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| − | The '''Superman & Batman: Generations''' story series follows the adventures of the World's Finest heroes from their humble beginnings in 1929 as teen heroes Superboy and Robin and then chronicles their adult adventures along with those of the heroes, villains, and people they meet along the way. Both heroes deal with raising families and advancing age as they progress through the years. |
+ | The '''Superman & Batman: Generations''' (SBG) story series follows the adventures of the World's Finest heroes from their humble beginnings in 1929 as teen heroes Superboy and Robin and then chronicles their adult adventures along with those of the heroes, villains, and people they meet along the way. Both heroes deal with raising families and advancing age as they progress through the years. |
=== 1939: The Vigilantes === |
=== 1939: The Vigilantes === |
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Revision as of 01:02, 24 August 2009
Synopsis
The Superman & Batman: Generations (SBG) story series follows the adventures of the World's Finest heroes from their humble beginnings in 1929 as teen heroes Superboy and Robin and then chronicles their adult adventures along with those of the heroes, villains, and people they meet along the way. Both heroes deal with raising families and advancing age as they progress through the years.
1939: The Vigilantes
Bruce Wayne and his "honey," Julie, arrive via private auto-gyro at the Metropolis World's Fair only to be caught in the path of Electrox, a mechanical man on a rampage. Electrox has been taken over by the Ultra-Humanite, a frail old man in a wheelchair who is nevertheless a ruthless criminal mastermind. Just before Julie is crushed, Superman arrives and stops the primitive robot.
Later that night Wayne, in his guise as The Bat-Man, searches for clues at the Fair and encounters Daily Star reporters Lois Lane and Clark Kent (the civilian disguise of Superman). A piece of metal alloy discovered by Lane leads to an altercation that night and a convergence the next day of Lane, the civilian Wayne, and the Ultra-Humanite's henchmen. Lane is kidnapped, but Wayne is saved by the intervention of a young circus acrobat named Dick Grayson. The Bat-Man later locates one of the henchmen and coerces the location of Ultra-Humanite's hideout from him, with some unexpected help from Superman.
Superman! If I'd known you were there to catch him, I wouldn't have let him fall!
: The Bat-Man- Huh! If I'd known you let him fall, I wouldn't have caught him. Shall I toss him off again?
: Superman
The two mystery men invade Ultra's HQ, which is hidden under the World's Fair, but the bad guys make their escape in a rocket ship built into the Pyramax. They start the countdown on a bomb hidden in the Hyperglobe, but Superman is able to throw the globe at the fleeing rocket and "kill two birds with one stone!"
1942: Battlefields
In Nazi-occupied France, the Blackhawk Squadron, Hawkman, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), and the Spectre are trying to stop a giant robot/tank. During the battle, Chuck of the Blackhawks sacrifices himself to prevent the destruction of a hospital. Superman arrives in time to pursue the leader, who reveals himself to be the Ultra-Humanite. He exposes Superman to artificially-created Kryptonite radiation, confirming his belief that Supeman is an alien, and escapes. On Themyscira, Wonder Woman (Diana) and Hippolyta discuss Diana's decision to travel to the outside world and Hippolya's reluctance to let her thousand-year old daughter go. In Gotham City, Lois Lane has tracked down the plans for the giant robot/tank and discovers that Lex Luthor is the mastermind. Luthor and his goons kidnap Lane, take her back to their base and attempt to kill her. While fleeing, they are pursued by the Batmobile. They make it to their second Gotham base where they have stashed Robin, the Boy Wonder. Robin slips his bonds and is battling the villains when one of them gives him an order - in Batman's voice! After Luthor is defeated, the henchman who spoke removes his disguise to reveal the cape-and-cowled Batman. He explains that he had infiltrated Luthor's gang in order to discover both secret bases and was responsible for guiding a remote-controlled Batmobile and allowing Lane and Robin to slip their bonds. Later, at the Daily Planet, Lois and Clark discuss the return of the Ultra-Humanite and that Clark has failed his military induction physical. (He inadvertantly read the eye-chart in the next room with his X-ray vision.)
1949: Family Matters
A very pregnant Lois Kent has been kidnapped by the Joker, who says that he knows Superman is Clark Kent. Superman bursts in and the Joker opens a lead-lined safe to reveal Kryptonite. Superman is seemingly weakened, but quickly shows he's uneffected and is shot in the back by Lex Luthor. Lex pulls off a mask to reveal the cowled Batman.
Flashback to the Batcave, 24 hours prior:
Alfred and Batman are discussing Dick Grayson's immenent departure for college while the Bat-signal awaits a response. Dick appears dressed as Robin and the two answer Gordon's call as a team for the last time. Tony Gordon, Jim Gordon's son, has replaced his father as Police Commissioner (with the endorsement of Batman). He informs them that the Joker, though "it's been four years since we thought he died in that nuclear blast," has been seen at a robbery at the Metallurgical Institute. Initially puzzled because the Joker is only interested in wealth and the institute had no precious metals, Batman believes he's found the answer and a connection to Superman. Batman and Robin take the Batjet to Metropolis where they meet up with the Man of Steel.
Back to the present:
Superman is creeping Robin out by mimicking Luthor's voice as they watch the scene from a nearby rooftop. Superman starts to go in, despite the danger from the Green Kryptonite, but Robin has another plan. The two villains relate to Lois how Luthor freed the Joker from the Siberian labor camp where he had been imprisoned after being captured from Nazi Germany, all so the Joker could steal something even more rare than Green K. Just then Superman enters, hovering above the floor, and announces he'll allow Luthor to do what he wants if Lois is freed. Luthor gloats while Joker drags Lois behind a lead shield, ostensibly to protect the unborn child. Just as Luthor is about to open a second lead-lined safe that contains Gold Kryptonite, stripping Superman of his powers forever, a heat vision blast melts the safe into slag. The real Superman shows himself and the second Superman rips off his disguise to reveal Robin. Joker gets knocked out by Batman, who was secretly saved from the bullet by Superman. Luthor uses the Greek K against Superman and attempts to escape in a rocket which blows up, much as happened the first time Luthor encountered the world's finest heroes.
In the aftermath, Superman explains to Lois that the elaborate hoax was needed to flush Luthor out of the honeycomb of lead-lined tunnels and trick him into deactivating traps on the safes. Unfortunately, they realize that the baby didn't react to the Green K because he had already been exposed to the Gold K, permanently realigning his DNA and rendering him human. To spare him the psychological damage of growing up the human son of Superman, Lois and Clark decide to keep Clark's secret from him forever.
Batman and Robin return to Gotham, where one year later, Alfred is tending bees and reminiscing about Bruce's wedding six month's earlier. His new bride appears and announces she has something to tell Bruce while holding some knitted baby booties.
1953: Absent Friends
On a cold February night, a battered James Gordon enlists the aid of Batman (Bruce Wayne) to stop the Head of the Demon, Ra's al Ghul. Batman relay the info to other members of the Justice Society of America; Atom, Green Arrow, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Hawkman and Wonder Girl, a teen-aged magical projection of Diana. She has temporarily replaced Wonder Woman (Diana Trevor), who is in the late stages of pregnancy. On a planet in the Delta Vega star system, Superman (Clark Kent) searches for a way to escape with the cancer treatment he came for. Unfortunately, the planet is now occupied by hostile alien invaders and the local star is red, leaving him with no super-powers. Back on Earth, Lois Kent, who is near to giving birth to her second child, is visited by her sister, Lucy Olsen (nee Lane) and her new husband, Jimmy Olsen. In the Batcave, Alfred and Batman discuss Jim Gordon's condition, Gordon's grandaughter Barbara, and the circumstances of Gordon's "escape." Superman is able to create a signal that attracts the attention of the sector Green Lantern, Abin Sur, who proceeds to clear the planet of invaders. Over Korea, Wonder Girl searches for the downed plane of Gen. Steve Trevor, the husband of her magical duplicate, who was shot down in combat. She find his horribly mangled body and flies off to Themyscira with the hopes that the Purple Healing Ray will be able to repair him as it did over a decade before. Abin Sur returns Superman to Earth and introduces him to Alan Scott, Earth's resident Green Lantern but not a member of the Green Lantern Corps. Diana Trevor and Lois Kent go into labor simultaneously and give birth to daughters at the same moment. Abin Sur and Alan Scott speculate on a connection between the two. Clark Kent arrives at the hospital and is introduced to his daughter, Kara. Unlike her brother, Joel, she has not been exposed to Gold Kryptonite and will eventually develop super powers. Diana Trevor, meanwhile, is informed by Wonder Girl that her husband is dead. Diana is comforted by the presence of her newborn daughter, Stephanie Trevor.
Issues
Links and References