Shut Up Hannibal / Comic Books

Times where the good guys reject the villain's claims by telling them to shut up in Comic Books.

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• Atomic Robo was once captured by a Soviet mad scientist and forced to endure a lecture that took up a page of the comic, explaining why this scientist wanted to destroy the human race in agonizingly trivial detail. Robo's summary hit all the major points.
  Atomic Robo: So you're building a big dumb bomb to show everyone who the greatest scientist blah, blah, blah.
• At the end of The Authority Revolution, the Big Bad of the arc is bragging that his control over the world has made it a better place. The Midnighter tears off his head, ripping out his spine in the process, in a manner that would make Mortal Kombat envious, with the words:
  The Midnighter: Well then, I guess I just don't give a shit.
• Batman does this almost as much as Superman:
  • In The Killing Joke, as Batman tracks him through a carnival house of mirrors, the Joker claims to have driven Commissioner Gordon mad, thus proving his point that "one bad day" can drive anyone insane as it did to him. He then tries to convince Batman that life is all a "monstrous, demented gag. So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing?" Batman crashes through a mirror and says, "Because I've heard it before... and it wasn't funny the first time!" and punches the Joker. He then tells him that Gordon is perfectly sane, thus disproving the Joker's point. "Maybe it was just you all the time."
  • Another Batman example:
    Captured Serial Killer: Admit it, you live for the hunt as much as I do. Going after the freaks adds excitement to the game, but not as much as you need. Every time you put on that mask the craving comes back, the primal course, the push at the back of your mind. It's only a matter of time before it takes over and you—
    Batman: Kill whoever's standing right next to me and calling me a psychopath?
    Captured Serial Killer: I'll shut up now.
  • In Batman: No Man's Land, Batman had this response to Mr. Freeze's Evil Gloating:
    Batman: My attempts to reason with you have always gone nowhere, Freeze, so forgive me if this time I don't even bother!
    • Which he punctuated with a punch to the face, knocking the villain out cold. (No pun intended.) If the Ultimate Clayface didn't show up five minutes later, he could have hauled Freeze to jail quickly.
  • The Elseworld Batman: In Darkest Knight, which has the premise of Bruce Wayne becoming Abin Sur's successor as Green Lantern of Sector 2814 rather than Hal Jordan, has an example occur after Bruce Wayne has used his power ring to prevent the Red Hood from undergoing the accident that turned him into the Joker in the standard continuity.
    Bruce Wayne: Do you have any idea of the harm you could have done? To women and children?
    Red Hood: I... I don't want to hear any sermons. I've had a really bad day.
    Bruce Wayne: We all have. That's no excuse to make innocent people suffer.
  • Batman: One Bad Day:
    • At the climax of Clayface's spotlight issue, Batman cuts Clayface's self-pitying rant on the nature of Hollywood short by bluntly pointing out that regardless he's still killed several people over a movie.
      Clayface: You think I've hurt innocent people, Batman, but spend one moment here and you'll— you'll see the truth! They only look innocent because they've taken classes on it! There are no friends here, Batman! No community! Just stepping stones! Little fish gobbling up everything smaller! This place deserves me, Batman! Don't you understand that yet?! It deserves me!
      Batman: Nine people, Basil. ...Nine people. In one day. Nothing else matters.
    • Penguin's spotlight issue has a villain-on-villain example. When Penguin confronts his usurper Umbrella Man, he starts a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the man that ends when Umbrella Man backhands him and beats him to a pulp. Then Penguin gets back up…
      Penguin: ...You think you can kill me...? You don't know what it takes to survive. You're just a man, but I have never been anything except a filthy little... ANIMAL. [leaps on top of Umbrella Man and bites his throat out]
  • Near the end of the early-to-mid-2010s Batman Beyond comic's "Undercloud" arc, Maxine Gibson chews out Rebel One over how her scheme to fight back against the class inequality in Gotham by using the Metal Men to kill a bunch of people makes her just as bad as the countless criminals and lunatics who have menaced Gotham City before.
    Rebel One: It's a point that somebody had to make, Max! Otherwise, things are only going to get worse! We live in a society where the rich literally rise above the poor! Their feet never have to touch the ground! How long before families like mine are pushed underground and we're all just slaves to the people who live above us?! And don't think your family will be fine, up there in the twenties... the rich will just rise higher and higher, and all the levels below will be pushed down! I hoped you might understand and—
    Max: Understand?! I understand you're warped, just as warped as Shriek... or Clayface, or any of the other crackwits who've tried to hurt or kill people in this city over the years!
• In Birds of Prey, the villain Mortis has been mind-raping Black Canary with visions of all the people she has regrets about, only to have this happen:
  Mortis: Your friends have dumped you again, haven't they? Haven't they?
  Black Canary: Heh [sniff] No. No, lady, they haven't. You pulled the wrong trigger. Don't you know that?
  Mortis: How do you know? How can you be certain?
  Black Canary: Because they're my friends. Because they love me. Now get the holy hell out of my brain. I won't warn you again.
• The Captain Britain and MI13 tie-in with Secret Invasion (2008) reveals that the global invasion force is just a cover for every Super-Skrull they have to invade Britain and steal all the Earth's magic straight from the source. After succeeding at killing Captain Britain and taking control over Earth's source of magic, the Super-Skrull Sorcerer Supreme stands over a woman who is, at the time, a civilian — a simple Muslim doctor standing in the way. The Super-Skrull describes how Britain will be erased from existence, so that it had never been. When the Skrull empire takes us as slaves, then we would know true pride and glory. Cue the return with Excalibur.
  Captain Britain: I think you'll find, we already do. We just don't like to make a fuss.
• In Daredevil (Mark Waid), Daredevil pulls off a lovely one against Cole, a female protege of The Punisher. Also a Take That! against the Darker and Edgier school of comic-book storytelling.
  Cole: You know what gives me the strength? The loss. We're alike that way, I imagine. Admit it: nobody's who a stranger to that particular pain could ever be as driven as us.
  Daredevil: Never — [throws his staff at her face, purposefully missing it by mere millimeters] — don't you ever say that to me ever again. That is a repellent statement. It's a vomitous insult to every cop — every fireman — every soldier alive who steps up to fight for those who can't! I am sorry for your loss! But if you genuinely believe that only the death of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause... then get your pathetic, cynical ass out of my way so I can do my job!
• Deadpool is riddled with these.
  • First there is Deathtrap, lecturing Wade about the virtue of silence, having strapped Wade to a table with a giant teddy bear above that will smother/crush him to death. If The Merc with the Mouth doesn't shut up, he will die. What does he do? He doesn't shut up.
    Deathtrap: "Fascinating! Teddy has approached ramming speed."
  • Next there is Deadpool's encounter with Batroc. You can't expect to use "Popinjay" in a sentence and not have Deadpool mock you. Batroc proceeds to kick Wade's ass for this. He makes the mistake in pushing Deadpool's cripple/friend out of a window, followed by another Shut Up, Hannibal! , and Deadpool wiping the floor with Batroc.
  • In the same series, Deadpool delivers a Shut Up, Hannibal! to the Messiah, the bringer of peace to the world. Why? Because the peace the Messiah brings is Peace through lack of free will. Coincides with kicking Captain America in the nuts. All Canon.
• In a Fantastic Four comic, Doctor Doom gives Reed a "Not So Different" Remark concerning his actions during Civil War (2006), which causes the Thing to give him a savage beating.
  • Susan Richards gave Doom an epic Shut Up in the Grant Morrison-written 1234 after the Fantastic Four defeated his plans:
    Susan: Shut up. Stop trying to hurt us, you stupid, lonely, ignorant man!
    Doom: How dare you? I will destroy you, Susan Richards!
    Susan: Oh shut up and listen to someone else for once! Stop talking in that ridiculous way! What's your problem, Victor? What have we ever actually done to you to deserve this stupid waste of everyone's time? Are you listening to me? Sitting there with your stupid machines and your childish jealousy, when you should be curing cancer or taking your people to the stars! What's the point of talking to you? Would you like me to explain this in a language you understand? Try anything like this ever again and I'll put a thousand force field bubbles inside that mighty brain of yours and burst it from the inside. Toys. Honestly, you should be ashamed of yourself.
• Averted during Mark Waid's The Flash storyline The Return of Barry Allen. It involved the Reverse Flash, Professor Zoom, being a lot faster than Wally. Zoom gives a Break Them by Talking, and Wally keeps trying to do this, but Zoom's so much faster he dodges/beats the crap out of Wally each time without breaking his lecture.
• Ghostbusters (IDW Comics): Garret Miller's response to being told by an evil ghost that his team thinks he's useless is that he does have those thoughts on bad days... but he doesn't have a lot of bad days.
• Issue 173 of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (IDW) (technically only the 18th issue, but regarded as the 173rd issue because the series is a continuation of the Marvel series and opted to continue the issue numbering of the original comic) has Flint give a bold response to Darklon's attempt at crushing the Joes' spirit.
  Darklon: And how are you going to stop me? Threats of physical violence? Waterboarding? Rendition? You Americans have to sneak around to do your dirty work to preserve your so-called values. There is nothing you can threaten me with that doesn't violate your precious principles.
  Flint: How about turning your raggedy butt over to the international court in the Hague to answer for your war crimes? How's them apples, Darklon?
• Green Lantern:
  • This happened a lot during the Green Lantern Arc Sinestro Corps War. Primarily between Hal Jordan and his Evil Counterpart Sinestro.
  • "Rage of the Red Lanterns": After killing Green Lantern Laira, previously converted to the eponymous Red Lantern Corps, Sinestro barely finishes taunting GL Hal Jordan - 'Look at that Jordan, another broken promise.' - when the hero grabs Sinestro by the collar, flies them both to the top of the Red Lantern Power Battery, and using the ring straps him into an 'electric chair.' This act unsuprisingly leads to his initiation into the Red Lanterns. Less than 3 pages afterwards, he pulls the switch.
  • Blackest Night is practically made of these. The zombie villains are all twisted evil versions of deceased friends and family of the heroes, saying whatever they can to manipulate the emotions of their prey before feeding on their hearts. Not that delivering a Shut Up, Hannibal does much good. In a particularly brilliant moment of smartness, the Black Lanterns can feed off Heroic Willpower just as easily as fear or anger.
• The Hack/Slash one-shot Girls Gone Dead has villain Laura Lochs giving a long Break Them by Talking about God, her origin, her motives and other such things. Cassie's reply is "Keep clucking, bitch" and a punch to the face. Subverted in the sequel Hack/Slash vs. Chucky where Laura was expecting Cassie to try something during her Break Them by Talking and kicks her in the face when she tries to attack.
  • Subverted again in Something's Fishy. As Mary Shelley Lovecraft is talking, Cassie starts sneaking up behind her, baseball bat in hand. Without even turning around or ceasing to talk, Mary ensnares Cassie in her tentacles.
  • A good example in an episode where Cassie let herself be kidnapped by a serial killer formerly psychiatrist, who start analysing her psyché while torturing her, trying to figure out what led her to pursuing slashers. After Vlad arrives and help her get out, she takes the guy, tells him she is just "pretty fucked up" and throw him through the window.
• Hellboy has a habit of doing this. SCREW YOU!
  • A particularly shining example has to be when Hecate attempts to seduce Hellboy to ruling by her side:
    Hecate: Accept the truth of your existence or be destroyed! You cannot escape your destiny!
    Hellboy: Gonna try.
    Hecate: Time is coming to ring down the curtain on man. Already, the four horsemen are loose in the world. It is for us to darken the sun, turn the moon to blood, and put out the stars. Then you and I alone, forever in the dark—
    Hellboy: Shut up! Not gonna happen... 'cause you're very, very ugly... and... you have a giant snake body!
    (impale!)
  • Subverted during the story "The Island". Hellboy repeatedly tells Hannibal to shut up, but since he's not really in a position to enforce that command, because he's been stabbed through the chest by a giant monster and is bleeding to death Hannibal keeps talking.
• The Incredible Hulk
  • When the Hulk fought Maestro, his Evil Counterpart from a Bad Future, and started losing, Maestro started a speech about how he knew his every move. Hulk's response? "Sing soprano, Motor Mouth" and punching Maestro in the groin.
  • Another time involving the Hulk was when the Pantheon sent him to stop Doctor Octopus when the villain had gained adamantium arms. The Hulk's reaction to Ock's Evil Gloating was simply to say, "Yeah. By the way, your fly's open." (Unfortunately, Doc Ock then proceeded to beat him senseless in one of the most notorious examples of The Worf Effect in the Hulk's history.)
  • An odd case where one cannot easily discern whether it's this or Shut Up, Kirk! was in the Giant-Size Hulk story "Banner War". Bruce Banner gives the Hulk a big "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how he never learns and there's no place for him anywhere, beforing lampshading that he's a part of the Hulk as well, and offering to fix the ship they came in so they can go be alone in peace in the planet The Illuminati originally tried to send them to. The Hulk says that he doesn't trust Banner to not simply fly them into the sun if he lets him take over, and retorts that while they are one and the same, there is one difference: Banner is all alone. Images of the Warbound appear behind the Hulk in that panel to reinforce his point.
• Iron Man has a hero-to-reporter example: Tony Stark delivers this to John Pillinger (who has nothing whatsoever to do with John Pilger), a man who is interviewing him in regard to the weapons Tony designed for the military over a decade ago, when Tony was nineteen. Over the course of the interview, Pillinger is clearly determined to make Tony out to be as unsympathetic as possible. He interrupts Tony at every turn, gives Tony no chance to expand on his answers, and more or less dismisses incredibly significant medical breakthroughs as meaningless just because they aren't available in third-world countries. He also brushes aside the fact that Tony hasn't designed weaponry for the military in over ten years, and has in fact put his efforts and resources into venues that could improve the world.
  The real kicker comes when Tony, rather than attempt to make excuses for the damage the weapons he once designed have done, flat-out admits that he knows that no matter what he does, he will always have blood on his hands — and Pillinger reacts as if Tony has given some long, rambling explanation to excuse himself from responsibility. Tony ends his statement by saying, with obvious sincerity, that he's trying to be a part of making the world a better place regardless. Pillinger responds with a caustic "...I see."
  However, at the end of the session, Pillinger asks Tony why he agreed to the interview. Tony responds beautifully.
  Tony: I wanted to meet you. You've been making your investigative films for what, twenty years now? I wanted to ask: Have you changed anything? You've been uncovering disturbing things all over the world for twenty years now. Have you changed anything? You've worked very hard. Most people have no idea of the kind of work you've done. Intellectuals, critics, and activists follow your films closely, but culturally you're almost invisible, Mr. Pillinger. Have you changed anything?
  Pillinger: I don't know.
  Tony: Me neither. (Then they shake hands)
• The one-off graphic novel Joker features a classic example of this, in which Batman not only brushes off the Joker's attempt to break him by talking , but turns it into a devastating Lecture of his own which sends the Joker into a berserk rage — in only three words:
  Joker: Uhh, God you disgust me. You have no charm at all, just... obviousness. Dumb, dull. Disappointing. Obvious. Shame on you. Obvious... and everybody knows. You wear your shame like a badge, because you don't have the balls to actually pin one on. Yes, just look at you. Desperate to be feared, you want to be perceived as a monster, dressed in black. And yet... you leave that little window. A glimpse at the perfection underneath. Obvious — the chiseled good looks, not the jaw, the mouth of a monster... why do you let it be seen? Tell me why.
  Batman: To mock you.
• In Issue 5 of the 2018 Avengers run, Loki tries to drown Cap while raving about how humanity is nothing more than the offshoot of a dead Celestial's infection and how the time for their extinction has come, Robbie Reyes promptly interrupts with a chain around his neck and the words:
  Robbie: Fun story, bro. I've got one of my own. It's called "The Ghost Rider Kicks Your Ass". Here's how it goes.
• Morbius is dead and buried. In life, he sold his soul to Chthon by using the Darkhold to bring his fiancée back from the dead, and now the Darkhold Dwarf has come to collect. He starts to move Morbius' body while prattling on, admitting he's talking too much for the hurry they're in as Chthon wants him warm. Suddenly Morbius' eyes snap open and he punches the Dwarf in the face: "Tell Chthon he can wait!"
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW): As the comet is empowering Twilight, she and her friends give Chrysalis a verbal beatdown as Twilight gives Chrysalis a magical beatdown.
  Twilight Sparkle: Your motivations are selfish, we fight because we know about things worth fighting for! Love! Friendship! We have things that you can't hope to have! You envy us!
  Queen Chrysalis: Stop... this... nonsense. You can't... defeat me.
  Twilight Sparkle: Ponies who can't do things themselves tell others they can't do it... I can stand up to you.
• The Punisher
  • In the last issue of the story arc The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank, Punisher kills the Big Bad's Dragon, scaring off her remaining henchmen, and starts pouring gasoline through her house. Even then, she tries to demoralize him about hypocritical his "war on crime" is, how he's no better than her, etc. As Punisher starts leaving, she tells him he's damned. His response:
  "Tell me something I don't know." (chucks a grenade inside)
  • In an older comic, Frank crosses path with the super powered mercenary Bushwhacker, who works out of his home with his wife. Frank eventually tracks him down and engages him in his own house. His wife tries to give him a "violence begets violence" speech. Frank just aims his gun at her, and tells her that she lives with, aids, and abets a known criminal, so she's not in any position to call him out.
• Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour, which serves the page image. Yes, Scott and Ramona are definitely self-centered assholes who tend to ruin the lives of those who care about them, but by the time Gideon attempts to call them out, they've already become aware of this and have resolved to change their toxic behavior. Plus, they're also not intentional emotional manipulators who keep a collection of their exes in cryostasis.
  Gideon: Getting rid of me...won't save you. You're your own worst enemies! Both of you!
  (Beat)
  Ramona: No, I'm pretty sure you're worse, dude.
  Scott: You're definitely worse.
• In Shotgun Opera, main character Sterling has a good response to a "you don't deserve her" speech: "FUCK YOU. I'm not about to roll over and die!"
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics):
    • In Issue #74, after the Freedom Fighters find Robotnik on the walkway of some outer space facility (up until that point, they thought he was dead), there are at least two varieties in a row:
      Sonic: You're toast if you don't tell me what happened to my family and the other roboticized Mobians, Ro"butt"nik!
      Robotnik: Come now, hedgehog. Can't you at least take a moment to welcome me back from the dead? Didn't your parents teach you better manners?
      Sonic: Why, you lousy... (runs at Robotnik, but Robotnik smacks him aside)
      Bunnie: Ah'll show you manners! (punches Robotnik in the face; Sonic and Tails stumble upon Robotnik's sweatshop)
      Tails: Sonic, look!
      Sonic: I see it, Tails! ALL of the missing Robians being forced to work in this suped-up outer-space sweat-shop!
      Robotnik: Forced? Quite the contrary, Sonic. I've merely RESTORED their LACK of free will. They have absolutely no say in the matter. How can you say that I've done something wrong? Why, look at all the new jobs I've created!
      Sonic: Create this! (runs up at Robotnik and knocks him off the walkway)
    • Sonic's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Eggman in Issue #200 is essentially a retort to a similar speech Eggman himself gave Sonic twenty-five issues earlier.
    • During Sonic's first fight with Scourge, the green hedgehog claims to know why Sonic hates him so much: it would only take "one bad day" for Sonic to become just like Scourge. Sonic throws this on Scourge's face, saying that perhaps if Scourge showed a "bit of selflessness and a little bit of decency", he would be just like Sonic. Scourge is left speechless at the realization that nothing makes him inherently evil and that if he'd put even the slightest amount of effort into it, he could stop being the world’s biggest douche with no friends.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW):
    • In Issue #11, Master Overlord is ranting about his superiority to Sonic, only for Whisper to shoot him in the face.
      Sonic: Nice shot, Whisper. Ten points for timing.
    • In Issue #30, Zavok tries to resume his attack after his initial defeat and gets three of these in the span of a minute: first from Cream, then Tangle, and finally Silver as he's beaten into submission and arrested.
      Zavok: I...will...not...fall!
      Silver: Then you'll be crushed!
    • In Issue #44, Zavok mocks Sonic for showing the Zeti mercy by stating that they'll eventually return and make him pay. This triggers a brief bout of PTSD from Sonic as he remembers the consequences of previously showing mercy to Eggman and Metal Sonic, but he shrugs it off and makes it clear that he won't sacrifice his morals because of fear, and that he'll be ready for the Zeti if they come back. Zavok actually shows some respect to him for this.
• In the finale of the first arc of Spawn spin-off Sam & Twitch, Twitch has caught the criminal responsible for all the murders in that story. She gives him a Breaking Speech about how she will go free thanks to her connections and, worst case scenario, will have to keep a low profile for a few months. And how she will then come back and slowly, for years, destroy his life and kill everybody he loves. At first it looks it worked as Twitch puts his gun down, but he immediately points it at her again and starts telling her her laws. When she continues to lecture him Twitch shoots her.
• Spider-Man:
  • In Spider-Man (1990) #51, The Jackal tries to break Spider-Man (actually his clone)'s morale by guilting him about how much blood he has on his hands, but Spider-Man responds that he knows he's not perfect, but that that doesn't mean he's scum either - and then proceeds to sucker-punch Jackal in the face. Of course, it turns out that reaction was just as Jackal planned it, but it's still a valid rebuttal given Jackal does believe in what he said.
  • Spidey gave a more literal Shut Up, Hannibal! to Norman Osborn in Siege. It's since become something of a Meme in Comic Book Forums.
• Superman:
  • In "Breaking the Chain", after Supergirl is brutally beaten up by Power Boy, including having her face dragged down the side of a skyscraper, she wakes up in a bed next to a Stalker Shrine devoted to her, bound in powerful, alien-tech restraints. Power Boy says a big speech about how much he loves her, that he knows best, and that the beating was her fault for making him angry. Supergirl blasts him with heat vision, calls him out that he's an asshole and that no one should ever hit someone that they love, then drops his house on him. He tries to escape, while still ranting, but Supergirl catches up to him and kicks him in the groin.
    Power Boy: Look, I'm just going to lay it all out because honesty is important in a strong relationship...I was born on Apokolips. Taken from the Armagetto Slums to serve You-Know-Who...He made me strong, trained me in the ways of the Earth so I could come here as a "hero" and...Well, it doesn't really matter anymore, because it changed the day you came to Apokolips. The most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Ever felt. From that moment, I knew I had found my "Missing Half". I knew we would be together. And then you left...I couldn't eat. Sleep. Think. I knew that my true destiny wasn't with Darkseid and his stupid plans...So I followed you across the universe. I watched you try so hard to fit in, to find your way. All I wanted to do was hold you. Tell you how beautiful you were. But I knew you weren't ready to hear it...Sometimes we have to fall all the way down before someone can lift us up. You could be something so special, Kara...But you're lost. You're lost and you're too weak to find your way alone. Whenever you try...the monster in you comes out. Is this what you what to be? (cups her face) You need someone to take care of you, Kara. Someone who loves you to build you up...To make you into something you can be proud of. I love you, Kara. We can be perfect together, if you'll just let me fix you.
    Supergirl: (destroys her restraints and burns his hand with heat vision) We need to break up.
    Power Boy: Aaaaaigh! What did you do?!
    Supergirl: You hit me. You said you loved me...And you hit me. (punches him through a wall to the outside)
    Power Boy: Y-You made me hit you! Because you don't listen, like now! Kara! I'm warning you! Stop it or I'll do it again! I'll hurt you again! You can be happy if you just do what I tell you! I— (Supergirl rips his house from its foundation and rises into the sky) Kara, I love you. Don't you want someone to take care of you!?
    Supergirl: No one who says he loves you should hit you, ever. (drops his house on him)
    Power Boy: (Flash Step into outer space, pulls out his Father Box) Ouch. Heh...Heh...Got some fight to her...Gonna have to work on that...Next time...And there will be a next time. Try to drop a house on me now. Father Box...Honey...
    Supergirl: (Flash Step up to him, knees him in the groin) I out-flew Superman, "Honey". We're not done. (grabs him by the scruff of his neck) I don't know if you can hear me, so read my lips...Don't call me. Don't talk to me. Don't look at me...Or I'll break every bone in your body.
  • In the H'el on Earth, H'el talked Supergirl into helping him save Krypton, assuring that no one would suffer. She believed him...until she found out that he omitted several key details when he explained his plan.
    Supergirl: H'el, you never said anything about sacrfice! About threatening this planet! About killing innocent people!
    H'el: Killing? I'm not killing anyone! When we go back in time, this planet and its people will still exist, only thrust back to its own past! What happens to them today will be no more real than a bad dream! Surely you see that, beloved —
    Supergirl: Don't call me that! You used me! You told me everything I wanted — everything I needed — to hear! And now people might be dying because I helped you!
  • In Supergirl Vol 2 Issue #15, Kara does this to villain Blackstarr several times:
    Blackstarr: I may be undecided as to the old woman's fate, but yours is certain...death!
    Supergirl: Listen — I've been romping through the cosmos since I was 15...And threats like THAT don't even make me work up a sweat!
  • Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade: Supergirl to Mxyzptlk during the climax:
    Mr. Mxyzptlk: I'm Mxyzptlk! Holder of the five keys that unlock the fifty-two layers of Hyper-reality! My mind has become one with all ten possible dimensions! Who are you to challenge me?!
    Supergirl: I'm Supergirl! Defender of Earth! You humiliated me in school. You attacked my friends! You took me from my family! I have all the power you ever dreamed of! My Kryptonian cells are supercharged with the light of a million billion suns! And I'm not going to let you destroy the 3rd dimension!
  • Death & the Family: After being defeated, Insect Queen swears she will return and make Kara and her family's life Hell. Kara flatly replies that is her mother's job.
    Supergirl: "Remember, Queen, I gave you the option to leave peacefully."
    Insect Queen: "I'll make you and your family ssssuffer, Sssssupergirl! I'll make your life Hell—"
    Supergirl: "No, thanks. My mother does that enough."
  • In the first story arc of the JLA (1997), the Justice League are finally able to fight back against the Hyperclan, a group of White Martians who have dominated the entire world by mind control and the JLA themselves with their powers. Superman has a slugfest with Protex, the leader of the Martians, and we have this little exchange between the two very different aliens:
    Protex: How STUPID are you? You let those cringing human sheep do what they want when YOU could rule the world! Stunted slaves! They look at YOU and see what they COULD have become... They FEAR you and they HATE you and you don't even have the guts to admit you DESPISE them in return! You know in your heart they're INFERIOR!
    Superman: (punches Protex straight through the entire continental shelf) They believe in me. And in my heart I believe in them.
  • Lex Luthor: Man of Steel: Superman's only line after Lex rants how Superman can't see his soul for what it truly is and how Humans Are Bastards, while proclaiming to do every evil thing he does to reveal Superman as a villain for people to know. After the more benevolent Perspective Flipped Villain Protagonist we've seen of Luthor throughout the series, it hammers home the fact that Lex's justifications for committing atrocities in the name of "exposing" Superman as a threat are really twisted, and that he really is the bad guy. It also makes clear the fact, that despite however benevolent Lex has presented himself, he is ultimately nothing more than a self-deluding insane hypocritical villain. Which is confirmed by Lex's Villainous Breakdown, showing that at some level, he knows this.
    Superman: You're wrong. I can see your soul.
  • The Krypton Chronicles: Many millennia ago, Superman's ancestor Val-El led a marine expedition which nearly ended in disaster when his brother Tro-El started a mutiny with the goal of seizing the ships and becoming a pirate. Tro-El's plot fails and he gets marooned as a punishment, but as he and his followers are shipped to a deserted island, Tro-El tries to diss his brother for the last time. Instead, Van gets in one final parting shot.
    Tro-El: "I hope the next large wave sinks you, Val!"
    Val-El: "And I hope you live— to understand your own folly!"
  • One story had Batman reluctantly team up with a vampire to deal with an evil wizard. Superman arrives halfway through the story, but the vampire incessantly mocks him, saying he is nothing but a liability, since Supes is weak against magic. Superman tells him to shut up or else he will fly him into the sun. He shuts up.
  • Last Son:
    • General Zod is beating on Supes and claiming that it was all Jor-El's fault that Krypton and their people were destroyed. If Jor-El hadn't arrested him and sentenced him to the Phantom Zone, Zod would have saved Krypton.
      Superman: Oh? Tell me, Great General, how would you have saved our world?
      General Zod: (loses his temper and the perfectly calm demeanor he had the whole story) I WOULD HAVE FOUND A WAY!
    • To reinforce the above, Superman then lists all the problems Zod would have faced trying to save Krypton after his past criminals acts and his own lack of scientific knowledge, and all Zod can do is insist that he would have found a way rather than explain exactly how he would have done it.
  • Superman: At Earth's End: "I am a man!" (PUNCH)
  • The Supergirl from Krypton (2004): Darkseid has just vaporized Supergirl -or so he thinks-, and then he blames Superman for her death. Superman's retort?
    Superman: (punching him across the room) Darkseid... SHUT THE HELL UP!
  • Crucible: During the second bout among the main characters and Roho's squad, Rendll tries and fails to intimidate Maxima:
    Maxima: "I remember you from before you got expelled. Rendll, isn't it? I will enjoy taking you down."
    Rendll: "Let's see what that pathetic excuse for a school taught y—"
    Maxima: (throwing a psychic dagger) "Stop talking".
  • In The Jungle Line, Superman's nightmares mockingly tell him he will finally die like all Kryptonian creatures, but he tells them off.
    Monster Bird 1: "Kal-El? It's not good running, Kal-El... You've been running for more than twenty years, Kal-El... Running from the death of your planet."
    Monster Bird 2: "You should have died on Krypton, Kal-El, as you were meant to. You know that, don't you?"
    Giant Worm: "Now, after all these years of running, your destiny has finally caught up with you... Here, Kal-El... Here in the Scarlet Jungle!"
    Superman: "Leave me alone! You're all dead!"
    Bone Beast 1: "Extinct is the word, Kal-El."
    Bone Beast 2: "We're extinct, like all Kryptonians..."
    Bone Beast 3: "Come and join us. Take your place in the shade of these broad crimson leaves... FOREVER!"
    Superman: "Stay back! All of you! Stay back from me! I don't belong here! I'm not dead... I won't rot here with the rest of you! You can't keep me here! Don't you know who I am?"
  • In The Killers of Krypton, Kara cuts off Empress Gandelo's taunts by punching her face so hard it cracks.
    Empress Gandelo: Did he break your heart, girl? One more painful loss to add to your grief? Under all of your posturing, you are nothing but a mewling infant crying for love. So weak. So sad. And so utterly predictable.
    Supergirl: In all your infinite wisdom, did you predict this?!
    Supergirl punches her face
  • In Strangers at the Heart's Core, a criminal trio called The Visitors try to threaten Supergirl after shooting her adoptive father. "Try" being the keyword here, because she is so mad she does not even let them end their threats before beginning the beatdown.
    Visitor: You'll do nothing, female! We—
    Supergirl: (blasting their rayguns out of their hands) "Shut up, you contemptible cowards— You think I can't dispose of garbage like you?"
  • The Hunt for Reactron: When the titular villain grumbles Lois Lane would not know a real man if she met one, Lois replies Reactron is no man whatsoever.
    Lois Lane: Monster!
    Reactron: Monster? Your problem, lady, is that you don't know a real man when you meet one.
    Lois: Sure I do [Karate chop to the neck]
    Reactron: AAAHHH!
    Lois: —You're just NOT him!
  • In Way of the World, Supergirl cuts off alien conqueror Dolok's arrogant gloating by calling him an idiot who never deserved the power that he got.
    Dolok: And as for you lot... Haven't I killed you all already? How many of you are there, anyway? Which brings me, once again, to the question— the eternal question. The one I continue to ask, waiting, waiting for a good answer. Why? Why do you try to stand against me? I've mastered time. I rewrite your fate with the touch of a button. How can you possibly hope—
    Supergirl: Because you're stupid.
    Dolok: What?
    Supergirl: Where did you find it? How did an idiot like you find a device of such power?
    Dolok: Your stupid cow! I'll eat you myself!
    Supergirl: You'd better jump back real far this time, Dolok. Give yourself some time to contemplate your defeat.
• Transformers:
  • The Transformers (Marvel): The first on-panel showdown between Optimus Prime and Megatron turns into a case of who can shut who up the loudest:
    Optimus: How dare you endanger the lives of this world's people! This isn't their war!
    Megatron: After four millions year, you haven't changed — you still fight with your mouth! Perhaps this will halt your endless prattling! (Throws the remains of a car at him)
    Optimus: Why do I persist in trying to reason with you, when the only language you understand is — VIOLENCE! (Throws an engine part at him and knock him off his feet)
  • The Transformers Megaseries: While fighting the Autobots, Sixshot begins boasting about his strength, speed and invulnerability in order to demoralize them. Neither Hardhead nor Optimus Prime are impressed.
    Hardhead: So what? They call me Hardhead. (headbutts Sixshot) And that’s really all you need to know.
    Optimus: You’ve got a bad reputation, Sixshot. (punches Sixhshot hard enough to leave cracks in his chestplate) Here’s where we separate the truth from the hyperbole.
  • The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye: As the treacherous Getaway is taking Riptide to the oil reservoir, planning to feed him to a pit of scraplets, he goes on a lengthy Hannibal Lecture mocking Riptide and telling him that he's just an idiot that the rest of the crew didn't care about. This exchange follows:
    Getaway: D'you know why Team Megatron lost interest in you? D'you know why they didn't take you to Necroworld? Clue: it's because you're not like them. Brainstorm, Ratchet, Nightbeat, Skids. They're smart guys, Riptide. And you... you're really not.
    Riptide: (visibly unimpressed) I'm not a psychiatrist either but I'm pretty sure this conversation says more about you than me.
• The Ultimates: Hulk is not interested in Kleiser's speeches. In fact, he reduced him to a pulp shouting "Shut up!" several times.
• Hero-to-hero example — in the 200th issue of X-Factor Guido gets into a fight with The Thing, who tries to provoke him by mocking his superhero career. Guido just tells Ben that he played in a better football team than him. It worked a little too well, because an enraged Ben proceeds to beat the tar out of him.
• In Young Justice, Robin, Superboy and Impulse have all been sent into manifestations of their greatest fears. Robin's is a direct spoof of The Silence of the Lambs, with the Joker parodying Lecter ("I can smell you, runt.") and lecturing Robin. The heroes discover that the best way to deal with these fears is for them to switch places. After Superboy and Impulse's fears have been dealt with, Robin realizes with horror that they left Impulse alone with the Joker. When they get there they find that Impulse has nearly driven Joker to (even more) madness by simply asking "Why?" over and over again.

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