There has been, deservedly, a lot of hype surrounding DC’s DC K.O. event. In addition to just being another universe-culminating fight for the DC Universe, the structure of its battle royale tournament has been fun to follow and speculate about so far.
The bracket of characters who could be facing off (including some of DC’s Absolute heroes), and what tools they might be using to help generate enough “Omega energy” to defeat Darkseid, have already provoked so much chatter. And now, the latest announcement tied to the event has taken things into a weirder direction.
On Friday, as part of DC’s February 2026 solicitations, the publisher officially announced DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1. A new one-shot written by Jeremy Adams with art by Carmine di Giandomenico, Ronan Cliquet, and more, the issue will be special for bringing in characters from outside of the DC Universe into the tournament. More specifically, the new combatants will include Red Sonja, Vampirella, Homelander from The Boys, Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, Samantha Strong from Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, and Annabelle the doll from The Conjuring franchise.
Yes, you read that right. No, you are not hallucinating. Don’t worry, I went through the same flurry of emotions when event co-writer Scott Snyder first unveiled the main cover at New York Comic Con last month. But this Boss Battle one-shot is very much real… and you can check out the official solicitation for it below.
What a wild crossover…
DC K.O.: BOSS BATTLE #1
- Written by JEREMY ADAMS
- Art by CARMINE Di GIANDOMENICO, RONAN CLIQUET, and MORE
- Cover by JAMAL CAMPBELL
- Variant covers by DARICK ROBERTSON, PATRICK HORVATH, and FRANK CHO
- Blank sketch cover
- Wraparound variant cover by JEFF SPOKES
- $4.99 US | 40 pages | Variants $5.99 US (card stock)
- ON SALE 2/4/26
- Unexpected fighters from beyond the DC Universe enter the arena! Wait… What? WHO?! As the remaining champions in the K.O. tournament prepare for the final rounds, they discover that there isn’t enough Omega energy left to crown the winner a King Omega. To have any hope of stopping Darkseid, they’ll need to engage in combat with the champions of other worlds beyond our own including Annabelle, Homelander, Sub-Zero, and more! This shocking, star-studded crossover sets the stage for the final chapters of the epic DC K.O. event and features matchups you never imagined possible. The ultimate battle is only beginning!
Ever since that main cover was first unveiled, the idea of how exactly these matchups will work has lived rent-free in my heads. While Injustice 2 already showed us how Sub-Zero can fight against the DCU’s heroes, the rest of these characters are an unknown quantity. Will we finally get a canonical answer to the (insufferable) power-scaling debate fans have over Superman and Homelander? Which DC characters will be worthy opponents to Red Sonja and Vampirella? How exactly will Annabelle fight in battle? And who could be caught in the crossfire of Samantha’s murderous tendencies? (Seriously, go read Beneath the Trees.)
The fact that we can even ask these questions delights me to no end, and feels so emblematic of what DC K.O. is trying to accomplish. The “who would win” debate has been waged in comic shops and on social media for decades at this point… and now we have a major narrative reason to find out. For now, my money is on the serial killer teddy bear.
DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1 will be released wherever comics are sold on February 4, 2026.
(featured image: DC)
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