Kingdom Come Spotlight: Robotman

I try to avoid cross-comic canon immigrants when I can, but I set the precedent by including Kingdom Come ones on this site, so I guess I have to continue. As a compromise, however, I will post these and any future ones like these on Saturdays.

If you're not familiar with Kingdom Come, it's about a future of the DC Universe and how older versions of the current heroes we know clash with the new generation of heroes. The whole thing was basically a satire of 90s superheroes compared to Silver Age superheroes, and it was very successful, both critically and commercially.

Nearly every character who appeared in it got a new design of some sort, and for the most part, the designs fell into one of a few categories:

1) A design that combines aspects of multiple identities of the character to make it unclear which identity it was. Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman are examples of this kind.

2) A design that combines multiple separate superheroes as certain heroes take on new identities. Red Arrow and Red Robin are examples of this kind.

3) A design that plays on the trends of modern superheroes. Magog and Kid Flash are examples of this kind.

4) Minor tweaks. Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman are examples of this kind.

Robotman is an example of #2.

The original Robotman, Cliff Steele, was a founding member of the Doom Patrol, a team of misfits that banded together because they couldn't lead normal lives. His story was basically that he was a race car driver who got into a terrible accident, so his brain was put into a robot body.

Cyborg, aka Victor Stone, has a similar story. He was a football player instead of a race car driver, and the accident he got into varies based on the continuity we're talking about, but the result is the same: part of his body were replaced with cybernetic parts.

It's therefore not much of a stretch to reveal, like Kingdom Come did, that Cyborg eventually "graduates" into being the new Robotman. You can see here that he's now gold all over like the original Robotman, but the clothes he wears still mimic his Cyborg costume.

JLA/Titans was a miniseries that...well, except for launching the Titans ongoing series, I'm not exactly sure what happened in it. I've read the individual episode synopses but they didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But I do know that in issue #3 (December 1998), Cyborg gets a new, all gold body.

That, thankfully, didn't last, and he got his classic body back just in time for the new Teen Titans series in 2003.

Kingdom Come Spotlight: Mister Scarlet

I try to avoid cross-comic canon immigrants when I can, but I set the precedent by including Kingdom Come ones on this site, so I guess I have to continue. As a compromise, however, I will post these and any future ones like these on Saturdays.

If you're not familiar with Kingdom Come, it's about a future of the DC Universe and how older versions of the current heroes we know clash with the new generation of heroes. The whole thing was basically a satire of 90s superheroes compared to Silver Age superheroes, and it was very successful, both critically and commercially.

Nearly every character who appeared in it got a new design of some sort, and for the most part, the designs fell into one of a few categories:

1) A design that combines aspects of multiple identities of the character to make it unclear which identity it was. Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman are examples of this kind.

2) A design that combines multiple separate superheroes as certain heroes take on new identities. Red Arrow and Red Robin are examples of this kind.

3) A design that plays on the trends of modern superheroes. Magog and Kid Flash are examples of this kind.

4) Minor tweaks. Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman are examples of this kind.

Mister Scarlet definitely falls into #3.

Mister Scarlet was a superhero originally published by Fawcett Comics, along with Captain Marvel. He was essentially a Batman knockoff, complete with utility belt and kid sidekick, but he had the interesting gimmick that he was too good at his job. Despite being an attorney, he frequently had to find side gigs because of the lack of crime!

In Kingdom Come, a new Mister Scarlet appears. Although his look is partially derived from the fin on the original Mister Scarlet's cowl, I don't think it's a stretch to say that this Scarlet was more closely based on Image's Savage Dragon.

A Mister Scarlet looking just like this one made a brief appearance in Justice League of America #21 (December 2017).

Thanks to Thomas Parks for telling me about this one!

"Kingdom Come" Super Post! (Part 2: Appearances)

Today we continue our look at Kingdom Come canon immigrants with a super post about appearances from the book that have become mainstream and other business.

APPEARANCES
Atom Smasher

The name and mask first appeared in Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996); Nuklon first adopted them in JSA Secret Files and Origins #1 (August 1999).

Northwind

The character design first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996) as a new look for Hawkman; Northwind first adopted it in JSA #56 (March 2004).

Green Lantern

 The Green Lantern armor first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996); it later appeared in JSA #15 (October 2000), and then again when Alan Scott is possessed by the Starheart in Justice Society of America #42 (August 2010).

Starman 

 This Starman costume first appeared in Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996).  It first appeared in Starman  #80 (August 2001), though with yellow gloves and (probably) belonging to Post-Zero Hour Thom Kallor.  It later showed up in Justice Society of America #2 (March 2007), belonging to Pre-Zero Hour Thom Kallor, the same one portrayed in Kingdom Come.

Red Robin 

 Red Robin first appeared in Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996) as a grown up Dick Grayson.  Jason Todd took the name in Countdown #17 (January 2008), when he found the costume in an Earth-51 Batcave; he was later followed by Ulysses Armstrong in Robin #177 (October 2008) and Tim Drake in Red Robin #1 (August 2009).

Red Arrow

The Red Arrow name and costume first appeared in Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996).  It appeared again - sans hat and beard - on the cover of Justice League of America #1 (October 2006), before appearing in-story in Justice League of America #7 (May 2007).

Captain Atom

 This Captain Atom design first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996); it showed up again in Captain Atom: Armageddon #1 (December 2005).

Nabu

A hostless Nabu first showed up in Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996). He later appeared in Day of Vengeance #2 (June 2005) when he tried to prevent the Spectre from destroying magic.

Superman shield's black background

 

In Kingdom Come (1996), Superman appeared with a red-and-black version of his logo instead of the usual red-and-yellow, as a memorial for all the people that had died recently. In the "Our Worlds At War" storyline (2001), he did the exact same thing.

Superboy's Legion of Super-Heroes uniform

In Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996), a version of the Legion of Super-Heroes appears in one panel.  Later, when Superboy teams up with the Legion in one adventure (Superboy #45, October 1997), they give him a costume based on the one Superboy was wearing in Kingdom Come.

OTHER
The whole reality (Earth-22)

The reality was first designated as Earth-22 in 52 #52 (May 2007).

The Quintessence

The Quintessence first appeared in Kingdom Come #3 (July 1996), and later in JLA #29 (May 1999).  All characters existed prior to Kingdom Come.

"Kingdom Come" Super Post! (Part 1: Characters)

Kingdom Come was a very popular 1996 miniseries by DC Comics, and like most popular things, people grabbed it and held on for dear life.  In comics terms, this meant pillaging it for as many ideas as possible. This is somewhat different - but related - to the rest of the site, but the fact is, although Kingdom Come is a comic book, it is an alternate reality and several of its characters/appearances/etc. have made their way into the primary DC Comics continuity.  Therefore, I think they're worth documenting, especially since there are so many.

Swastika

Swastika first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996).  He made his New Earth debut in Justice Society of America #2 (March 2007) as a member of the Fourth Reich.

Alloy

Alloy, a combined form of the Metal Men, first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996).  He later appeared in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #1,000,000 (November 1998), and then again in Justice League: Generation Lost #10 (November 2010) and a couple issues of the Batman Beyond line of titles.

Jakeem Thunder

Jakeem Thunder first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996) as a new version of Johnny Thunder, simply called "Thunder".  He made his New Earth debut as a cameo in The Flash #134 (February 1998), and his first full appearance in JLA #26 (February 1999).  He has since joined the Justice Society of America.

Lightning

Jennifer Pierce first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996); she later debuted in Justice Society of America #12 (March 2008).

Cyclone

Maxine Hunkel first appeared in Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996); she first appeared on New Earth in Justice Society of America #1 (February 2007).

Wildcat III

Wildcat III first appeared in Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996); he made his New Earth debut in Justice Society of America #1 (February 2007).

Superman

This Superman first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996); his first official comics appearance was Justice Society of America #9 (November 2007), though a character who was possibly him appeared first in Superman/Batman #2 (November 2003). Unlike most of the other entries on this list, this is actually the Superman from Kingdom Come (or, at least a world that's identical to Kingdom Come) instead of a New Earth character that's a version of a Kingdom Come character.

Magog

 Magog first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996); the same character made his Earth-22 debut in Justice Society of America #10 (December 2007).  Two issues later (February 2008), Lance Corporal David Reid was killed and brought back to life by Gog as the Magog of New Earth.

Offspring

Offspring first appeared in The Kingdom: Offspring #1 (February 1999), which was part of The Kingdom, a Kingdom Come sequel.  He later made his New Earth debut in JLA #65 (June 2002).

Iris West

Iris West II first appeared in Kingdom Come #3 (July 1996) as The Flash IV (later Kid Flash).  She first appeared on New Earth in The Flash #225 (October 2005).

Zachary Zatara

Zachary Zatara first appeared in Kingdom Come #3 (July 1996) as the son of Zatanna and John Constantine.  He later appeared as a member of the Teen Titans during the One Year Gap (Teen Titans #34, May 2006), this time as Zatanna's cousin.

The Brain Trust

 

The Brain Trust first appeared in Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996) and later appeared in JLA Annual #1 (1997). They also appeared in Titans Secret Files and Origins #2 (September 2000).