With the creation of the Absolute Universe and his ascension to King Omega, Darkseid has become nigh unstoppable. The heroes of the DC Universe have realized that the only way to stop him is to become as powerful as he is, to transform one of them into a King Omega themselves. DC K.O. is the event that will show us how they do it; a no holds barred fighting tournament between thirty-two of DC’s strongest heroes, where they gather all the Omega Energy they can with brutal and merciless combat. This setup is every kid’s dream, smashing all their favorite action figures together, so why don’t we get in on the fun? Here are seven characters who I think deserve to fight in DC’s first ever tournament and be crowned the strongest of them all.
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7) Bronze Tiger
Bronze Tiger is one of maybe three characters who can contest lay a solid claim for the title of world’s best fighter. Best friend of Richard Dragon and former trainer of Batgirl Cass Cain, Bronze Tiger boasts one of the best rap sheets you could ask for to prove your skills. He served as one of the most dangerous warriors for the League of Assassins for years, managed to walk away from Ra’s al Ghul simply because nobody he sent could kill him, and has fought Batman multiple times. Every time they do, Batman has to find a workaround to him, the Dark Knight openly admitting that he can’t beat Bronze Tiger in a one on one. He’s also served as both a hero and a villain in his time, seeing the evil and good within people’s hearts, and thus should be a great candidate for generating Omega Energy, which requires being merciless and causing as much pain as you can. This is definitely something he has plenty of experience in.
6) Plastic Man
If there was a dictionary entry for “underutilized OP character,” then the definition would be Plastic Man. You might not think being endlessly elastic would offer this much, but it really does. He has full autonomous control over every cell in his body, able to transform into any size or shape he wants, and even transform his body into other materials like Kryptonite. However, by far Plastic Man’s strongest feature is his durability. The guy is effectively unkillable. During the JLA storyline “The Obsidian Age,” Plastic Man’s body was cut apart into millions of little pieces, and still he survived as a disembodied consciousness on the ocean floor for three thousand years. Plastic Man’s only real limitation is his imagination, being able to become anything he wants. We don’t get to see him cut loose too often, but as a participant of this tournament we could finally see him use all of the awesome skills and powers we know he has. I’m not sure I would want to see him become King Omega, but I definitely want to see him go up against some of DC’s heavy hitters.
5) The Spectre
The Spectre is the God’s spirit of vengeance, an angel sent to punish evil-doers and bring forth righteous punishment. When Darkseid created the Absolute Universe, he did so by using a Miracle Machine to forcibly bond to the Spectre, and tearing the two apart killed the God of Evil and let him ascend. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Spectre blamed himself for being unable to stop Darkseid, and so wanted to redeem himself by becoming the next King Omega to bring Darkseid down once and for all. If anyone could win this tournament, then it would be the Spectre. He’s one of the strongest beings in all of DC, near omnipotent and unmatched in magical and physical might. If he joined the tournament, then without a doubt he would be the participant with the most raw power in the roster. The question with the Spectre wouldn’t be “Can he win?” but “How could someone else stop him from winning?” which is deeply terrifying, and awesome to consider. The Spectre wouldn’t just be a powerhouse, he’d be a problem for the other heroes to solve, a way to demonstrate their ingenuity and indomitable wills in the face of an unstoppable force.
4) Batgirl
When I hear “fighting tournament” my first thought always turns to the most skilled fighters in the world, and you’d be hard pressed to find someone more skilled than Cassandra Cain. The daughter of Lady Shiva and David Cain, later adopted by Batman, Cass is contentiously the best fighter alive, and that gets less contentious every day. She is one of the few characters who can routinely beat Lady Shiva in a fair fight, and has demonstrated that even the Bat Family does not want to end up on her bad side, which is saying a lot considering how willing they are to fight literally everyone else in their own family. Batgirl’s first language is body language, letting her read and understand her opponents in a way nobody else can, which also gives her a major advantage in knowing what they’re going to do and finding their weak points. Movement is her voice, and fighting is a conversation. She’s also one of the most compassionate people in the entire DC Universe, having a no-kill rule that might even be stronger than Batman’s, but also understands the darkness in hearts very intimately. She’s the perfect combo to wield the power of the Omega Energy and remain a hero.
3) Superboy-Prime
Mr. Prime Time himself is back and more heroic than ever. This alternate version of Clark Kent was one of DC’s most dangerous villains for a very long time, but turned over a new leaf in the Dark Knights: Death Metal event. It seemed like he was gone for good at the end of that story, but as of Superman’s first encounter with Darkseid’s Legion, he’s back and ready to fight for the sake of everything. If you don’t know how strong Superboy-Prime is, imagine the insane feats Superman would do in the Silver Age, then up them by just a little bit more, and you’d get Prime’s level of raw strength. He’s regularly fought against the entire Justice League and beaten them, was a one man army in a brawl against the majority of the Green Lantern Corps, and once punched so hard that he hurt the concept of reality and altered it. I don’t care what anyone says, the Retcon Punch is still one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Anyone who can do something like that more than deserves a spot in this tournament, and considering they just brought him back, it’d be a major waste not to include him. Put Prime Time back in the ring, the champ needs to defend his title!
2) Blue Beetle
I’m not talking about the scarab-wearing Jaime Reyes, although I would love to see him get the spotlight he deserves, but the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Unlike everyone else on this list, Ted has no reason he should be able to win. He’s not as strong or as skilled as anyone else. He’s smart, but even then there are smarter heroes with better tech than him. Everything Ted can do, somebody else can do better, but Ted does have one thing that sets him apart; motivation. Booster Gold, his best friend, was captured by Darkseid’s Legion and tortured for months, absorbing swaths of Omega Energy as he passed through the barrier. Ted could easily enter to get revenge for what they did to Booster, and to absorb the Omega Energy that makes his friend a target for the evil Legion’s plans. Blue Beetle would be going up against veritable gods that he has no business beating, but him standing up would be the ultimate statement that he’s willing to do anything for his friends, which is what being a hero is really about.
1) Mister Miracle
Scott Free was the son of the leader of the New Gods, Highfather, and was traded to Darkseid as a child as a part of a peace agreement. Darkseid tortured Scott for years, but through it all he kept fighting, kept finding new ways to get away, until he finally escaped to Earth. He’s Mister Miracle, he can escape anything, but he still remembers his past. He knows Darkseid’s evil more intimately than anybody else in the universe, and would he really be willing to let somebody else bear the burden of becoming like him? More than anything, all Scott wants is to be free of Apokolips and live with his wife and daughter, but unless they stop Darkseid here and now, nobody will ever be safe from him again. I imagine that nobody understands that better than Mister Miracle, which is why I can so easily see him stepping up to the plate to fight to finally be free of the God of Evil once and for all, to finally escape him by becoming even more powerful than he ever was. Darkseid Is, but Mister Miracle Could Be.
So there’s my top seven picks to fill out the ranks of the DC K.O. roster. There are literally dozens of heroes that deserve a chance to show us all what they can do, and it would be so much fun to watch DC’s best and strongest go head to head, which is exactly what makes the buildup to this event so exciting. The legendary minds behind it, Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson, said that they want this event to recapture that childhood enthusiasm of imagining who would win between your favorite heroes, and what better way is there to capture that spirit than jumping in and making our own dream picks for it? What heroes do you want to see take center stage in DC K.O.? Let us know in the comments below!
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