10 Insane Times Supervillains Developed New Powers

1. Joker - Emperor Joker

The Joker is terrifying enough without any powers to speak of, so imagine just how bad things get when he's given access to an unlimited source of cosmic abilities.

If that happens to be your greatest fear, then you best avoid Emperor Joker. Stemming from the brilliant and yet evidently bonkers mind of Long Halloween scribe Jeph Loeb, Emperor Joker sees the Clown Prince of Crime given the abilities of Mister Mxyzptlk. Mxyzptlk has been screwing with the Man of Steel for years, and with the inter-dimensional imp capable of doing, well... pretty much anything he desires, you can probably see why Joker getting his hands on those powers was bad news.

The Clown Prince tortured Batman for an eternity, and even made the great Darkseid himself tremble beneath his might. By the time Mxyzptlk and the Spectre are able to trick Joker into losing his power, Batman has been killed and resurrected on millions of separate occasions. Superman has to literally steal Bruce's memories to ensure the Dark Knight isn't left permanently scarred by the ordeal.

That's partially what makes Emperor Joker such a brilliantly twisted comic. It all took place in actual DC continuity, so if Spectre and Mxyzptlk had failed, one can only imagine what things could've looked like.