DC Just Brought Back the Joker’s Most Terrifying Form

There are few villains more iconic than the Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime is a pale-faced, green-haired monster that can adapt to any storyline or age. While he was initially introduced as a mirthless mastermind, the Joker has evolved into whatever the story at hand required. He’s been a comedian who happens to kill, a money-obsessed gag villain, and an anarchist dedicated to causing as much chaos as possible. Still, while he’s changed in motive and personality, the Joker has remained relatively the same in ability. That is, with one major exception, which DC just brought back in the most terrifying way possible. 

Once, the Joker managed to trick the fifth-dimensional imp Mister Mxyzptlk into trading him ninety-nine percent of his power. The clown rechristened himself Emperor Joker and used his cosmic power to remake the universe in his image. Mxyzptlk’s unfathomable, imagination-based power let the Joker rule all of reality, and Superman was only able to stop him by exploiting his obsession with Batman. Thankfully, the Joker lost his reality-altering powers. It was thought that he had returned to whatever he constituted as normal for good, until DC K.O. #3 brought back Emperor Joker in all his insane glory.

An Emperor Returned to His Malignant Throne

After a series of brutal fights to the death, the final eight competitors made it to the third round. Not giving them any time to rest, the Heart of Apokalips declared that the quarter-finals would be fought in teams of two. They each had the chance to pick someone previously eliminated to be their partner, but since Joker generated the most Omega Energy, he was allowed to pick anyone throughout time and space. After everyone had chosen their partners, they were separated into four groups and told to fight to the death. Joker’s opponents were the master magician Zatanna and her chosen partner, John Constantine. Joker revealed that his partner was someone who knew how to laugh, and the Batman Who Laughs appeared beside him.

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Even an evil version of Batman is just a man, so the two magicians easily had the advantage. They would have won immediately if it really were the Batman Who Laughs. In a surprise twist, Joker revealed that his partner was actually Mister Mxyzptlk. The imp prankster wanted to get the heck out of dodge, so he traded his power to Joker to get the fight over quickly. Emperor Joker rose once again, and now that he was all but immune to the pair’s magic, it was an instant win. Joker drove the two insane by turning everything they looked at into a visual neurotoxin. They fell to madness, and Joker killed Zatanna by muttering a backwards spell, just for the irony.

An Old Mirror to Superman’s Soul

Emperor Joker’s return is, like everything else in DC K.O., a love letter to every era of DC’s long history. However, it’s also something much more grand: a look into Superman’s soul. See, in the original “Emperor Joker” storyline, Superman was pushed to his moral limit. He has a code against taking lives, but it seemed like the only way to stop Joker was to murder him. Even Batman, after years of being tormented on repeat, broke and demanded that the Joker had to die. Yet, killing Joker wasn’t the answer. The only way the day could have been saved was by convincing the Joker to give up the power willingly, which he did. Superman only won because of his endlessly heroic heart.

Now we’re in a death game for the fate of reality, and Superman’s heart is being tested again. Every round, the Man of Steel grows angrier and more determined to win at any cost. In this round, he even revealed in his victory, in beating his opponents, and thinking like Darkseid. The entirety of this tournament is a major test of the soul, designed to break people down into cruel monsters. Just like with Emperor Joker, it seems like the only way to win is by giving up your soul to evil. Superman is faced with the same choice he had back then, but unlike before, he may not have the will to resist the siren call.

The Heart of Apokolips confirmed way back at the start that this was a rigged game. The competitors cannot defeat Darkseid by acting like him, but they think they must. The only way to win is to find a new way forward, and Superman has to do that before it’s too late. Otherwise, the entire world may have already been lost to the true King Omega.

DC K.O. #3 is on sale now!

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