World’s Finest #172

If I’m not mistaken, this is the last pre-Crisis story featuring the Legion left. Admittedly there may be a couple of extremely minor cameos, but that’s about it.
So it’s kind of interesting that it’s from none other than Jim Shooter himself.

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World’s Finest #172 (1967)
by Jim Shooter & Curt Swan

The Legion comes up waaaaay later. Because first we need to establish the World’s Finest Bros.

The Superman and Batman of this Elseworld share the same origin of their classic counterparts, although Bruce Wayne looks way older than I’d imagine.

However in this reality, the Kents are such paragons of virtue that they’re asked to adopt Bruce.

Okay I don’t know all that much about the adoption practices in the 60s (or rather the 50s since this is a Superboy story), but I’d have to imagine you couldn’t adopt a kid IN AN AFTERNOON.

Leave it to Batman to immediately show off.

I always find it absolutely hilarious that Smallville has such a giant problem with crime, to the point of having BANK ROBBERS WITH TANKS.

Is Bruce also trying to be Spider-Man?

Superboy suspecting that Bruce is studying criminals because he idolizes them is a bit of a stretch; hasn’t he done this exact thing multiple times?

Of course Bruce is preparing to become Batman. I’m not a big expert on his 60s adventures, but I’d imagine that in regular continuity he wasn’t THIS young when he took the cape.
Which by sheer coincidence is eerily similar to what the bank robbers were wearing, because when you rob a bank you really want half of your face to be exposed.

I just love when Silver Age stories throw in explanations that were never necessary. Such as the fact that the two brothers are sharing a bedroom because Bruce’s room is being painted.
The Kents are not exactly rich, couldn’t they just say the brothers are sharing the same bedroom?

Fantastic job keeping an eye on him, Superboy. This is especially embarrassing considering you don’t even really need to sleep!

And then Batman stumbles into discovering his brother’s secret identity.
The world’s greatest detective, everybody!

Jumping a bit to conclusions there, Clark?

I know he’s Batman, but Kryptonite is so ubiquitous in Smallville that I bet any random teenager has some of it.

Well technically speaking he’s not Batman yet, he’s Batboy.

So while Superboy was obsessing over his brother being a criminal, Batboy actually caught both the real criminals and the loot.

So the first part ends with the formation of the World’s Finest Bros.

Jumping ahead to Bruce’s 21st birthday, that’s when he inherits his family’s fortune.
In a nice touch, he donates his whole mansion to the Kents.

Clark Kent now works in Gotham City instead of Metropolis, but other than that the situation is not all that different from the main timeline…

…except the Kents make it to Superman’s adulthood.
Which makes sense: if they knew they’d be rich once Bruce inherited his fortune, they wouldn’t have asked their son to bring them to the vacation that eventually killed them… they’d just wait to be rich first!
The downside to that is that now they can be hostages.

And LEX LUTHOR KILLS THEM.

Batman takes it about as well as you’d expect.

Superman also lost two sets of parents, but I appreciate he doesn’t bring them up because unlike Batman he didn’t grow up with his birth parents.
I also have to bring up that Silver Age Superman lost two sets of parents while at some point Supergirl ended up with two sets of living parents.

At this point you might be asking: wasn’t this supposed to have something to do with the Legion?
That’s when Superman brings his brother to the 30th century!

Specifically in the Adult Legion time, because Batman is a little too old for the classic Legion.
Although this story shares the same publishing month of Adventure Comics #363.

Batman shouldn’t even be allowed in the team, but whatever.

And that’s how we end: Superman taking Batman’s place, and Batman staying in the 30th century for good.

Poor Penguin…

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Does any of this show up in any regular continuity?
The Kents are alive in Superman’s adulthood post-Crisis, but other than that no; Batman barely EVER interacts with the Legion. Having said that…

SHOULD any of this have happened in regular continuity?
…I wouldn’t mind a storyline where Batman is stuck in the 31st century for a while.

Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Quite low, but not that surprising considering it’s Jim Shooter in his golden years. While some parts are a bit contrived in the style of the time, there’s a very solid foundation on Batman’s trauma that you wouldn’t find often.

Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
A very solid story, if a bit short considering what it wants to tell. But you get some nice interactions between the heroes and, as mentioned, the emotional aspect shines through.
If anything, doing this story TODAY would work even better! The weakest part of the story is when you have the two heroes acting like brothers: they were already like that in the Silver Age, so it’s not all that special.
By contrast, even if they eventually do get to have the same kind of relation, in modern incarnations Superman and Batman are different enough that adding the familial connection would be more important than it is in this story.