Bracket
Bracket
[A tournament bracket. With the names listed in groups on the left-hand side and right-hand side as shown below. Within individual groups the names are ordered in match-ups, two, three or even four in the first match. The last name on the right, Beyoncé, is not even matched for first round. The winners goes on to the next match, but there are many that skips some of the matches up until the quarterfinals, so some need to win 5 matches to reach the quarterfinals, others only need to win 4 of 3, and Beyoncé only 2. After the first level, the match-ups are always between two names. The two sides join up in a final in the middle, where the winner of the left side has a place for the name below and the winner of the right a place for the name above a central rectangular frame with place for the winners name. Below the pairing in the first round matches are mentioned above each of the clear groupings of the bracket.]
[These are paired two and two.] Louis Armstrong Neil Armstrong Lance Armstrong Stretch Armstrong [These are paired two and two.] Jeff Gordan Jeff Bridges Jeff Daniels Jack Daniels [These are paired two and two.] Orson Welles H.G. Wells George Orwell Wells Fargo [The first four, two, three and two are paired.] Kurt Russell Russell Brand Russell Crowe Russell Simmons Richard Simmons Gene Simmons Gene Hackman Hugh Jackman Alan Rickman Alan Parsons Alan Partridge [The first four, three and two are paired.] Jenny McCarthy Joseph McCarthy Eugene McCarthy Eugene V. Debs Gene Wilder Olivia Wilde Oscar Wilde Oscar De La Renta Oscar De La Hoya [These are paired two and two.] Jack Nicklaus Jack Nicholson Phil Mickelson Nicholas Nickelby [These are paired.] Ryan Adams Bryan Adams [These are paired.] Chubby Checker Fats Domino [These are paired two and two.] Colin Firth Colin Farrell Will Ferrell The Farrelly Brothers [These are paired.] Joseph Gordon-Levitt Jennifer Love Hewitt [These are paired two and two.] Danny Glover Donald Glover Donnie Wahlberg Mark Wahlberg Mark Ruffalo Mark Shuttleworth [The first three and two are paired.] Philip Pullman Bill Pullman Bill Paxton Bill Murray Dan Aykroyd [The first two, and then three times three are paired.] Ginger Rogers Fred Rogers|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers Mister Spock Doctor Spock Doctor Octopus Doctor Manhattan Doctor Strangelove Doctor Strange Dr. No The Doctor Cory Doctorow [These are paired two and two.] Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lewis Jenny Lewis Xeni Jardin [These are paired two and two.] Chris Evans Chris Hemsworth Chris Pine Chris Pratt [These are paired.] Shallots Scallops Scallions [These are paired.] Siouxie Sioux Suzanne Vega [These are paired.] Tom Arnold Arnold Palmer Amanda Palmer [These are paired two and two.] Wes Craven Wes Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson Poul Anderson [These are paired two and two.] Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Drake Frank Drake [The first three, two and two are paired.] Van Halen Van Morrison Van Wilder Robert Van Winkle Rip Van Winkle Rip Torn Natalie Imbruglia [The first four are paired two and two the last is the only one not paired.] The Body Shop Bath and Body Works Bed Bath and Beyond Beyond Thunderdome Beyoncé

A tournament bracket shows the planned series of matchups in a tournament. In this comic Randall has shown a plan for a tournament between a wide range of cultural icons, both real and fictional, based mostly on similarities in their names. Various Internet groups have speculated on who would win in a fight between characters from different films. It may be relevant that the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was soon to be released at the time the comic was made where the two eponymous superheroes , Batman and Superman , fight against each other.
The individual starting pairings are generally based on common or similar given names or surnames. Some adjacent brackets are "segued" by someone like Jeff Daniels, who segues from a bracket of "Jeff"s into a bracket of "Daniels"es. The bracket itself is fairly arbitrary. Most initial matchups are pairs, although several are trios and there's a quadruplet in the Russels group, while a single entry, Beyoncé , is given a first- and second-round bye . Most of the participants in the tournament are people, with a few exceptions. Shallots (small onions), scallops (bivalve mollusks), and scallions (green onions) are similar sounding foods, therefore may be confusing for some individuals (perhaps including Randall ). The final grouping on the lower right of the bracket features a several retail stores and a film.
The title text possibly refers to Dr. Dre , particularly as a reference to his 2001 song " Forgot About Dre ". Alternatively, the title text could simply be a reference to the large number of pop culture personas that include the word "Doctor", such as Doctor House , Dr. Oz , Dr. Phil , Dr. Watson , "Doc" Brown , Dr. Seuss , Dr Pepper , Doctor Doom , Dr. Zoidberg , Dr. Horrible 's Sing-Along Blog and many others . Another simpler explanation is that it would cause the reader to question "Doctor Who?" answering their own question, although this answer would be incorrect because The Doctor is already present. It could also be a reference to the dual meaning of "The Doctor," either he meant to include Time Lord from Doctor Who and forgot about the EMH from Voyager, or he remembered the EMH and forgot the Time Lord.
The incentive for the comic may have been the French Open 2015 , which started on the day of the publication.
The comic inspired several groups to play out versions of the bracket.  One user-voting based match-up on twitter, XKCD Bracket , was featured by Randall on the xkcd home page, with a link at at the top of the website, although the account was not created by Randall. (The link was part of a "news" flash, the other was regarding his book based on 1133: Up Goer Five . See more on this news in that comics explanation). In the final match on July 29, Neil Armstrong defeated Mister Spock (see the complete bracket ). The link was removed sometimes before Monday, 10 August 2015, within two weeks of the final result being revealed.
Later Randall has made one smaller but similar bracket in 1819: Sweet 16 , and then an interactive April fools' comics in 2019, with an even larger bracket for determining the best emoji in 2131: Emojidome . The bracket for this comic was shown with links from the comic during the matches.
[A tournament bracket. With the names listed in groups on the left-hand side and right-hand side as shown below. Within individual groups the names are ordered in match-ups, two, three or even four in the first match. The last name on the right, Beyoncé, is not even matched for first round. The winners goes on to the next match, but there are many that skips some of the matches up until the quarterfinals, so some need to win 5 matches to reach the quarterfinals, others only need to win 4 of 3, and Beyoncé only 2. After the first level, the match-ups are always between two names. The two sides join up in a final in the middle, where the winner of the left side has a place for the name below and the winner of the right a place for the name above a central rectangular frame with place for the winners name. Below the pairing in the first round matches are mentioned above each of the clear groupings of the bracket.]
[These are paired two and two.] Louis Armstrong Neil Armstrong Lance Armstrong Stretch Armstrong [These are paired two and two.] Jeff Gordan Jeff Bridges Jeff Daniels Jack Daniels [These are paired two and two.] Orson Welles H.G. Wells George Orwell Wells Fargo [The first four, two, three and two are paired.] Kurt Russell Russell Brand Russell Crowe Russell Simmons Richard Simmons Gene Simmons Gene Hackman Hugh Jackman Alan Rickman Alan Parsons Alan Partridge [The first four, three and two are paired.] Jenny McCarthy Joseph McCarthy Eugene McCarthy Eugene V. Debs Gene Wilder Olivia Wilde Oscar Wilde Oscar De La Renta Oscar De La Hoya [These are paired two and two.] Jack Nicklaus Jack Nicholson Phil Mickelson Nicholas Nickelby [These are paired.] Ryan Adams Bryan Adams [These are paired.] Chubby Checker Fats Domino [These are paired two and two.] Colin Firth Colin Farrell Will Ferrell The Farrelly Brothers [These are paired.] Joseph Gordon-Levitt Jennifer Love Hewitt [These are paired two and two.] Danny Glover Donald Glover Donnie Wahlberg Mark Wahlberg Mark Ruffalo Mark Shuttleworth [The first three and two are paired.] Philip Pullman Bill Pullman Bill Paxton Bill Murray Dan Aykroyd [The first two, and then three times three are paired.] Ginger Rogers Fred Rogers|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers Mister Spock Doctor Spock Doctor Octopus Doctor Manhattan Doctor Strangelove Doctor Strange Dr. No The Doctor Cory Doctorow [These are paired two and two.] Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lewis Jenny Lewis Xeni Jardin [These are paired two and two.] Chris Evans Chris Hemsworth Chris Pine Chris Pratt [These are paired.] Shallots Scallops Scallions [These are paired.] Siouxie Sioux Suzanne Vega [These are paired.] Tom Arnold Arnold Palmer Amanda Palmer [These are paired two and two.] Wes Craven Wes Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson Poul Anderson [These are paired two and two.] Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Drake Frank Drake [The first three, two and two are paired.] Van Halen Van Morrison Van Wilder Robert Van Winkle Rip Van Winkle Rip Torn Natalie Imbruglia [The first four are paired two and two the last is the only one not paired.] The Body Shop Bath and Body Works Bed Bath and Beyond Beyond Thunderdome Beyoncé
