Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

Luthor offers a $1 billion bounty, which encourages both supervillians and superheroes to attack. Superman almost kills Lex, with Batman standing aside. Superman changes his mind at the last moment. The new Toyman, Hiro Okamura, assists with the asteroid's destructio

Public Enemies
Gallery
Official Name	Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Storyline Aliases	The World's Finest, Public Enemies
Universe	New Earth
Locations	Washington, D.C.
Characters
Heroes	Superman, Batman
Villains	Lex Luthor
Others	Toyman (Hiro Okamura), Captain Atom
Titles	Superman/Batman
Collected	Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Creators	Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness
Issue Began	Superman/Batman #1 (October, 2003)
Issue Ended	Superman/Batman #6 (March, 2004)

In the first story arc of Superman/Batman (Volume 1), "The World's Finest", also referred to as "Public Enemies" (issues #1-6, illustrated by Ed McGuinness), then-U.S. President Lex Luthor declares Superman and Batman enemies of the state, claiming that a Kryptonite asteroid headed for Earth is connected to an evil plot by Superman.

Synopsis

Luthor offers a $1 billion bounty, which encourages both supervillians and superheroes to attack. Superman almost kills Lex, with Batman standing aside. Superman changes his mind at the last moment. The new Toyman, Hiro Okamura, assists with the asteroid's destruction. Captain Atom is seemingly killed. The danger averted and Luthor's plans in jeopardy, Luthor injects himself with a mixture of Venom and synthetic Kryptonite, dons a battle suit from the planet Apokolips, and confronts Batman and Superman. Luthor is defeated and appears to die in the battle, although he is shown to survive. In the course of the fight, Luthor is irrevocably exposed to the world as a villain for the first time in post-Crisis continuity. Losing the presidency, Luthor is succeeded in office by Pete Ross.

Issues

• Superman/Batman #1
• Superman/Batman #2
• Superman/Batman #3
• Superman/Batman #4
• Superman/Batman #5
• Superman/Batman #6
  

Notes

• Captain Atom is actually transported to the Wildstorm Universe, as revealed in Captain Atom: Armageddon #1 (December 2005).
• Many of Luthor's crimes were revealed by Lois Lane and the Daily Planet in Action Comics #700 (June 1994). However, the charges against him were dismissed at trial, after he presented falsified evidence that he had been kidnapped by renegade scientists from Cadmus Labs and replaced with a violent clone.

Trivia

This story was adapted in the direct-to-video movie, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.

Recommended Reading

• Superman: Lex 2000
• Presedent Luthor Secret Files and Origins
• Superman: Our Worlds at War
• Superman/Batman: Supergirl
• Superman/Batman: Absolute Power
• Superman/Batman: With a Vengeance!

Links and References

• "Superman/Batman" at Wikipedia
  

Superman Family Storyline This event or storyline is specifically related to Superman, or to members of the Superman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Superman Storylines category.

Batman Family Storyline This event or storyline is specifically related to Batman, or to members of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Batman Storylines category.