The Kingdom (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1999.
Synopsis for "Mighty Rivers"
In 1998, Superman sees on TV reports of a nuclear blast in Kansas, and so travels there to find Captain Atom being attacked by Gog, who then turns his attention on Superman, expecting his arrival. Unable to stop Gog, Superman sees that his future counterpart as well as that of Batman and Wonder Woman have appeared on the scene. After Superman of the present summons his counterparts of Batman and Wonder Woman, the future team tries to let the present-day team know why they're here, and so offer their help to at least rescue Superman's child from Gog. But as the future era Superman and Wonder Woman see their child apparently "disappear" into "nonexistence", the latter of the two now seeks vengeance against Gog. Hunter appears and transports the heroes into Booster Gold's Planet Krypton restaurant in the present, where Hunter's other allies from the future era await to help. Hunter transports the entire restaurant into Hypertime, but Gog soon joins the heroes in battle, in which they engage him using all sorts of weapons found in the restaurant collected from all sorts of realities. Gog blasts the present-day Superman through a wall before he finally falls, causing the heroes to be sucked out into Hypertime, which they realize is the secret Hunter's been trying to hide: a multitude of alternate realities, which the future era heroes realize they are a part of. A figure resembling the Phantom Stranger, who turns out to be the older version of Superman and Wonder Woman's child, gives his infant self back to his parents, safe and sound. As the Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman of the present time are sent back to their own reality, the remaining heroes take Gog to the Quintessence in order to have them deal with their agent.
Meanwhile, the Superman seen pounding at some barrier over the sky of his Metropolis realizes that even though the barrier is still there he now knows there is a door. He can use the "door" to fly to whatever is past the barrier. He gives a wink to the reader, suggesting that someday he will.
Appearing in "Mighty Rivers"
Featured Characters:
- Batman (Kingdom Come)
- Batman (New Earth)
- Hunter
- Ibn al Xu'ffasch (Kingdom Come)
- Kid Flash (Kingdom Come)
- Nightstar (Kingdom Come)
- Offspring (Kingdom Come)
- Superman (Kingdom Come)
- Superman (New Earth)
- Wonder Woman (Kingdom Come)
- Wonder Woman (New Earth)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Jonah Hex (Appears only as a corpse)
- Ma Kent (New Earth)
- Pa Kent (New Earth)
- Aquaman (Earth-898) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Atomic Knights (Earth-86) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Batman (Earth-395) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Batman (Gotham by Gaslight) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Batman (Tangent) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Bat-Mite (Seen in Hypertime)
- Black Zero (Hyper-Tension) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Brainiac (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Koko (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Captain Carrot (Earth-C) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Catwoman (Earth-1099) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Darkseid (Seen in Hypertime)
- Flash (Tangent) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Green Arrow (Seen in Hypertime)
- Green Lantern (Seen in Hypertime)
- Hawkgirl (Earth-898) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Hawkman (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Hawkwoman (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Insect Queen (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Jimmy Olsen (Earth-898) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Johnny Quick (Seen in Hypertime)
- Joker (Tangent) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Jor-El II (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Julie Schwartz (Earth-Prime) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Kamandi (Earth-AD) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Kid Flash (Justice Riders) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Krypto (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Legion of Super-Heroes (Pre-Zero Hour) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Cosmic Boy (Pre-Zero Hour) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Lightning Lad (Pre-Zero Hour) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Proty II (Pre-Zero Hour) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Sunboy (Pre-Zero Hour) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Ma Kent (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Martian Manhunter (Seen in Hypertime)
- Metamorpho (Seen in Hypertime)
- Orion (Seen in Hypertime)
- Orion (Earth-1198) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Pa Kent (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Plastic Man (Earth-Twelve) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Gordy (Earth-Twelve) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Powergirl (Tangent) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Quisp (Seen in Hypertime)
- Robin II (Earth-Forty) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Solomon Grundy (Earth-Two) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Spectre (Seen in Hypertime)
- Aztar (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superboy (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman Blue/Superman Red (Earth-162) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman (Earth-178) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman (Earth-1198) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman (Atticus Kent) (Earth-1863) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman (Earth-1938) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman (Earth-3839) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman (Earth-Two) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman (Red Son) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Super-Sons (Earth-154) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Batman, Jr. (Seen in Hypertime)
- Superman, Jr. (Seen in Hypertime)
- Wonder Woman Family (Seen in Hypertime)
- Hippolyta (Earth-124.1) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Wonder Girl (Earth-124.1) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Wonder Tot (Earth-124.1) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Wonder Woman (Earth-124.1) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Ultraa (Earth-Prime) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Xeen Arrow (Earth-One) (Seen in Hypertime)
- Zook (Seen in Hypertime)
Locations:
Items:
- Atomic Knight's shield and sword
- Batarang
- Blue Devil's trident
- Green Arrow's bow and arrows
- Green Kryptonite
- Green Lantern Power Battery
- Green Lantern Ring
- Ibistick
- Jonah Hex's pistols
- Orion's Astro-Harness
- Phantom Zone Projector
- Power Ring's power ring
- Sandman's Gas Gun
- Starheart Power Ring
Vehicles:
Notes
- This story is reprinted in The Kingdom collected edition.
Trivia
- This is first Post-Crisis story where Superman is shown to be able to transform coal into diamond by friction, as his Pre-Crisis counterpart. (On a previous 'xmas story he describes himself being unable of this feat).
- The weapons in the Planet Krypton restaurant that were used against Gog include the Earth-One Phantom Zone projector, the power ring from Power Ring of Earth-Three, the Golden Age Sandman's gas gun, Jonah Hex's pistols, Atomic Knight's shield and sword, Green Arrow's bow and arrows, the Blue Devil's trident, and Orion's astro harness.
- The Golden Age Superman is seen at the end of the story leaving the still intact barrier around his city as he has realized there is a door he can use at anytime. It is uncertain if this is the Superman who entered the paradise dimension at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 or a Hypertime variant.
- Other figures seen in Hypertime include characters from the Tangent universe (like the Joker, the Flash, and Power Girl) as well as from various Elseworld stories. The figure of Black Zero would appear in the Superboy "Hyper-Tension" storyline ((Superboy (Volume 4) #60– #64) as the main villain who is out to destroy Superboy in the various alternate realities.
- Jonah Hex can be seen as a lifelike dummy inside Planet Krypton. This is a reference to the last Jonah Hex story, where circus owner L.B. Farnham steals his corpse and has him taxidermied to be put on display. That's no dummy, it's his actual corpse.[1]
- Red Son Superman makes a cameo in Hypertime prior to his full appearance in Superman: Red Son.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Kingdom Come Recommended Reading
- Kingdom Come (Volume 1) - collected in Kingdom Come
- The Kingdom (Volume 1) - storyline The Kingdom collected in The Kingdom
- Thy Kingdom Come - collected in Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come, Part One and Part Two and Part Three
- Justice Society of America (Volume 3) #9 - JSA #17
- Justice Society of America Annual (Volume 3) #1
- Justice Society of America (Volume 3) #18 - JSA #20
- Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Superman #1
- Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Magog #1
- Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom #1
- Justice Society of America (Volume 3) #21 - JSA #22
- Titans: Who is Troia?
- Justice League: Generation Lost (Volume 1) - storyline Justice League: Generation Lost collected in Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
- Batman/Superman: World's Finest (Volume 1)
- Strange Visitor: Batman/Superman: World's Finest #7 - Batman/Superman: World's Finest #11
- Heir to the Kingdom: Batman/Superman: World's Finest #20 - Present
Links and References
- Annotations to Kingdom #2 https://enjolrasworld.com/Jess%20Nevins/The%20Kingdom/kingdom2.htm