Today, we look at when Superman and Batman first faced off against each other's arch-rivals, Luthor and Joker, without the help of the other hero!
In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.
Longtime reader Nicole K. wrote in to ask, "The other day I happen to see a few still images from 1998 Batman/Superman Animated Film (it was probably one of Batman's best lines after seeing Joker maybe meet his doom where Harley said "Puddin!" and Batman states, "At this point, he probably is".) Anyway it made me wonder, in comics when did Batman first ever go up against Lex Luthor but with no appearance from Superman or any of the Superman Family members? And on the other side, when did Superman ever go up against Joker but with no Batman or his family present?"
A fine question, Nicole, so let's take a look!
WHEN DID THE HEROES FACE JOKER AND LUTHOR PERIOD?
Until Superman and Batman began to share the lead feature in World's Finest Comics #71, the two heroes barely interacted (despite sharing World's Finest Comics throughout its entire run, they each just had their own solo feature in the book. They were drawn together on the covers, though). Similarly, because of that strict separation between the two titles, Superman had never met the Joker and Batman had never met Lex Luthor (heck, this was early enough that I don't believe Luthor had even gained the name Lex!). Once they began sharing a comic book, though, it was only a matter of time before their villains teamed up, as well, and in World's Finest Comics #88 in 1957 (by Edmond Hamilton, Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye), the heroes finally faced off against their main rivals working together as a team!
Their plan begins in Metropolis when they both get out of prison (Joker has committed, what, multiple notable homicides? Why is being let out of prison?) and form a business partnership in Metropolis...
Superman goes to get Batman and Robin and he brings them to Metropolis, where we learn that this new business is creating powerful indestructible "Mechano-Men"...
This is just one of those great classic supervillain plans where the plan they come up with as a cover sounds like it would make them way more money than any heist that they have planned. Just sell these Mechano-Men for a fortune! You can laugh your way to the bank! Anyhow, the next few pages show Joker and Luthor seemingly committing crimes but are all really just them testing out the Mechano-Men. Finally, the heroes get Bruce Wayne to request some Mechano-Men...
Superman then takes the place of one of the Mechano-Men to go undercover, but he can't keep his head straight and Luthor and Joker cleverly figure out that it is Superman in disguise and once again, they avoid doing anything illegal...
In the end, though, at a demonstration of the Mechano-Men, Luthor and Joker have Mechano-Men disguised as themselves while they took a bunch of OTHER Mechano-Men to break into a depository, but Batman and Superman are wating for them, having used Mechano-Men of their own to make it look like they were spying on the demonstration
Ah, the Silver Age.
WHEN DID BATMAN FIRST FIGHT LEX LUTHOR WITHOUT SUPERMAN?
A couple of years later, in 1960's Batman #130 (by Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris), Batman and Robin were shocked to run into a giant green hand that was assisting what appeared to be aliens, who could speak English due to a universal translator!
Batman and Robin tried to stop them, but then they vanished, seemingly returning to their home dimension...
The next time the attacked, the Gotham City Police Department tried to use gas guns on them and Batman then shouted at them, "Took-A-Roo! Ig-Vee Tah-Koo!" and didn't get a reaction...
Okay, burgeoning detectives out there, try to figure out what it meant that they told the cops that gas guns couldn't hurt them and that they didn't react to what Batman shouted at them?
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Okay, obviously, Batman shouted in "Eskimo," and their universal translator should have picked that up and secondly, how could aliens know what gas guns are (that seems like a stretch)? So Batman realized it was all a hoax and a hoax perpetuated by...Luthor!
Batman then used the giant mechanical hand to capture Luthor....
WHEN DID SUPERMAN FIRST FIGHT THE JOKER WITHOUT BATMAN?
Superman waited over two decades before he got a chance to take on the Joker solo. It wasn't until 1982's DC Comics Presents #41 (by Martin Pasko, Jose Luis-Garcia Lopez and Frank McLaughlin) that Superman and the Joker faced off, but first, they actually TEAMED UP!
It all started when the Joker sprung the Superman villain, the Prankster, out of prison. Batman was recuperating from a recent case and Alfred bizarrely hid the Joker's recent escapade from the Dark Knight, letting Superman handle this one solo...
Joker and Prankster headed to Hollywood, where a famous movie comedian/producer had recently died. He had ripped off both the Joker and the Prankster as part of his secret side business of financing heists and the Joker decided that they could team-up to find out where he hid the loot that he stole from them (it was in a hidden bankbook). First, Joker and Prankster kidnapped Perry White (who was in town with Clark Kent and Lois Lane for a convention). The Prankster, though, then betrayed the Joker and tried to kill him! Superman had to save him...
Superman and the Joker then teamed up to solve the riddle of where the hidden bank book was (while also finding out where Perry White was). They got there just as the Prankster was there and the Joker got revenge on the Prankster by nearly fatally poisoning him, forcing Superman to save the villain while the Joker got away with the bankbook...
Superman then foils the Joker's chances at the money...
The Joker escapes, though, with some timely Kryptonite powder, and once Superman recovers, he at least saves Perry White's life...
He then captures the Joker...
There ya go, Nicole! Thanks for the suggestion! If anyone else wants to know about an interesting comic book first, just drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!