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Mr. Terrific: Year One (2025-) #4
Michael Holt’s first outing as Mr. Terrific goes terribly awry, and he barely escapeswith his life. But just as he’s about to hang up the leather jacket for good after onesingle use…Bruce Wayne arrives at his doorstep with an unexpected proposal.But that’s not the only surprise guest star…in the present, a mysterious younginterloper rescues Mr. Terrific from a parademon onslaught!
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Published August 27, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 15, 2025
Fascinating story. Thank goodness for James Gunn
August 30, 2025
absolutely terrific
September 25, 2025
I’ve heard the complaint that a year one story really shouldn’t be connected to any other over arching plot lines, like the start of each of these issues, in order to be successful. Unfortunately I really enjoy seeing Mr Terrific prancing around the palace of eternity killing parademons with a giant dog as he monologues and makes his way to some weird sorcerer dude. That’s probably because the monologue at the start of this issue legit made me tear up. Mr Terrific talks about his father, Earnest Holt, and how he always believed in him. When Michael was in the third grade he was at risk of being held back, he was always said to have been staring into space instead of paying attention. But his dad knew he was smart, he saw how Michael would do better than the contestants on Jeopardy every night, and to Michael the lessons at school just weren’t challenging like the game. His dad told him that he had to alt himself or the world would move on without him, it’s all a game and he has to win. The next day his dad took him to school and told them they couldn’t hold him back and instead should skip him two grades. The principal thought he was crazy, but offered to let him take the test sixth graders do if he does it right then and there. Michael didn’t want to do it, but his father told him the only way forward…is through…Michael axes the test and it changed everything about his life. In the sixth grade he met Dre and he became a big brother. Later Michael asked how his dad knew he would pass the test…he said he didn’t…but life isn’t without risk and as a parent you always bet on your children even if it doesn’t work out, it’s important that know you believe in them. What a way to start the issue.
As we go back to the past we find Michael proclaiming himself as an idiot as he is being beat in by cormorant in the reactor room. Cormorant was even able to bust off his helmet and see his face, confirming once and for all Michael Holt is the one giving them so much problems. Just then Michael was able to order his t sphere to explode the nearby water line, knocking cormorant back and giving Michael a chance to escape in a sewer grate before some meathead soldier came in and fire in the engine room, causing it to explode and for Michael to get away. But it’s hard for Michael not to feel like a failure as he is washed back out to the bay. He let the spectre make him believe he could be a superhero but now it feels like a lie, and that he has failed everyone around him and the city. It seemed like Michael was just going to let himself float into oblivion…until spectre once again reached down and pulled the strings of fate and Michael out of the water, lol. Not getting away that easy!
If you recall, last issue Lex attempted to build his own nexus reactor based on Holt’s designs (that Athena stole when she bought the company) in Gotham…and it blew up. This lead batman to drop some of Lex’s people (including Mercy) on on his balcony as a warning that he is watching. The entire Gotham docks have been irradiated from the incident and batman wants to take Lex down if he can find proof he is responsible. All the while Ms Prescott is having a very similar terrible time. When the gunfire blew up the engine it set off a chain reaction causing then netherlight radiation in the room to begin rising at a rapid pace, actually increasing the temperature of the room. No one can go in until the radiation dissipates. Athena doesn’t care, she wants it back up and running by the end of the day. Additionally she wants cormorant out of her sight, she fired him immediately and refused to listen when he tried to tell her Holt is behind it. Plus one for us, lol, and even worse for Cormorant she legit called him a “pigeon pretending to be a cormorant.” WHAT A SICK BURN! She designates her assistant as head of security as others drag cormorant out, and orders a strict shoot first ask questions later policy. As Athena sets off for the elevator suddenly the world around her glows a pinkish tint as she is dragged to the ceiling with voices from Apokolips flooding into her head, proclaiming that she will help herald in Darkseid and there will be no setbacks or she will be fed to the hellhounds. We also get a small peak over at cormorant as he pops open a beer and watches the news report on Athena’s business causing illnesses. It seems that Michael is no longer in his sights, Athena is. Proven by the knife he throws at the picture of her he has on his board that I would hope was for security reasons and understanding who he is protecting. I hope he didn’t just have a picture of her, lol.
When Michael got home he was able to use one of his fast healing pods he designed for athletes years ago. Always helps to keep the prototype. Science, that’s the part of this he is still feeling good about. Suddenly his system reports about a visitor at the door, but it can’t register his face or body. As Michael gets ready he is surprised to find his old pal Bruce Wayne waiting for him at the door, looking mighty concerned about his wounds. But that’s not why Bruce is here, he is really here about the problem in Gotham. The reactor went off in an area of Gotham that hasn’t been used for decades, and the levels of netherlight radiation are off the charts, even to the point of being harmful to humans. And with 24 hours to go until the winds shift and it spreads all over Gotham, he needs Michael’s help to stop it. Michael and his wife were developing tech like this when Bruce tried to acquire Holt industries way back when, Michael really should have never sold it to Athena. But Michael really doesn’t need to hear more, they took a private jet to Gotham and got to work in one of Wayne’s labs with the best of the best. Bruce even surprised Michael in his ability to jump into the lab and school the Ivy League educated scientists. His math was still off, but that’s to be expected with how obscure netherlight radiation research is, as its behavior is different. Knowing what Michael knows in the present day, seeing Bruce like this would have made a lot more sense. Michael worked tirelessly and finally came to a conclusion when everyone else left. But Bruce never stopped watching, even from the batcave with a Batmobile very much designed from the Arkham knight game version. He hasn’t stopped watching because he is trying to rule out of Michael is responsible for the explosion, but it’s ultimately Michael that saves the day. I have to admit, if I am reading a Mr terrific comic, and at one point am not thoroughly confused by a high level sci-fi explanation…then someone isn’t writing Mr Terrific correctly, because this comic definitely achieved that confusion when Michael explains how he came the resolution. The ultimate gist of it is that the nexus engine turns netherlight into energy through special bacteria. But if it’s not handled through a big enough grid, it can discharge and explode…like what happened here. But the bacteria is the key, Michael was able to modify the bacteria to absorb the radiation as a food source. The more they eat the more they grow and the more they grow the more they eat. Make sense? Eventually the radiation will be gone and the bacteria will die without a food source. Elegant. For the first time, since his wife died, Michael is reminded of what it’s like to build something that helps others. He felt that spark again, not from behind a mask../but in a lab coat.
As the issue comes to an end Prescott decides to take some drastic measures. they are current stuck in a catch 22. They can’t fix the engine until the radiation goes down, but the radiation won’t go down fast without the engine. Otherwise they are waiting a week, or maybe it will never go down. The only way to turn on the engine is by first flipping a switch inside. They can’t send any robots as they are suitable for the heat. Which is why Athena exudes to go in herself. What Athena?! I guess you are used to the hell pits on Apokolips so this is a cake walk, huh?! I’m not actually sure of she is from Apokolips, but with that darkseid connection she certainly seems sure of herself. Even agains the constant warnings of her colleagues, she puts on a suit and heads inside. Ordering them to kick it on RIGHT when she pulls the lever. She is able to pull it and order them, and the issue ends with energy pouring through her body. That wizard dude we saw in the present day with all the energy coming out of their finger tips…could that be Athena?
As we go back to the past we find Michael proclaiming himself as an idiot as he is being beat in by cormorant in the reactor room. Cormorant was even able to bust off his helmet and see his face, confirming once and for all Michael Holt is the one giving them so much problems. Just then Michael was able to order his t sphere to explode the nearby water line, knocking cormorant back and giving Michael a chance to escape in a sewer grate before some meathead soldier came in and fire in the engine room, causing it to explode and for Michael to get away. But it’s hard for Michael not to feel like a failure as he is washed back out to the bay. He let the spectre make him believe he could be a superhero but now it feels like a lie, and that he has failed everyone around him and the city. It seemed like Michael was just going to let himself float into oblivion…until spectre once again reached down and pulled the strings of fate and Michael out of the water, lol. Not getting away that easy!
If you recall, last issue Lex attempted to build his own nexus reactor based on Holt’s designs (that Athena stole when she bought the company) in Gotham…and it blew up. This lead batman to drop some of Lex’s people (including Mercy) on on his balcony as a warning that he is watching. The entire Gotham docks have been irradiated from the incident and batman wants to take Lex down if he can find proof he is responsible. All the while Ms Prescott is having a very similar terrible time. When the gunfire blew up the engine it set off a chain reaction causing then netherlight radiation in the room to begin rising at a rapid pace, actually increasing the temperature of the room. No one can go in until the radiation dissipates. Athena doesn’t care, she wants it back up and running by the end of the day. Additionally she wants cormorant out of her sight, she fired him immediately and refused to listen when he tried to tell her Holt is behind it. Plus one for us, lol, and even worse for Cormorant she legit called him a “pigeon pretending to be a cormorant.” WHAT A SICK BURN! She designates her assistant as head of security as others drag cormorant out, and orders a strict shoot first ask questions later policy. As Athena sets off for the elevator suddenly the world around her glows a pinkish tint as she is dragged to the ceiling with voices from Apokolips flooding into her head, proclaiming that she will help herald in Darkseid and there will be no setbacks or she will be fed to the hellhounds. We also get a small peak over at cormorant as he pops open a beer and watches the news report on Athena’s business causing illnesses. It seems that Michael is no longer in his sights, Athena is. Proven by the knife he throws at the picture of her he has on his board that I would hope was for security reasons and understanding who he is protecting. I hope he didn’t just have a picture of her, lol.
When Michael got home he was able to use one of his fast healing pods he designed for athletes years ago. Always helps to keep the prototype. Science, that’s the part of this he is still feeling good about. Suddenly his system reports about a visitor at the door, but it can’t register his face or body. As Michael gets ready he is surprised to find his old pal Bruce Wayne waiting for him at the door, looking mighty concerned about his wounds. But that’s not why Bruce is here, he is really here about the problem in Gotham. The reactor went off in an area of Gotham that hasn’t been used for decades, and the levels of netherlight radiation are off the charts, even to the point of being harmful to humans. And with 24 hours to go until the winds shift and it spreads all over Gotham, he needs Michael’s help to stop it. Michael and his wife were developing tech like this when Bruce tried to acquire Holt industries way back when, Michael really should have never sold it to Athena. But Michael really doesn’t need to hear more, they took a private jet to Gotham and got to work in one of Wayne’s labs with the best of the best. Bruce even surprised Michael in his ability to jump into the lab and school the Ivy League educated scientists. His math was still off, but that’s to be expected with how obscure netherlight radiation research is, as its behavior is different. Knowing what Michael knows in the present day, seeing Bruce like this would have made a lot more sense. Michael worked tirelessly and finally came to a conclusion when everyone else left. But Bruce never stopped watching, even from the batcave with a Batmobile very much designed from the Arkham knight game version. He hasn’t stopped watching because he is trying to rule out of Michael is responsible for the explosion, but it’s ultimately Michael that saves the day. I have to admit, if I am reading a Mr terrific comic, and at one point am not thoroughly confused by a high level sci-fi explanation…then someone isn’t writing Mr Terrific correctly, because this comic definitely achieved that confusion when Michael explains how he came the resolution. The ultimate gist of it is that the nexus engine turns netherlight into energy through special bacteria. But if it’s not handled through a big enough grid, it can discharge and explode…like what happened here. But the bacteria is the key, Michael was able to modify the bacteria to absorb the radiation as a food source. The more they eat the more they grow and the more they grow the more they eat. Make sense? Eventually the radiation will be gone and the bacteria will die without a food source. Elegant. For the first time, since his wife died, Michael is reminded of what it’s like to build something that helps others. He felt that spark again, not from behind a mask../but in a lab coat.
As the issue comes to an end Prescott decides to take some drastic measures. they are current stuck in a catch 22. They can’t fix the engine until the radiation goes down, but the radiation won’t go down fast without the engine. Otherwise they are waiting a week, or maybe it will never go down. The only way to turn on the engine is by first flipping a switch inside. They can’t send any robots as they are suitable for the heat. Which is why Athena exudes to go in herself. What Athena?! I guess you are used to the hell pits on Apokolips so this is a cake walk, huh?! I’m not actually sure of she is from Apokolips, but with that darkseid connection she certainly seems sure of herself. Even agains the constant warnings of her colleagues, she puts on a suit and heads inside. Ordering them to kick it on RIGHT when she pulls the lever. She is able to pull it and order them, and the issue ends with energy pouring through her body. That wizard dude we saw in the present day with all the energy coming out of their finger tips…could that be Athena?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2025
Another great issue of Mr.Terrific: year one.
The artwork and storyline was fantastic.
The writer introduced some big named
characters that I was surprised to see.
The artwork and storyline was fantastic.
The writer introduced some big named
characters that I was surprised to see.
September 29, 2025
A nice follow up to last issue, I really like Michael’s little story here about his father’s influence on him and how things seem to be gradually escalating.
August 27, 2025
I’m enjoying the story and the connections Michael Holt has with Darkside. Sometimes the best solution isn’t forcing it, it’s stepping back and allowing the facts to wash over you until the solution finds you.
August 28, 2025
3.5/5
hope to god that the dcu is like this. events affect anyone and everyone. i wanna see mr. terrific and batman's dynamic too in the dcu.
hope to god that the dcu is like this. events affect anyone and everyone. i wanna see mr. terrific and batman's dynamic too in the dcu.
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August 31, 2025je comprends rien
September 2, 2025
Very good. The artstyle is very creative especially when dealing with the radiations and reactors. The characterwork for Mr Terrific is just great and I'm eager to see what happens in the next issue.
September 25, 2025
one of the best issues for me so far
October 1, 2025
an excellent origin story of Mr Terrific
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews