The battle to be crowned King Omega is underway! In “Come Out Writing,” we help you stay on top of all things DC K.O., offering our predictions on upcoming matchups and expert commentary on all the important fights.
 

It’s fight night here in the DC Universe. With 32 of DC’s most exciting combatants going head-to-head to prove they have what it takes to defeat Darkseid, everybody’s got their chips down on who they think may win it all.

The first-round bracket has been divided into sixteen thrilling matchups, and yours truly will be joined by three of my insightful DC.com colleagues in upcoming weeks to offer up our thoughts, predictions and odds on each of those fights. The four I’ll be focusing on today have got it all—demons, champions, underdogs…even an undershark. To be clear, none of us are here to promise you who’s going to make it into the next round. That can only be determined in the arena. But we can tell you, based entirely on our expertise in the history of the DCU, whom fortune may favor.
 

KING SHARK VS. AQUAMAN

Taking a look at King Shark, one might be forgiven for presuming he’s already an Aquaman villain to begin with. But Nanaue, the demigod son of a Hawaiian shark deity, first debuted as an enemy of Conner Kent, the cloned Superboy. That isn’t to say Aquaman and King Shark haven’t fought in the past, though—most notably in Dan Abnett’s 2016 Aquaman series. King Shark and the King of the Seas were more evenly matched there than you might presume. More than that, at this point we have to factor in that King Shark is no stranger to the bracketed tournament setting. 2021’s Suicide Squad: King Shark was predicated upon Nanaue entering “The Wild Games,” a tournament of avatars of the animal kingdom, himself standing in for shark-kind. By slaying the Man-King, avatar of humanity, King Shark claimed victory for a united Kingdom Animalia against the human avatar’s intended treachery.

Which is all to say that King Shark would have a decent shot…under normal circumstances. Those following Jeremy Adams’ ongoing Aquaman series will know that this is no longer the case. Empowered by both the unleashed Omega Energy of Darkseid and by defeating the aquatic deity Dagon to become the new Avatar of the Blue, the morphogenic field uniting all the seas of creation, Aquaman has recently ascended to a godlike station himself. In the recent Aquaman #9, he even defeated a rampant, demon-possessed Superman where the rest of the Justice League failed. Unfortunately for King Shark, this happens to be the exact moment that you do not want to be taking Aquaman on.

ODDS:
AQUAMAN: 90%
KING SHARK: 10%
 

CONNOR HAWKE VS. HAWKMAN

Like King Shark, Connor Hawke is coming into this competition having already won an elimination tournament of his own. In DC K.O. co-writer Joshua Williamson’s own Robin series, Connor Hawke was entered as a ringer by the League of Shadows to win them the title of Champion of the Lazarus Tournament—defeating many of the greatest new martial arts talent in the DCU along the way, including Damian Wayne himself. We’re talking about a kid here who, in the 1998 “Brotherhood of the Fist” martial arts crossover story, managed to make Lady Shiva work up a sweat. Hands down: putting powers and gadgets aside, Connor Hawke is the most capable martial artist entered in this tournament. Yes, even more capable than Batman.

And what of Hawkman? He’s pretty strong. He’s got a big mace. He’s got a harness and wings that let him fly around. But he’s going up against an opponent who’s been the Green Arrow on multiple occasions. Connor can take out a long-range target. The biggest threat here, though, is that Connor isn’t just taking on Carter Hall. As seen in the 2018 Hawkman series, he’s taking on the thousands, perhaps millions, of past lives that Hawkman has ever lived. Connor Hawke may be the most physically capable fighter here, but Hawkman brings the most experience. We still think Hawke’s got more fight in him than his elders, but the old bird won’t make it easy.

ODDS:
CONNOR HAWKE: 65%
HAWKMAN: 35%
 

LEX LUTHOR VS. BLACK LIGHTNING

Here, I believe, we have these four matches’ dark horse. Lex Luthor is by no means a joke in a battle scenario. While Luthor usually prefers to let others do the fighting for him, when forced to take action himself, Luthor always comes prepared—especially when his enemy happens to be a hated foe. Even without Superman around, as seen in 2010’s “The Black Ring” saga, there are fewer with more cunning or ingenuity in the bracket.

But there is one factor which always brings Luthor low and that’s his own ego. Lex Luthor has focused all of his great mental energy and prowess on taking down his greatest enemy, Superman. No doubt, Luthor fully intends to face him in the semifinals. But that may not happen because as Luthor may have forgotten entirely, the city of Metropolis has another hero. He’s a hero who, in 2018’s Batman and the Outsiders, Batman assessed as a potential equal to even the most powerful members of the Justice League. In his monomaniacal pursuit of the Last Son of Krypton, could Luthor have overlooked the electric abilities of Black Lightning? Well…probably not. But there’s always a chance that Jefferson can short him out.

ODDS:
LEX LUTHOR: 80%
BLACK LIGHTNING: 20%
 

THE DEMON VS. SUPERGIRL

It doesn’t take a Luthor to recite the most well-known Kryptonian weaknesses by heart. There’s Kryptonite, there’s yellow solar energy deprivation and then there’s the big Number Three: magic. You know what happens when a Kryptonian gets struck by demon flame? The same thing that happens to everything else.

But hey, just because an opponent can hurt a Kryptonian doesn’t mean they will. How many times have Lex Luthor, Metallo or even guys named “Kryptonite Man” come after Superman? How many times have they won? Take the 1984 Supergirl movie, for example. Kara’s enemy there, the sorceress Selena, still failed to defeat her, despite Supergirl’s vulnerability to magic. Even bringing Selena to mainstream continuity in the 2016 Supergirl series failed to measure her up. True, Supergirl’s never faced the Demon before, but Etrigan has battled her cousin—specifically, in 1987’s Action Comics #587. There, bathed and burning in Etrigan’s demon flame, Superman steels up the strength to physically overpower his hellish opponent until the Demon gives. As we’ve seen in work like Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Kara is more than capable in her own right of any feats of physicality or fortitude accomplished by the Man of Steel. She may emerge slightly singed, but we see next year’s movie star advancing to the next round.

ODDS:
SUPERGIRL: 85%
ETRIGAN: 15%
 

Drop by DC.com next week for more first round predictions and be sure to pick up DC K.O. #1, in stores now.

Who will win? Enter the DC K.O. Bracket Challenge for a chance to win some great prizes!

Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about TV, movies, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Official Discord server as HubCityQuestion.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.