WEBTOON is giving readers a chance to meet Duolingo’s first real villain, and they’re coming in just a few days’ time.
Per a press release from WEBTOON, CBR can exclusively announce the upcoming release of the next Duolingo comic series — Duo Leveling. The upcoming series from Duolingo and WEBTOON will mark the debut of Duo’s dark counterpart, Zero, who will pose a threat unlike any the world of Duolingo has ever known. Readers can check out key art for the series alongside an early glimpse of Zero for themselves down below.
Duo Leveling Is the WEBTOON Follow-Up Readers Didn’t Know They Needed
The official solicit synopsis for Duo Leveling from WEBTOON and Duolingo reads, “When Duo’s experimental magic lessons unleash a wave of dangerous ‘quest portals’ upon the world, it’s up to top Learners, Lily and Zari, to put a stop to the chaos. Through game-like trials, unexpected allies, and a sinister new foe, our heroes are faced with a question that will determine humanity’s fate: do you truly have what it takes to learn?”
Duo Leveling is set to premiere on the WEBTOON platform across its English, French, Spanish, Indian, Thai, and Taiwanese platforms, as well as the Korean NAVER WEBTOON platform, on June 10. The first three episodes of Duo Leveling will make their way onto the Japanese LINE MANGA platform on June 11, although fans will have to wait another week before the rest of the series arrives. In total, Duo Leveling is slated to run for six episodes, plus a prologue that leads into all the action.
The upcoming release of Duo Leveling will mark the second collaboration between WEBTOON and Duolingo, who previously joined forces to produce 2024’s Duo Unleashed. The previous series saw Duo use his own cloning machine to alleviate the mounting pressure of his overfilled workload, with disastrous results. Since its debut on WEBTOON in 2024, Duo Unleashed has amassed more than 7.6 million views on the platform, with over 291,000 readers subscribed to the title.
The team-up between Duolingo and WEBTOON comes just months after the latter announced its latest initiative to help creators reach a wider audience than ever before with brand-new AI-powered localization tools. These new tools come alongside a unified CANVAS platform, which brings together some of WEBTOON’s biggest regional UGC services for the very first time.
Speaking to CBR’s John Dodge, representatives for WEBTOON noted that this new AI-powered translation program in no way scrapes data art or non-textual elements of any given work, nor is any part of the data that it collects while translating retained for training or reference purposes. This ensures that any and every series localized using the software maintains its artistic integrity, while the creators’ intellectual property is protected.
Duo Leveling premieres on WEBTOON’s English, French, Spanish, Indian, Thai, and Taiwanese platforms, as well as NAVER WEBTOON, on June 10. The first three episodes of Duo Leveling will premiere on LINE MANGA in Japan on June 11, with additional episodes arriving the following week.