Public Enemies (also known as The World's Finest) is a DC Comics storyline penned by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Ed McGuinness. It is comprised of the first six issues of Superman/Batman, released in August, 2003.
In Metropolis and Gotham City, Superman and Batman team up to stop Metallo, whose body is falling apart and is seeking his old human body to help fix it. However, the case is interrupted by something much more deadly - a massive Kryptonite meteor is heading towards Earth.
However, instead of trying to stop it, President Lex Luthor is trying something else - blame Superman for it and try to get his head once and for all. With heroes and villains gunning for them, can the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight come out on top and save the world or is this Luthor's last laugh?
This story saw the end of the President Lex storyline that ran through various DC titles at the time and set the stage for the return of Kara Zor-El and colored Kryptonite to the mainstream comics in the next storyline: The Supergirl from Krypton (2004).
This storyline was given an animated film adaptation: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Tropes Involved In This Storyline:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Gotham City's spacious and labyrinthine sewer system is connected to the Batcave, and this entrance is guarded by Alfred with a shotgun, leaving Superman to remark "You didn't have a spare Mr. Freeze gun you could've loaned him?".
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Superman and Batman gloriously do it
when they are surrounded by Luthor's hired army of super-villains.Superman: "We're surrounded you know. I can hear them all."
Batman: "I think we can take them. Do you think we can take them?"
Superman: "You always think we can take them."
Batman: "Yes, I do."
Superman: "Then let's do this." - Bash Brothers: Superman and Batman are so accustomed to fight together they do not even need to talk to each other while designing joint battle strategies on the fly.
- Batman Gambit: A zig-zagged variation. In issue #4, Superman and Batman are confronted by Captain Marvel and Hawkman and they let them fight so that Katana and Power Girl can get to the young Toyman. However, Luthor jumped the gun in announcing their capture, which force the Super- and Bat-Families to invade the White House to try and save them, forcing them to readjust their plans.
- Battle Butler: Both heroes find Alfred guarding the Batcave with a shotgun.
- Body-Count Competition: Robin and Batgirl are enjoying the competition as sneaking into the White House:Robin: I got two on the side yard. How many did you take out, Huntress?
Huntress: I wasn't aware this was a contest, Robin.
Batgirl: [holds up four fingers]
Robin: Four? Really? You go, Batgirl.
Nightwing: [whispering] Robin! Keep it down. We're the stealth team — remember? You want to make noise, go up front with the "S" squad. - Brainwashed and Crazy: Grodd decides to pull this stunt, controlling a ragtag team of villains from both Superman and Batman's Rogues Galleries to either capture or kill them. However, their lack of fighting styles and being defeated easily is what hints the two that they're being controlled.
- Bulletproof Human Shield: Metallo shoots Superman with a kryptonite bullet and knocks Batman out with a blow to the head and buries the two alive. Batman comes to and blows himself and Superman out of the ground with his utility belt plastique, using Superman as a literal shield (along with the fact his batsuit is fully armored and fireproof).
- Buried Alive: Metallo shoots Superman with a kryptonite bullet, and buries Superman and Batman alive. They escape, and Alfred removes the bullet.
- Cavalry Betrayal: At the end of issue #3, John Stewart, Black Lightning, Katana, Captain Atom, Starfire, Major Force and Power Girl arrive as Superman and Batman start to handle the super villains... only for Atom to declare they're here to arrest them.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Superboy (Kon-El) and Supergirl (Cir-El) are caught in a "walls closing in" Death Trap and he complains he would have preferred to be trapped with Power Girl (At the time of the issue's publication, Power Girl had still been retconned into being an Atlantian, rather than the cousin of Superman from an alternate Earth)).
- Colony Drop: The main threat of this story - a massive Kryptonite meteor is heading towards Earth and will destroy everything.
- Continuity Overlap: The series launched just as Loeb was winding down Batman: Hush. So, Public Enemies immediately follows Hush and Loeb sprinkles in callbacks and continuity nods (such as Bruce still using the Jim Lee-redesigned Batwing, or Jim Gordon talking Bruce down from killing the Joker).
- Cool Big Sis: Huntress plays Team Mom for the team's younger members when Tim Drake and Cassandra Cain are goofing around during the mission, prompting Huntress to tell them off.
- Costume Copycat: Lampshaded by Superman when he and Batman are ambushed by the Superman from an alternate future:Superman: "I'm getting tired of seeing my face on my enemies."
- Engineered Public Confession: Lex tries, through a heavily convoluted and highly illegal scheme, to frame Superman for attempting to destroy the Earth by drawing an asteroid to Earth. It almost works, until he rants to Superman that he truly thinks he is guilty, repeatedly admitting to playing the public like a flute and that he intends to teleport off-planet (using illegal alien technology from Darkseid) before the asteroid hits, leaving everyone else to die. Luckily, he doesn't know Batman is taping the whole thing (in addition to, as Bruce Wayne, buying up all his assets so that he couldn't start over, or at least for a while).
- Forceful Kiss: Luthor abruptly kisses Amanda Waller after explaining his plan. It's unknown if he has feelings for her or he was too delusional from power-boosting Kryptonite injections.
- Friendship Moment: Superman becomes fed up with Lex Luthor's evil and is seriously considering to end him for good. Batman, who usually would argue against that kind of solution, calmly tells Superman he won't stop him, and that they can just make it look like an accident or "better yet, as if he'd vanished without a trace." His thoughts indicate, among other things, he is sick of what Luthor does to Clark.
- Godzilla Threshold: Scared of Luthor using Major Force's near-meltdown against the metahumans and Wonder Woman scared of kicking off World War III by sending in the Justice League, Mr. Terrific sends in Captain Marvel and Hawkman to try and rein in Superman and Batman.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Captain Atom does this to stop the Kryptonite meteor, though his story is actually continued in Captain Atom: Armageddon.
- Humble Hero: As fighting an army of super-villains, Batman notes that the temptation to use his powers in order to force his will on others isn't something Superman battles, because the thought never even occurs to him. And that, more than his powers, makes Superman such a great hero.
- Humongous Mecha: The infamous Composite Superman (a Silver Age villain who gained the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes and used Chameleon Boy's shape-shifting to assume the form of a green-skinned being who was an asymmetrical mash-up of Superman and Batman) is reimagined as a giant robot built by Hiro Okamura.
- Inner Monologue: Superman and Batman are the storyline's narrators, often reflecting on current events and each other's philosophies.
- Insult Backfire: When Nightwing suggests Luthor to go to Hell, Lex retorts he finds it "overrated".
- Joker Immunity: Lampshaded by Superman when he is reminiscing about a villain named Magpie.Superman: "Why is it that the good villains never die?"
Batman: "Clark, what the hell are "good villains"?" - It's All About Me: Luthor's ego is his greatest weakness, as always; in this case, he assumed that the heroes he had assembled to go after Superman would obey him just because he's President, but Katana and Power Girl's first loyalties were to Batman and Superman, Starfire only wants Superman brought in to confirm the truth, and Stewart and Black Lightning swiftly side with Superman when the situation demands it.
- It's Personal: Clark is obviously very invested in taking Lex down once and for all. But Bruce has skin in the game too thanks to Lex's role in framing him for murder during the then-still recent Bruce Wayne: Fugitive.
- When Bruce fights Lady Shiva, he also hasn't forgotten how she beat Catwoman to within an inch of her life during Batman: Hush. Despite his and Selina's current estrangement, Bruce tries not enjoy kicking her ass in retaliation.
- Karma Houdini: A minor plot point. This is one of the reasons Bruce is invested in taking Lex down. While Bruce knows Lex was responsible for the events of Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, there was no way to publicly prove it at the time. Bruce is justifiably still pissed that Lex hasn't been brought to justice for Vesper Fairchild's murder and for costing him a year of his life.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: This arc has Lex Luthor finally face consequences for his villainous deeds as President, with his attempt at destroying Superman with Apokoliptian battle armor resulting in his impeachment.
- Kill Him Already!: Rather than try to talk an enraged Superman out of killing Luthor (the way Gordon once stopped him from killing the Joker), Batman instead describes the number of ways to get rid of the body he's already thought of. Superman relents.
- Kryptonite Is Everywhere: The asteroid which was hurtling towards Earth showers Kryptonite all over the planet when it is destroyed. The size of the asteroid was never precisely determined but it was conservatively estimated to be the size of Brazil.
- More Expendable Than You: Subverted. Captain Atom knocks out Superman so that he, Cap, can be the one to fly the weird Superman/Batman action-figure spaceship into the giant kryptonite meteoroid that's hurtling toward the earth, not because he sees Superman as less expendable, but because he knows Superman will fail.
- Most Common Super Power:
- Lampshaded when Batman, Superman, Katana, and Power Girl are discussing the need to distract the Toyman (a thirteen-year-old Japanese boy genius). Power Girl (in her costume with the big window in the chest) asks why everyone is suddenly staring at her before realizing the obvious.
- Lampshaded again when Superman and Batman talk with Toyman about his invention after Power Girl is done distracting him:Superman: "Will it work?"
Toyman: "Does Power Girl have big—"
Batman: (cuts him off) "Alright then, let's go."
- My Country, Right or Wrong:
- Superman doesn't believe in unconditional loyalty when it comes to governments, he will usually follow the wishes of the American people, even if he doesn't agree with them:Superman: "The world will never know how I struggled with the decision to stay out of the electoral process. Should I have gone on television and told the voters not to elect this man? And what then? If I use my influence — my character and my reputation — to tell people how to vote, what does that make me? I choose to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. And for all its flaws, American democracy does work... The United States doesn't need me to dictate, or worse, deprive her people of that most precious gift. The freedom of choice. Even when I knew in my heart that choice was wrong."
- Luthor forces Captain Atom by executive order to hunt down Superman and Batman, an act Atom clearly finds distasteful. This is excused as being because he was depressed and lost due to his failed second marriage and mostly went back to work for the government because he was trying to start over.
- Superman doesn't believe in unconditional loyalty when it comes to governments, he will usually follow the wishes of the American people, even if he doesn't agree with them:
- Mythology Gag:
- Lex Luthor introduces in Post-Crisis continuity the alien warsuit which he built in "Luthor Unleashed", reimagined as an armor forged in the pits of Apokolips.
- The Superman-Batman robot is a nod to the Composite Superman, a villain who first appeared in World's Finest (1941) issue #142.
- Opponent Switch: Superman and Batman attempt this when Captain Marvel and Hawkman fight them. It doesn't work since Marvel and Hawkman expected it and each was prepared to fight either opponent anyway. Hawkman used a special gauntlet to hit Superman hard enough that even he would be knocked out, and Marvel exploited Batman's soft spot for kids by briefly reverting to Billy Batson. Superman and Batman beat them off-screen later.
- President Evil: After spending several years using the US government's resources to cause trouble for superheroes and other people he doesn't like, President Lex Luthor tries to frame Superman for a Kryptonite comet heading to Earth and then loses it — this is what gets him impeached. Going on a killing spree with your old Apokoliptian powersuit will do that.
- Reincarnate in Another World: Captain Atom is killed via nuclear explosion, and reforms himself in the Wildstorm universe, which leads to the events of Captain Atom: Armageddon.
- Ret-Canon: Metallo's disguise resembles the DC Animated Universe design for his human self, John Corben.
- See You in Hell: Nightwing sends Luthor his best wishes when the Super and Bat Families storm the White House.Nightwing: "Go to hell!"
Lex Luthor: "I've been. It's overrated." - Set Right What Once Went Wrong: A future Superman resembling what he looked like in Kingdom Come tries to pull this in issue #2, thinking he needs to kill himself and Batman to stop the meteor. He gets a second chance when Captain Atom is sent to his time.
- Shout-Out: Two in issue #6:
- A number of shout-outs towards Mazinger Z is done with the introduction of the Composite Superman/Batman - it was built in at the foot of Mt. Fuji, the metal alloy being "Metallo" and the alloy being designed by Toyman's grandfather.
- At the end of the issue, Luthor assumes the same iconic Wolverine pose used in The Dark Phoenix Saga.
- Show Some Leg: Power Girl is told to distract the thirteen-year-old Toyman. She asks how on Earth she is supposed to do that before saying "Oh", with a slight glance at her cleavage.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Superman does it intentionally to (the annoyance of) Batman by showing up suddenly when his friend is examining the body of a victim. Inwardly, Superman admits he loves being able to surprise Batman like that.Batman: (thinking) I hate it when he just appears like that.
Superman: (thinking) I have to admit. I love being able to do that to him. - Storming the Castle: When news of Superman and Batman's capture is made public, the Super-Family (Krypto, Superboy, Cir-El and Natasha Irons) and the Bat-Family (Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, Huntress) raid the White House for them. Unfortunately, Luthor's waiting for them.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Since Luthor declares Superman an outlaw, Clark doesn't have much choice but to fight the government.
- To Catch Heroes, Hire Villains: After framing Superman for endangering the Earth, Luthor forms a posse of superheroes led by Captain Atom to bring him in—plus he puts Major Force on the team, one of the most sadistic villains around.
- Unstoppable Rage: At one point, Batman finds himself witnessing Superman angry enough to want to put Lex Luthor down for good. He notes the similarities between this and what happened in Batman: Hush, and then, instead of talking him down like Jim Gordon did (he even notes that he wouldn't do that), he notes to Superman that he could make Luthor's death look like an accident, and then he gets Superman to stop by directing his attention to something else that needs to be done that's more important.
- Villainous Breakdown: Luthor is on a slow burn with this throughout the story, but when Superman seems like he's going to kill him and Batman's willing to even let him do so, Luthor completely snaps, juices himself up with a Kryptonite/Venom hybrid drug and suits himself up in an Apokolyptian Powered Armor.
- We Need a Distraction: Parodied when the team need to bargain with Toyman. Batman states they need to keep the teen genius distracted and unfocused, and everybody looks at Power Girl.
- Wham Episode: This inaugural arc concludes the President Luthor storyline that had been running through the Superman titles (and the larger DC Universe) since the beginning of the new millennium. Lex's downfall and subsequent fugitive status would become one of the key catalysts on the road to Infinite Crisis.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The JSA vanishes from the story after Mr. Terrific sends Captain Marvel and Hawkman after Batman and Superman and we never learn what happened to the real Captain Marvel and Hawkman after they were beaten off-panel after getting the upper hand on Superman and Batman after their Opponent Switch.
- What You Are in the Dark: When both heroes confront Luthor, Superman has been pushed so far he is ready to fry him. Luthor actually goads him, believing Superman wouldn't do it or that if he did, the fact that Superman committed murder would be a massive blow against him and the people's faith in him, thus a form of post-mortem vengeance against Superman. However, Batman shows up and quite calmly tells Superman he [Batman] won't stop him, and that they can just make it look like an accident or "better yet, as if he'd vanished without a trace." Luthor begins sweating cold when he realizes he may genuinely lose his life for good. Needless to say, Superman doesn't kill him and settles for throwing him against the wall before leaving to stop the meteor.
- Why Are You Looking at Me Like That?: The heroes discuss how to approach the new Toyman who happens to be a teenage boy. They decide they need a distraction. Among the heroes is Power Girl, and the heroes all look at her pointedly before she realizes what they mean.Katana: But... the kid made it clear he wants to talk to Superman.
Batman: He is also thirteen years old. Find a way to distract him.
Power Girl: What's everyone looking at me for? How am I supposed to distract... Oh....◊
