Heartwarming / Kingdom Come

• The hug◊.
• Magog. Not only does he redeem his mistakes, according to the Novelization he actually becomes the Dean of Students at Paradise Island. It's also sweet Manotaur becomes a teacher at Paradise Island, as the Novelization says that his "kind" was finally accepted by the Greek women.
  • When Magog comes to the Gulag to inter himself, Superman calms fears by telling the other heroes he knew Magog was coming peacefully, implying Superman had been looking out for Magog and was concerned for him after his outburst and breakdown in Kansas.
• In addition to even the jaded and brutal New Breed metahumans being horrified by the Kansas incident and trying to contain the nuclear blight offscreen, the novel shows an old let hero doing the same. A Kansas refugee who was outside of the radiation zone but went back in (getting sick in the process) to look for her family, finds one of her three children alive, but suffering from lethal radiation exposure...only for the aid worker who treats the mother and son to be incognito superhero The Ray. He heals both mother and son and doesn't even ask their names because he knows he will forget after he's done singlehandedly curing every dying refugee he can reach in time.
• Bruce patching things up with Dick. All we see is a handshake and it says it all. In the Novelization they tearfully hug, marking the only time many of his colleagues ever saw Bats cry. Including Dick.
• And heck, most of the ending of Kingdom Come is a CMOH. Superman tying Captain Marvel's cape onto a flagpole at the U.N. building, Wonder Woman regaining her Amazonian title, to say nothing of Wonder Woman giving Superman a new pair of glasses, finishing Superman's cycle away from the alien Kal-El he had become back to the human Clark Kent.
  • Diana on Phillipus becoming the new Wonder Woman: she can have it.
  • Clark after everything he and the world has been through, finally smiling.
  • Alan Scott becomes the metahuman representative in the United Nations.
    • There's also a touching moment in the epilogue in the Novelization in which Diana recognizes The Spectre (while in Jim Corrigan form), saying, "Jim, is that you?", with Jim responding, "After a fashion." Later, while in church, Norm muses that no one noticed that the guy with red hair with a single skunk stripe was non-corporeal.
    • Clark Kent attends at one point as well, which considering Norm was the one who talked him down. Norm can't help but teach another lesson discreetly to Clark by discussing the origins of citrus fruit.
• After all they've encountered together, Norman McCay and The Spectre have become so close, they chill out at the "Planet Krypton" restaurant, having a meal like old friends. And clearly The Spectre has managed to regain at least some of his humanity, as he takes amusing umbrage at his crappy "Spectre Platter".
• Superman desperately reaching out to Bruce, offering to unite to form the World's Finest Team, because despite Bruce's conviction they have nothing in common, they do: neither wants to see anyone die.
  • Superman's faith in Batman is touching, to the point where even Bruce is a little overwhelmed by how much Superman trusts him. At the end of the story, Clark and his wife Diana announce to Bruce that they will be parents, which doesn't surprise him... and that they want him to be the child's godfather and guardian, which shocks him. He agrees, of course, and Bruce and Clark share a congratulatory hug.
• After Bruce's ruthlessness, cynicism and manipulation has taken a forefront throughout the series, his gentle compassion and kindness to the broken Martian Manhunter, who he has sneaked into his meetings with Luthor to help determine the secrets the other man is keeping, is a refreshing reminder of the other side of Batman.
  J'onn: What n-now? I want to stay, I want to... muh-matter, I... oh. You... you don't think I'll h-help...
  Batman: J'onn, you fought the good fight longer than any of us. You've done all that's ever been asked of you... and today was no exception. You've paid your dues, old friend. Go home and rest. Dream of red sands and silent stars.
• Look amongst the tiny figures on the ground during the climactic battle. Who's that protecting the fallen Green Lantern? That's right, it's his daughter Jade, who up to that point was on the other side of the conflict.
• Batman admits despite his estrangement with Dick, he sent gobs of money to every scientist with xenobiology in their background to find a cure for Starfire's illness (she still died), without Dick knowing about it.
• When Bats finds out - to his surprise, no less - that Talia is alive and basically Mother Therese's successor, he drops everything to fly to India. Without even a second thought.
• Norman's relationship to The Spectre in the Novelization. During the entire novel, Norman is helping him rediscover what it is to be human again - which is a parallel plot to Superman's own rediscovery.
• Magog saving as many metahumans as he could, seeing the distant green glow of Lantern's ring in the Novelization, starting with Tokyo Rose.
  Magog: Rosie, hold onto your spandex.
• Spectre dropping McCay back at his church after Norman singlehandedly averts the Apocalypse. Norm asks Spectre who will be punished for the events; Spectre bristles and tells Norman not to mock him. Norman replies he's just curious what Jim Corrigan would have thought of it. The Spectre removes his hood to reveal his real face, and gives a touching Non-Answer.

  "Be well, Norman McCay. You have watched the titans walk the Earth... and you have kept stride. Perhaps you are more like them than you realize. You exist... to give hope."

• Deadman's relationship with Norman - even more so in the Novelization. Before Norm departs, Boston says he's eager to talk with him and get his perspective on everything that happened. (No need to rush, of course.)
• Riddler and Catwoman are still friends in the future and she uses her influence to make everyone else tolerate him so she can bring him everywhere. Aw.
  • Not so Heartwarming since according to the Novelization, Selina views Eddie as just another accessory.
• Orion is broken by the way the people of Apokolips refused to accept liberty after he finally defeated Darkseid and the way he's been forced to essentially act as a planetary scale prison warden, whilst despairing that he's essentially turning into his father. Yet he still makes the time to offer Superman advice (which Superman had come for and rejected when he saw how Orion had turned out), presciently warning him how easily power like theirs can destroy a world as easily as save it, offers to take any and all metahuman prisoners Superman has (wearily remarking that they can't possibly be more of a challenge than his own subjects), and when that offer is refused, directs Superman to the people who he needs to talk to: Barda and Scott Free.
  • More than that, Barda and Scott are preaching liberty and freedom to the masses of Apokalips, with Orion's tacit support. Even though he failed, it seems that a part of him hopes that they will succeed where he failed.
• Batman talks Wonder Woman down from her Darker and Edgier state that she's had throughout the story, reminding her that she once believed in kindness and love, and that the Amazons' militant beliefs were flawed despite them raising her and exiling her for that belief. He's saying it's okay to be compassionate, and from a character who is the avatar of vengeance and dread this says a lot.
• Norm reminding Supes at the climax that his biggest power was that while he may have doubted his decisions in the past, he always knew the difference between right and wrong.
• On a related note, when Supes speaks to the assembled press, he recovers all of his skills he had as Clark: being able to talk to a crowd and empathizing with people: reporter's skills. Superman finally realizes he needed Clark Kent after all.
• Shazam begging the other celestial beings of the DC Universe to help Billy Batson and Captain Marvel, outright calling the two of them his son.
• At the end, Batman and Superman fully retire from their superhero life and like Orion, they take after their fathers. Bruce turns Wayne Manor into a hospital for superhumans and even enlists the MLF to help. Clark, having reaccepted his human identity, has began farming on Kansas, not just an illusion from his Fortress.
  • Some of the MLF, like the Riddler, actually seem to be enjoying working with the patients.
• The Epilogue: in a Super Hero-themed restaurant, The Spectre discovers there's a (rather plain) meal named after him ("Spinach and cottage cheese? That's a Spectre Platter"), to which Norman replies "Look at it this way. It's flattering to be remembered somehow..." The following panel shows the Original Sandman's (who died of old age in the beginning of the story) gear on display.
• Diana, after being grilled by her Themiscyran peers, is not only released from her exile but has her royal status restored. Her first suggestion is to open up Themiscyra to men. Magog and Manotaur become the first high ranking faculty of the new learning center. It's hinted that even Swastika will reform there.
• In the Novelization, Norman mused that even though Lois was a famously independent-thinking woman, after getting married, she'd always say "Well, Clark thinks..." in interviews with her. It wasn't because she was deferential to him, or using him as a crutch. No, she just valued his opinion that much.
• Krypto is seen in Kansas with Clark. Superman has someone to care for, and even before Diana meets him he wasn't alone.
• There're a few moments like this that occur between the adult Titans and their kids in the last issue:
  • Nightstar flies off with her injured father Red Robin. An act that saves them both.
  • When Kid Flash sees her father's down, she grabs him and drops him off within the protective shield Jade and Alan Scott are constructing. Unfortunately, she dies in the blast, and Flash is seen trying to find her when the shield goes down. In the Novelization, at least. In the comics version, her fate is an Ambiguous Situation. Given her powers, she may have survived. She also appears in the sequel, The Kingdom.
  • An easy to miss sequence in the final issue shows Red Arrow stopping everything he's doing when he realizes Red Hood, his daughter, is fighting in this battle too. His immediate response is to run over to her regardless of all the insanity going on around them to talk to her and make sure she's okay. Sadly, father and daughter are killed right beside each other when the bomb goes off. While it's implied they may've been estranged for a while, it still goes to show Roy Harper loves his daughter more than anyone no matter what universe they're in.
• After the nuclear catastrophe at the end, in the scene at the former Wayne Manor that has been converted into a hospital, we see Batman patrolling the rows of beds filled with patients. His son Ibn Al Xufasch is seated near a patient who has obviously just passed away. Ibn covers his face with the bedsheet, and the scion of Ra's Al Ghul, heir to the League of Assassins, is clearly anguished at the loss of this life. His father Batman places a comforting hand on his son's shoulder, obviously pleased that despite his upbringing, his estranged progeny has such regard for the sanctity of life. According to the Novelization, Ibn is really screwed up with emotional stability due to his upbringing with the League of Assassins, and death is a new concept to him.
  • Later at the diner with Clark and Diana, Bruce expresses cautious optimism about Ibn's progress towards shedding the League's indoctrination.
• In the Novelization, Norm likens Superman and Wonder Woman's romance to elephants mating. There's no way to hide elephant sex, so the herd just forms a circle around them so they can have privacy, but all of the elephants are emotionally linked to their lovemaking — just like the Justice League and the duo.
• While the MLF are assigned to duties in Bruce's makeshift hospital at the mansion, the severity of their punishment is proportional to their involvement. What is Eddie's "punishment"? Doing magic tricks and entertaining the hospital children, and he's smiling as he does it.