History VillainousBreakdown / ComicBooks

* In ''Comicbook/SupermanBatman'', when [[PresidentEvil President]] Lex Luthor's scheme to smash a Kryptonite asteroid into the Earth fails, Luthor (who was the U.S. President at the time) uses a variant combination of the "super-steroid" Venom (a chemical associated with the Batman villain Bane), liquid synthetic Kryptonite, and an Apokoliptian battlesuit to go on a violent rampage. This, unsurprisingly, gets him impeached.
** He gets a worse one in ''ComicBook/TheBlackRing''. After traveling across the planet and in space in an attempt to regain something like the Orange Lantern Power Ring, Luthor gains the powers of a creature from the Phantom Zone and proceeds to use it to torture Superman. Once he finds out that Superman is Clark Kent, though, he ''loses it''. It gets worse as he manages to make the universe perfect for a few minutes. He swiftly learns, however, that in order to cement this power, he must not use this power for violence... including against Superman, who is right in front of him. Supes, being Supes, begs him to let go of their old grudges in the name of unending peace. Lex's response? "'''YOU ''DARE'' TO LECTURE ME?'''" And thus was universal bliss ended. And tucked away in Arkham, ComicBook/TheJoker laughs away at what Luthor had done.
** A classic Silver Age "imaginary story" Has Luthor finally managing to kill Superman and mobsters throw him a celebration party as he gloats on how he did it. When a red and blue caped figure bursts in, a terrified Luthor worries Superman has come back to haunt him. It turns out to be Supergirl (whose existence was unknown to the world at the time) who arrests Luthor and takes him to the bottle city of Kandor. Luthor spends his televised murder trial smug that he'll find a way out of this. When he's found guilty, Luthor offers to restore Kandor to its regular size in exchange for his freedom, confident they'll agree. Instead, the judge declares "we Kandorians do not make deals with murderers!" Unable to accept losing like this, Luthor begs for mercy but it's too late as he's sent to spend eternity in the Phantom Zone.

** [[EvilTwin Scourge]] also qualifies. After being betrayed by The Supression Squad and ganged up on by everybody, he declares that he's going to spin dash both Mobius and [[MirrorUniverse Moebius]] in half, simply because he can.

** ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily, Joker spends the whole comic trying to prove to Batman his loved ones are [[TheyWereHoldingYouBack only holding him back]] and after saving his Bat family has a brutal fight with him in the underground, Batman sets the Joker off by revealing his family makes him stronger

** And who could ever forget the [[http://bensbargains.com/thecheckout/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/The-Killing-Joke-2.jpg literally birth]] of the Joker in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''

** A truly heart-wrenching LegendsOfTheDarkKnight story titled "Going Sane" recounted how an epic fight between the Joker and Batman ended in the Dark Knight's (apparent) death. ''Victory'' freaked out the Joker so badly that his then-current personality...dissolved. Melted away, leaving a sweet, gentle man who loved old-time radio comedy and who pondered "finally getting something done about this skin condition..." By the end of the story, one actually felt ''sorry'' for the Joker!

** Norman had a few smaller brakedowns when Loki gave him hallucinations, or when the [[{{ShapeShifting}} Skrulls]] turned into a bunch of Spider-men [[http://cdn2us.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeekus/files/styles/article_width/public/bolts14.jpg?itok=dTq_8KShto screw with him]]

* Happened to Magog in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' when he was finally confronted by {{Superman}} in the ruins of Kansas. Immediately followed by a VillainousBSOD.

* During ''[[Comicbook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} Legion of Three Worlds]]'', [[{{Superman}} Superboy-Prime]] was a relatively composed SmugSuper ''until'' he realized the Legion planned to bring [[Franchise/TheFlash Bart Allen]] back to life. Bart is the one person in the universe who Prime actually fears, so he completely flips his lid when Bart returns.

* During ''[[Comicbook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} Legion of Three Worlds]]'', [[{{Superman}} Superboy-Prime]] was a relatively composed SmugSuper ''until'' he realized the Legion planned to bring [[TheFlash Bart Allen]] back to life. Bart is the one person in the universe who Prime actually fears, so he completely flips his lid when Bart returns.

* The Riddler has a grand one when he decides to deal with [[TheFlash Impulse]]. After a bad encounter with TheFlash and Comicbook/{{Robin}}[[note]]Riddler had bailed from Gotham following the events of ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand''[[/note]], Edward heads for Manchester to deal with Impulse, thinking he can easily outwit the protege of the Scarlet Speedster and one of the Boy Wonder's closest allies. Instead, poor Eddie is left a blabbering mess with Bart utterly ignores every sign that the Riddler wants him (too busy playing video games), Bart's inability to recognize who he was (he mistakes him for ComicBook/TheQuestion, Mr. Freeze and Abra Kadabra), outwitting his traps without thinking (before he's done reading off his first clue, Bart comes back with the bombs by looking under every porch in town. And finds his other bombs while he was at it!) and ultimately saves his captives by retaping his last clue that he tore up. His comment after revealing the second set of bombs sells it, though:

* ComicBook/TheJoker suffered a truly epic one in ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker''. Let's recap: He steals [[GreatGazoo Mxyzptlk's]] powers, turns the ''entire universe'' into his playground, begins the [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end of Time, Space, and Existence]], and he tears Superman's heart out and eats it. [[spoiler: As he lies dying, Superman dares Joker to kill Batman. Joker does so, but right after he does, Batman reappears, good as new. Confused, Joker tries it again and again, growing increasingly frantic as Batman repeatedly comes back, going as far as to [[BreakingTheFourthWall beg the writers and artists to let him finish Batman off]]. Superman [[BreakingSpeech taunts him]], revealing that [[PowerfulAndHelpless despite having all that power, Joker is still nothing but a clown, unable to do anything useful with his life and needing Batman to have any purpose at all]]. As Joker breaks down, Mxyzptlk uses the opening to take his powers back and fix everything.]]

** A classic Silver Age "imaginary story" Has Luthor finally managing to kill Superman and mobsters throw him a celebration party as he gloats on how he did it. When a red and blue caped figure bursts in, a terrified Luthor worries Superman has come back to haunt him. It turns out to be Supergirl (whose existence was unknown to the world at the time) who arrests Luthor and takes him to the bottle city of Kandor. Luthor spends his televised murder trial smug that he'll find a way out of this. When he's found guilty, Luthor offers to restore Knador to its regular size in exchange for his freedom, confident they'll agree. Instead, the judge declares "we of Kandor do not make deals with murderers!" Unable to accept losing like this, Luthor begs for mercy but it's too late as he's sent to spend eternity in the Phantom Zone.

** He gets a worse one in ''ComicBook/TheBlackRing''. After traveling across the planet and in space in an attempt to regain something like the Orange Lantern Power Ring, Luthor gains the powers of a creature from the Phantom Zone and proceeds to use it to torture Superman. Once he finds out that Superman is Clark Kent, though, he ''loses it''. It gets worse as he manages to make the universe perfect for a few minutes. He swiftly learns, however, that in order to cement this power, he must not use this power for violence... including against Superman, who is right in front of him. Supes, being Supes, begs him to let go of their old grudges in the name of unending peace. Lex's response? "'''YOU ''DARE'' TO LECTURE ME?'''" And thus was universal bliss ended. And tucked away in Arkham, SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker laughs away at what Luthor had done.

* SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker suffered a truly epic one in ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker''. Let's recap: He steals [[GreatGazoo Mxyzptlk's]] powers, turns the ''entire universe'' into his playground, begins the [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end of Time, Space, and Existence]], and he tears Superman's heart out and eats it. [[spoiler: As he lies dying, Superman dares Joker to kill Batman. Joker does so, but right after he does, Batman reappears, good as new. Confused, Joker tries it again and again, growing increasingly frantic as Batman repeatedly comes back, going as far as to [[BreakingTheFourthWall beg the writers and artists to let him finish Batman off]]. Superman [[BreakingSpeech taunts him]], revealing that [[PowerfulAndHelpless despite having all that power, Joker is still nothing but a clown, unable to do anything useful with his life and needing Batman to have any purpose at all]]. As Joker breaks down, Mxyzptlk uses the opening to take his powers back and fix everything.]]

* In the crossover ''ComicBook/SpiderMan / Franchise/{{Batman}}'', Carnage has a spectacular one. Near the end of the story, he has Batman at his mercy and Spidey unable to act. Then, SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker reappears holding a Jack-In-The-Box and ready to pop it open and unleash a deadly virus, ''[[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou all because he won't let anyone else kill the Batman]]''. Carnage, a mass murderer himself, flies into a magnificent panic and giving Batman the opening to free himself and take him down and allowing Spidey to stop the Joker.

* Like all villains created by Goscinny, ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}} is particularly susceptible to it. The fact he lives in a Palace where he (a megalonaniac aggressive EvilChancellor) seems to be the [[OnlySaneMan only one with some degree of sanity]] doesn't really help.

* [[UltimateMarvel Ultimate]] Magneto suffers a breakdown at the climax of ''{{Ultimatum}}'' when Jean Grey shares Nick Fury's memories with him and he learns that [[spoiler: the existence of mutants was just an accidental byproduct of a SuperSoldier experiment]]. This information shatters Magneto's delusions of grandeur and he completely loses the will to fight.

* SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker suffered a truly epic one in ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker''. Let's recap: He steals [[GreatGazoo Mxyzptlk's]] powers, turns the ''entire universe'' into his playground, begins the [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end of Time, Space, and Existence]], and he tears Superman's heart out and eats it. [[spoiler: As he lies dying, Superman dares Joker to kill Batman. Joker does so, but right after he does, Batman reappears, good as new. Confused, Joker tries it again and again, growing increasingly frantic as Batman repeatedly comes back, going as far as to [[BreakingTheFourthWall beg the writers and artists to let him finish Batman off]]. Superman [[BreakingSpeech taunts him, revealing that despite having all that power, Joker is still nothing but a clown, unable to do anything useful with his life and needing Batman to have any purpose at all]]. As Joker breaks down, Mxyzptlk uses the opening to take his powers back and fix everything.]]

** It finally happened in ComicBook/{{Siege}} #3. Though after all the buildup it was given, and the ''masterful'' snap he had in Thunderbolts, readers found this one ([[spoiler:a painted up face, jeans and a t-shirt under the armor, and nonsensical babbling about how his plans to save everything from the Void had been ruined]]) more than a little underwhelming. The part ''before'' that ([[spoiler: where he flat-out orders Sentry to bring down ''the entire floating city of Asgard'']]) was much better.

** He gets a worse one in a story in ''ComicBook/ActionComics''. After traveling across the planet and in space in an attempt to regain something like the Orange Lantern Power Ring, Luthor gains the powers of a creature from the Phantom Zone and proceeds to use it to torture Superman. Once he finds out that Superman is Clark Kent, though, he ''loses it''. It gets worse as he manages to make the universe perfect for a few minutes. He swiftly learns, however, that in order to cement this power, he must let go of all the hatred in his heart... including his hatred for Superman. Supes, being Supes, begs him to let go of their old grudges. Lex's response? "'''YOU ''DARE'' TO LECTURE ME?'''" And thus was universal bliss ended. And tucked away in Arkham, SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker laughs away at what Luthor had done.

--->'''Swordsman''': ...mother.
--->'''The Green Goblin''': YOU DIDN'T HAVE A MOTHER! A pig coughed, and you fell out!
** Later comics in "Comicbook/DarkReign" made it pretty clear that for all Norman's VillainWithGoodPublicity act, he was most of the time a hop, skip and jump away from a full psychotic breakdown. And having to maintain a good public reputation as the head of the Initiative only helped slowly push him closer to one. As was particularly cruelly lampshaded in a BreakingSpeech delivered to Norman by the Molecule Man, it was a default position amongst the main players of the Marvel Universe that it wasn't not so much a question of "Will Norman crack under the strain?" as "''When'' will Norman crack under the strain?" Several of them were waiting for his breakdown since he first took power.

*** Some of them weren't even real breakdowns. A few times it was just Loki using his magic powers to make Norman think he was hallucinating and [[http://cdn2us.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeekus/files/styles/article_width/public/bolts14.jpg?itok=dTq_8KSh a hallway full of Spidermen did not help]].

** "Norman will do what it takes, he won't mind. Norman will make [[TheGwenStacy the girl]] [[RetCon pregnant]] then [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou snap her neck in public]]."
** It gets even better when he finally gives in and becomes the Goblin again.

*** Some of them weren't even real breakdowns. A few times it was just Loki using his magic powers to make Norman think he was hallucinating.
*** For Osborn, the Goblin ''is'' a villainous breakdown. When the cool, collected VillainWithGoodPublicity and master of [[GambitIndex every gambit in the index]] has his plans go off the rails and he reaches the point that he starts screaming and ranting and cackling and throwing pumpkin bombs, you know it's all over. He wasn't always portrayed this way (once it was decent Osborn having the PsychoSerum take over, and he'd be defeated and forget he was the Green Goblin until next time.) Of course, the truth of the situation in Osborn's head is that Osborn on a good day is about as sane as the Joker on a ''bad'' day, and he can only act otherwise for so long. When the situation goes off the rails, this ability is strained.

* In ''YTheLastMan'', the opium smuggler Yorick befriends and falls for on the journey to Australia justifies her trade by reasoning that humanity is already doomed, and all she's doing is making people's lives easier by giving them an escape from this awful knowledge. Then, she [[HeelRealization realizes]] that Yorick's survival means that humanity has hope after all, and all she's done is make things worse by creating further misery and despair. [[DrivenToSuicide She doesn't]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath take it well]].

** It gets [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome even better]] when he finally gives in and becomes the Goblin again.

* This was the premise of the ''{{Thunderbolts}}'' "Caged Angels" arc by Creator/WarrenEllis. A group of incarcerated telepaths drive each member of the [[AntiHero already]] [[VillainProtagonist unstable]] team over the edge (Except for Bullseye, who can't get any crazier.) The best one is ComicBook/NormanOsborn, starts walking around naked ranting about what he'll do when he's president and how much fun killing people was.

* ComicBook/{{Thanos}} tends to go nuts whenever anything endangers his relationship with Death. He stammers in disbelief when he realizes that the Power Infinite has made him ''too'' powerful to be with Death[[note]]he had to be ''equally'' powerful to Death, not ''more'' powerful[[/note]], giving the heroes the opportunity to stop him. He throws a fit of jealousy and curses Deadpool with immortality when it seems like Death likes Wade better than him. Finally, when he learns that his ThanatosGambit in ''TheThanosImperative'' has rendered him immortal, meaning he can never be with Death, he loses all of his sanity and becomes so dedicated to destroying everything that he has to be sealed in another universe to stop him.

*** Fleetway's SonicTheComic Dr. Robotnik did it about 8-9 years earlier, for much the same reasons. During the Sonic Adventure storyline, he cracks and goes from wanting to conquer the world to just flat-out destroying it because he sees it as the only way to rid himself of Sonic.

* SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom suffered a pretty huge one in one story. At one point he had Reed Richards imprisoned in a torture room full of mirrors placed in such a way that the warped reflections would drive anyone crazy. At the start, he's classic arrogant gloating Doom. By the end of the story a few issues later, he's beating the crap out of Reed while screaming and ranting about how much he hates Reed. The fight takes them to the torture room, and Reed removes Doom's mask. Seeing thousands of warped reflections of his own scarred face drives Doom insane.