DC K.O. Issue 1 (2025) Review — Snyder's Darkseid Event Kicks Off with a Genuine Gut-Punch

DC K.O. Issue 1 2025 Review

We’ve been burned by enough “universe-shattering” DC events to walk into a new one with my guard up. DC K.O. Issue 1 mostly disarmed that skepticism within its first few pages, which is more than I can say for a lot of recent crossover openers.

What Happens (Spoilers Ahead)

The setup here is bigger and stranger than your standard “villain shows up, heroes assemble” formula. The Heart of Apokolips has transformed Earth into a hellscape as Darkseid prepares his return, and the issue opens with a jarring flash-forward — a vision of a future where Darkseid has already conquered most of Earth’s heroes. That cold-open framing works as a warning shot to the reader as much as to the characters: this isn’t a fight the Justice League is guaranteed to win.

From there, the concept snaps into place fast. The only way to actually stand a chance against Darkseid is through a brutal, all-out tournament, since the Heart of Apokolips has turned the planet’s core into a massive arena that only a single victor can claim the power from. What got me is how unapologetically over-the-top the premise is — heroes are essentially being funneled into a battle-royale structure against each other, with the added wrinkle that getting closer to the Heart corrupts and changes whoever’s chasing it. That’s a great pressure-cooker device, because it means every hero entering the tournament is also risking becoming the next threat.

Snyder also folds in some real mythology-building here, tying the tournament back into the creation and eventual absorption of the New 52 universe, and even dangling the option in front of the heroes to reset reality all over again. That’s a ballsy meta touch, and it’s the kind of thing that only works if you’ve been paying attention to Snyder’s larger Absolute Universe throughline — which, if you have, lands as a real reward rather than confusing continuity noise.

The roster is stacked with deep-cut surprises too. Characters like Connor Hawke and the World Forger (Snyder’s own creation from Dark Nights: Metal) show up as combatants, and there’s a genuinely funny fourth-wall-breaking beat involving Ambush Bug getting tripped by Lobo and flattened by an out-of-nowhere Goliath — a gag that lands specifically because the issue otherwise plays its stakes so straight.

Characters, Art, and Writing

Scott Snyder’s grasp of Superman is the standout for me here. I’ve always respected his Batman work, but his Clark Kent in this issue reads as genuinely the moral center of the whole event — measured, weary, and still fundamentally hopeful even as the world burns around him. That’s harder to pull off in a tournament-style event than it sounds, since the format tends to flatten characters into fight-card entries. Snyder resists that.

Javier Fernández’s linework carries the bulk of the main story with a clean, kinetic energy that suits the tournament’s scale, while Xermánico’s interlude art gives the flash-forward and mythology-heavy sequences a distinct visual register, which helps the reader track when the story is shifting timeframes. Alejandro Sánchez’s colors do a lot to sell the “hellscape” framing of Earth without tipping into muddy or unreadable, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering keeps a genuinely large cast of characters legible across some very busy, crowded panels.

Personal Verdict

DC K.O. #1 knows exactly what kind of event it’s selling — a big, silly, hero-versus-hero spectacle — and it commits to that premise with enough craft and mythology-building underneath it that it never feels cynical. Snyder’s Superman alone would be worth the price of admission, and the tournament conceit gives this more narrative teeth than the average “everyone fights” crossover. If you’ve been feeling event fatigue lately, this is the rare opener that actually earns a second issue.

My rating: 8.5/10

For the full lineup of tie-ins and upcoming issues, DC’s official DC K.O. series page is the best place to keep track of where the event goes next.