DC Database
DC Database
The DC Universe is here
132,767
pages
in: Issues Rated T, Marie Javins/Executive Editor, Javi Fernandez/Cover Artist,
and 132 more

DC K.O. (2025) #2

Sign in to edit

"Chapter Two: Objects in Motions": In the past, Clark, Bruce, Diana and Lois continued to play their tabletop game until Bruce remembers that Tim asked him what he would have done with his life if he was not a superhero, so he decides to open that topic of conversation with his friends. Diana

Warning! This comic is very recent and may contain spoilers!
Read beyond this point at your own risk!

Quote1 I'm Superman... and Superman Is. Quote2
— Superman (Clark Kent)

DC K.O. #2 is an issue of the series DC K.O. (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 2026. It was published on November 26, 2025.

Synopsis for "Chapter Two: Objects in Motions"

In the past, Clark, Bruce, Diana and Lois continued to play their tabletop game until Bruce remembers that Tim asked him what he would have done with his life if he was not a superhero, so he decides to open that topic of conversation with his friends. Diana says that she would be a tour guide for national parks because she is interested in the preservation of history and culture. Bruce's friends easily guess that he would be a doctor, just like his father, and Bruce himself believes that Clark would be a president, a statement that surprises Clark, who does not believe he is suited for such a position.

Clark believes he is better suited to be a fireman than a politician, but Bruce replies that Clark only believes that because he always tries to find a way in which he can do the most good possible. He acknowledges that Clark is, in his own way, a good strategist, but strategists knows when to adapt when circumstances change.

In the present, the King Omega tournament continues. The 32 winners of the first round have passed to the next phase of the tournament, which takes place in a large arena that was constructed in a microscopic white hole over eleven billion years. The heart of Apokolips, functioning as the game master, says that the battlefield Is filled with the corpses of primordial gods killed by Darkseid in his quest to become the King Omega of his own universe. It then narrates the rules of this phase to the contestants: they must search the battlefield for powerful artifacts from across the universe. They are the Blue Beetle Scarab, the God Killer Sword, the Worlogog, the Atom's belt, a Mother Box, the Psycho Pirate's Medusa Mask, Thor's hammer, Bane's Venom container, a Speed Force ring, several Power Rings, the Genie's Pen, the Claw of Horus, the Soultaker Sword, the Lasso of Truth, the Cosmic Rod and an unidentified mystery item.

The arena is a graveyard littered with the corpses of the gods killed by Darkseid and the combatants must traverse the arena to find the artifacts. The sixteen contestants that find each object will pass to the next round while the losers will die. There is no rule of conduct and winning is the only thing that matters. The heart reminds the contestants that the only way to win is to follow the example of Darkseid.

The challenge begins and the contestants scatter. Lex blasts off in search for any object that gets him the advantage and Superman quickly follows him, determined not to let Lex win. He shoots a beam of heat vision to the ground to keep the other villains from hampering his friends' progress; then, he grabs Lex's leg and throws him into a giant emaciated skull. Wonder Woman reaches Atom's belt but Etrigan ambushes her with a breath of hellfire. The Amazon Princess pushes the demon back with a kick to his jaw, only for Giganta, already with the size of a building, to stand ready for a fight. Unfortunately, the Joker has already found the belt and uses it to grow larger than Giganta and crushes her. Even though the villains were supposed to be in the same side, the Joker only plays by his own rules and reminds everyone about it by eating Giganta's remains.

In another part of the arena, Metamorpho tries to claim the God Killer Sword, but he is held in place by Plastic Man, who has been upgraded to a new form of plastic: polyphenylene sulfide. This superplastic cannot be dissolved by anything Metamorpho conjures up, but Metamorpho quickly disproves that by transforming himself into a boiling version of that superplastic. Starro sees the two heroes are distracted and attempts to grab the sword, only for Jay Garrick to take it instead. Guy Gardner tries to get the Speed Force ring but Harley literally beats him to it with a blow of her mallet.

Superman continues his fight with Lex, who is glad that he can have a moment to speak with the Man of Steel. When the Justice League locked up all the villains in the Phantom Zone, Lex admits his surprise when he learned that Superman and his friends had turned the Phantom Zone into a more pleasurable realm. It is in the Zone that Lex had an epiphany, but Superman has no interest in hearing it. Even so, Lex is more than happy to tell his story and forces Superman to listen by exposing him to several kinds of Kryptonite hidden in his armor. The fight begins anew and Lex says that at first, he hated Superman because the Kryptonian hero was, in Lex's eyes, preventing humanity from achieving its full potential by saving people from failure that could help them grow as a species. Only now does Lex realize that he hates Superman because he is doing too little to help humanity grow.

Lex generates an energy blade and uses it to slice Superman's right hand off. As Superman falls to his knees in pain, Lex continues his monologue by saying that the heart of Apokolips gave him a vision of what the universe would look like he was supreme ruler of everything. He believes that Superman could attain that form of power, too, but Superman would only use it to put everything back the way it was and that disgusts Lex enough to fire Kryptonite shards into the body of his already weakened opponent. Even after all this time, Lex sees himself as the hero of his own story and says that the world no longer wants people like Superman, who simply defend a system that people lost faith in. They want heroes who fix the world's problems and that is the role Lex thinks he can play. He tells Superman to sit back and watch as Lex does the one thing Superman could never do: save the world.

The contest continues and Cyborg obtains the Mother Box just as Guy gets close to the Claw of Horus, only for Hawkman to grab it at the last second, which frustrates the Green Lantern. Swamp Thing, Big Barda and Etrigan fight over who gets the Soultaker sword while Lobo tries to get the Venom container. Starro jumps onto Lobo in attempt to have him release the container, but Lobo injects himself with the Venom and uses his increased strength to tear Starro apart. This is but a minor inconvenience for Starro, who uses his broken parts to multiply and take mental control of Power Girl, Wonder Woman, Jay and Firestorm. With his new League, Starro goes on the warpath.

The possessed Wonder Woman attacks Zatanna and Starro claims the Mistress of Magic is defenseless, for magic does not work on cosmic starfish. Zatanna, however, has another trick of her sleeve: attempting to convince Wonder Woman into escaping from Starro's control. The ploy works and Wonder Woman regains enough control to unearth Thor's hammer and release a powerful electric discharge that strikes Starro's duplicates and liberates her friends. In the confusion, Guy attempts to grab Khaji Da, the Blue Beetle Scarab, only to find that Jason Todd, the Red Hood, has already bonded with it. Red Hood prepares to fight the Joker and Harley joins Red Hood for a piece of the action, but Joker uses the belt miniaturize himself and enter Barda's brain. He then gives himself a moment to indulge in his cruelty and starts tearing Barda apart from the inside.

Vixen tries to grab the Genie's Pen but King Shark has already obtained and says that Vixen will have to fight for it, a challenge she accepts. She then channels the power of a megalodon and buries her opponent deep underground, but her effort amounts to nothing, for Etrigan has already taken the pen while Zatanna has grabbed the God Killer Sword. Zatanna warns her friends there are few objects left in the battlefield and recommends haste.

Lex has located the power rings of the ten Lantern Corps, but Carol Ferris, the Star Sapphire, hits him in the back with a construct based on the Fortress of Solitude as payback for Superman. She attempts to secure the rings, only to find nine of them. The Black Lantern ring is in Lex's possession. Carol believes the ring is useless without any corpses to control, only for Lex to remind her that the battlefield is a graveyard for dead gods. As Lex awakens the undead gods, Supergirl has obtained the Medusa Mask and notices her cousin is injured. She tries to give the mask to him and believes she can find another object before the contest is over, but Captain Atom takes the mask from her.

Lex orders his army of the dead to attack everyone on sight and gloats his imminent victory to Superman, but Superman is not out of the game just yet. He remembers the rule the heart mentioned before the beginning of the game, "follow the example of Darkseid", and looks at the socket to which his right hand was connected. Darkseid sacrificed everything he had, including his right hand, to defeat his opponents and Superman acknowledges circumstances have changed. He grabs the Kryptonite shard on his left shoulder and uses it to stab his own heart.

One of the elder gods under Lex's commands stomps on Superman and Lex believes he has finally killed his mortal enemy, but he is wrong. Superman lives and shines with the power of the last object, the Omega Sanction. This new power is unleashed upon the elder gods and quickly vaporizes them. Superman cannot help but enjoy the adrenaline that Darkseid felt when he killed those gods a long time ago. He wants to use the Omega Sanction on Lex, only to be stopped by Guy, who has obtained the Worlogog. The contest has ended.

The holders of artifacts will pass to the next round while the losers will be literally eliminated. Aside from Superman and Lex, the winners are Joker, Swamp Thing, Jay, Hawkman, Lobo, Zatanna, Guy, Harley, Red Hood, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Etrigan and Cyborg.

At the Watchtower, the Quantum Quorum observes the contestants' progress. The Time Trapper is surprised the champions have made such susbtantial progress and reminds his allies that they must hold the barrier against Darkseid, only for Booster Gold to attack him. Booster is actually Darkseid and he is ready to enter the arena.

Appearing in "Chapter Two: Objects in Motions"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Events:

Concepts:

Notes

  • The DC K.O. event chronologically continues in DC K.O.: Superman vs. Captain Atom #1, which shown the first knockout round– Superman vs. Captain Atom.
  • An editor's note– and Lex Luthor's ambiguous words– references the events of Superman Unlimited #1, implying that they have already taken place. However, this appears inconsistent with the DC K.O. event occurring immediately after the We Are Yesterday crossover and the clash between Superman and the Absolute Legion during the Legion of Darkseid storyline. Superman Unlimited #1 features a three-month timeskip, which does not even seem compatible with the temporal placement (from late May to midsummer 2025) of all these storylines.

Trivia


See Also


Links and References

  1. ↑ DC K.O. #1
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms