Fans of the Boy of Steel better get ready, because DC has declared Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow the winner of the 2022 Round Robin fan vote tournament. By cinching this victory, Conner Kent will be headlining his own miniseries due later this year.
The 2022 Round Robin has been DC's second experiment with letting fans have a say in what series they'd like to see published. Beginning with 16 pitches, fans are given the chance to vote on their preferred titles across various social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and DC's own Community forums. With every round, half the competition is eliminated and more material is revealed on the remaining contestants. The final round gave fans the most in-depth look they've had at two series by providing ten-page previews of Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow and Suicide Squad Dark.
After a week of passionate voting, the last bout between Superboy and the Suicide Squad ended in Conner's favor. With nearly 3,500 votes cast, Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow — which will be written by Kenny Porter with art by Jahnoy Lindsay — won with 72 percent of the vote to Suicide Squad Dark's 28 percent. Despite an incident in which bots were used to manipulate the vote in Suicide Squad Dark's favor, mods ensured that the final tally was indeed accurate. The results became official when DC Comics took to Twitter to announce the winner of the competition with the message "Ready to take flight? Soar into action with #DCRoundRobin2022 winner SUPERBOY: THE MAN OF TOMORROW by @KenBlakePorter and @jahnoyl later this year." The tweet was accompanied with the cover of the first issue of Conner's upcoming six-issue series, proudly emblazoned with the Round Robin logo declaring it the winner of the 2022 tournament.
While it's great that a victor has finally emerged, the path to get here has been a bumpy one. All throughout the tournament, fans have expressed criticism over the Round Robin's structure and how it doesn't give less popular characters a chance at winning. Some have also taken issue with the notion of pitting creative teams against one another instead of allowing them all a fair shot.
Despite all the criticisms, it's a victory all the same. Superboy: Man of Tomorrow will be the first time Conner has headlined a series in years. The miniseries will serve as a good opportunity to help Kon-El find his proper place in a rapidly changing DC Universe. Jonathan Kent and Kara Zor-El have had plenty of limelight in the past few years as Superman and Supergirl. Now Conner has the chance to show there's room for one more star in the Super Family. With another DC Round Robin tournament in the books, it looks like the future is brighter than ever for Superboy.