The “We Are Yesterday” crossover between Batman/Superman: World’s Finest and Justice League Unlimited began with Gorilla Grodd traveling to the past to bring back the old Legion of Doom. After spending the first three parts executing his plan, “We Are Yesterday” Part Four finally picks up momentum. In this case, the Justice League from the past and present experience a major temporal disruption that begins to alter their memories.
After the teenage Dick Grayson was accidentally transported to the DCU present in Part Three (Batman/Superman: World’s Finest Annual #1 2025), he kicks off a dangerous chain of events when he makes contact with his present self as Nightwing. This causes the present versions of Batman, Superman and Nightwing to return to the past, while their past selves similarly travel to the present and learn about their futures. As the Legion of Doom continue to wreak havoc on the DCU time stream, more temporal paradoxes occur that begin to further displace the heroes.
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Right off the bat, “We Are Yesterday” evokes the Justice League and Justice Society crossovers of the Bronze Age. More specifically, it has the vibes of the 1978 Justice League of America two-parter “Crisis from Yesterday!” and “Crisis from Tomorrow!” by Gerry Conway and Dick Dillon. The premise of the storyline depicting villains from the DCU past altering the present in catastrophic ways also calls back to the 1982 mega event between Justice League of America and All-Star Squadron.
The latter event saw Per Degaton alter the future of Earth-2 with the help of the Earth-3 Crime Syndicate. This displaced the Earth-2 Justice Society to Earth-Prime, which experienced a nuclear apocalypse after the Crime Syndicate stole this world’s nuclear weapons. This event also forced the Earth-1 Justice League to look into the Justice Society’s disappearance on Earth-2. This eventually brought both groups of heroes back to Earth-2 in the 1940s to stop Per Degaton’s deadly plan.
Writer Mark Waid and artists Travis Moore (Justice League Unlimited) and Clayton Henry (Batman/Superman: World’s Finest) have been raising similar high stakes throughout “We Are Yesterday.” In Part Four, the heroes from both the past and present are proving unsuccessful at stopping the Legion of Doom from rewriting history as they know it. Further complicating matters is the displacement of Batman, Superman, and Robin/Nightwing across two different timelines, which is leaving the timestream even more vulnerable to tampering.
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Though Waid and Henry don’t get far into the story’s conflict before ending World’s Finest #39 on a major cliffhanger, the way Part Four’s events pan out does leave readers craving more. After a slow buildup in the first three issues, the fact that the entire DC continuity is quickly coming apart leaves the heroes in a precarious situation they can’t easily get out of. Despite being the world’s Greatest Detective, Batman – for once – doesn’t have all the answers. Likewise, Superman is unable to use his own technology to begin repairing the damages to the timestream. This allows the story to remain unpredictable and keep readers guessing at what will happen next.
Another exciting aspect of World’s Finest #39 is how the past versions of Batman, Superman, and Robin react to seeing their own futures. This not only creates some humorous moments where the heroes find out how much their families have expanded, but it even teases events to come. For instance, it’s already known from DC solicitations that the DC timeline will be devastated following the events of “We Are Yesterday.” What isn’t known is the impact this will have on DC canon moving forward.
One more thing that’s known from DC solicitations is that Apokolips will once again invade Prime Earth following “We Are Yesterday” – potentially setting up a crossover with the Absolute Universe. The DCU past and present clashing may also be preparing readers for Waid’s upcoming miniseries, New History of the DC Universe. From the solicitations, it appears that this will be the storyline that will finally bridge the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths multiverse with the post-Crisis universe that emerged.
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The new miniseries will also likely address the Flashpoint reboot and how the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal and Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths are shaping the current DCU. While “We Are Yesterday” and future projects appear to be delivering long-awaited answers about continuity, at the same time this focus on continuity could potentially turn off new and casual readers. Mores specifically, this may turn off readers who just want to read a good story and not the latest attempt at fixing DC canon.
At best, “We Are Yesterday” isn’t so continuity-heavy that new and casual readers won’t be able to enjoy the story on its own merits. On the other hand, Waid’s callbacks to the Silver Age and Bronze Age could still give those fans the impression they need to be familiar with those eras to be able to follow the story. This could especially be the case for fans who have been following DC since the New 52 reboot, since Waid’s stories in World’s Finest are already retconning significant portions of Batman and Superman’s post-Flashpoint histories.
All in all, “We Are Yesterday” Part Four is the strongest issue of the crossover thus far, and sets up exciting plot threads for Part Five. At the same time, the focus on the larger DC mythology may not be some readers’ cup of tea, and could potentially alienate new and casual readers.
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