Batman/Superman: World's Finest's mystery of who Superman's long-lost sidekick David Nikela AKA Boy Thunder really is was finally revealed in December's issue #10.
He's Magog, the brutal anti-hero whose murder of the Joker in the DC classic Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross is the event that incites the rest of the epic tale.
Once the clues are all lined up, David's identity now seems obvious in retrospect (a credit to Waid's plotting), from his energy-manipulating powers to his relationship with Superman, and his kidnapping by the Joker which sets up his later hatred of the villain.
But the fact that Boy Thunder is actually Magog as a teen doesn't mean that the core DC Universe is now destined to lead to the dark future of Kingdom Come, where older classic heroes fight against a more bloodthirsty generation of younger heroes.
"I haven't decided yet," Waid told Newsarama in December when asked if readers
are witnessing the rise of the specific Kingdom Come version of Magog, or something else, specifically confirming that Boy Thunder's home reality is not that of Kingdom Come, which has been designated Earth-22.
"But at some point, Superman does have to find David again, because - as he himself puts it - while he's forced to mislead people sometimes with his secret identity, Superman never lies. And he promised he'd find David," Waid continued.
Now that the mystery is solved, the remainder of the story arc will set up whatever plans Waid has for Magog and a revisitation of the Kingdom Come Earth for the future. Given Waid's first World's Finest story arc set up his Batman vs. Robin and the DC-wide Lazarus Planet events, expect the return of Magog to lead to something in the future.
That road begins in Batman/Superman: World's Finest #11, which will presumably begin to piece together how Boy Thunder winds up on the Kingdom Come Earth and on the path to becoming Magog.
Here's a look at a few of those pages by Waid, artists Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Steve Wands.
Batman/Superman: World's Finest #11 goes on sale January 17.
Boy Thunder may not make the cut of the best superhero sidekicks ever.
