Superman fans won't need reminding of how much grief the inter-dimensional imp Mister Mxyzptlk has caused the Man of Steel over the years. Mxyzptlk possesses a near unending array of abilities, and while the pre-Crisis version could be bested simply by tricking him into saying his name backwards, subsequent retcons have made the test to banish him back to the fifth dimension slightly more complex.
Mxyzptlk can alter reality on a whim, and it just so happens that Superman tends to be his intended target. For all that Mxyzptlk is powerful though, he only ever uses his abilities for mischief, meaning that their true scale has yet to be determined - at least in his hands.
To get a decent understanding of just how powerful Mxyzptlk is, you have to read Emperor Joker. That particular storyline showcased what would happen if the Clown Prince was ever given Mxysptlk's powers - and it was canon!
The results were also pretty horrifying. Joker used his new godlike potential to create a terrifying new reality where was a God-Emperor. During the Emperor Joker storyline, the Harlequin of Hate also tortured and killed Batman over and over, forcing Superman to steal the Dark Knight's memories so he wouldn't live with the trauma after the whole ordeal was over.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
