Superman: Villains #1

[cyberghostface]

Comments

[tcampbell1000]

"This is fine."

[zenfrodo]

So the Joker is trolling Lex now. 70 years of trying to get a rise out of Ol' Cowl-Face must not be fun anymore.

[scorntx]

He has a life outside of Batman, y'know.

[crinos]

Yeah, Joker likes to fuck with Lex because A) Lex is one of the people Joker considers to be a legit peer of his, and B) Lex is the only person who doesn't put up with Joker's bullshit. Like at all. Like there have been times when Luthor has just straight up gone upside Joker's head because he's had enough of him being an asshole.

[bruinsfan]

Lex also gives the Joker respect in his own way, like when he turned the Earth-3 Alexander Luthor over to him at the end of Infinite Crisis. That's probably refreshing at Legion of Doom meetings when everyone else is either afraid of him or considers him beneath their notice.

[crinos]

"You made one mistake: You didn't let the Joker play."

See, Luthor knows that the Joker is a being of chaos, but chaos he can control (or at leas steer in the right direction). Luthor would never cut Joker out of a Justice League fighting team because A) He can shut down Batman, B) If Lex doesn't invite Joker he runs the risk of raising his ire, and C)Luthor can only control Joker if he's close at hand. Letting Joker run around to his own devices while you're doing a villainy is just a bad plan.

[shadur]

Yeah, not inviting the chaos fairy didn't work out well for the greek gods or Sleeping Beauty's parents when they tried it either.

They'll show up /anyway/ because that's what they do, and furthermore they'll be /cranky/ because you just disrespected them by lack of invitation.

[crinos]

Yeah, the Maleficent thing is interesting because I actually read a Tumblr post recently that explained the context.

In Medieval times a christening was a public affair. Everyone was invited. If you were specifically not invited it was a very deliberate snub. So when Aurora's parents didn't invite Maleficent but did invite the other faeries, not only did they deeply insult her, but they also deliberately showed themselves taking side in the faeries conflict with one another.

So now you know why Maleficent went as hard as she did on Aurora's family.

[shadur]

Yep.

And, as that tumblr thread also pointed out, the kicker?

If they'd just done the smart, polite, customary thing and invited her, Maleficent would have been bound by custom to comport herself as a guest, which means no picking fights with anyone, and especially after the three "good" faeries each gave Aurora a blessing, she'd have felt compelled to one-up them all with an even better Gift.

How does "Hail Aurora the Wise, Queen Empress of all the lands" sound?

[filthysize]

Villains are better when they're polyadversarious.

[icon_uk]

What a lovely word! :)

[scorntx]

Depends on the villain.
Ones like Ra's, or Poison Ivy, they seem like the kind to fight around, due to their motivations.
But with ones like Joker, what they have with their heroes is supposed to be unique. Special, dammit!

[junipepper]

I mean, Batman hasn’t exactly been monogamous with Joker, so fair’s fair.

[zenfrodo]

Yeah, but Commissioner Gordon isn't exactly the life of the party, either.

[crinos]

You know, considering that time Lex had a super computer tell him Clark is Superman and he didn't believe it because he couldn't conceive of Superman having a day job, he must be especially annoyed by this turn of events.

I mean, I imagine the scientist who built that computer and was summarily fired is probably like "I fucking KNEW it."

[cricharddavies]

Sadly, she was killed off in a story a few years later.

[scorntx]

Not a fan of the idea of Supes revealing his identity, but that was pretty great.

And you know Lex is still going to refuse to believe it's true.
"You're just doing this to toy with me, I know it!"
"Lex, I've got Wonder Woman's lasso of truth right here. I am physically incapable of lying right now and I'm telling you, I. Am. Clark. Kent."
"You're lying!"
"*sigh*"

[lucean]

The best part of this is that it's not like Lex can properly retaliate as Joker really doesn't care who Batman is.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

"WayneTech promised an electric car by this year! I put a deposit down! Where's my goddamn electric car, Bruce?"

[zachbeacon]

I have such mixed feelings on that show but moments like that make it worth it.

[beyondthefringe]

Joker knows.
Joker's known for a while.
Joker just doesn't care.

[cricharddavies]

Joker probably knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne. He doesn't know and probably cannot understand that Bruce Wayne is Batman.

[zenfrodo]

Yes, Joker, Batman lives in Bruce Wayne's basement. 😁

[scorntx]

"No, Bruce Wayne lives in Batman's attic."

[deh_tommy]

“Hold on a sec. Are you trying to tell me that Bruce Wayne is Batman...’s roommate?”

[shadur]

He's been patiently waiting for this because he just knew Lex' face when he finally found out would be epic...

[nyadnar17]

Man I adore this.

I really, really hope DC manages to synthesize modern "Pure Evil" Joker with stuff like this.

[thanekos]

O.T.I.S. is nice, but it doesn't beat Otis Berg as a reference gag.

[cricharddavies]

Even if it's basically a set-up for something I can't stand (more Leviathan) I really did like the Toyman story in this, where he seriously examines his life in the wake of the reveal, and tries to do better with it.

[bradygirl_12]

Great stuff! :)

[super_fly]

So does he laugh and hang up, or does he laugh until the recording time runs out?

[shadur]

He laughs until the recording time runs out, then giggles while he hits redial and starts laughing again at the beep.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I forgot to ask in the Superman: Heroes post, but I guess it fits Villains as well: Did Dex-Starr become a hero at some point?