Summary: 1996-2000, "Comrades"
1996-2000 represents something of a turning point in the history of Superman and Batman, for reasons both within comics continuity and outside it. Outside traditional continuity, the 1996 launch of Superman: The Animated Series, by the same creators as Batman: The Animated Series, led to a couple of episodes featuring Superman and Batman together. Eventually the two would star in Justice League Unlimited together, but that's not until 2001.
Another important non-continuity event was the 1996 mini-series Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. KC is set in the future of the DCU, like Miller's Dark Knight Returns, and both portray a dystopian future where Superman and Batman must struggle to fit in. Unlike Miller's vision, Waid and Ross's reconciles Clark and Bruce in friendship (and in a hug!) at the end. KC focuses on the fundamental similarities between the two heroes rather than their differences--as Superman says when confronting Batman, despite their disagreements:
Like Dark Knight Returns, although set in the future, Kingdom Come seemed to set the tone for the "present" of the DCU (in part because Mark Waid was at this time heavily involved in shaping Superman and the JLA).In 1996, as Kingdom Come was unfolding, two major events were also happening in the continuity.
The first was the Justice League being reformed, with Superman and Batman both on it for the first time in thirteen years. The re-forming was shown in Sept. 1996, in " A Midsummer's Nightmare" by Mark Waid and Fabian Nicieza, and establishes Superman and Batman as the key founding members of the League--when the League is trapped in an altered reality where there are no superheroes, only Superman and then Batman (symbolically representing the order they first were written back in the 30s) are able to remember their true selves and must re-assemble the team and re-make reality. It's got some wonderful interaction between them (although the art has its iffy moments) as Superman finds Bruce frantically searching for the secret entrance to the Batcave and tells him what he is missing is "someone who believes in you."
The second key event was Clark's marriage to Lois Lane, about a month after he rejoined the League. In " The Wedding Album," on the eve of the wedding, Batman takes Superman aside and has what is their first personal (as opposed to superhero-related) conversation in...well, at least six years. They talk a little bit about Lois and Clark's relationship, Batman tells him that he's assembled a team of heroes to patrol Metropolis so Clark and Lois can have a honeymoon, and tells Clark that he's bought the apartment building the newlyweds are hoping to move into so that they'll be able to get the apartment they want. And he calls Clark his "friend" for the first time since the Crisis. And then he can't attend the wedding because there's no way for playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne to have a connection to Clark Kent. :(
After Waid re-assembled the League, Grant Morrison took over the writing for about forty issues. Morrison's Superman and Batman are not terribly slashy--no tender moments--but that's in large part because no one on the League during Morrison's run is tender: they are kick-ass awe-inspiring majestic evil-whumping paragons of GREAT JUSTICE (seriously, if you have not read his Aquaman you are missing out on one amazingly sexy Lord of the Sea). Morrison doesn't write Superman and Batman as friends for almost his entire run, but he writes them as comrades-in-arms who hold each other in deep respect. You can see this dynamic put in motion during the very first arc, " New World Order," in which White Martians capture or take out almost all of the Justice League, and it's up to Batman to save Superman! Um, and the rest of the League. And the world. Yes.
In the final Morrison-written arc, " World War III," however, he pulls out all the stops in a massive space opera Armaggedon, and Bruce and Clark's bond is showcased (in this case, it's a literal mental bond through which Bruce keeps Clark from giving up in despair during the final battle).
It's pretty damn intense.
Although the general tone of the relationship between Superman and Batman was comradely, there were outliers. There is, for example, the striking Elseworld's Finest (1997)--a two-part re-imagining of Superman and Batman as pulp adventure heroes (imagine Clark Gable as a roguish Bruce and Cary Grant as a virtuous Clark, more or less). The two are portrayed very much as friends and a team, giving the Elseworld a feeling about five years ahead of its time.
More reconciliation happens in 1998's " Superman: Secret Files and Origins," which has Bruce impersonating Clark's college roommate to go talk with the Kents about him and what kind of man he is. The story ends with Superman showing up in the Batcave to confront Bruce about the impersonation, but rather than an angry confrontation, the two conclude that maybe they have more in common than they used to think, and they sit down and have a cup of coffee together, in a visual callback to the Bronze Age relationship they used to have.
By 1999, it must have been becoming clear that Superman and Batman were not as antagonistic as they had used to be, and that they were going to grow friendlier, because DC released a miniseries called World's Finest, written by Karl Kesel, showing the two meeting once a year on the anniversary of a civilian death they both feel guilty about. The series covers ten years and functions as a fascinating sort of retcon of their relationship. According to the series, it's not that they weren't speaking during those years where canon shows nothing, it's just that we didn't happen to see it. :) So the whole series works as kind of a massive fixit fic, looking backwards and imagining how, for example, Clark and Bruce might have talked about Jason's death, or how Batman might have reacted to the four "Supermen" who appeared after Clark died. In the series, the two start off quite antagonistic, but gradually come to understand each other better. The series ends with Clark and Bruce not quite ready to call themselves friends, but right on the cusp of it.
1999 also featured " No Man's Land," in which Gotham is destroyed by a massive earthquake; the full-year massive crossover showed the people and heroes of Gotham struggling to rebuild. Not surprisingly, there are some fairly serious ethical discussions about the various superheroes of the DCU trying to help Gotham; the U.S. government bans them from aid but some try to help anyway, most notably Superman. Batman doesn't outright warn him off, but Superman's tactics don't seem to translate well to Gotham after the earthquake. Later in the series, Clark comes back and the two have a more detailed and nuanced conversation, and Clark finds more humble and concrete ways to help Gotham.
Which brings us to 2000 and an explosion of Superman and Batman interactions ranging from the banal to the outright shippy. For some reason, the new millennium ushered in a new era of Clark and Bruce's relationship in which, after all the harsh words and silences, they find themselves best friends once more. This is largely due to the work of three men: Mark Waid on JLA and Joe Kelly and Jeph Loeb...well...everywhere else. 2000-2010 is the decade of the Superman/Batman title (pre-slashed for your convenience), shared beds, and smooches.
It's been a good decade.
Back to the full history
Forward to 2000-2010
Another important non-continuity event was the 1996 mini-series Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. KC is set in the future of the DCU, like Miller's Dark Knight Returns, and both portray a dystopian future where Superman and Batman must struggle to fit in. Unlike Miller's vision, Waid and Ross's reconciles Clark and Bruce in friendship (and in a hug!) at the end. KC focuses on the fundamental similarities between the two heroes rather than their differences--as Superman says when confronting Batman, despite their disagreements:
Like Dark Knight Returns, although set in the future, Kingdom Come seemed to set the tone for the "present" of the DCU (in part because Mark Waid was at this time heavily involved in shaping Superman and the JLA).In 1996, as Kingdom Come was unfolding, two major events were also happening in the continuity.
The first was the Justice League being reformed, with Superman and Batman both on it for the first time in thirteen years. The re-forming was shown in Sept. 1996, in " A Midsummer's Nightmare" by Mark Waid and Fabian Nicieza, and establishes Superman and Batman as the key founding members of the League--when the League is trapped in an altered reality where there are no superheroes, only Superman and then Batman (symbolically representing the order they first were written back in the 30s) are able to remember their true selves and must re-assemble the team and re-make reality. It's got some wonderful interaction between them (although the art has its iffy moments) as Superman finds Bruce frantically searching for the secret entrance to the Batcave and tells him what he is missing is "someone who believes in you."
The second key event was Clark's marriage to Lois Lane, about a month after he rejoined the League. In " The Wedding Album," on the eve of the wedding, Batman takes Superman aside and has what is their first personal (as opposed to superhero-related) conversation in...well, at least six years. They talk a little bit about Lois and Clark's relationship, Batman tells him that he's assembled a team of heroes to patrol Metropolis so Clark and Lois can have a honeymoon, and tells Clark that he's bought the apartment building the newlyweds are hoping to move into so that they'll be able to get the apartment they want. And he calls Clark his "friend" for the first time since the Crisis. And then he can't attend the wedding because there's no way for playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne to have a connection to Clark Kent. :(
After Waid re-assembled the League, Grant Morrison took over the writing for about forty issues. Morrison's Superman and Batman are not terribly slashy--no tender moments--but that's in large part because no one on the League during Morrison's run is tender: they are kick-ass awe-inspiring majestic evil-whumping paragons of GREAT JUSTICE (seriously, if you have not read his Aquaman you are missing out on one amazingly sexy Lord of the Sea). Morrison doesn't write Superman and Batman as friends for almost his entire run, but he writes them as comrades-in-arms who hold each other in deep respect. You can see this dynamic put in motion during the very first arc, " New World Order," in which White Martians capture or take out almost all of the Justice League, and it's up to Batman to save Superman! Um, and the rest of the League. And the world. Yes.
In the final Morrison-written arc, " World War III," however, he pulls out all the stops in a massive space opera Armaggedon, and Bruce and Clark's bond is showcased (in this case, it's a literal mental bond through which Bruce keeps Clark from giving up in despair during the final battle).
It's pretty damn intense.
Although the general tone of the relationship between Superman and Batman was comradely, there were outliers. There is, for example, the striking Elseworld's Finest (1997)--a two-part re-imagining of Superman and Batman as pulp adventure heroes (imagine Clark Gable as a roguish Bruce and Cary Grant as a virtuous Clark, more or less). The two are portrayed very much as friends and a team, giving the Elseworld a feeling about five years ahead of its time.
More reconciliation happens in 1998's " Superman: Secret Files and Origins," which has Bruce impersonating Clark's college roommate to go talk with the Kents about him and what kind of man he is. The story ends with Superman showing up in the Batcave to confront Bruce about the impersonation, but rather than an angry confrontation, the two conclude that maybe they have more in common than they used to think, and they sit down and have a cup of coffee together, in a visual callback to the Bronze Age relationship they used to have.
By 1999, it must have been becoming clear that Superman and Batman were not as antagonistic as they had used to be, and that they were going to grow friendlier, because DC released a miniseries called World's Finest, written by Karl Kesel, showing the two meeting once a year on the anniversary of a civilian death they both feel guilty about. The series covers ten years and functions as a fascinating sort of retcon of their relationship. According to the series, it's not that they weren't speaking during those years where canon shows nothing, it's just that we didn't happen to see it. :) So the whole series works as kind of a massive fixit fic, looking backwards and imagining how, for example, Clark and Bruce might have talked about Jason's death, or how Batman might have reacted to the four "Supermen" who appeared after Clark died. In the series, the two start off quite antagonistic, but gradually come to understand each other better. The series ends with Clark and Bruce not quite ready to call themselves friends, but right on the cusp of it.
1999 also featured " No Man's Land," in which Gotham is destroyed by a massive earthquake; the full-year massive crossover showed the people and heroes of Gotham struggling to rebuild. Not surprisingly, there are some fairly serious ethical discussions about the various superheroes of the DCU trying to help Gotham; the U.S. government bans them from aid but some try to help anyway, most notably Superman. Batman doesn't outright warn him off, but Superman's tactics don't seem to translate well to Gotham after the earthquake. Later in the series, Clark comes back and the two have a more detailed and nuanced conversation, and Clark finds more humble and concrete ways to help Gotham.
Which brings us to 2000 and an explosion of Superman and Batman interactions ranging from the banal to the outright shippy. For some reason, the new millennium ushered in a new era of Clark and Bruce's relationship in which, after all the harsh words and silences, they find themselves best friends once more. This is largely due to the work of three men: Mark Waid on JLA and Joe Kelly and Jeph Loeb...well...everywhere else. 2000-2010 is the decade of the Superman/Batman title (pre-slashed for your convenience), shared beds, and smooches.
It's been a good decade.
Back to the full history
Forward to 2000-2010