10 Most Embarrassing Moments For Comic Book Villains

9. The Joker Doesn't Laugh Last (Return Of The Joker)

Although Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm is rightly considered to be the finest Batman movie ever, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is a definite close second.

A spin-off film from the animated series of the same name, the feature centred around the Joker as he, well... returns - seemingly from the dead - hellbent on exacting his revenge on Batman and the city he once called home. It's a stellar flick, and while the jury's still out on Batman Beyond more generally, the 2000 film is right up there with the very best Bat-adaptations to have ever been put to screen.

Fans will likely note the film's infamous flashback sequence for being its standout moment, but there's a scene later in the feature that deserves attention as well. Found in the film's climactic fight, the new Batman (Terry McGinnis) turns the tide against his predecessor's most notorious adversary by throwing the Bat-book out altogether. He mocks the Clown Prince repeatedly, laughing in tow, and the Joker can't bear to stand it.

This isn't his Batman, and this isn't the way that Batman fought either. Infuriated at the notion that someone as young as Terry could beat him, he flips, forfeiting his advantage and granting McGinnis the time to set things right. A humiliation of the highest order.

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Content Producer/Presenter

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.