Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 8, 2026 | 16 comments

An ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL! PLUS: Series writer MARK WAID gives you the back story of the project…

By JASON CZERNICH

Forty years ago, The Dark Knight Returns deconstructed a superhero.

That same year, Watchmen deconstructed the superhero genre itself.

A decade later, Kingdom Come reconstructed costumed adventurers by emphasizing their morals and what happens when they stray from them.

Many fans such as myself looked at it as a response to the darkness that had descended upon mainstream comics since 1986. Premiering 30 years ago, on May 8, 1996, Kingdom Come — by Mark Waid and Alex Ross — showed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel by initially leaning into the doom and gloom and then subverting readers’ expectations by showing that more positive outcomes could still work. Here are 13 great things about this fantastic future version of the DC Universe and why it still resonates with readers today.

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1. Mark Waid’s Writing. Waid made a name for himself as a writer on the 1990s Flash monthly and Kingdom Come exposed his talent to a broader audience while being a great opportunity to show just how well he knew the larger DCU. I recently spoke with him about the origins of the series, as well as his own involvement in it:

“The project came about in the wake of Marvels by Alex and Kurt Busiek. Alex came to DC with a notion, some notes, and a bunch of awesome character sketches and we sat down and hammered out the plot together, then I went off to script. I was drawn in by DC because they knew for something like this, they needed a writer who knew the DC universe inside and out, and Alex and I were a good match that way; we both have a fondness for Golden and Silver Age characters.”

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2. The Art of Alex Ross. After Marvels, Kingdom Come underscored Ross’ place in the comic-book art world. He’s widely considered one of comics’ greatest living artists.

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3. It’s Dark but Not Rated R. Part of the mass appeal of Kingdom Come is that it is essentially PG-13. Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns both have depictions of sex, violence, and swearing that tend to make them R-rated. I’m not saying you should always tell superhero stories without adult elements but including them can limit your audience.

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4. It Lived Up to the Hype. I remember seeing a house ad for Kingdom Come months before the series arrived in shops. It depicted inset pictures of Wonder Woman, Bruce Wayne, Superman, Captain Marvel, and Norman McCay and the series’ promotional catchphrase, “Whose Will Be Done?” It looked so serious and ominous—like it was building to some kind of reckoning. Ross’ use of cinematic lighting was put to good use here, particularly the uplighting on Captain Marvel’s face, hinting at his sinister turn in the series.

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5. All 4 Issues Shipped on Time. Unlike Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen, each of Kingdom Come’s four monthly installments shipped on time over the summer of 1996 — something that fans always greatly appreciate!

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6. An Ensemble Cast. From brief appearances by the Joker and Martian Manhunter, to the larger roles filled by the Trinity, Captain Marvel, and the Spectre, everyone was utilized wisely and helped advance the story.

Even if a character appeared for a panel they added fun in the form of…

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7. Easter Eggs and Cameos! Alex Ross will often sneak in characters from the same universe or even ones from different franchises. Sherlock Holmes, Swamp Thing, the Shadow, Ambush Bug, the Question, and Rorschach appear in one panel alone.

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8. The Merch. Trading card sets, action figures, t-shirts and more quality collectibles spun out of this series, and the fans, including myself, ate it up. Ross even contributed new art to the trading cards as well as the next item on this list.

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9. The Novelization. Elliot S. Maggin’s Kingdom Come prose adaptation succeeded where ones based off of The Death & Life of Superman, Knightfall, and Crisis on Infinite Earths failed. Maggin was able to add more to the story without taking away from it. All the important beats are present and we get a new cover and interior illustrations from Ross. Maggin takes time to flesh out characters in unexpected ways such as Batman in the chapter “Citizen Wayne,” showing that Bruce had finally learned how to be happy, accepting how his life turned out, tragedy and all.

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10. It Helped Jumpstart the Late ’90s JLA Renaissance. With Kingdom Come depicting an all-star Justice League led by Superman and Wonder Woman, Waid and Ross inadvertently renewed interest in the JLA, a property that had waned in fan interest by early 1996. Waid was even a co-writer on JLA: A Midsummer’s Nightmare, released around the same time, which directly led into Grant Morrison’s JLA relaunch that fall, as well as many fun projects featuring DC’s superteam over the next several years.

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11. Trinity Focused. Kingdom Come also had an impact on present-day DC by cementing the Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman Trinity concept. According to Waid, it may have given the Amazon Princess herself greater standing in the DCU: “I might say that Wonder Woman’s big role in the story seems to have permanently elevated her to Superman-Batman status; before that, she was still a terrific character, but on a Flash/Green Lantern/Aquaman tier.  Now she’s considered part of DC’s big “trinity” with Batman and Superman, and I’d like to think we (and, of course, George Perez with his Wonder Woman relaunch in the ’80s) had some small role in that.”

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12. It Continued the Rebuilding of the World’s Finest Friendship. Waid and Ross consciously decided to do their part to subvert the post-Crisis Batman/Superman dynamic but didn’t realize just how successful they had been. As Waid stated: “Honestly, we had no idea of the impact. We brought them close together simply because Alex and I firmly reject the idea that they’d be enemies.”

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13. This Final Scene. When the first collected edition of Kingdom Come was released in 1997, Waid and Ross had contributed 12 additional pages of story, eight of which were a special epilogue at the Planet Krypton restaurant, featuring Clark, Diana and Bruce. “Graphitti was the first company to issue a hardcover collection, not long after the last issue came out, and they asked us if we were able to create some additional material for it. Alex, editor Dan Raspler, and I got on the phone to discuss, and we came up with the idea in about two minutes, if that. It seemed like a no-brainer that would be extraordinarily fun to write, and it was,” Waid said.

It was the perfect ending to one of the best stories DC Comics has ever published. It emphasized the DC Trinity, strengthened the post-Crisis World’s Finest team, featured Waid and Ross and the top of their games, and gave me one of my favorite moments in a comic book — ever.

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MORE

— 13 REASONS That 1990’s WORLD’S FINEST Is the Ultimate BATMAN/SUPERMAN Team-Up. Click here.

— Dig ALEX ROSS’ Sketch of BRANDON ROUTH as KINGDOM COME SUPERMAN. Click here.

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JASON CZERNICH was born smack dab in the middle of the Bronze Age of Comics. Early memories of Power Records and other Batman merchandise, as well as watching reruns of the 1966 Batman series on TV38 in Boston, imprinted on him heavily. Today, he lives and works as a clinical social worker in central Massachusetts with his wife, child, cat, and beloved French Bulldog.