If you thought things couldn’t get any wilder after Joker and Lex Luthor merged into a single nightmare fuel entity, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #46 says, “Hold my cape.” Mark Waid, Adrian Gutiérrez, Tamra Bonvillain, and Steve Wands have turned the crazy dial up to eleven here in the best possible way. This issue, titled “The Merger Part Two,” is a Dragon Ball Z fusion dance-off of cosmic proportions.
We pick up right where we left off: Batman and Superman are essentially ghosts, stuck in an immaterial state after an explosion involving Joker’s Phantom Ray. They can’t touch anything, which is a pretty big problem when a Luthor-Joker hybrid (calling itself “The Merger”) is running loose with an Absorbascon that gives them access to every human mind on Earth.
Hawkman is trying to help from the Justice League satellite, but the real MVP this issue is Green Lantern’s ring. The World’s Finest come up with a crazy idea: since the ring once fused Bruce and Clark’s willpowers before, maybe the ring can mash them together physically to give them enough mass to be solid again. It works! We get a literal fusion of Batman and Superman, it’s half Kryptonian, half human, and all business.
Brains vs. Brawl
Waid does a great job of balancing the sheer absurdity of comic-book logic with cool character moments. Yes, the fusion is a gimmick, but a tactical one. When The Merger blasts the hero with Kryptonite (because, of course, we can’t go one issue without some Kryptonite), the hero survives because the Batman half is human. It literally feels like a glass-half-full moment, but for radiation poisoning, and it works, you’re thinking, ‘That makes sense,’ and that’s the genius of Mark Waid. He makes outrageous comic book ideas make sense.
The scary part of the issue, however, is the Absorbascon. The Merger is using it to predict every move, countering Batman’s martial art strikes before they even land. It turns the fight into a chess match played at superspeed.
Pay What You Want!
The Art & Colors
Visually, this issue pops off the page like Joker throwing a baby off a cliff. Adrian Gutiérrez and Vicente Cifuentes handle the fusion designs with gleeful delight. The Merger looks grotesque and lanky, with the Joker’s grin on Luthor’s tech-heavy frame looking like a true horror show. On the flip side, the Batman/Superman fusion looks powerful and sleek, blending the iconic cape and cowl with the “S” shield in a way that feels fresh rather than forced.
Tamra Bonvillain’s colors are essential here. She distinguishes the chaotic, sickly greens and purples of The Merger from the bold, heroic primaries of the World’s Finest. The scenes where the madness spreads across Metropolis have a distinct, electric buzz to them. Finally, with Steve Wands’ lettering, it feels like you can actually hear the voices. The Merger speaks with a creepy, overlapping dialogue, as if two minds are fighting for control of one mouth. It makes them feel unstable and dangerous.
The Verdict
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #46 is pure superhero adrenaline. It embraces the “comic book-y” elements of the DC Universe: aliens, magic rings, and mad science, without blinking. If you want to read a high-stakes action and classic Silver Age concepts remixed for today, this is it.
‘Batman-Superman: World’s Finest’ #46 The Merger vs. The Composite: Who Wins?
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #46 is pure superhero adrenaline. It embraces the “comic book-y” elements of the DC Universe: aliens, magic rings, and mad science, without blinking. If you want to read a high-stakes action and classic Silver Age concepts remixed for today, this is it.
