Kingdom Come Superman
Before reaching the Watchtower, it's important to understand exactly who Superman is.
This version of Superman from Kingdom Come is not the younger hero of earlier eras.
He is older, far more experienced, and significantly more powerful.
After decades under Earth's yellow sun, his Kryptonian physiology has absorbed an immense amount of solar energy.
Solar Amplification
A Kryptonian's power increases with prolonged exposure to yellow sunlight.
Because this Superman has spent many more years absorbing solar radiation, his physical capabilities exceed most mainstream versions.
His cells act like living solar batteries.
Energy stored within his body continuously fuels:
Super strength
Near-limitless stamina
Enhanced durability
Extreme speed
Strength Feats (Comic Accurate)
In the Kingdom Come storyline, Superman demonstrates strength that is easily planetary-scale.
Examples include:
• Casually overpowering large groups of superhumans simultaneously
• Physically restraining powerful metahumans like Captain Marvel (Shazam) during combat
• Enduring nuclear-level attacks without permanent damage
Estimated physical capability:
Attribute Estimate
Strength Planetary to small planetary
Durability Nuclear / stellar durability
Speed Faster-than-light reactions
Stamina Virtually limitless under sunlight
His durability is especially extreme.
During the final conflict of Kingdom Come, Superman survives a nuclear detonation that wipes out most metahumans present.
Even weakened by radiation and Kryptonite exposure, he still continues fighting afterward.
Experience Advantage
Unlike younger versions, this Superman also possesses decades of tactical experience.
He has fought:
alien invasions
rogue metahumans
cosmic threats
Which makes him not only powerful—but strategically dangerous.
And currently, he is unknowingly escorting one of the most dangerous beings in existence.
POV Switch, Gotham City
Deep beneath Gotham City, inside a fortified command center.
Banks of holographic monitors flicker in the darkness.
This is the control hub of Batman.
Unlike his younger days, this Batman operates through an army of drones, satellites, and cybernetic surveillance systems.
He watches the footage again.
Superman flying beside Derrick.
Batman pauses the recording.
Zoom.
Enhance.
Derrick's figure fills the screen.
"Unknown metahuman," Batman mutters.
His AI runs analysis.
Results begin appearing:
BIOLOGY: UNKNOWN
ENERGY OUTPUT: ANOMALOUS
THERMAL SIGNATURE: INCONSISTENT
Batman's eyes narrow.
> "You don't crash land on this planet unnoticed."
Another program begins reconstructing Derrick's atmospheric entry.
Trajectory lines appear.
Then the computer displays something unexpected.
ENTRY SPEED: EXTREME
The number is far beyond typical flight speeds.
Batman leans back slowly.
> "Clark… you brought something interesting home."
He activates a deeper scan.
But Derrick's internal reality field scrambles most readings.
The AI struggles.
Finally it displays:
ANALYSIS FAILURE
Batman frowns.
> "That's never a good sign."
He opens a secure channel to the Watchtower.
But doesn't transmit yet.
First he wants to observe.
The Watchtower
Far above Earth, orbiting the planet, floats the headquarters of the Justice League.
The Watchtower gleams in sunlight as two figures approach.
Superman and Derrick.
Inside the station, several members of the League are already present.
Among them:
Wonder Woman
Green Lantern
Flash
The doors open.
Superman enters first.
Derrick follows calmly.
...
Flash is the first to react.
But due to his hyper-speed metabolism he appears as a constant blur of red lightning moving around the room.
He circles Derrick several times instantly.
> "New guy! Clark found a new guy!"
Superman smiles slightly.
> "Easy, Wally."
Flash stops briefly long enough to wave.
> "Hi. Sorry. Can't really stop moving."
Derrick nods politely.
Inside his mind he is already analyzing the speedster.
Flash's connection to the Speed Force registers as an entirely new type of energy.
Extremely interesting.
Standing nearby is Wonder Woman.
Unlike Flash, she doesn't greet Derrick immediately.
Instead she studies him carefully.
Amazon instincts sharpen her perception.
Something about Derrick feels… off.
She addresses Superman quietly.
> "You trust him?"
Superman nods.
> "He says he's a refugee."
Wonder Woman crosses her arms.
> "Many lies begin that way."
Derrick hears the exchange perfectly.
But he simply remains calm.
Floating slightly above the floor is Green Lantern.
His emerald aura surrounds much of the Watchtower.
Unlike other Lanterns, his power is mystical rather than tied to the Green Lantern Corps.
His ring glows faintly as he studies Derrick.
> "Interesting energy signature."
> "I've never seen anything like it."
Derrick glances at the ring briefly.
Magical energy source.
Another valuable data point.
Superman places a reassuring hand on Derrick's shoulder.
> "Everyone, this is Derrick."
> "He says he escaped a destroyed world."
Flash zooms past again.
> "Wow we get a lot of those."
Wonder Woman remains skeptical.
> "And what hunts you, Derrick?"
The room becomes quiet.
Derrick answers carefully.
> "Something worse than anything I've seen."
Technically true.
He briefly remembers the gaze of The Living Tribunal.
But he doesn't explain.
Superman nods.
> "Until we learn more, Derrick stays here as our guest."
Wonder Woman looks unconvinced.
But she says nothing.
Unknown to the League
Far below the Watchtower…
Batman continues watching everything through surveillance feeds.
His AI highlights several micro-expressions Derrick made during the conversation.
Small anomalies.
Not proof.
But enough to trigger suspicion.
Batman folds his arms.
> "Welcome to Earth, Derrick."
His voice is cold.
> "Let's see what you really are."
Gotham
Deep inside the underground command hub beneath Gotham City, Batman continues watching the surveillance feeds from the orbital headquarters of the Justice League.
Derrick's arrival bothered him immediately.
Nothing about the man's biology looked normal.
Batman activates a new program.
REMOTE BIO-SCAN – WATCHTOWER MEDICAL ARRAY
Hidden inside the station's medical bay are advanced scanners capable of mapping genetic structures.
Batman quietly routes the sensors toward the living quarters assigned to Derrick.
The scan begins.
Results start compiling.
But almost instantly the system struggles.
CELLULAR STRUCTURE: UNKNOWN
DNA STRUCTURE: NON-STANDARD
GENETIC COMPLEXITY: EXTREME
Batman leans closer to the monitor.
The program attempts to reconstruct Derrick's DNA strands.
What appears on screen is disturbing.
Instead of a normal double helix…
There are thousands of overlapping genetic chains layered together.
Fragments of different biological structures.
Alien.
Human.
Unknown.
The AI flags the anomaly.
MULTI-GENETIC ORGANISM DETECTED
Batman's voice lowers.
> "You're not one species…"
The scan tries to map the genome.
It fails again.
Then another warning appears.
GENETIC MASS EXCEEDS EXPECTED LIMITS
Batman understands what that means.
Derrick's body contains far more genetic information than a single organism should be able to hold.
As if it has absorbed… many others.
Batman saves the data.
But he doesn't alert Superman yet.
He needs more proof.
> "Let's see how long you can pretend."
Watchtower – Days Pass
Far above Earth, aboard the orbiting Justice League Watchtower, Derrick slowly integrates himself among the heroes.
Days pass.
Then weeks.
And Derrick plays his role perfectly.
Friendly.
Helpful.
Respectful.
Every interaction carefully calculated.
Derrick's Story
One evening inside the Watchtower's observation lounge, several League members gather.
Among them:
Superman
Wonder Woman
Flash
They ask Derrick more about his destroyed universe.
Derrick looks out at Earth through the large viewing window.
Then he speaks quietly.
> "It wasn't a war."
> "It wasn't an invasion."
The room listens.
> "It was something worse."
He turns toward them.
> "A destroyer."
Wonder Woman narrows her eyes.
> "Explain."
Derrick continues calmly.
> "A being that travels between universes."
> "Destroying them randomly."
Flash's blur slows slightly.
> "That's… pretty bad."
Derrick nods.
> "My universe was next."
He pauses as if remembering tragedy.
> "I escaped by chance."
Superman places a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
> "You're safe here."
Derrick lowers his head slightly.
> "Then I'll help protect it."
Perfect hero response.
Wonder Woman watches him carefully.
Still unsure.
But even she cannot detect a lie.
Derrick's biological control lets him mimic perfect emotional responses.
The Ability Test
Eventually curiosity grows.
The League wants to understand what Derrick can actually do.
So they arrange a controlled test inside the Watchtower training chamber.
Present are several heroes including:
Green Lantern
Flash
Wonder Woman
Superman speaks first.
> "No pressure."
> "Just show us what you're comfortable with."
Derrick nods.
He already calculated the correct performance level.
Strong enough to impress.
Not strong enough to scare them.
Flight
Derrick rises into the air.
Smooth, controlled levitation.
Flash whistles.
> "Okay that's pretty standard around here."
Strength Test
A massive compressed mass simulator appears.
Designed to replicate extreme gravitational loads.
Derrick lifts it.
Slowly.
He pretends strain.
The reading stabilizes.
FORCE OUTPUT: SMALL MOON LEVEL
Green Lantern raises an eyebrow.
> "Not bad."
Superman nods approvingly.
But Derrick internally notes:
He is currently using less than 0.0000001% of his true power.
Energy Vision
Derrick demonstrates controlled eye beams.
Different energy spectrums:
heat beams
plasma discharge
particle beams
They slice cleanly through reinforced targets.
Flash comments while vibrating in place.
> "Laser eyes club. Clark finally has competition."
Superman smiles slightly.
Speed
The chamber activates a flight track.
Derrick accelerates.
Mach speeds quickly pass.
Then relativistic levels.
He stops just below light speed.
Display reads:
0.92c
Flash laughs.
> "Fast for a non-speedster!"
But Derrick deliberately stops there.
His real movement uses dimensional displacement, vastly faster than light.
The League sees only a fraction of his abilities.
Hidden completely are:
• Blacklight viral assimilation
• Reality-adaptive regeneration
• Multiversal teleportation
• Hyper-intelligence
• Dimensional awareness
Derrick also suppresses his true mental processing speed.
Instead he behaves like someone above average intelligence.
He bases his personality on actors and personalities he absorbed in previous worlds.
The result is convincing.
New League Members Arrive
As days pass, more heroes come to meet the mysterious newcomer.
Among them:
Hawkman
He greets Derrick with typical bluntness.
> "Clark says you can fight."
> "Good. We might need it."
Power Girl
She studies Derrick curiously.
> "Another flying strong guy?"
Flash answers instantly.
> "Yeah but his laser eyes are cooler."
Red Arrow
He asks tactical questions about Derrick's world.
Derrick answers with believable details.
Gradually Derrick becomes accepted.
He joins patrol discussions.
Helps analyze threats.
Occasionally assists in minor missions.
He presents himself as a hero willing to help protect Earth.
Superman begins trusting him.
Flash likes him.
Even Green Lantern respects him.
Only two people remain uneasy.
Wonder Woman.
And Batman.
Batman's Suspicion Grows
Back in Gotham, Batman replays footage of Derrick's training test.
He slows the video to extreme frame analysis.
Then he notices something strange.
When Derrick lifted the mass simulator…
For a single frame…
His body briefly shifted shape.
Almost like liquid.
Then returned to normal.
Batman freezes the image.
Zoom.
Enhance.
The distortion is tiny.
But real.
Batman's expression darkens.
> "You're hiding something."
He pulls up the genetic scan again.
Then whispers.
> "And I'm going to find out what."