What Happened To Everyone Who Killed Batman?

7. The Joker

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DC Comics

When 2001 saw a curious Mr. Mxyzptlk decide that he wanted to see what a human would do with just 1% of the imp's powers, Mxy opted for the Joker as the one to get these otherworldly abilities.

The Joker being the Joker, of course, he managed to trick Mr. Mxyzptlk into giving up 99.99% of his powers - and thus, that was the crux of 2000's Emperor Joker tale.

Said tale is actually a Superman story, with the Man of Steel in a race against time to stop the Clown Prince of Crime's ever-expanding, reality-altering reign of terror. As part of this nine-issue extravaganza, the Joker eats the entire nation of China, murders Lex Luthor and violently kills a corrupted Jimmy Olsen.

In terms of Batman, that's where the Emperor Joker arc gets really messed up - as the Jester of Genocide tortures and kills Batman every single day before bringing him back to life the following day and repeating this process.

It's his relationship with Batman that's Mr. J's downfall, as Superman realises that the Joker could never fully destroy the world due to his unwillingness to permanently erase Bats.

From there, Mr. Mxyzptlk and Spectre rebuild reality, but the Man of Steel has to steal Batman's memories to stop the traumatised Bruce from reliving his multitude of deaths.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.