This week we ask our favorite alternate reality denizen a question only he could answer. Take it away Earth-2M…
How different is the Batman of Kingdom Come from Dr. Doom of the Silver Age?
Earth-2M: During Kingdom Come Batman has abandoned all pretense that he was ever anything other than Batman. Wayne Manor lies in ruins, Gotham City is under martial law, and even Superman does not warrant a look up from the monitors. This is a man who has had to make use of every single resource at his disposal to forge a safe place from what Gotham had become.
Back in the day Doom had diplomatic immunity, an army of Doombots, and the ability to appear in any Marvel Comic. This was because he positioned himself as the enemy of the entire Marvel Universe. He assumed that everyone except his arch-enemy, Mr. Fantastic, was beneath his notice and could be dealt with with no negative impact. Mr. Fantastic and he are in a generations long chess game that will end, so Doom believes, in his victory. He probably dreads that day because at that point he will then have nothing to do.
I wholeheartedly believe two things about Doom. The first is that he was the first person in the Marvel Universe to develop practical time travel. The first thing he did with this invention was go one thousand years into the future, sire an heir, and raid a library (and the future era equivalent of a Best Buy) before traveling back to his present. Kang (von Doom) is his insurance plan. Even if Doom is murdered tomorrow (something he does not believe can happen but he must not be able to say that he was caught off guard by anything), he will die knowing that he still won. The second thing is that Valeria Richards is going to be far smarter than Mr. Fantastic or Doom. They are children compared to her. She is going to be so smart and so capable that she will view them both equally less than what she is. This is the second way that Doom has ensured his victory. Even if the Fantastic Four keep foiling his schemes Doom has guaranteed that the child will not be reminiscent of them any more than she is of himself. Doom has worn many titles but none as potentially fruitful as “Uncle.”
I loved the world of Kingdom Come when I began reading superhero comics. Part of me hoped it would become the “real” future of Earth-Composite (Alan Moore’s name for the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths world). This story introduced me to the DC Universe outside of what I saw on the Batman cartoon. It introduced me to Captain Marvel, now a favorite of mine. Batman there has “Bat-Knights” that patrol the city like Doombots. He has eradicated crime but also much free will. As with the citizenry of Latveria, they are safe but not free to speak out if unhappy. All of the Batman’s dreaded foes are dead or retired and the new dangerous “heroes” avoid his city because if they did not then they might evoke his wrath, something even they, with the apparent disregard of all other taboos, are wary of. This is the same reason that Captain America never led the Avengers in an invasion of Latveria.
Superman, Batman’s oldest friend, is unable to drag him out of his funk. Tragedy cannot do so nor can old friends and their children such as Red Robin and Nightstar. What does eventually drag him out is Lex Luthor because only that fat, old man is the cracked mirror that the similarly elderly Batman needs to stare into. Luthor says, in one of my favorite lines, “I can hardly believe you’re here. If I’d have known that a common enemy could bring us together, I would have invented one years ago.” Batman ultimately does “the right thing” because it coincides with his plans, not because Superman or Wonder Woman or any of the others have convinced him. He is unwilling to be any different from Luthor (and thus Doom) until Captain Marvel’s sacrifice, which inverts Batman’s struggle: Captain Marvel, really no more of a child than Valeria Richards or Kang von Doom, “chooses life” because it is the only option that makes any sense, he lacks the hubris to believe he can decide the fate of the world. After this, Batman comes in out of the cold, turns the Manor into a hospital and helps raise “The Child.”
Doom will never have this moment because he does not need to though I would love if the Sub-Mariner (his version of Superman) were to show up at the cracked castle Doom in the year 2099 to ask his old friend to come help the world.
SniktyBamf! 