DC KO #1-5 + Boss Battle + All Fight Month

DC KO #1-5 + Boss Battle + All Fight Month

Originally released in 2025

Written by Scott Snyder et al.

Art by Javi Fernandez et al.

I didn't realize I was almost at my fiftieth entry in this blog until I started typing it. I see that the full DC KO event is on the app, so I'm going to give that (or at least the main issues) a try and hope that not reading any of the build-up won't cause me issues as I go through it.

This story is a tournament arc, a staple of anime and manga, where various heroes and villains are competing for a power source tied to Apokolips. My main concern going into this is the pacing.  In anime and manga, chapters come out weekly, meaning that a tournament arc could potentially cover thirty or forty chapters if not more, giving everyone time to show off and get individual fights.  Here, most of the action is confined to five issues, though round three has individual tie-in issues for each of the eight matches, which has me worried that this might be rushed.

After learning that Darkseid will return to the main DC universe in a week, with omnipotence granted to him from his creation of the Absolute universe, the heroes of the DC universe are basically forced to compete for the Heart of Apokolips, which has formed in the center of the Earth and will grant similar levels of power to anyone who earns it.

After explaining their plan to the world and using armed drones to prevent any villains from taking part in the competition, the heroes make their way to the center of the Earth through a pre-existing tunnel.  The preliminary round is a race to portals that will narrow the competitors down to thirty-two - death is certain, but the plan is to have whoever wins bring back anyone who dies in the process. (though some of the deaths are downright mean-spirited, like the writer or editorial not wanting to use specific characters - Billy Batson inexplicably arrives in his non-powered child form, only to be squashed before the competition even begins because there's seemingly no other way to justify Captain Marvel, or the Captain, or Shazam, failing to make it in while the likes of Connor Hawke or Batwoman make it into the next round)

Clark stays back for as long as possible, giving everyone time to get through even if it risks him not being able to compete. (he has misgivings about fighting his friends to the death, even with the plan in place to revive them)  Batman admonishes Clark for not staying focused, only to be stabbed in the back - some of the villains managed to escape the drones somehow (it's not clear how, though Lex likely played a part), made it to the center of the Earth, and are now in the running for the competition.

With Clark making it in, the competition goes from hundreds of people to thirty-two.  I'm assuming that a bunch of heroes, like Barry Allen or Wally West, were busy elsewhere, as there's no reason why either of them wouldn't win the race in a fraction of a second - the only Flash who gets to compete is Jay Garrick. (likewise, the only Green Lantern competing is Guy Gardner, though that's less egregious given how much of outer space a Green Lantern has to cover)

I know that DC has its own series of fighting games with Injustice, but I'd love to see a DC KO video game based on this premise.  Some tweaks would likely need to be made with the roster, but I think people are a little sick of the "evil Superman" concept that Injustice uses by now, and a tournament is a classic fighting game set-up. (plus, thirty-two characters seems like a reasonably-sized starting roster for a fighting game) The series also hints at some twists and turns to come, such as the outcome of the tournament, some familiar faces who will be used as Darkseid's chief enforcers...

...along with telling us that Darkseid has possessed one of the heroes.  But which one has he possessed?  It's a mystery that could span the entire storyline... except it is incredibly unsubtle about who the possessed hero is.

Issue 2 kicks off the tournament, though it's less of a tournament (despite what the bracket would have you believe) and more of a battle royale.  Various items like the Blue Beetle's Scarab or Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth are scattered around the arena, and the competitors need to find and claim them in order to move on to the next round.

There aren't any rules for what can be done to get the items, but following the example of Darkseid will be rewarded.  The Joker immediately takes that to heart once he gets the Atom's belt and grows to giant size, killing Giganta and eating what appears to be Connor Hawke and Cheetah, which gives me a bad feeling about how this is going to go. (Even as a giant, it doesn't seem like he should be able to catch Cheetah, though maybe I only feel that way because of common stereotypes like giants being slow and that not applying to the size-shifting from the Atom's belt)

Events quickly devolve into chaos as Lex Luthor gets his hands on a Black Lantern Ring. The battlefield is made up of the corpses of titans, and Lex takes advantage of that, reviving them as zombies to take out opponents who would be far above his usual weight class. My concern, from previews that I'd read, was that the tournament would be blatantly rigged in the Joker's favour, and he'd be set up as the main villain, but as I actually read the issues, it's clear that Lex is intended as the main threat. (Even if the Joker seems to be lasting much longer than he really should - I like the character, and I get that he's popular, but in a combat competition, it seems hard to justify him outlasting virtually every single other competitor)

The event seems to be largely about Lex, Superman, and what they'd do with unlimited power.  Lex seems to have a better understanding of Superman's mindset after being stuck in the Phantom Zone, realizing that Superman would reject that power regardless of the good it would do; that realization just makes Lex hate Superman even more.

With the competitors down to sixteen, we get four tie-ins and four one-shot issues focusing on the individual fights.  As this is more focused than the first two issues of the tournament, I'll give them a read to see how they handle the contest. The order doesn't strictly matter, but I'll go through them in release order.

Superman vs. Captain Atom is up first, in a match where the outcome is basically predetermined. (Batman not qualifying was a surprise, but eliminating Superman this early would be a rather unusual move) Comments were made about the Heart of Apokolips twisting the competitors as time went on, making them more willing to kill and behave like Darkseid would, but Captain Atom went off the deep end rather quickly.

It quickly becomes clear that all of this power has gotten to Captain Atom's head.  While Captain Atom makes it clear that Superman needs to be willing to kill if he's going to win this tournament, when the second round lets them pick from any form they've ever had, he chooses the villainous Monarch.

The third and final round has Captain Atom acting like a kid in a playground game who's a sore loser (even though it's a tie so far, with each of them winning one round) - when choosing between any of his forms, he chooses all of them at once. (Superman, ever humble, stays as himself) He plans to use this combined power to bend the Heart of Apokolips to his will, which it actively fights against.

Captain Atom tries sacrificing his history to defeat Superman, literally using comic panels as weapons (leading to the silly image of Captain Atom using a panel of himself as a baby as a human shield against Superman), but Superman is ultimately triumphant.

Next up is Aquaman vs. Hawkman.  When it comes to tournament arcs, my main reference is going to be Dragon Ball, and this match seems like a first round match with Krillin - you can be pretty confident that neither of them are going to make it to the finals, but it will be interesting to see what Krillin gets to show off. (I'm assuming Aquaman is the Krillin in this scenario)

It's surprisingly one-sided; even with the power of Horus on his side, Hawkman stands no chance, to the point where he questions how Aquaman gained this kind of power. The third fight is between Wonder Woman and Lobo, though a fight to the death seems kind of unfair when one of the competitors is immortal. (Neither Heaven or Hell want Lobo, so he can't stay dead)

Still, it seems weird to see Wonder Woman portrayed as an underdog; Lobo seems to have the advantage, with Wonder Woman winning a round when Lobo takes on the appearance of his widely-mocked New 52 redesign that feels more like something ripping off Twilight than a 90s anti-hero.

Each issue also has an interlude focusing on the Watchtower, where a group of time travelers are trying to slow time (and Darkseid's arrival) to a crawl. However, Darkseid (possessing Booster Gold) is doing his best to stop them despite being stuck in a relatively weak form.

While it's a little annoying to jump between four different series (in addition to the one-shots), spreading out individual two-out-of-three fights between individual issues helps to give the matches, and the characters within them, more focus, rather than being so chaotic that it's hard to tell who's won or who's been eliminated.

The tie-in issues, in a way, spoil who wins a given match-up - when Cyborg vs. Swamp Thing takes place in an issue of Titans, then no matter how outmatched Cyborg might seem, he's still going to win because the match takes place in his own book.

Harley Quinn vs. Zatanna is similar to Superman vs. Captain Atom, where one fighter is trying to convince the other that killing is going to be necessary and they need to give it everything that they got. (Though given that Zatanna could beat Harley with a sentence fragment, it's a bit of a surprise to see that fight lasting three rounds)

The Flash issue 28, written by Mark Waid, has The Flash facing off with Green Lantern, specifically Jay Garrick vs. Guy Gardner. It also explains why Wally is absent, as he and Bart Allen (Impulse, Barry's descendant who came back in time) were travelling to the future when they were attacked by a corrupted Legion of Superheroes.

The seventh match has Lex Luthor fight against Etrigan (or rather The Demon, as the issue's title calls him), as Lex reflects on a time where he made a deal with the devil (or rather Neron) and questions if some vital part of himself is missing as a result.

Admittedly, there are large parts of DC's history that I'm completely unfamiliar with, so when Guy Gardner mentions alien ancestors or Lex Luthor talks about a deal with the devil, I just kind of shrug my shoulders and move on.

Out of the matches in this round, the one with the most history behind it is Red Hood vs. the Joker.  The Joker killed Red Hood back when he was Robin, and upon being revived, Jason didn't take it well.  In an interesting twist, one of the rounds in this match takes them back to that pivotal moment from A Death In The Family, except Jason is unrestrained, making it clear to both the Joker and himself that if circumstances were different, he could have killed the Joker back then.

Now there are only eight fighters left heading into DC KO #3.  As time is ticking forwards and Earth is slowly being converted into New Apokolips, the fighters have to choose a partner for the next round out of anyone who was eliminated. (including the hundreds who were eliminated at the start)  The one exception, seemingly due to him being more willing to kill than the rest, is the Joker, who gets to pick from anyone in the multiverse to be his partner in what comes across as a blatant Deus Ex Machina to get him to the next round. (when I saw this in a preview, it really annoyed me; usually, in tournament arcs, the villain manages to make it to the finals because they're stronger than most opponents, or have better abilities - in this case, the tournament comes across as being openly rigged in the Joker's favour, with the rules not applying to him whenever it's convenient)

With the choices being made, the next round of the competition is set.  There are some teams that seem logical, some (like Lex Luthor and Supergirl) that are unexpected, and in a bold strategy, Cyborg appears to be intentionally trying to lose.

I'm glad that Superman chose Shazam as his partner, as it felt like a shame that he was eliminated right off the bat.  Same thing goes for Wonder Woman picking Big Barda, who was eliminated unusually early in an event that's based around Apokolips.

The fights go by rather quickly, with a lot of them overlapping with each other.  Most of the focus seems to be on Superman and Shazam's fight with the Green Lanterns; I know I said that World's Finest took some Dragon Ball inspiration with the fusion of Batman and Superman, but here, the Dragon Ball inspiration is so obvious that the result of a fusion is even wearing the Potara Earrings!

The remaining four combatants - Superman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, and the Joker - are transported to Earth, after its conversion into New Apokolips.  There, they are faced with Darkseid's champions - Booster Gold (possessed by Darkseid himself) along with warped versions of the Absolute Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

At this point, we interrupt DC KO for guest fighters!  A staple of fighting games since, at the very least, Soul Calibur II, an issue of this storyline is spent showing off what comics, movies, video games, and other media Warner Bros. can collaborate with, from WB-owned New Line Cinema to other comic companies like Dynamite Entertainment and Archie Comics.  The remaining fighters need more Omega Energy, and in order to get it, Gorilla Grodd and the World Forger summon fighters from across the multiverse to help generate it, which also involves reviving some of the fallen heroes.

The headliner of this event is Superman vs. Homelander, the villainous Superman pastiche from The Boys, but while I was hoping for Homelander to be humiliated physically and mentally, I wound up disappointed.  I don't know whether it's because this is a one-shot, because there are so many fights included in here, or because crossovers in comics work like the contracts that Vin Diesel and The Rock have for the Fast & Furious movies, but the fights are inconclusive with neither side clearly winning.  Some, like Wonder Woman vs. Red Sonja, only last about three or four pages.

Funnily enough, the highlight of all of this is Lex Luthor fighting Samantha Strong, a bear with a knife, which causes him to run away fearing for his life.

From this point onward, I just have the last two issues of the main series to go, which means less jumping around on my part.  After the first skirmish, the Joker cuts the metaphorical brakes on his own team, going full wildcard. Yee-haw!

As the fight continues, we get a flashback (flash-forwards? Flash-sideways?) to the game night that would have happened between Bruce, Clark, Diana, and Lois before Darkseid would have arrived.  Clark finds it a little unusual that Bruce rolls exactly what he needs every single time and suspects some kind of Bat-gadget is in play, so Bruce lets him in on a secret.

That's all the foreshadowing that we get (unless it's explained in another tie-in) before Batman arrives, shooting the Parademon Joker through the chest. (I guess, since he's a Parademon now, he's okay to kill? It kind of gets glossed over)

As the original Trinity battles their counterparts in the Absolute Trinity, with the latter being corrupted by Darkseid, Superman turns his attention to Booster Gold, hitting him with enough force to break a planet.  This seems to break Darkseid's concentration long enough to return the Absolute heroes to normal.

However, Lex knows that it's not that Superman's blow took away his hold over their opponents - it's that Darkseid doesn't need them any more, because he's manifesting at full power, climbing out of Booster's mouth in a disturbing image.

All hope seems lost as Darkseid effortlessly defeats the heroes and also Lex, but Clark is protected in a pocket dimension, the future that would have been, created by a member of that group of time travelers that warned them about all of this. (The Time Trapper, who appears to be a future version of Doomsday that gained intelligence and a conscience)  The Time Trapper sacrifices his ability to perpetually revive, giving it to Superman. (though I'm guessing that neither of those details will stick following this event)

As the last one standing, Clark becomes the King Omega, battling Darkseid in a fight that spans time, space, and realities.  Superman manages to weaken Darkseid, to delay him, but he won't go any further.  Rather than remaking the universe in his image, he gives up that power to undo everything. (though hopefully it doesn't mean that DC's timeline is going to be rebooted again)

With Superman disappearing to parts unknown (and Superboy-Prime, who's alive now, apparently taking up the mantle), things return to relative normalcy, though DC seemingly can't resist the urge to set up the next Crisis event.

Part of me wishes that this story arc was fleshed out more, though I get that it's going to be handled differently from how a tournament arc would be handled in manga; it seems unlikely that they're going to have about 32 issues showing the various fights that were set up by the brackets (one issue each) plus the final battle with Darkseid.  Still, I enjoyed the round where we got individual issues of one-on-one fights, as it allowed for more insight into at least one of the characters involved, and it felt like some rounds (like the guest fighters or the fight with the Absolute heroes) could have been expanded upon.  Rather than focusing on the entire universe, this was very much a Superman story, though some of the points raised (like how Superman doesn't want to make change and would rather return everything to normal) get brought up as a problem with Superman's mindset but don't really get addressed or reframed.  This very much felt like a summer blockbuster; a little rushed at times, but enjoyable for the most part.