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DC Comics and AEW deepen their partnership for five-part Forbidden Door style variant cover faceoffs with wrestlers and superheroes in DC K.O.

Dan Mora will provide special covers for all five issues of DC K.O. featuring appearances by stars of AEW wrestling, DC has announced

DC’s upcoming event DC K.O. is a knock-down battle between 32 of the toughest heroes and villains of the DCU for the title of King Omega and the responsibility of being the character to face off against the ultimate cosmic threat, Darkseid… so perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprise that there’s a variant cover for the first issue featuring Lobo facing off against AEW wrestler Adam Page — after all, it feels like there’s some level of crossover between a fighting tournament in the DCU and wrestling.

Here’s the thing, though: Page won’t be the only AEW wrestler to appear on a DC K.O. cover: each issue of the main series in DC’s event will feature a DC/AEW crossover on a variant cover, illustrated by Justice League Unlimited and Superman artist Dan Mora. The second issue has already been announced, and will feature Toni Storm; the identities of the final three wrestlers to cameo on the covers remains under wraps.

Wait... is Kenny Omega the King Omega?

Mora, who’s known for creating celebrity cameo variants for DC’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest comic book series, will be creating a DC/AEW variant for all five issues of the series, which launches in October and runs monthly through February 2026, it was revealed during DC’s presentation at Retailer Day at Rose City Comic Con 2025. It’ll be accompanied by variant covers on every issue from artist Ben Oliver featuring a character squaring up against the viewer, and a Darkseid variant by a rotating group of artists throughout the run, starting with Mark Spears on the first issue.

This is far from the first time DC and AEW have collaborated; 2023's Dawn of DC comic book relaunch was promoted during AEW broadcasts as it launched, plus DC All In banners were visible on barricades during matches in October 2024. Additionally, DC created a 24-page AEW Origins comic for San Diego Comic-Con 2024, showcasing some of AEW's biggest names in comic book action in stories by Steve Orlando and Richardo Lopez Ortiz. (The various stories in that issue were later serialized across DC's comic book line in October and November.) The relationship between the two companies actually stretches all the way back to 2019's New York Comic Con, when DC created limited edition prints featuring AEW wrestlers for the event. Both DC and AEW are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. 

Of course, Mora won’t be the only artist drawing parallels between DC K.O. and wrestling — check out Daniel Warren Johnson’s variant cover to the first issue, after all:

DC K.O. starts October 8. Find out more about the event here.


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Graeme McMillan

Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.

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