DC’s Big Crossover Pits the Justice League Against Homelander, Annabelle, and More

Scott Snyder likes to get weird. We’re talking about the guy who gave us a 400-pound kid-punting Bruce Wayne in Absolute Batman, Joker dragons in Dark Knights: Metal, and a cute lil’ Starro the Conqueror Robin in the mainline Batman run. So when Snyder and artists Javi Fernandez and Xermanico placed the fate of the comic DC Universe as a Mortal Kombat style tournament, we knew things would get bizarre. But we never expected it would get this bizarre.

In addition to heroes and villains from the mainline and Absolute DC Universes, participants in the tournament will include indie comic book characters Vampirella and Red Sonja alongside Homelander from The Boys, Samantha from Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, Annabelle from The Conjuring franchise, and even a Mortal Kombat combatant in Sub-Zero.

Weird as it might sound to bring these characters into the DC Universe, DC chief creative officer Jim Lee insists it makes perfect sense. Speaking at the New York Comic Con panel that announced the DC KO crossover issues, Lee asked (via Popverse), “Who doesn’t want to see Homelander fight Superman?”

A quick Reddit search would suggest that the answer to Lee’s question is “Nobody.” In fact, that search would return a lot of pitches for hypothetical matchups between DC characters and those from other media, match ups that are becoming less and less hypothetical every day. Not only did DC heroes fight Sub-Zero and pals in the 2008 game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, but the company has teamed up with Marvel to create one-shots such as Deadpool/Batman, currently on shelves, which also includes back up stories in which Rocket Racoon becomes a Green Lantern and in which Green Arrow battles Hand ninjas alongside Daredevil.

But those are all standalone stories with no larger consequences for the characters’ respective universes. That’s not the case with DC KO, which continues the storyline that’s been running across the universe since last year’s Absolute Power, which deals with the apparent death of the New God Darkseid, the establishment of the Absolute Universe, and the evil Legion of Superheroes who have been menacing Superman. In the pages of Superman and Justice League Unlimited, Darkseid has been making his way back to the present from a future he has conquered, resulting in a threat that can only be resolved via the tournament in DC KO.

Does this mean that we could see Homelander defeat Superman and start to menace the Justice League? Does this mean that Annabelle will show the Toymaster just how scary kid’s stuff can be? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy whatever weirdness Snyder has up his sleeve next.

DC KO #1 is now available in comic book stores.