History ComicBook / EmperorJoker

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emperor_joker_1.png]]

-->'''Joker''': "Sure, I can be difficult—I eat crackers in bed, and I never put the cap back on the rat poison, and occasionally [[DomesticAbuse I’ll snap your neck to prove a point]]..."

* BreakTheBadass: At the end, after Joker's beaten, [[spoiler: Batman's seen huddling and weeping in horror. Superman is forced to take his memories of Joker's atrocities to heal him.]]

-->'''Batman''': I can't close my '''''eyes''''', Clark. I can't close my eyes because I '''''see''''' it. All of it. I can't close my eyes, because I see '''''him''''' ... and it ... and me ... '''''pieces''''' and parts ...
-->'''Spectre''': Each death cry, each horror resonates within him. Dark vibrations ... merciless as the Joker's attentions. And they have broken him. The man you know ... is lost. Only pain remains.

* EndOfTheWorldSpecial: [[spoiler: At the end, the Joker destroys the universe. Mxy supervises its rebuilding.]]

* LogicBomb: Leads to the Joker's defeat. [[spoiler: How can he be all powerful if he can't just kill Batman once and for all?]]

** [[spoiler: Because of what the Joker put Batman through when he killed him over and over again, Superman has to take Batman's memories onto himself for Batman to move on]].
** [[spoiler: On all humanity in general,]] though Batman notes there have been too many reports of “[[AllJustADream dreams, nightmares, and somnambulistic activities]]” for it be to be a coincidence.

-->'''Joker:''' "''HEY KANO!'' Which part of '[[spoiler:Batman no longer exists]]' don't you understand?! ¿Hablo '[[spoiler:No Batman]]'?"

** During his final confrontation with Superman, one of the Joker's lines to say he's finished with [[spoiler: deleting Batman]] is "He's in the cornfield", referencing the famous ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "It's a Good Life", featuring a reality-warping six-year-old who wishes away things that make him mad "to the cornfield".

* ThoughtAversionFailure: This is exactly how Superman finally cracks Joker: [[spoiler: by pointing out that no matter how many times Joker kills Batman, for all his infinite reality-warping power he can't get rid of him because Joker's whole identity is ''that'' reliant on him. Joker's every attempt to put Batman down for good after this revelation just results in his subconsciously creating '''''more''''' of him. Superman even references the "white elephants" gag when setting it up.]]

It's an average day in Metropolis: Franchise/{{Superman}} breaks out of [[BedlamHouse Arkham]] [[CardboardPrison Asylum]], overseen by Solomon Grundy, ComicBook/LoisLane is [[ComicBook/LexLuthor the richest, vilest, and]] [[BaldWoman baldest woman]] in (and owner of) the city, and Bizarro #1 is the city's most beloved (and destructive) hero.

Written by Jeph Loeb and Joe Kelly with pencil art primarily by Ed Mc Guinness.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: The Joker, even going so far as to turn the page for the reader.

* AndIMustScream: The Joker kills Batman in extremely excruciating ways each night, and then resurrects Batman so he can excruciatingly kill him again. And Batman remembers all of the pain of each murder. And he cannot stop the cycle of murder and resurrection. Zig-zagged at because, until the reveal, we do hear his screams from unseen tortures, but the first one we're shown has him bound and being devoured by a flock of vultures after his mouth has been erased.

* AndIMustScream: The Joker kills Batman in extremely excruciating ways each night, and then resurrects Batman so he can excruciatingly kill him again. And Batman remembers all of the pain of each murder. And he cannot stop the cycle of murder and resurrection.

** Joker says [[Radio/TheBurnsandAllenShow "Say 'goodnight', Harley,"]] after [[StarsAreSouls turning Harley into a constellation].

** Joker says, "Goodnight Harley," after [[StarsAreSouls turning Harley into a constellation]], referencing ''Literature/GoodnightMoon''.

** Robin has sign saying, “Why didn’t anyone call in to save me?” referencing the popular vote over whether to kill or save Jason Todd in ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily''. Also counts as BreakingTheFourthWall.

* AssPull: ''How'' exactly the Joker scammed Mxy out of his [[IKnowYourTrueName "secret imp name"]] is glossed over, to say nothing of how he (a largely Gotham-bound criminal whose interactions with Superman's wheelhouse are occasional at best) even knew about the mechanic in the first place. Indeed, the very idea of fifth-dimensional imps having this weakness was something never even implied before (or since) to readers.

* ThoughtAversionFailure: This is exactly how Superman finally cracks Joker: [[spoiler: by pointing out that no matter how many times Joker kills Batman, for all his infinite reality-warping power he can't get rid of him because Joker's whole identity is ''that'' reliant on him. Joker's every attempt to put Batman down for good after this revelation just results in his subconsciously creating '''''more''''' of him. Superman even references the "yellow elephants" gag when setting it up.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The Joker skates close to this, deciding that any world where someone like him could happen simply shouldn't exist.

It's an average day in Metropolis: Franchise/{{Superman}} breaks out of [[BedlamHouse Arkham]] [[CardboardPrison Asylum]], overseen by Solomon Grundy, ComicBook/LoisLane is [[ComicBook/LexLuthor the richest, vilest, and]] [[BaldWoman baldest woman]] in (and owner of) the city, and Bizarro #1 is the most beloved (and destructive) hero in the city.

** The Joker tells Superman, “Never rub another man’s rhubarb,” when Superman goes after Lois. This is the Joker’s [[BondOneLiner post-mortem line]] to Bruce Wayne in the [[Film/{{Batman}} 1989 movie]] after shooting Bruce for being in Vicki Vale’s apartment.

* HopeSpot: Near the end of the penultimate chapter, Superman's refusal to let the Joker break him inspires the Justice League to recover their true forms, and the issue ends with the team preparing to attack the Joker's forces and save Superman. The beginning of the final chapter immediately cuts the team's remains after the Joker effortlessly slaughtered them all.

* MythologyGag: The resolution of the plot resembles how Batman dealt with The Joker when he was given similar power by Marvel's Shaper of Worlds. (ComicBook/TheHulk was not amused by Joker's take on reality.)

** Joker says, "Goodnight Harley," after [[StarsAreSouls turning Harley into a constellation]], referencing GoodnightMoon.

* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Mxy decides to give the Joker just 1% of his power to see what he will do with it to ease his boredom with his routine with Superman. The Joker scams him into handing over 99% by tricking him into saying his name backwards.

* IKnowYourTrueName: The Joker uses this knowledge to steal Mxy's power.

* IdiotBall: Mxyzptlk decides to give the Joker, a known psychotic maniac, reality warping powers, simply because he is bored. Mxyzptlk eventually acknowledges his catastrophic stupidity.

* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Mxy decides to give the Joker just 1% of his power to see what he will do with it. The Joker scams him into handing over 99%.

* {{Cloudcuckooland}}