Talk:Mister Mxyzptlk

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Mister Mxyzptlk article.
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[edit] Bat-Mite meeting

Mxyzptlk met Bat-Mite before the cited examples. I will dig out the info later.

  • There is at least one story in which Myx and Bat-Mite kidnap and impersonate Supergirl and Batgirl (kind of a "World's Finest for Girls" story) in order to settle a bet. I'll see if I can find it.

[edit] Pronunciation...

I seem to remember the pronunciation being given as: mix-yez-PIT-lek in some 1960's comic... any details available on varying pronunciations given by DC over the years? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.5.192.207 (talk • contribs) 23:20, March 11, 2006 (UTC) (UTC)

I recall the old Batman/Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure pronunciation as mix-yez-PIT-ul-ick. --Joe Sewell 17:06, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
Various semi-"official" pronounciations have been given on letter pages over the years. I recall mix-yez-pittle-ik as one. Strait 12:18, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

The explanations of the spellings contradict themselves. what was first pt or tp. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.197.244 (talk) 09:21, August 30, 2007 (UTC)

Per Ambush Bug #2, June 1985, thought balloon by Jonni DC and editor's note by Julius Schwartz: Earth-1's Mxy is spelled Mxyzptlk and pronounced "MIX-YEZ-PITEL-ICK" (underlining is [sic]); Earth-2 is Mxyztplk and pronounced "MUX-IZT-PULK." Agree with 75.72 regarding contradiction - Golden Age section starts with discussion of pt, but it was tp first. Fitfatfighter 06:38, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mxyzptlk didn't survive Crisis

... did he? (I thought he was consumed by whatzitsname that generated the old Phantom Zone, and that the post-Man of Steel version has never been officially connected to the pre-MOS one.) --Joe Sewell 17:07, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Mr. Mxyzptlk did and did not survive the Crisis the same way that Superman did and did not survive it. In both cases the old characters were dropped and new ones with the same names and somewhat different backgrounds/personalities/powers were introduced shortly thereafter. Strait 12:20, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
He also survives in that he seems unbound by the Crisis. He also dies in recent story, does't he? --Chris Griswold 13:38, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Eh, death for Mxy is a tricky subject. It was establised in an earlier issue shortly after Superman's return from "death" against Doomsday that Death was a completely foreign and unknown thing in the 5th D. Mxy was so befuddled that he went to creating "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang, Badda-Boomsday" just to seee Supes killed again and thus understand what death was. Another thing that I don't seem to get is post-DOV's Mxy. If his brand of reality warping is half magic and half science, then how could he be completely powerless? There's also the fact that in a previous Batman comic(which could have been Pre-crisis, I'll have to find the issue), Batman noticed that Mxyzptlk was unnaffected by a total magic draining assault.

[edit] First appearance

Actually, Mr. Mxyzptlk first appeared in the Superman daily newspaper strip. Late February/March 1944. (Superman #30 came out in September 1944). In strip #1611, March 6, 1944, he introduces himself as Mr. Mxyztplk, after bothering Clark Kent at the Daily Planet for a few weeks.

[edit] Threat to the JLA as a whole?

If Mr Mxyzptlk is so powerful magic wise he could probably kill the members of the JLA can't he? Just a thought...

Tomcat200 30 May 2006

Well, seeing as Mxy is more powerful then The Spectre, Shazam, The Phantom Stranger, Zeus, Ganthet, High Father and Darkseid, I'd say yes is the answer to your question.

Yeah. Haven't you read the Emperor Joker arc? Or the two issues where he manifests as the twin in suits selling uberencyclopedias? If Mxy put his mind to it he could kick just about anybody's ass to hell. (He wouldn't bother about kicking them back.) Be glad he's satisfied pissing Clark off.

Is this related to the article? --Chris Griswold (☎☓) 14:47, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fictional Dwarf?

I don't think that he belongs in the "fictional dwarf" category. Yes, he's short. But I really don't think that most people would identify him as a dwarf in either the fantasy sense (mining, axes, beards...) or the human sense (real humans who are very short). Strait 17:39, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Good point.--Chris Griswold 20:36, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mxyzptlk in Divine Divinity?

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I recall a character named Mxyzptlk in the PCgame Divine Divinity by Larian. He was a teleporting imp or something...

[edit] Rumplestilkin...

Forgive me if i'm wrong but isn't Rumplestilkin from an actual folk tale?--129.49.5.164 18:01, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

  • Yes, Rumpelstiltskin has been around well before any comic books. If anything, the name-backwards trick might have been inspired by the power Rumpelstiltskin's secret name had over him. Hard to say what the creators were thinking of, but I would not call this a reference to the comic book character. UltraNurd 16:56, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mxyzptlk and the Dodo

I did want to point out that Mxyzptlk loves tormenting other people in other dimensions. For instance, he inadverently teamed up with the classic Dodo Bird, while being sent back to the Fifth Dimension in the Superman/Bugs Bunny miniseries (which I'm still waiting for DC Comics to publish in collected GN format).

Here Dodo teleports Mxyzptlk into the Looney Tunes world temporarily, and after being harrassed by Foghorn Leghorn, anviled by Daffy (in his Three Musketeers role), and nearly devoured by the Tazmanian Devil, the imp has a fiendish scheme where he temporarily establishes an alliance with the Dodo Bird to contruct a pipe organ device (ever notice how ALL multidimensional controls are pipe organs?).

Once constructed, Mxyzptlk and Dodo start phasing LT characters into the DC Universe. They even go to such lengths as switching Superman with Elmer Fudd (no kidding) and do a classic take of Daffy as Bat-Duck.

Of course, while this is all going on, the Toyman is causing havoc in Gotham City (I presume, since Bat-Duck attempts to stop him there), summoning the JLA to come to the rescue, with the LT gang (headed by Bugs of course) in tow. After putting away the criminal, they end up in the dimension where Mxyzptlk and Dodo are at. But the imp as always, takes over and threatens to merge the LT and DC Universe into one. Fortunately Bugs tricks Mxyzptlk in saying his name backwards when the wasically wabbit informs him to post his triumph at www.Kltpzyxm.com. Fortunately Dodo corrects the problem keeping the Universes permenantly separate, because he really doesn't need the competiton if they merge. To summon things up, the series ends on note where Perry White finds Michigan J. Frog, and Bugs looks on in a DC Comic book.

Apologies for the exposition there. But getting back to the imp in general, Mxyzptlk also disguised himself as a lowly, intradimensional traveller visiting Mumm-Ra, in order to cause some havoc in Superman/Thundercats. But I should note here, Mxyzptlk doesn't reveal himself until Mumm-Ra gets pissed with the traveller for the failed scheme of ridding himself of the Thundercats.

Apparently our favorite imp likes to get around. Fangarius 19:27, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Addition to Mxy's powers

I think Mxyzptlk should have some form of Omniscence listed under his powers. There are several instances of him knowing things that few other characters around him are aware of, sometimes even those of high standing like The Spectre(though I could be wrong). In Adventures of Superman #617 the Mxy twins make several allusions to metagaming knowledge, as well as using the term "Retcon". In That Healing Touch, which I unfortunately have yet to get my hands on, Mxy travels to our dimension in a second, talking to the writer. The lack of time in this action denotes him having previous knowledge of the dimensions existance.

Also to note a few things from Superman/Batman:Vegeance, when Mxy and Joker are playing Chess, the pieces are spoofs of Heroclix, most likely created by Mxy.

Let's take note of this quote from the same source as well.

Joker: Why doesn't anybody remember when I had your magic? When "I" -- the great me -- was Emperor of Everything?!

Mxy: They don't remember because I don't want them to remember. That...And they haven't collected those stories into a trade paper back yet...

Also, from that same story, the main pawns of the two nigh omnipotent beings, were the Maximums, obvious spoofs of the Ultimate version of the Avengers.

Now, moving onto Ruin Revealed. Mxy is fully aware of everything that would occur to him since he arrived, seen in his self narration.

In previous, but recent issues, Mxy warned Superman twice of the coming Infinite Crisis, aware of its soon existance.

Also, though World's Funnest isn't canonical, Mxy showed knowledge of the previous Multiverse and the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Joker was also aware of the COIE during his hold on Mxy's power.

Does any one else concur...?

As an addition to my prior point, I recently read That Healing Touch Mxy not only instantly traveled to our world, but punched a DC employee from the DCU through a phone line.

There is something wrong in the article: in John Byrne's Superman, when superman first encounters Mr. Mxyzptlk, it is Mr. Myx who limits himself by committing to return to his dimension if Superman (or anyone) makes him say his name backwards. So it is not a weakness but a self-limitation.

I think the bit with the name reversal might be yet another joke Mxy is playing on Earth. In JLA (Morrison Porter) 32 an imp, not Mxy, is threatened into saying his name backwards by other imps, thus removing him from the Earthly plane. Lots42 (talk) 10:44, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Flintstones and Hanna-Barbara Cartoons?

I think I remember him tormenting Fred in a Flintstones cartoon. Does anyone have any information on this? Did he also show up in the Jetsons?--64.231.182.194 02:48, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Maybe the great gazoo. Brian Boru is awesome 02:53, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

It was indeed the great gazoo in the Flintstones. (Gazoo and Mxyzptlk are two seperate characters.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.207.32.37 (talk) 18:53, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Use of the past tense

The article currently has a tag that says that it uses the past tense to refer to fiction, which is not in-line with policy.

I agree that this is a problem in general, but when talking about a multi-decade evolution of canon, one must use multiple tenses. The article should probably be analyzed with a view toward clarifying any potential confusion between usage that is reasonable, and actually talks about the real-world evolution of the fiction and the fictional history/histories of the character. The latter needs to be re-written in compliance with the policy, at which point the tag should be removed. I'd do it, but I'm trying not to spend too much time editing articles these days.

Site note: Amusingly enough this difficulty in describing the evolution of backstory revisions is the subject of the Alan Moore series, Supreme, which describes a superman-like character who becomes aware of his own ongoing revisions. -Harmil 22:05, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is the recent Mxy, actually Mxy?

I've been looking over the recent Characterizations of Mr. Mxyzptlk and I've come to the realization that he may not be him, but Mxyztplk.

My evidence:

-The appearance of the recent Mxy is exactly the same as Earth Two's Mxyztplk.

-Mxy-2 was well known for being a kind, though mischievous element in Kal-L's life. Mxy-1 is well known for being a sadistic SOB who loves to torture people, even kill them, with out so much as batting an eye.

-Mxy-2's powers were well documented as being 100% magic. This made him a far-cry from Mxy-1 who is essentially omnipotent. Mxy-2 was affected by very high level magics and anything that affected or drained magic affected him. This would explain the weakened Mxy shown in Ruin Revealed.

- Finally, as revealed in 52, The Multi-verse/Hypertime still exists and thus the continued of Mxyztplk is highly likely. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.33.9.99 (talk) 23:26, 30 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Mxyzptlk in the cartoons

Ok, I was wondering, after watching a Superman cartoon, if the same guy I saw was in fact Mister Mxyzptlk. Basically, he was a guy in a gree suit really, and was wondering if that was him or not. Captain Drake Van Hellsing 09:01, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lucifer and Michael

Shouldn't there be some sourcing for the statements in his powers section? It was blatantly shown in Emperor Joker that he was more powerful then The Spectre and it has been shown that Michael is more powerful then The Spectre as well, but where is the connection? It also brings up the question of how Mxy stands with the Endless. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.33.9.99 (talk) 23:06, 25 April 2007 (UTC).

Actually, Myxy was shown to be more powerful than the Hal Jordan Spectre. As recently stated on Myxy's very Wiki page, the Hal Jordan Spectre couldn't take the King of Tears, whom the Jim Corrigan Spectre was shown defeating with ease in the very same storyline (JSA: The Return of Hawkman graphic novel).BWANASIMBA 05:29, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

It was also shown in Justice League of America: Justice for All that the Spectre was easily defeated by a 5th dimensional genie similar to the Thunderbolt. I don't know which incarnation this was but it was definately NOT Jordan.

Yes, but a) Spectre had no host then and b) that blue thunderbolt was being secretly aided and manipulated by Qwsp. Plus, they didn't actually show the fight, they just showed hostless Spectre had been bested and imprisoned. Also, later on Yz the Thunderbolt and the rest of the JSA had to fight Johnny Sorrow and the King of Tears and Yz did not even try facing off with the King of Tears, an opponent Spectre had bested in his Jim Corrigan days easily. Also, didn't Spectre banish Yz and Jakeem to the 5th dimension in Day Vengeance?BWANASIMBA 23:13, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

The Thunderbolts are well known to be much more limited then actual imps like Qwsp or Mxyzptlk. Their power may be equal to an imp, but it is limited to the commands of their owner. That explains how the Blue Djinn trapped the Spectre in the fabric of the physical universe and why Jakeem was defeated during Day of Vengeance. The Blue Djinn had been given essential free reign while Yz acted on Jakeem's orders. And if the user's wording isn't perfect, it won't give the correct effect. So just because Jakeem was banished doesn't mean the Thunderbolt is weaker than The Spectre.

[edit] cultrual refrences for mxyzptlk

"mxyzptlk" is a class of computer language in the C++ class. There is a link to the Fermi lab site at fermitools.fnal.gov/abstracts/mxyzptlk/abstract.html . I do not know if this is a GDU free site but it is something that should be looked into adding to the Mr. Mxyzptlk site. I seem to remeber that snopes.com had something on it about the name for the language being take by fans of the comic character also. 208.96.200.171 (talk) 18:17, 15 December 2007 (UTC)VULCANSPEAKER@YAHOO>COm208.96.200.171 (talk) 18:17, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A wife?

  1. 32 of the Morrison/Porter JLA has a fifth dimensional imp leading a charge to help Earth, because said imp is concerned that if Earth is destroyed, Mxy will stay home (and presumably be annoying there). Just thought it was an interesting fact to throw out and discuss. Lots42 (talk) 10:41, 16 February 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Spectre and Fifth Dimension beings

Since this is one few logical ways to define Mxy's power, I think it's worth discussing. The latest addition claimed the Thunderbolt was overpowered by the Spectre because of Jakeem's wording, but it's clearly not the case. See JSA 74. Jakeem expressely ordered the Thunderbolt to send The Spectre to the fifth dimension, which he couldn't do. He was overpowered in this attempt, and instead he was the one sent to that dimension with Jakeem. Either fifth-dimension beings are as yet quite unelaborate or Spectre's powers are. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.19.75.133 (talk) 23:59, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Through out the entirety of the Thunderbolt's career as a character the major plot points concerning him revolved around his wielder wording a wish wrong, causing an undesired effect. The Thunderbolt and his owner would then have to deal with said aftermath of the wrong wording, fixing it by the end of the comic. The Spectre is in most cases a nigh omnipotent being and has a vast control over magic; so if Jakeem did not word his command specifically for dealing with the Spectre, it would not mostly likely work. He just said to take the Spectre to the Fifth Dimension, not to overpower the Spectre before doing so or something similar.

Another possible explanation could be that since The Source wanted Infinite Crisis to occur so it could kill all the New Gods eventually, it overruled the Thunderbolt's power. The Source is one of the few entities in DC either shown or speculated to be more powerful than any denizen of the 5th Dimension. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.33.9.99 (talk) 01:05, 30 March 2008 (UTC)