Legion of Super-Heroes/Kingdom Come

Introduction

Kingdom Come is an Elseworlds storyline that began in the miniseries of the same name and continued through the follow-up miniseries Kingdom and other projects.

The story describes not only a battle between generations -- the heroes and villains of today versus their children and their successors -- but also a battle between members of one generation. A generation from now, the world has changed such that "grim and gritty" heroes and villains have become the norm and today's heroes are now yesterday's heroes. Even among the "heroes" is a sharp difference about how to reign in the super-powered individuals.

In this dystopian future, some heroes have retired, some continue to fight crime, and some have disappeared. Two such heroes, Superboy (Kon-El) and Supergirl (Matrix), have left the 21st century and make their permanent residence in the 30th century with the Legion of Super-Heroes.

The 30th Century

The Legion of this timeline is shown only once, as a cameo in Kingdom Come #1. Their costumes in most cases resemble those of the post-Zero Hour Legion, but there are a number of different members (Princess Projectra the human rather than Projectra the snake, Bouncing Boy, Chemical King, etc.).

See the list of Kingdom Come LSH members main article.

The supplement to the Slipcase edition of Kingdom Come, called "Revelations", says this about Superboy & Supergirl:

The current inheritors of these classic Superman family roles may not have the same blood relationship to Superman that the former had, but they could still join the Legion just as the originals did. The 30th Century's interplanetary Legion of Super Heroes could well invite the super-youths to join their ranks and offer them a second home in the future. The implication in Kingdom Come is that at some point they will leave our modern era behind for the more settled society of superhumans in the future. Designing these costumes was a real joy, combining the modern Legion design aesthetic with the classic Silver Age outfits of Superboy and Supergirl. Superboy's current "mod" hairstyle is grown out like Superman's recent `do, but pulled back to give a sense of the original Boy of Steel's clean-cut look.

The 21st Century

Despite the Legion's retreat in the 30th century, a number of people with Legion ties appear as minor but recurring characters in the main story.

• Demon Damsel is a new character, a "would-be Legion of Superheroes member" (but not someone who actually applied to be in the Legion). Her look and name were said to be created to invoke Legion-oriented flavor.
• Brainiac's Daughter (informally known as XTC) is a new character here. She was originally described as "the living computer's human progeny, and ancestor of Brainiac 5." However, this was later changed. From the "Revelations" supplement: As silly as it sounds, this character is the combination of two songs by one of my favorite groups, XTC: "That's Really Super, Supergirl" and "Brainiac's Daughter." Apparently people assumed that her origin was from the coupling of old-time Legion lovebirds Brainiac 5 and Supergirl, and so, never having answered this question before myself, I'll go along with this idea. This also suggests that she...has traveled back in time from the 30th Century.
• Starman VIII was formerly Thom Kallor, Star Boy. The card set describes him as "formerly Star Boy, from the 30th century." The Revelations supplement adds the following: The eighth character to bear this title is actually a design culled from my childhood supergroup creation. Since my design was so obviously inspired by the Legion of Super Heroes 1970s Star Boy costume, I figured that this Starman should be the grown-up incarnation of that character, transplanted to our time from the 30th Century (much like Karate Kid was for a time, as well as many of his contemporaries have been on occasion). It is not known how he travelled to the Kingdom Come timeline. See the section below for this Starman's post-Kingdom Come appearances.
• Vril Dox and Lydea Mallor, both of the L.E.G.I.O.N., appear in the metahuman rave/bar scene in issue 2.

Brainiac's Daughter and Starman VIII were members of Superman's Justice League of the World.

The Kingdom

The sequel to Kingdom Come, called The Kingdom, contained characters and concepts from the original miniseries in a crossover to the then-current post-Zero Hour continuity. It introduced the concept of Hypertime, which posited that all continuities were part of a greater time-stream.

The Kingdom Come Legion did not appear in this set of six connected issues (two bookends and four related issues), but the Kingdom Come's Starman VIII and Supergirl did make cameo appearances in the Kingdom: Planet Krypton issue.

Starman VIII

A Starman wearing the costume seen on the Kingdom Come Starman has appeared in non-Elseworlds, mainstream continuity twice, and seem to contradict each other.

• In the Starman v2 series (in particular, Starman v2 #80), which takes place in the post-Zero Hour continuity, an adult Thom Kallor who is a later version of the post-Zero Hour Star Boy wearing the Kingdom Come Starman costume (though with yellow gloves instead of white) reveals that when he was younger, he had journeyed to the early 21st century as Starman, taking the name Danny Blaine. These events have not yet been chronicled.

• In the Justice Society of America v3 series, which takes place in post-Infinite Crisis continuity, the Starman appearing there claims to have been trapped in the Kingdom Come timeline (and thus would be the person identified as Starman VIII). He wears an identical costume. Based on statements regarding the killing of Kenz Nuhor (Adventure Comics #342), he appears to be the adult version of the pre-Zero Hour Star Boy. After unmasking, he is seen to be Caucasian, meaning that the post-Infinite Crisis Star Boy cannot be this Starman.

These apparently contradictory Starmen from different timelines have not been reconciled yet. The writer of the JSA series has said the JSA Starman is the Kingdom Come Starman [1], but further details are forthcoming.

See also the main article about Starman/Kingdom Come.

Related Material

The original Kingdom Come storyline and related material has appeared in numerous forms:

• four individual issues
• a compilation hardcover and trade paperback with new material and a new epilogue
• a Limited Slipcase Edition Hardcover with new explanatory material called "Revelations" from Alex Ross and Mark Waid
• an Absolute Edition hardcover collection
• Kingdom Come Xtra trading cards

External Links

Jess Nevins' Kingdom Come annotations, starting with part 1