10 Best Batman Who Laughs Moments That Prove He's a Darkseid-Level Villain

Summary The Batman Who Laughs, a Batman variant born from a twisted world, kills his own allies and takes down the Justice League with terrifying efficiency.

With stolen powers from Doctor Manhattan, he successfully manipulates Perpetua, becoming the darkest threat to the Multiverse.

The diabolical villain kills dozens of Bruce Waynes, captures divine beings, and transforms into a new kind of god.

The Batman Who Laughs is one of the most diabolical villains that Batman has ever faced because he is the fusion of Batman's brilliance and planning with Joker's sadism and evil. This results in a villain who not only always wins, but takes sadistic pleasure in doing so. While characters like Darkseid have done some ridiculous things in the past, the Batman Who Laughs' accomplishments are truly notorious.

First appearing in 2017's Dark Days: The Casting by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, the Batman Who Laughs was originally just a human variant of Bruce Wayne's Batman without any special powers or abilities. Just like the regular Bruce Wayne, despite being human, the character consistently manages to stand up to actual gods and other absurdly powerful beings. While this is inspiring and heroic for the normal Bruce Wayne, it becomes a completely terrifying trait once he is inundated with Joker toxin and becomes the twisted Batman Who Laughs. After that, instead of standing up to impossible threats for the good of the world, the Batman Who Laughs proves he is a Darkseid-level threat by continually beating anyone who comes after him.

Related Who is The Batman Who Laughs, DC's Most Twisted Villain Ever? The DC Universe has many frightening villains, but none are as nightmarish as the Batman Who Laughs -- the twisted ruler of the Dark Multiverse.

During Dark Nights: Metal, the Batman Who Laughs turned Gotham's villains into gods, increasing their powers tenfold.

10 Empowered Batman's Rogues With Wish-Granting Cards

Teen Titans #12 by Benjamin Percy, Mirka Andolfo, Romulo Fajardo Jr, and Corey Breen

Close

During the events of the 2017-18 crossover Dark Nights: Metal, an evil group of Batmen invade Earth from the Dark Multiverse. Making their base of operations in Gotham City, the Batman Who Laughs hands out reality-altering joker cards to various members of Batman's rogues' gallery. With these cards, the villains are able to magically reshape Gotham as they please. Riddler creates a giant maze, Bane creates a fighting arena, and Mr. Freeze creates a frozen wasteland. All the while, the Batman Who Laughs watches from mountain placed in the middle of the city. He is eventually taken down by a coalition that includes Nightwing, Green Arrow, the Titans, and the Suicide Squad.These cards are first seen in Teen Titans #12 by Benjamin Percy and Mirka Andolfo.

The Batman Who Laughs' transformation began with Bruce Wayne killing the entire Bat-Family,

9 Killed The Entire Bat-Family

Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs by James Tynion IV, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano.

All the Dark Knights were born from a nightmare world in the Dark Multiverse. The world where the Batman Who Laughs was born is first shown in Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs by James Tynion IV and Riley Rossmo. In this world, Batman finally snaps and kills the Joker. This causes the Joker to release a toxin that slowly infects Batman, rewriting his brain to be more like the Joker. By the time Batman realizes what's going on, it's already too late for him to stop it. Instead, Batman embraces the madness and the first thing he does is brutally kill the Bat-Family. The Bat-Family are some of the most skilled detectives and fighters in the world, and Batman makes sure to take them by surprise, swiftly taking them out in one brutal moment.

To kill Superman, Batman synthesizes his own version of Black Kryptonite, which drives a Kryptonian homicidally insane.

Related "Into Darkness Deep As Hell": Hardcore Batman Who Laughs Cosplay Is Pure Nightmare Fuel Batman's most terrifying form, the Batman Who Laughs, comes to life in a disturbingly comic-accurate cosplay that is as skilled as it is horrifying.

8 Killed The Entire Justice League With Ease

Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs by James Tynion IV, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano.

Batman is famous for his contingency plans, and this takes a terrifying turn when the Batman Who Laughs turns those same contingency plans on the Justice League. After slaughtering the Bat-Family, the only team that can stand against the Batman Who Laughs is the Justice League. Not waiting for them to realize something is wrong, Batman strikes at his former allies first. It's not shown how he takes the Justice League down, but readers do get to see what he does to Superman. Batman synthesizes his own version of Black Kryptonite, which drives a Kryptonian homicidally insane. This kryptonite forces Superman and his son to tear Lois Lane apart, before dying themselves, as seen in Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs by James Tynion IV and Riley Rossmo.

The Batman Who Laughs has killed more versions of Batman than any other character in DC history so far.

7 Killed Dozens Of Bruce Waynes Across The Multiverse

The Batman Who Laughs #3 by Scott Snyder, Jock, David Baron, and Sal Cipriano

Bruce Wayne is one of the most capable fighters and smartest men in the world, which is why taking on Batman in a fight is usually a bad idea. Taking on multiple versions of Bruce Wayne is usually an even worse idea. In 2019's The Batman Who Laughs #3 by Scott Snyder and Jock, the Batman Who Laughs begins killing Bruce Waynes from other dimensions. The Batman Who Laughs does this several times, pulling them from other worlds and taking them by surprise, quickly killing them and extracting a serum from them. This means the Batman Who Laughs has killed more versions of Batman than any other character in DC history so far.

The Over-Monitor is the strongest Monitor that watches over all others, and somehow the Batman Who Laughs managed to capture him as part of his plan to destroy the Multiverse.

Related The Evil Batman's Batcave Is As TWISTED As It Gets The Batman/Superman series sends the heroes up against The Batman Who Laughs' master plan - but his Batcave may be his cruelest joke yet..

6 Captured The Over-Monitor, One of DC's Strongest Characters

Dark Nights Metal #6 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, and FCO Plascencia

Some of the most powerful and important beings in the DC Universe are known as the Monitors. These are characters who exist outside the regular DC Universe and can absorb the Multiverse in its entirety. It's the job of the Monitors to make sure everything is progressing smoothly and there are no Crisis-level events. The Over-Monitor is the strongest Monitor that watches over all others, and somehow the Batman Who Laughs manages to capture him as part of his plan to destroy the Multiverse. He hopes to achieve this by linking the Over-Monitor's brain with that of the Anti-Monitor, which would destroy reality. He is eventually stopped by the Justice League. All of this and more was seen in Dark Nights Metal #6 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.

Not only did the Batman Who Laughs destroy the Hall of Justice, he turned it into his personal trophy room, rebranding it the "Ha of Justice."

5 Took Over The Justice League's Hall Of Justice

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Dark Nights Metal by Scott Snyder, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Karl Mostert, Trevor Scott, Norm Rapmund, Ramulo Fajardo Jr, and Andworld Design

The Hall of Justice has always been an iconic base of operations for the Justice League. While they're sometimes seen on the Watchtower up above Earth, the Hall of Justice is their ground-level headquarters where they can really see and interact with the people they're protecting. The Batman Who Laughs takes over the ruins of the Hall of Justice on one Earth in 2021's Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Dark Nights Metal by Scott Snyder and Jackson Lanzing. He renames it to the Ha of Justice to keep on brand. This place mostly serves to hold the trophies the Batman Who Laughs has kept from the many heroes he's killed, such as Fate's Helmet and Zatanna's fingers.

Related The Batman Who Laughs Isn't As Terrifying As The Alfred Who Laughs The Batman Who Laughs was one of the most dangerous enemies to lay waste to the DC Universe, but a Joker-infected Alfred accomplished more.

The Batman Who Laughs explains that, in his universe, he managed to kill the all-powerful Spectre using dark magic...

4 Captured The Phantom Stranger, A Divine Being

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #2 by James Tynion IV, Steve Epting, Javier Fernandez, Nick Fildardi, and Travis Lanham

The Phantom Stranger is one of DC's many divine beings. In DC lore, he is actually Judas Iscariot, cursed to wander Earth as the Phantom Stranger, helping people out as punishment for his betrayal of Jesus Christ. He's a member of the Quintessence, DC's strongest group of characters. Despite all of this, though, the Batman Who Laughs somehow manages to capture him during the events of 2020's Year of the Villain crossover. Once again, his plan is to use this immensely powerful being to bring about the end of the universe. The Batman Who Laughs explains that, in his universe, he managed to kill the Spectre using powerful dark magic, and that holding the Phantom Stranger in a magical cage is an even easier feat for him.

When the Batman Who Laughs needed power, he stole it from Doctor Manhattan - the godlike being from the Watchmen comic series.

3 Stole Doctor Manhattan's Powers To Become A New Kind Of God

Dark Nights: Death Metal #2 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano

As dangerous as the Batman Who Laughs is, he is just a man. To go up against gods like Perpetua during the Dark Nights; Deal Metal event, the Batman Who Laughs needs power himself. That is why in Dark Nights: Death Metal #2 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, the Batman Who Laughs transfers his brain into the body of a Bruce Wayne variant who was Doctor Manhattan, the ultra-powerful metahuman from the original Watchmen miniseries. This version of Bruce Wayne is sometimes referred ot as "Batmanhattan." This grants the Batman Who Laughs near-omnipotent power, and he is able to rewrite reality and do whatever he wants. With this power, he is able to fight and defeat Perpetua and nearly rewrites the entire Multiverse.

Related The Batman Who Laughs ‘Appeared’ In This Comic From 1966 While the character is undoubtedly a creation of Scott Snyder, a comic from 1966 shows that the idea of a Joker-Batman may be far from a new concept.

The Batman Who Laughs couldn't fight Perpetua, so he set about undermining and manipulating this god of gods...

2 Successfully Manipulated Perpetua Into Serving Him

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #4 by James Tynion IV, Steve Epting, Nick Filardi, and Travis Lanham.

Close

The biggest obstacle in the Batman Who Laughs' goal of complete Multiversal destruction is Perpetua, a dark goddess who created the Multiverse and had her own plans to remake it in her dark vision. Since the Batman Who Laughs can't fight Perpetua directly, he instead manipulates her into letting him work for her. From there, he manipulates her further until he eventually is able to gain enough power to challenge her. No longer needing her around, the Batman Who Laughs, now known as The Darkest Knight, eventually kills her, becoming the biggest threat to the Multiverse in the process. All of this and more is seen in Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #4 by James Tynion IV and Steve Epting.

The Batman Who Laughs is such an absurd and dangerous threat that in the war for the Multiverse in Dark Nights: Death Metal, he managed to join the fight against... himself.

1 Batman Who Laughs Once Fought A War Against Himself

Dark Nights Death Metal: The Last 52 War of the Multiverses by James Tynion IV, Alex Maleev, Matt Hollingsworth, and Rob Leigh.

Close

The Batman Who Laughs is such an absurd and dangerous threat that in the war for the Multiverse in Dark Nights: Death Metal, the Batman Who Laughs joins the fights against himself. This can be seen in the 2020 one-shot, Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last 52 War of the Multiverses by James Tynion IV and Alex Maleev. After the Batman Who Laughs' brain is transferred into the body of Doctor Manhattan to become the Darkest Knight, his corpse still remains. In a moment of desperation, Batman decides to resurrect this corpse to join the fight on the side of the heroes. While the Darkest Knight battles with Wonder Woman, the Batman Who Laughs fights alongside Batman and the Bat-Family against the armies of the Dark Multiverse. This results in the bizarre situation where the Batman Who Laughs is fighting on both sides of the same war, something not even Darkseid has done.