Snapshots
The world Wesley left is filled not with his heroes… but with their children and grandchildren. They number in the nameless thousands … progeny of the past, inspired by the legends of those who came before if not the morals. They no longer fight for the right. They fight simply to fight, their only foes each other. The superhumans boast that they’ve all but eliminated the super-villains of yesteryear.
[WKEY Journalist] Witnesses characterized The Parasite as fearful. Claim his pleas for mercy were ignored. Speculate that tragedy might have been averted had Magog relented. Parasite obviously panicked by the beating. His surrender refused, Parasite unleashed a desperate salvo towards the nuclear-powered Captain Atom. These final words belonged to WKEY’s on-site cameraman… Oh, my God! The Parasite has split Captain Atom open! HE’s SPLIT HIM OPE-
[Spectre] In the time of Superman’s absence, Keystone City has become a utopia– a protectorate relentlessly patrolled by a gale force once human. No one sees him… No one hears him. He runs a lonely race… But all who live here have felt his presence. He is everywhere at once… A guardian angel who rights even the most harmless of wrongs with lightning speed. He lives between the ticks of a second. He is The Flash.
[Spectre] Yet another takes his refuge high above the Earth’s surface… His self-made Emerald City twinkling in the night sky like a verdant star. There, Green Lantern commands a lonely throne… Ever vigilant, ever waiting for for signs of threats extraterrestrial. He waits still.
[Superman] That’s right. Someone told me your nights became free once Genosyde blew up Arkham Asylum and everyone in it. [Batman] Not to mention Bellereve Prison and Blackgate. Not an action I’d condone… But tell me the thought of it doesn’t give your invulnerable skin a little tingle. [Superman] I don’t have that dark a side.
[Superman] Some paradise. From what I can see, Gotham is nearly a police state. You always favored scaring people into obeying the law, but this… You’re willing to turn ordinary citizens into a superstitious, cowardly lot? [Batman] They’ll fear me more than they’ll trust you. I don’t trust you. After all, you left. I stayed.
[Batman] The only thing I wonder about your down and dirty, quick and fast totalitarian “solutions”… is whether I’d be the first to be “reformed” by your new regime. Goodbye, Clark.
[Magog] I will never forget the look on your face when you saw me standing over that smoking creep. All the way to jail, I though, “What a sap. What an old woman. Blue bot’s dragging me in for having stones he doesn’t. Times are tough. Joker’d been deserving worse than ‘cuffs for years. So I took it on myself to lay him down. I can’t be judged for that. And I was right. I was a hero.
[Magog] Proud of being the Man of Tomorrow? Your fault… You bastard. The world changed… But you wouldn’t. So they chose me. They chose the man who would kill over the man who wouldn’t… And now they’re dead.
[Orion] I thought I had transformed Apokolips by finally overthrowing Darkseid’s despotic rule. Imagine the horror of learning that, to the low-lies ground under Darkseid’s heel since Apokolips was young, liberty was every bit as paralyzing as fascism. They rushed to elect a new ruler. They chose me. Such was my reward.
[Stripes] Day after day, he talks to us like we’re the bad guys! Who bagged Eclipso, huh? Who toasted Ra’s Al Ghul? Guys like us, that’s who! We saved lives man! [Superman via hologram] We cannot act as judge and jury. We adhere to a moral code based on the preservation of life…
[Wonder Woman] And we will finish it without you, Bruce! Your people are out of their league! [Batman] Why? Because we’re here to save lives rather than take them? [Wonder Woman] We’re here to force peace! We’re left with no choice! If you stand in the way – I will remove you!
[Norman] But – the bomb! The bomb – [Spectre] Will determine the fate of the world. If it drops, the superhumans will surely die – but humanity will be spared their violence. If not, they will live on – to fight a battle that will, in time, swallow the earth. In either case, we face the evil of genocide, and my task is to punish those responsible for evil. But who shall be held accountable? Whose sin is this? The humans’… or the superhumans'? Tell me, Norman. Judge. #problem-of-evil-motif
Language
For one frozen instant, the storm clears. Fingers that can fuse coal into diamond, crawl across human bone. And in the hush, ears that can hear a cell divide pick out with chilling ease the scream of human rage. A wave of x-rays confirms the bomb’s potency. A telescopic glance calculates the seconds before impact. He must act… Now.
References
- Kingdom Come Vol 1 #1. Strange Visitor. Mark Waid; Alex Ross. dc.fandom.com . May 1, 1996. Accessed Mar 4, 2023.
- Kingdom Come Vol 1 #2. Truth and Justice. Mark Waid; Alex Ross. dc.fandom.com . Jun 1, 1996. Accessed Mar 4, 2023.
- Kingdom Come Vol 1 #3. Up in th Sky. Mark Waid; Alex Ross. dc.fandom.com . Jul 1, 1996. Accessed Mar 4, 2023.
- Kingdom Come Vol 1 #4. Never-Ending Battle. Mark Waid; Alex Ross. dc.fandom.com . May 1, 1996. Accessed Mar 4, 2023.
- Injustice: Gods Among Us Vol 1 #2. Tom Taylor; Mike Miller; Bruno Redondo. www.dcuniverseinfinite.com . www.hoopladigital.com . dc.fandom.com . Accessed Mar 4, 2023.
storyline was similar (Superman - totalitarian, Wonder Woman - warrior, Batman - resistance movement) except Superman’s turning point had him killing the Joker:
Injustice: Gods Among Us #02. Superman kills the Joker.