History Main / KingdomCome

* The film ''Kingdom Come'', staring Whoopi Goldberg and LL Cool J.

* ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', a comic book

[[redirect:ComicBook/KingdomCome]]

[[redirect:Comicbook/KingdomCome]]

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[[caption-width-right:300:''Pretty Awesome'']]

->''"According to the word of God, the meek would someday inherit the earth. Someday. But God never accounted for the mighty."''\\
-- '''Norman [=McCay=]'''



A DCUniverse & {{Elseworld}}s [[ComicBook graphic novel]], published in 1996. Written by MarkWaid and beautifully painted by Alex Ross, ''Kingdom Come'' depicts a dystopian future in which Comicbook/{{Superman}} has retired due to the public's preference for heroes who will use lethal force. The [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] superheroes followed him, in some cases retiring completely, in others sticking to their own small areas.

Until a tragedy strikes in Kansas. The death of CaptainAtom causes a nuclear explosion which destroys most of the Midwest of the USA. This loosens the last bounds of restraint among the new generation of metahumans, who begin to fight one another with abandon. Superman returns, reassembles the Justice League and tries to take back control, with dire consequences.

Through it all, a simple pastor named Norman [=McCay=] is guided by apocalyptic imagery drawn from [[TheBible Revelation]] and by the Spectre. He must decide the fate of humanity - whether to allow the metahumans to be killed en masse and save the rest of humanity, or to allow them to survive, but doom the world.

See also {{Justice}}, a similar miniseries also painted by Alex Ross that attempts to [[{{Reconstruction}} reconstruct]] TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks and TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks after this series [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

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!!This book provides examples of the following tropes:

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: WonderWoman's Sword of Hephaestus. It can even cut Superman - it's remarked that it's because magic is one of the few things that Supes isn't invulnerable to.
** Wonder Woman states it can carve the electrons off an atom. [[BeyondTheImpossible Now that's sharp]].
* ActorAllusion: In a one-panel cameo, TheJoker looks just like Jack Nicholson in the Tim Burton Batman movie.
* AmazonianBeauty: Power Woman is PowerGirl when depicted as muscular UpToEleven.
* AntiClimax: The anticipated fight between Superman and Magog never happens because of the latter's VillainousBreakdown.
** Wouldn't have been much of a fight anyway as Magog lashes out and Superman just takes it, more surprised than hurt. Its in keeping with the relative power levels of DarkAge characters versus SilverAge ones.
* AntiHero: Magog and his cronies are these. A large part of the book hinges on the difference between antiheroes and traditional heroes, to the point where the whole thing can be seen as a metaphor for TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks with the rise of the NinetiesAntiHero and the decline in popularity of the [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] super heroes and the coinciding loss of morality in comics, and the eventual need to bring those ideals back.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: All over the place. Quotations from the book of Revelation bookend at least two chapters, and biblical apocalyptic imagery is heavily used throughout.
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Magog]].
* BadassGrandpa: Batman is so old and battered he needs machines to help him walk, but he's still as sharp as ever, able to execute a classic BatmanGambit and then has the guts to punch Captain Marvel.
* BadassNormal: Oliver Queen. Played up in the {{novelization}}.
* BadGuyBar: [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Titans Tower]] has become one of these. Though granted, it's more of a NinetiesAntiHero Bar.
* BatmanGambit: Batman is a major character. Is anyone surprised?
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The current status quo came about partly because regular civilians rejected the traditional heroes, [[ThouShaltNotKill who wouldn't kill]] their enemies no matter what, and demanded heroes who would kill. They got what they wanted.
* BewareTheSuperman: Boy, is he pissed after the climax!
** In general, the series focuses on both the catastrophic damage and the morale-depleting effects that having entire races of godlike beings positioned so far above humanity that they can essentially do whatever they want without consequence can have. Although the younger generation of anti-heroes are the most obvious example of this, the story takes pains to point out that the older, more traditional generation aren't without blame either.
* BeyondTheImpossible: One of the least noted RePower, yet one of the most insane, is the one which took its tool on TheFlash (said to be [[InformedAttribute Wally West]]); in this continuity Wally became the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the Speed Force, becoming a force in perpetual motion, attaining ''[[PhysicalGod omnipresence]]'' by running ''that'' fast.
** BlessedWithSuck: Wally achieving godhood had its sacrifices, as noted above he is in perpetual motion, he can't stop moving ''ever'', the times where he seems to be still is just Wally moving in a short space while circling through... well, ''everywhere'' else at the same time, basically an illusion. Also it forces him to cut ties with everyone he knows, since now he basically lives in another reality altogether, no one can keep up with him to even comunicate with the guy, Superman is the ''only'' one who can talk with Wally, and that by processing what Wally says some time later the actual talking.
* TheBible: The series draws heavily on Biblical apocalyptic imagery, especially that of the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Book of Revelation]].
** And come on. The point of how Captain Marvel is both a god and a man, and his sacrifice so others may live with the nuke's cloud in the shape of a cross... [[CompletelyMissingThePoint It's just like David and Goliath.]]
* BigNo: Wonder Woman after Captain Comet is killed.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: The scene where [[spoiler:Superman attempts to destroy the UN building and kill everyone inside]] results in this due to the multinational nature of the organization. For example, the Filipino delegate says "PAPATAYIN SIYA ANG ULO!". The intent appears to be "He's going to collapse the roof!". What it actually translates as is "He's going to kill the head!"
* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: Well, this is the DCU after all...
** But still, look for a cameo by our old pal Marvin from ''{{Superfriends}}'', who still wears a shirt emblazoned with the letter "M".
* CallingTheOldManOut: All of the original Teen Titans' children are on the side of the anti-heroes in defiance of their parents.
** ShoutOut: They're called [[BatmanAndTheOutsiders Batman's Outsiders]].
* CallToAgriculture: After retirement, Clark Kent is living in an artificial farm.
* TheCameo: ''Many,'' especially in the bar scene-- keep an eye out for [[{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]].
* CaptainErsatz: Many:
** Magog himself is based on Cable, with elements of other RobLiefeld characters.
** Tusk, a robot in the first fight scene is visually based on Z'gok-E from MobileSuitGundam.
** Americommando is visually based on JudgeDredd, with a hint of [[{{Watchmen}} The Comedian]].
** Tokyo Rose takes some visual hints from Chun-Li of StreetFighter, although with a more Japanese tone to it (obviously).
** An Unnamed background character in the Meta-Human rave scene is visually similar to the TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles, only [[DarkerAndEdgier bigger and uglier]].
*** If we're thinking of the same person, his name is Kabrini. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrini-Green He's green]]. [[JustForPun Geddit?]]
** An Unnamed background character in the Gulag is visually similar to DukeNukem.
** Several background characters are based on bands and musicians, including {{Bjork}}, TheBeatles, TheMonkees, TheVillagePeople, and King Marvel is visually very similar to an older ElvisPresley. This is a recursive ShoutOut - Elvis based his famous stage costume on Captain Marvel, Jr., his favorite superhero.
** An unnamed background character in the Gulag is a dead ringer for DavidBowie as [[{{Labyrinth}} the Goblin King]], [[MemeticMutation Package and all.]]
** Peacemaker's costume is very much modeled after [[{{StarWars}} Boba Fett]].
** A robot in the Gulag scene looks a lot like the robot Maria from Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
* CanonImmigrant: The version of Superman introduced in Kingdom Come was later incorporated into the main [=DC=] continuity and interacted with the Justice Society. The Kingdom Come-verse is officially Earth-22 of the post-''InfiniteCrisis'' multiverse.
** Versions of a number of KingdomCome characters also ended up in the Main DCU's JSA, including Atom Smasher, Cyclone, and even Magog himself.
** Alloy showed up in in ''BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''. Then again, the Metal Men combining is just too good an idea not to use...
** In a reversal of this, Rorschach shows up twice in the bar scene... at one point talking to the character he's an {{Expy}} of, The Question.
* CruelMercy
* DarkAgeOfSupernames: The new generation of anti-heroes-villains names.
* DeconstructionCrossover: For the sake of exploring the moral and philosophical differences between the [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] and [[TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] ideals of hero. Although it's generally considered primarily a deconstruction of the latter, the former don't escape unscathed either.
* DeconstructorFleet
* DeusExNukina:[[spoiler: Subverted in that Captain Marvel destroys it with his magic lightning, so that a few metahumans might still live.]]
* DoingItForTheArt
* {{Elseworld}}
* EverybodysDeadDave: What Norman [=McCay=]'s visions tell him will happen. In the end [[spoiler:not ''quite'' everybody dies, but the final battle gets a massive nuke dropped on it. Only a few survive]].
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Trix.
* GenreRelaunch: Of Silver Age era super hero comics.
* GoingCritical: Captain Atom.
* GreenLanternRing: The obvious, in that there are a number of the various green lanterns around, but also Captain Marvel's use of his own magical lightning, as mentioned on the page.
* HeelFaceTurn. [[spoiler: Magog. Also, to some degree, Captain Marvel]].
* HeroicRROD. Wonder Woman. Examined closer in the {{novelization}}.
* HeroInsurance. Explained in the {{Novelization}}, in which heroes tend to be impoverished and unaccountable. Auto insurance makes it impossible to own a car, damaged public property goes unrepaired (like the Statue of Liberty), and so forth.
* HRGiger: One of the rogue metahumans, Trix, was clearly designed based on Giger's artwork. She's described as "a morphing biomechanism" and is one of the few survivors of the Gulag.
* HypocriticalHumor: A minor example; at one point in the fight, after Batman has pissed Wonder Woman off a little too far, she yells "You aristocratic ''bastard''!" at him and starts whaling into him. This is ''Princess'' Diana speaking, let's not forget.
* JokerImmunity: Averted. In fact, averting this is what pushes Superman into retirement.
* KarmaHoudini: It's a little unsatisfying that Swastika is among the few to survive the nuke. Yes, technically he doesn't do much notable bad stuff, but on the other hand he's a flagrant neo-Nazi with a swastika tattooed across his entire body. Of course, killing him off just because the audience dislikes him would rather missing the point of the story.
* KickTheDog: All over the place.
* KillThePoor: A brief scene sees one AntiHero, The Americommando, and his cronies declare war on meager immigrants, claiming "the poor, tired, huddled masses camping on our shores, begging citizenship" are the biggest foreign threat to the United States after the disaster in Kansas, though it's suggested that he's under MindControl.
* KnightTemplar: Wonder Woman crosses the line.
* LargeHam: {{Lampshaded}} when Vandal Savage [[KickTheDog Kicks The Dog]].
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:LexLuthor and his "Mankind Liberation Front" (a collection of Silver Age villains) attempted to exploit the metahuman war and TakeOverTheWorld. They end up being forced to work by {{Batman}} in his makeshift hospital for the casualties of the civil war.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Batman:''' "[[WhosLaughingNow Shazam.]]"]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Lex:''' "Shut up."]]
* LegacyCharacter: Again, all over the place. Its setting is helpful in allowing such characters to see a lot of use. They really come to the fore in the sequel, though.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: not only ''KingdomCome'' itself a literary allusion (to either Matthew 6:10 or Luke 11:2 from the Bible), but each chapter title ('Strange Visitr', 'Truth and Justice', 'Up in the Sky' and 'Never-Ending Battle') is an allusion to the classic {{Superman}} introduction.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: We've got the original "[[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]]" DCU heroes, their children, the rogue antiheroes, the former supervillains, and a number of ordinary "humans" (mostly politicians).
* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler:Billy Batson]]
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: WordOfGod says the character of Von Bach comes from stories from TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks where superheroes would fight Hitler, or thinly veiled Hitler CaptainErsatz dictators. He even speaks in German, and is covered in tattoos of far right German symbols.
** And the fact that the design for Swastika, whose tattoos form a giant swastika across his entire body, was originally designed as Von Bach, confirms this.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:{{Batman}} refuses to rejoin Superman, and instead he and his "Outsiders" infiltrate {{Lex Luthor}}'s "Mankind Liberation Front" and stop them from exploiting the metahuman civil war for their own ends.]]
* NeckSnap: Vandal Savage, one-handed. [[KickTheDog "I said TWO sugars!"]]
* NewsMonopoly: Superman sees multiple reports of the Kansas disaster in the Fortress of Solitude.
* NinetiesAntiHero: Numerous characters, primary and secondary. And since Mark Waid and Alex Ross are [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]][=/=][[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] fans, they push the NinetiesAntiHero to the logical maximum: a bunch of superpowered gangs fighting each other for no apparent reason, personified by Magog.
** The reason is given: they killed all the supervillains and are simply ''bored'' and resorting to gang rumbles.
* NoEndorHolocaust: Averted, big time. The damage these heroes do are far-reaching and visceral.
* {{Novelization}}: ElliotSMaggin's novel is arguably better than the miniseries.
* OhCrap: Norman's reaction to {{Superman}}'s return, which initially seemed like a CrowningMomentOfAwesome but he realized was the ShadowOfImpendingDoom.
-->'''Norman:''' He had not turned his back at us. He stands in the sky... faith '''rewarded'''. ''{vision of screaming Superman, which changes Norman's mood and reaction)'' ... dear God. The threat of Armageddon hasn't ended. It's just ''begun''...
* PersonOfMassDestruction: "The Parasite has torn Captain Atom open! [[KilledMidSentence He's torn him ope--"]]
* PoweredArmour: {{Batman}} needs an exoskeleton to move about, he's so battered from 60-odd years of superheroing. When he goes into combat, he does it in flying power armour. A number of other characters do as well.
* {{Reconstruction}}: Of everything that was great about the Golden and Silver Ages, to the degree that the publication of ''Kingdom Come'' has been retrospectively labeled the end of the Dark Age (DorkAge?).
* RedEyesTakeWarning. Superman is none too pleased after the nuke is detonated.
* RePower: Lots of the Golden Agers get big power boosts as Waid draws their abilities to the logical conclusion. Especially TheFlash, who has become one with the Speed Force and now exists as a living blur in constant, never-ending motion.
** Superman's power level in general is boosted and he becomes immune to kryptonite due to all those years soaking up the sun.
** Alan Scott (a Green Lantern) has fused his power battery into his chest.
*** Unlike Superman, however, he still retains his original weakness - [[WeaksauceWeakness to wood]]. While he's effectively invincible otherwise, [[GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] is able to punch right through his PoweredArmor with regular arrows. [[spoiler: On the other hand, Alan Scott survives the nuke while Oliver Queen doesn't.]]
** Batman uses powered armor and keeps his city safe with robotic drones.
** Doctor Mid-Nite (now called simply "Midnight"), who once used smoke bombs, now exists as a living smoke cloud that fills out his costume's cape.
** Garfield Logan -- once called "Beast Boy" and "Changeling", now called "Menagerie" -- can only shapeshift into fictitious creatures, such as the Jabberwock from Lewis Carroll's ''Through the Looking Glass''.
* SecondComing: Superman's return from his self-imposed exile to deal with Magog and his generation of heroes was first seen as this by [=McCay=]. However, [[spoiler:the visions [=McCay=] has seen reveal that Superman's presence would catalyze the coming doom, not avert it.]]
* SecretIdentityIdentity: The revelation of Bruce Wayne being Batman leads to Wayne Manor being wrecked by Two Face and Bane, and Bruce, of course, no longer keeping up the pretense. Superman also drops the Clark identity. Indeed the ending shows ''all'' the surviving supers de-masking, and seems to be showing the end of the SecretIdentityIdentity for this universe.
* {{Shazam}}
* SherlockScan: Batman does this to Diana to find out that [[spoiler:she is pregnant.]]
* ShoutOut: Full of them. Shouts out to, among others, ''{{Watchmen}}'' and numerous Golden and Silver age comics. Most of them are explained in the Absolute Kingdom Come hardcover edition. This comic has the ''Fantom of the Fair'' and ''Powerman'' in it, for chrissakes.
** An early panel shows [[{{Watchmen}} Hollis Mason's autobiography]] in a shop window.
*** "Who watches the Watchmen?"
** And Kingdom Come has been subject to a frankly ridiculous amount of Shouts Out from the main DCU ever since. ''So'' many elements were just taken directly from this.
*** Keep an eye out for the superpowered VillagePeople.
**** And [[{{Marvels}} Phil Sheldon]] at the end.
**** And [[{{RockyHorrorPictureShow}} Columbia from Rocky Horror]].
**** And [[SteveMillerBand Steve Miller]] in his Spider Queen mask at the bar playing a pull-my-finger game with the Human Bomb.
*** Fat Albert and his gang [[spoiler: arrested by Batman's robot drones]].
**** Speaking of, Batman's robot drones are inspired by ''{{Patlabor}}''.
***** And speaking of Batman himself, the arms and upper torso of the armor he wears does resemble {{RoboCop}}.
*** The cybernetically enhanced son of [[AstroCity Jack-in-the-box]] shows up among the anti-heroes.
*** The Title Card for TenchiMuyo shows up as graffiti early on.
*** During a metahuman fight in Tokyo, Manga/AstroBoy can be seen on a building.
* ShownTheirWork
* SpaceStation: GreenLantern's Emerald City.
* SplitScreenReaction: When Magog blasted Superman.
* StandardRoyalCourt: Taken to the extreme with Atlantis, though its only seen for two pages.
* StealthHiBye: {{Batman}}, of course.
** {{Lampshaded}} when Superman pulls the same thing on Bruce when hearing Captain Marvel was involved in Luthor's plot.
--->'''Bruce''': ''(smiling wryly)'' So ''that's'' what it feels like.
* StopBeingStereotypical: When Superman enters the bar and gets jeered at by a drunken Marvin from ''{{Superfriends}}''. Atom Smasher punches him.
** A background gag at the end of the book also shows Swastika get a DopeSlap from Magog when he spits during WonderWoman's coronation.
* SuperPowerMeltdown: Captain Atom again.
* TakeAThirdOption: See TearJerker. Poor, poor [[spoiler:Captain Marvel]].
* TakeThat: At DorkAge {{Nineties Anti Hero}}es in general and [[{{Comicbook/Cable}} Cable]] in particular; see the page quote above.
* ThrowAwayCountry: Kansas, and parts of the surrounding states. ''Twice!''
* TheVoiceless: A lot of characters have no speaking parts, but two really stand out - Hawkman, who (according to WordOfGod) is mute, since he's very anthropomorphised, and TheFlash, who was (again according to WordOfGod) only meant to be audible to Superman, but ended up simply without speaking lines.
* UnresolvedSexualTension : Superman and Wonder Woman. Eventually gets resolved.
* UnstoppableRage: Subverted. [[spoiler:After the nuke, Reverend [=McCay=] manages to talk Superman down from destroying the United Nations building and killing everyone inside.]]
* ValuesDissonance: [[invoked]] Used in-story. It's problems with values dissonance that cause Superman to retire in the first place because he cannot reconcile his values with those of the younger generation of heroes and, more importantly, the public that supports them.
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Magog. He goes down without Superman touching him. He just collapses to his knees at the weight of the guilt of the destruction of Kansas.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Magog]]:''' A million deaths, because they chose a hero who would kill over one who wouldn't.
** The fact that he's an AntiHero instead of a true villain no doubt contributes to this. He really was trying to be a hero and do the right thing, and he genuinely cares about all the innocents who suffered for his recklessness.
** Luthor also has a mild one part way through the story; for most of it, he's smug and in control, but when one of his confederates raises the question of whether he's concerned about Superman's return his immediate response is to violently scream that Superman will not get near him before he calms down.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Though he may have benefited from the aforementioned RePower, Alan Scott and his constructs are still vulnerable to wood. Explains why Oliver Queen was able to put so many arrows in him during the final battle.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The sequel was originally planned to be a prequel which takes place between the "present" main continuity and the "future" in ''Kingdom Come''. Another source say the sequel would reveal the ''Kingdom Come'' universe to be the post-Crisis version of Earth-Two, which was altered rather than erased from existence.
** If it's true, then they changed their minds so late that they couldn't completely remove that plot thread from the story as ''The Kingdom'' is bookended with Superman of Earth-2 pounding on the walls of reality.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Batman to Wonder Woman [[spoiler: when she kills Von Bach]].
** Norm [=McCay=] to Spectre [[spoiler: when it seems the Spectre is going to allow Superman to wreak his revenge on the United Nations]].
* XanatosSpeedChess: While the whole world burns with the question of what to do with the superhumans, the "Mankind Liberation Front" (led by LexLuthor and his gang of Silver Age villains) are plotting to exploit the events to wrest all power from the superhumans. [[spoiler:For this reason Lex manipulated Billy Batson to do his bidding. Not if Batman has anything to say about it.]]
* XtremeKoolLetterz: The younger "Dark Age" style heroes have names like "Genosyde."
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** BlessedWithSuck: Wally achieving godhood had its sacrifices, as noted above he is in perpetual motion, he can't stop moving ''ever'', the times where he seems to be still is just Wally moving in a short space while circling through... well, ''everywhere'' else at the same time, basically an illusion. Also it forces him to cut ties with everyone he knows, since now he basically lives in another reality altogether, no one can keep up with him to even comunicate with the guy, Superman is the ''only'' one who can talk with Wally, and that by processing what Wally says some time later the actual talking.

*** During a metahuman fight in Tokyo, [[AstroBoy Astro Boy]] can be seen on a building.

* RedEyesTakeWarning. Superman is [[{{Understatement}} none too pleased]] after the nuke is detonated.

* StopBeingStereotypical: When Superman enters the bar and gets jeered at by a drunken Marvin from ''{{Superfriends}}''. Atom punches him.