Mr. Mxyzptlk's nemesis (as correctly pointed out by northernguru-ga in the
Comments section) is Superman. The exact relationship (or whether there really
is one or not) has not been fully explained in the DC Comics Universe. The most
that one can gather is that Mr. Mxyzptlk, like most villains, chose a hero to
annoy not necessarily because of a personal vendetta but just out of pure self
pleasure. Mr. Mxyzptlk has taken upon himself to pester Metropolis's Superman
through his abilities to alter and bend reality to his liking. He even goes as
far as to lend his powers to The Joker on one occasion to mess with Superman's
mind. Mr. Mxyztpltlk first appeared in "Superman" #30 and more recently
in "Superman and Batman's World's Funnest" (see link below for description).
A brief history of Mr. Mxyztpltlk is excerpted below from The Superman Home
Page at http://www.supermanhomepage.com/index.html:
"1944 - Superman #30 introduces the magical 5th Dimensional being Mr. Mxyzptlk
(pronounced mix-yez-pitel-ick) who can only be made to leave by tricking him
into saying or spelling his name backwards (kel-tipz-yex-im). Once Mr. Mxyzptlk
is tricked into returning to his dimension of Zriff, he can't return for at
least 90 days. In Superman #30, his name is spelled Mxyztplk. Mr. Mxyzptlk's
pre-Crisis debut is now considered to be in Superman #131."
"1986 - In the final issue of DC Comics Presents #97, the pre-Crisis fates of
the Phantom Zone, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Bizzaro and Htrae, and the remains of Argo City
are told."
"2000 - Superman finds himself in a strange alternate reality where he is
regarded as the world's worst Super-villain. It isn't until Mxyzptlk reveals
that he stupidly gave the Joker his powers that Superman realizes that the
Joker has altered reality to fit his own twisted mind, and together with Steel,
Lois and Batman, things are finally returned to normal."
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/comics-history.html
As zaprobo-ga pointed out, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy provides an
additional description of Mr. Mxyzptlk at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A204652. It describes Mr. Mxyzptlk as
a 'nefarious Imp' who has a wife! (Apparently he calls her Gispy). Mr. Mxyzptlk
has appeared in many of Superman's commercial offerings, including almost all
the various comic books (from Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen to Adventure Comics),
television shows (from Superfriends to Superman: The Animated Series), toy
serious and Trade Paperback Books (such as Superman: Krisis of the Krimson
Kryptonite)
Additional information:
History of Superman
http://members.tripod.com/~kryptonkid/history.html
Visual of Mr. Mxyzptlk
http://store.yahoo.com/wickedcoolstuff/mrmxylsoftoy.html
Mr. Mxyzptlk's Recent Appearance in World's Funnest
http://news.wizardworld.com/Comics/CB1029-worldsfunnest.asp
Superfriends Episode Guide
http://www.toonzone.net/colin/epguides/superfriends.htm
Superman: Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1563892758/104-0073193-3571161
Superman Family Index: Tales of the Bizarro World (google cache):
http://216.239.35.100/search?
q=cache:ia4U6cTPCLIC:members.tripod.com/Dark_Mark/superfamily.html+mxyzptlk+hist
ory&hl=en
Search terms used:
mxyzptlk history OR identity |
