamorpho's origin gets retold and it's explored how painful gaining his powers was and how painful it still is to exist as essentially a living mass of base elements that shouldn't be alive or capable of sensation but is regardless. His current form is mastering his self-transmutation ability to emulate human physiology, but he's still in as much pain as when he first got his powers.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Li Jing gives up army, his fortune and his pride to find a way to bring his son back to life... and he is then immediately killed off by a mad Nezha, who doesn't appreciate the fact that his father sacrificed their empire.
- The Un-Smile: When Negative Man manages to filter the Kryptonite radiation out of Superman's blood, Batman's face displays an expression which could charitably be called a smile... even though it creeps the Doom Patrol out.Elastic Girl: Is Batman...smiling?
Robin: It happens.
Elastic Girl: And you accuse us of looking spooky. - Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: To defeat NewMazo, Batman's able to find and activate a spare Amazo robot and send him after NewMazo. Though NewMazo comes out on top, he's damaged enough for Metamorpho to finish the job.
- Wham Shot: The final page of World's Finest #10, which reveals David, the storyline's eponymous 'Strange Visitor' is in fact a young Magog from Waid and Alex Ross' seminal Kingdom Come.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The confrontation with Darkseid in the Kingdom Come reality ends with Magog killing Gog to stop him being used to give Darkseid the Anti-Life Equation, which results in every other hero condemning him for his actions as they all agree that there were alternatives to killing Gog.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Mr. Mxyzptlk offers to give Batman and Robin superpowers to beat Sinestro and Sin-mite. Batman dismisses the notion as "ridiculous" while Robin eagerly takes Mxyzptlk's offer. Although Robin revels in having powers like Superman's for a while, he regrets his decision while trying to use his Super-Senses and subsequently collapsing from Sensory Overload, begging Mxyzptlk to take the powers back.
- Write Back to the Future: Dick after being left stranded in 1892. He leaves behind instructions for Batman, knowing Bruce will be looking for clues in the Present Day.
