Superman: At Earth's End

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"Superman: At Earth's End", is a 1985 one-shot DC Comics Elseworlds story. It was written by Tom Veitch, with art by Frank Gomez.

The story is, more or less, the sequal to the miniseries At Earth's End which is spun off from the DC Comic series Kamandi, created by Jack Kirby in 1972.

[edit] Plot

After the world-altering events of the original Kamandi series, and the resolutions of Kamandi: At Earth's End, a period of cleansing is taking place. A group of emotionless, logical cyborgs named Ben Boxers are overseeing Earth's return to greatness. For the last year, Superman has been regaining his lost strength in a hovering city, where he is able to receive the benefits of the sun's rays. While recuperating, he learns that Gotham City is next in line to be "cleansed." It has been overrun with mutants and other such degenerates.

Superman goes down to Gotham to stop this cleansing process. Although the Batman of this Elseworld is long since dead, Superman discovers the Boxers attempting to rid the city of winged bat-creatures that bear a striking resembalence to the Dark Knight. Superman flies to what remains of Wayne Manor to find that the bones of Bruce Wayne have been stolen from their crypt. He sets out to recover the remains when he finds a cadre of mohawked youth travelling in a pack of motorcycles.

They inform him that their parents are locked beneath the city. When Superman breaks into the underground fortress, he discovers that their parents have been altered into mutated, mindless humans who. These unfortunates are being accosted by giant "Harvester" robots, serving the wishes of two clones of Adolf Hitler. Superman is then faces off with a huge monstrosity in a Batman costume with Bruce Wayne's memories. After a brief battle with the monster, Superman realizes even he is outmatched, as his powers are already waning from not enough time in the cloud city. He flies back to the Batcave and grabs a large gun called the "Expunger."

After an all-out gunfight with the Hitlers and their abominable army, Superman walks away triumphant, though mortally wounded. Bleeding to death, Superman carries the remains of his friend back to Wayne Manor where he builds a bonfire to make sure Batman's remains are never misused again. Ben Boxer offers to make him into a cyborg like himself. Faced with immortality in a world that is no longer his own, Superman scoops up the remains of his friend and walks into his own funeral pyre.