The Kingdom is a partial sequel to Kingdom Come, where heroes from that story cross over into the canonical New Earth universe to help stop a threat from destroying all reality. It served as an introduction to the concept of Hypertime.
The issues that covered this mini-series include
- New Year's Evil: Gog #1
- The Kingdom #1
- The Kingdom: Son of the Bat #1
- The Kingdom: Nightstar #1
- The Kingdom: Offspring #1
- The Kingdom: Kid Flash #1
- The Kingdom: Planet Krypton #1
- The Kingdom #2
The Kingdom provides examples of:
- Almost Kiss: Ibn al Xu'ffasch and Nightstar were about to kiss when they both overhear mention about their world ceasing to exist if Superman went back in time to try saving his son from Gog.
- Alternate Timeline: The introduction of Hypertime, "the vast, interconnected web of parallel timelines which comprise all reality", at the end of issue #2. It is revealed that the future world of Kingdom Come is one of those timelines.Hunter: How does 'Hypertime' work? Off the Central Timeline we just left. Events of importance often cause divergent 'tributaries' to branch off the main timestream. ...On occasion, those tributaries return — sometimes feeding back into the Central Timeline, other times overlapping it briefly before charting an entirely new course.
- And I Must Scream: Superman, in one of his many deaths at the hands of Gog, was subject to being slowly transformed into Kryptonite after being chained to a planet with a special bomb attached to it that would recreate the destruction of Krypton.
- The Antichrist: Superman, in the eyes of Gog.
- Arc Welding: The Phantom Stranger's identity has been the subject of speculation for decades. Here, he's suggested to be Jonathan Kent.
- Armor-Piercing Question: In a flashback, a young, despondent Mar’i Grayson learns from her parents, Nightwing and Starfire, that her biological grandparents and adoptive great-grandparents all passed away under tragic circumstances. When her father tries to tell her that these things just happen sometimes, she asks her parents "Will it happen to you?" The flashback ends with Nightwing and Starfire’s speechless faces. Another flashback of a slightly older Mar’i further illustrates her fear of death and losing her parents, though this time, Nightwing attempts to comfort her by promising that it won’t happen. However, by the time of Kingdom Come, Starfire has indeed passed away from illness. This puts a strain on Dick’s relationship with his daughter, who hasn’t overcome her fear and still bears some resentment towards her father for making a promise he couldn’t keep.
- Aside Glance: At the end of #2, the (supposedly) Golden Age Superman, after he realizes that the sky barrier that's holding him prisoner over a version of Metropolis (possibly hinting at the paradise dimension that he, Lois Lane, and Superboy-Prime ended up in at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths), is now gone and that he can escape into the mainstream DC Universe again, gives a wink to the reader.
- Asshole Victim: Mister Mxyzptlk, at the hands of Gog. Also Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Ra's al Ghul, at the hands of Ibn al Xu'ffasch.
- Bad Guy Bar: Again, the Titans Tower, being more of a '90s Anti-Hero bar.
- Belief Makes You Stupid: The first Gog was a man who founded a church to Superman after being saved by him as a boy, only to go crazy and turn against him after discovering that he was "responsible" (not really, but he didn't stop it) for the nuclear explosion that kicked off Kingdom Come.
- Big "NO!": Kingdom Come Wonder Woman, when Gog disappears from her time period with her child, and then later when her child Jonathan vanishes from the timeline, or so she thinks.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Soon after Kingdom Come when Superman and Wonder Woman's child is born, Gog comes and kills a bunch of Amazons on Themyscira so he could kidnap the child.
- Blackmail: How Ibn al Xu'ffasch gets Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Ra's al Ghul to work together to find a way to keep their reality from being erased, though ultimately they prove to betray him. Ibn doesn't take any chances and has prepared beforehand how to deal with them.
- Blasphemous Praise: William the prophet believes that Superman is a divine being, even to the point where he builds a church and offers up prayers to him.William: ...and he changes the course of mighty rivers...and bends steel in his bare hands. His kingdom come...his will be done...for his is the truth, and the justice, and the...
- Book Ends: Ignoring New Year's Evil: Gog, the story begins with what is presumably the Golden Age/Earth-2 Superman flying over his version of Metropolis banging on a sky barrier, being imprisoned on what appears to be a copy of Earth-2, and ends with him in the sky realizing that the barrier is now gone and that he can fly right past it, giving a wink to the reader that someday he will. Whether that was actually the same Golden Age Superman as the one who went into the paradise dimension with his wife Lois Lane, Alexander Luthor, Jr. from Earth-3, and Superboy of Earth-Prime near the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths was left ambiguous at the time.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: Booster Gold's Planet Krypton restaurant in the present-day world (of 1998) is purposely stocked with items from various timelines by the four Titans from the future. Present-day Batman realizes this when he and his colleagues, plus their Kingdom Come counterparts, are transported to Planet Krypton by Hunter to fight Gog with the various items collected, with Batman saying something like "this isn't a restaurant... it's an arsenal". Where they become museum pieces of a sort is that these items have appeared during the Silver and Bronze Age period DC Universe.
- Broken Pedestal: Superman in the mind of William the prophet, who upheld the hero as a paragon and who claimed that Superman purposely allowed the destruction of Kansas as a test to weed out "false prophets", meaning superheroes that had a rather nihilistic approach to fighting criminals and other threats. After Superman revealed that the destruction of Kansas was more his fault than his purpose, William burned down his temple to worship Superman, thus leading him to his role of being Superman's oppressor Gog.
- Call-Forward: Gog teases us with one, telling Kingdom Come Superman's child, "As I am Gog, so shall you be my Magog".
- Calling the Old Man Out: What Gog thinks he's doing as he kills Superman again and again throughout future history, calling him Satan.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Plastic Man, in The Kingdom: Offspring story.
- Crucified Hero Shot: Superman, in one of his many deaths at the hands of Gog.
- Darker and Edgier: Comically attempted and failed by Offspring when he tries to take down Mr. Scarlet at the Titans Tower nightclub by posing as a cash register, which is one of his attempts to be taken seriously as a superhero compared to his father Plastic Man.
- Dead Guy Junior: Kingdom Come Superman and Wonder Woman's son Jonathan, named after Superman's foster father Jonathan Kent.
- Devil in Disguise: What Gog believes Superman actually is.
- Dies Wide Open: Gog.
- Eye Beams: Gog has them, saying that he gained this ability from Amazo.
- Faith–Heel Turn: Minister William, a future prophet who upheld Superman as divine and above fault, was greatly disillusioned by his "deity's" confession of truth concerning the Kansas disaster that William was rescued from as a boy, that the disaster itself was not Superman's purpose but rather his fault for letting society be protected by the new generation of "heroes". With his faith in Superman shattered, William is soon transformed into Gog and becomes Superman's oppressor.
- Faceship: Brainiac's ship, which Mr. Scarlet and his gang use trying to escape the end of the world.
- Follow in My Footsteps: Wally West's son Barry has superspeed, and absolutely no interest in using it for anything in particular, much to Wally's despair. His concern with getting Barry to live up to his potential is one of the reasons Barry's sister, Iris "Kid Flash" West, feels unappreciated.
- Fountain of Youth: Ibn al Xu'ffasch temporarily turns Lex Luthor into an infant in order to get his help.
- Going Critical: Gog attempts to do this with Captain Atom of the present era, but is stopped before it happens. He still causes enough damage to Kansas to get Superman's attention, though.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Gog burns an S-shield scar onto Kingdom Come Superman's chest when he arrives at the time of the birth of Superman and Wonder Woman's child. Later on, present-day Batman scars up Gog's left hand in his attempt to use the Phantom Zone projector on him.
- Go Out with a Smile: Gog dies with a smile, thinking that he has finally destroyed Superman. Or so he thinks.
- Green Rocks: Kryptonite, which Gog uses to put Kingdom Come Superman's son Jonathan inside...only it turns out that it doesn't affect him.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Nightstar who is Half Tamaranean from her mother.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Kingdom Come Wonder Woman impales Gog with the Sword of Hephaestus... not that it affects him. Also, Superman in one of his many deaths at the hands of Gog is impaled with a piece of metal from his birthing matrix.
- In Spite of a Nail: Rose D'Angelo sees a "ghost" of herself that had accepted the engagement ring, but would still end up as a waitress at the Planet Krypton restaurant, informing her that her decision to refuse the engagement was a good one.
- In the Hood: One of the Supermen in the afterlife... particularly the one who was burned to death by Gog.
- Kissing Cousins: Dick Grayson thinks that his daughter Nightstar's relationship to Bruce Wayne's son Ibn al Xu'ffasch is akin to this and tries to forbid her from seeing him in a romantic fashion.
- Kryptonite Factor: Averted with Kingdom Come Superman and his son Jonathan, as the case of the latter being encased in Kryptonite did nothing to him. Present-day Superman still tries to avoid it, though.
- Large Ham: Gog, particularly in the final battle.
- Living Statue: A Superman statue that Mister Mxyzptlk caused to come to life, which Superman had to deal with before Gog arrived to kill him.
- The Many Deaths of You: Gog subjects the Kingdom Come Superman to multiple forms of death as he goes back in time, although in reality it's the many alternate versions of Kingdom Come Superman that are killed.
- Marry for Love: The reason Rose D'Angelo refused the engagement, with her family pressuring her to marry the guy for his money.
- Messianic Archetype: Superman, in the eyes of William before his disillusionment and Faith–Heel Turn.
- Missing Mom: Starfire, Nightstar's mother.
- Morton's Fork: When Gog abducts the newborn Jonathan and goes back in time to 1998, Waverider tells the heroes of the future that they can't go back because they would certainly erase their timeline from history even if they stopped Gog's intentions to trigger the Kansas cataclysm, but the heroes conclude that, since people will die either way, they'd prefer to act like heroes and try to stop Gog killing anyone.
- Ms. Fanservice: Nightstar is just as beautiful and attractive as her mother Starfire.
- My Future Self and Me: Superman of the present-day (1998) as well as Batman and Wonder Woman meet up with their Kingdom Come counterparts, believing them to be their future selves...until it is revealed that they are actually future selves from an alternate timeline.
- My Greatest Failure: Superman in the time period that William becomes a minister regrets not being there to stop the Kansas disaster in Kingdom Come from taking place.
- Mythology Gag: Batman says, "How bizarre", when examining a piece of Blue Kryptonite at the Planet Krypton restaurant, with Blue Kryptonite being the type that affects Bizarro Superman.
- Part of William's prayer to Superman includes words from The Adventures of Superman TV series intro.
- Offspring mutters Batman's line about criminals being "a superstitious, cowardly lot" from his origin story.
- '90s Anti-Hero: Again, the "heroes" we have seen in Kingdom Come also show up here.
- No Endor Holocaust: Superman's present-day Kansas gets nuked with Gog using Captain Atom to unleash a massive explosion, yet surprisingly Smallville manages to survive it relatively intact.
- Not Blood Siblings: Nightstar, the daughter of Nightwing and Starfire, hooks up with Ibn al Xu'ffasch, the son of Batman and Talia al-Ghul. Nightwing is Batman's adopted son while Ibn al Xu'ffasch is his biological son who wasn't raised by him. When Ibn al Xu'ffasch and Nightstar, fall in love, even though they're technically uncle and niece, this is part of why Nightwing isn't especially happy with their relationship.
- Overlord Jr.: What Ra's al Ghul is hoping his grandson Ibn al Xu'ffasch would become.
- Parental Favoritism: Wally West has two kids: Barry and Iris West. Both inherited his superspeed, but are vastly different in how they use them. Barry is a slacker who uses them for petty reasons, though not anything illegal. Meanwhile, Iris took up Wally's old identity of Kid Flash and is actively a superhero. However, Wally clearly favors Barry and constantly drives him to be the next Flash. It takes its toll on Iris, and Barry knows it. It may have something to do with his name even, since Barry Allen, the second Flash and Wally's mentor is someone Wally has never stopped looking up to.
- Planet-Shattering Kaboom: Gog's recreation of the destruction of Krypton with a specially made bomb that would turn Superman's body into Kryptonite in one of his many deaths.
- Power Trio: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, in both their present-day and Kingdom Come incarnations.
- Put on a Bus: Norman McCay, Kingdom Come's protagonist, is nowhere to be seen.
- Reality Bleed: Aspects of the multiverse began to appear inside the Planet Krypton restaurant Batman is in.
- Reality-Breaking Paradox: Brought up when a recently-killed Superman meets future incarnations of him in the afterlife, learning from them that Gog is traveling backwards in time, one day at a time, killing off Superman in each of those days. As this Superman points out, the dead spirits of the Supermen for each day Gog has passed shouldn't be meeting each other like this, that "the space-time continuum ought to be hemorrhaging chaos” from this. Subverted that it turns out that each Superman is from a different timeline.
- Riddle for the Ages: In The Kingdom: Planet Krypton, Batman comes face to face with the Hypertime ghost of the Silver Age Batwoman. After glaring at her for a moment, his face slowly softens and he says "Kathy?". Readers left wondering if Batman merely recognizes Kathy Kane in the costumenote or if he somehow recall her past exploits as Batwoman. Though later, Batman says there is no possible way he could know her.
- The Runaway: Rose D'Angelo in The Kingdom: Planet Krypton, who ran away from home to escape an engagement to a guy that she doesn't even love, becoming a waitress at the Planet Krypton restaurant.
- Shout-Out: William opens a seven-sealed scroll which leads to his becoming Gog.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The Phantom Stranger tells William, who had been transformed into Gog, that he now has the power to change events and avert tragedy, but as the other members of the Quintessence reveal, not only does Gog not prevent the Kansas disaster from ever happening, he also intends to make it happen much sooner to implicate Superman as its cause... which is what the Quintessence actually wants to happen for their own purposes.
- Sigil Spam: Gog purposely marks the location of Superman's deaths throughout future history (and even Superman himself) with his Kingdom Come-era S-symbol. In present-day Kansas, Gog marks it with the S-symbol used at that time.
- Spin-Offspring: The mini-series introduces Plastic Man's son, who was born with his powers and is actually called "Offspring".
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Batman pulls this on Rose D'Angelo near the end of The Kingdom: Planet Krypton.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Nightstar looks like a blend of both her parents.
- Stronger with Age: Not only is Kingdom Come Superman invulnerable to Kryptonite, but so also is his son Jonathan.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Some variants of the Green Lantern ring (including Power Ring's from the Earth-3 universe) were used in the final battle with Gog.
- Sword Fight: Ra's al Ghul gets into a swordfight with his grandson Ibn al Xu'ffasch near the end of The Kingdom: Son of the Bat. Ra's loses to Ibn in the duel.
- Taken for Granite: One of Superman's multiple deaths was to be slowly transformed into Kryptonite.
- The End of the World as We Know It: The "heroes" of the Kingdom Come era are faced with the end of the world coming with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman going back in time with Hunter to stop Gog from changing history. Four of its heroes — Ibn al Xu'ffasch, Nightstar, Offspring, and Kid Flash — team up with Hunter to gather items from various timelines in Hypertime to stop Gog's plan. Waverider thinks that any interference from the future would change their history so drastically that it would be the end of the world. As we find out, though, their future still exists because it is part of Hypertime.
- This Isn't Heaven: The Superman seen at the beginning of The Kingdom #1 is banging on an invisible "wall" in the sky, with the captions reading "He deserved heaven, not prison".
- Threesome Subtext: The Kingdom Come versions of Clark and Diana have a son with Bruce as the godfather—and the grown-up kid refers to them as his three parents.
- Time Crash: The Linear Men fears this is what's happening with Gog going back in time each day in the past to slay Superman over and over, yet their instruments don't show any sign of an anomaly in the timeline. Of course, Hunter knows the truth of why there's no anomaly, and so he goes out to protect the truth from his fellow Linear Men.
- Time Police: The Linear Men, with Hunter this time going renegade as he must protect a timeline secret that no one must know about: Hypertime.
- Torso with a View: Gog gives Mr. Mxyzptlk one with his power staff in one of the timelines that he kills Superman in.
- Training from Hell: Ibn al Xu'ffasch's childhood was spent undergoing brutal training from his grandfather and the League of Assassins.
- Turn Out Like His Father: Offspring's girlfriend Micheline worries that he would turn out to be just like his father Plastic Man: a superhero that nobody would take seriously.
- The Unfavorite: Iris West II, the Kingdom Come era Kid Flash, thinks of herself being this to her father Wally West, particularly when he wants his son Barry to carry on the tradition of being the Flash. Wally at the end of The Kingdom: Kid Flash contradicts this thinking, telling his son Barry not to call his sister a "fruit fly", and that her name is Kid Flash.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: The series featured Plastic Man and Offspring, respectively, in these roles. Plastic Man is Fun Personified and can't stay out of his son's life; Offspring is comparatively humorless and doesn't appreciate his father's meddling.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The Green, an orbiting arboreal satellite, is powered by Alan Scott's power ring energy, which is vulnerable to wood. In The Kingdom: Nightstar, Manotaur takes advantage of this to go on a rampage to destroy the central power station of The Green with a wooden sword.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gog genuinely believes that he's doing the right thing by trying to kill Superman and "expose" him as being behind the disaster that ravaged Kansas.
- What If?: Played with in-universe during The Kingdom: Planet Krypton issue, where said restaurant is being "haunted" by shades of characters erased from continuity or from different worlds/timelines/universes/dimensions. This is also the driving force of the main character's story. Waitress Rose D'Angelo is haunted by regret that she turned down a man's marriage proposal even though he was rich as her family guilt-tripped her over it because the guy could've provided for them. Eventually, it turns out the shades only manifest because Nightstar and the others crossing over into that world, and Rose finally moves on when she sees a shade of herself that accepted the suitor's ring and still ended up a waitress.
- What You Are in the Dark: When the heroes of the future are faced with what they believe will be their final day before Gog's actions erase their world one way or the other, some characters try to help out while others continue their usual schemes; Barry West considers himself the only "honest" member of his family as he's just doing whatever he wants while his father Wally is basically dealing with everyone else's problems and Barry's sister Iris is just trying to earn their father's approval.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: William is very powerful and very crazy after he becomes Gog.
