DC K.O. unveils its Final Four. How many of our CXF brackets have survived?

As the Omega Tournament reaches its endgame, the final eight combatants are put to the ultimate test. Emotions run high as heroes falter, villains revel and the Heart of Apokolips eyes its new King Omega. In the end, only the final four will remain. DC K.O. #3 is written by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson, drawn by Javier Fernandez and Xermanico, colored by Alejandro Sanchez and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

And then there were four.

December was “All Fight Month” at DC, as the DC K.O. tournament winnowed its pool of competitors from 16 to eight via a series of one-shots and issues of characters’ ongoing titles. So when we open issue #3, we’re down to Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Zatanna, Guy Gardner, Lex Luthor and Joker.

The challenge this time around is a tag-team tournament, in which each of the remaining competitors chooses a partner who was eliminated earlier in the game (except Joker, who unsurprisingly goes rogue) to face a rival competitor and their chosen partner. Guy chooses his fellow Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Superman chooses Captain Marvel, Lex Luthor chooses Supergirl, Aquaman chooses Hawkman, Wonder Woman chooses Big Barda, Cyborg chooses Connor Hawke, Zatanna chooses John Constantine and Joker chooses Mr. Mxyzptlk, in a callback to “Emperor Joker” that starts as a callback to Dark Nights: Metal.

We’ll spare you the blow-by-blow, but each competitor chooses their partner based on how that partner can augment their abilities. There’s teamwork in many of these cases, yes, but there’s also a selfishness on the part of the remaining competitors, as they are increasingly affected by the Heart of Apokolips.

But in the end, the logic of who advances is clear: If you can’t sell a lunchbox on your own, you’re out.

And so Superman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor and Joker – two of DC’s three biggest heroes and its two biggest villains – move on to issue #4, where they will face the Absolute Universe versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, along with a Darkseid-possessed Booster Gold.

What does that mean for our brackets? Well, the six CXF writers who survived issue #2 all advance to issue #4, many with either three or all four of the final four left remaining.

Of the six remaining brackets, three picked Wonder Woman to win it all, two picked Superman and one picked Lex. Given how much time this comic spends inside Superman’s head, and cutting to Clark’s pre-event game night with Lois, Bruce and Diana, it feels like it’s the Big Blue Boy Scout’s tournament to lose. But hey, stranger things have happened.

Check out our brackets below to see who’s still in the hunt.