Joker: It's all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for... it's all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can't you see the funny side? (Joker stops smiling) Why aren't you laughing? Batman:[bursts in through a wall] Because I've heard it before... and it wasn't funny the first time.
Poison Ivy: And with the kid, I could... [Beat] ...poison peoplefaster? ...what was I thinking?
This is stated about the Skulp, the alien invaders of Robin 3000, by the protagonist, musing that they thought his loyalty could be bought by giving him a comfortable prison cell, ignorant of how the murder of his entire family might be cause for resentment.
In Batman Eternal, Jason Bard lost his lover/partner in Detroit because a Batman wannabe ruined a drug bust. Bard thus assumes that, like the copycat, Batman is just in it for the fame and glory and hates him. Bard also assumes all the other cops in Gotham hate these masked vigilantes as much as he does and will be happy to get rid of Batman. It takes every cop literally walking out on him for Bard to realize how they trust and admire a man fighting crime and Bard is in the wrong.
The Riddler isn't as bad as most of Batmans Rogue's Gallery, but his deep-seated need to be recognized as the most intelligent is the only drive he understands. Despite being the villain with the most social competence AND most attempts at reforming, he just can't bring himself to form normal human bonds that aren't decided by intellectual dominance.
This is a recurring motif in some Batman books; because most of Batman's villains are insane and because he's a very mysterious figure to most of them, whenever they attempt to deduct his motives or identity they'll often project their own issues and flaws onto him. Whenever any of them discuss Bats, it quickly becomes clear they're talking about themselves.
In Detective Comics (Rebirth) #980, Brother Eye is striking at the various team members but leaves Spoiler and Cassandra Cain alone. It then shows images of the pre-Flashpoint timeline where Cassandra was Batgirl and Stephanie was Robin and Batgirl herself. Eye states that "you are not your best selves" and "you will never measure up." Instead of being totally demoralized, both Stephanie and Cassandra laugh and embrace to Eye's utter confusion. Stephanie states that seeing there's a world where she was good enough to be accepted as Batgirl reminds her how strong she truly is and using it to take on Eye. All Eye can respond to their reactions? "Error. Error."
In Batman: No Man's Land, Scarecrow shows that being offered genuine compassion terrifies him.
During the John Rogers run of Blue Beetle, Eclipso hits Jaime with a spell that will bring out his "deepest desires", which it believes will be some sort of dark, violent power fantasy. What Eclipso gets instead is... a dentist, as what Jaime really wants is a career that will make enough money to provide for his family.
Darkseid really can't comprehend good. Justified since he was born evil and grew up surrounded by nothing but evil. Darkseid honestly thinks that sometimes letting his enemies live a life of free will is a punishment, as he even turned Young Justice's Secret back to a normal human girl as a form of this once she betrayed him. Luckily, he missed the fact he was actually giving her exactly what she wanted in the first place.
The Suicide Squad earned this once he realized they dared to invade Apokolips, but the survivors were pretty much made of Survivor Guilt from then on, most notably with Amanda Waller, who's become borderline suicidal with some of her risk-taking since.
JLA: Earth-2 takes place in an alternate universe where evil always wins and good always fails. The Justice League realizes that the only way to defeat Brainiac is by walking away in the middle of the crisis. Brainiac really didn't expect them to do it, and is punished harshly when the 'evil' Justice League return home.
At one point when the Crime Syndicate of Amerika infiltrate the universe of the Justice League, Johnny Quick and Power Ring change costumes and pose as their heroic versions (The Flash and Green Lantern respectively). Almost losing a fight to supervillains, they are absolutely bewildered when civilians rush in with clubs to help them. When asked why they did this, the civilians said that they owed them for all the times the League's helped them. This prompts Power Ring to complain.
The New 52 version of the Crime Syndicate, introduced in Forever Evil (2013), is also perplexed by the idea of justice. But unlike the original take, where those who were heroes here are villains in Earth-3 and vice versa, Earth 3 (without the hyphen) is an entire world (or should we say universe) where heroism, justice, and the basic good are considered foreign concepts. This Earth 3 mainly runs on survival of the fittest, where the weak are considered useless, and thus, don't put it in their minds to help the innocents. Even those who nominally should be the heroes are Well Intentioned Extremistsat best.
The Wizard, long-time foe of the Justice Society of America, had this as his motive in his first appearance. He'd missed the early years of the team as he was in isolation, learning black magic, and when he returned to civilization, the Wizard could not believe that smart people with superpowers would use them for altruistic purposes. Therefore, the JSA had to be pulling the biggest scam ever, and the Wizard demanded to be cut in.
Midnighter and Apollo: Neron falls into this. Long story short, Apollo's in Hell, and Neron's trying to break him and have him admit he's named after a god out of a desire for power. Needless to say, he's wrong; Apollo chose his name because he wanted to be there for Midnighter the same way the Apollo of myth was there for his lover Hyacinthus.
In Superman (1987) #2, Luthor notices that Clark Kent has some kind of connection with Superman and sets up a research project to find out the nature of the connection. When the researcher concludes that Clark Kent is Superman, Luthor fires her and scraps the project... because, to Luthor, it's impossible to believe that someone with that much power would want to "waste" time occupying such a humble persona.
As a general theme, Luthor understands that the CONCEPT of good exists, but doesn't really understand its basics, and seems to mostly confuse it with a mix of dominance and dependency.
It comes around full circle in The Black Ring. After achieving godhood, Luthor starts torturing Superman, thinking that he only pretends to have human emotions. When Superman provokes Luthor to delve deeper and watches Jonathan Kent's death, Luthor puts two and two together and promptly flips his shit because the alien got to have loving parents and he didn't.
Superman (1987) #13 has Superman stopping a disgruntled employee from killing Lex with a bomb. Lex assumes Superman set this up in an attempt to get in his good graces, as it makes no sense for Superman to save someone he knows hates him. As such, Lex ends up feeling pretty smug about the whole incident, thinking Superman is scared of him.
In The Death of Superman (1961), Luthor sits smugly through the Kandorians' trial, confident that he can bribe his way out. When asked for his plea, he answers that he is guilty. However, if they let him go, he will work out a way to restore them to full size. Luthor is taken aback when the judge retorts that "we of Kandor do not make deals with murderers" and orders him sent to the Phantom Zone for all eternity.
In All-Star Superman, when Luthor gains Superman's powers, when looking through Superman's eyes and how the universe is interconnected, he realizes why Superman was so benevolent. So much so that he completely atones and accepts his death sentence. In the same comic, Luthor goes full Smug SuperDumb Muscle when he obtains superpowers, implying his loathing of Superman is based on the idea that if he had those powers, he would be that person he hates so much.
In How Luthor Met Superboy, the Silver Age origin for Luthor, Superboy accidentally renders Lex bald and destroys a life form he'd created while putting out a lab fire. Lex concludes he did it on purpose out of jealousy for Lex's intelligence. His response was to create grandiose public works projects around Smallville to steal Superboy's thunder as the local hero. However, Lex can't get it through his head that Superboy doesn't mind in the least; he's simply glad that if his former friend is carrying out a vendetta, at least he is doing it constructively. Of course, each project goes dangerously out of control, forcing Superboy to intervene to avert disaster and Luthor can only rationalize that Superboy did that to humiliate him.
Girl Power: When Darkseid disappears during one battle against the Man of Steel, Luthor assumes Superman -of all people- has killed him. He also believes Superman likes pretending people cannot fall prey to their dark side, despite Superman being fully aware of it.
In The Death of Luthor, Lex believes Supergirl brought him back to life so everybody laughs at him for owing her his life, and refuses to believe otherwise. In reality, Supergirl saved him because she wanted him to serve his full (life) sentence, and an early death would be too good for him.
Lex Luthor: You made me live again, so I'd be a gangland laughing stock!— Before, I was respected! Now the other criminals will laugh at me behind my back because I was saved by you!!— Drat! The bullets only bounce off! Supergirl: You're wrong, Luthor! I did it so you'd finish paying your incompleted debt to society! Lex Luthor: You LIE!!
In Superman: Brainiac, Brainiac has stolen the city of Metropolis for his collection and is deriding Earth's perceived flaws to the captive Superman; it has none of Krypton's science, its weapons are primitive. He concludes that the entire culture is useless and asks Superman what they could possibly offer him. The whole time he's talking, Lois Lane, thinking the end is nigh, is desperately crying out to Superman from the shrunken Metropolis, trying to tell him she loves him before it's too late. The implication is that if Brainiac had listened to her, he would have the answer to his question.
In Superman: Space Age, Brainiac figures that Superman will save himself once the universe begins to collapse, not realizing that to Clark, everyone else's lives are more important than his own, and he instead saves the DNA of everyone on Earth.
In Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #62, "Superman's Phantom Pal", Jimmy accidentally ends up in the Phantom Zone and the Zone's villainous inhabitants tempt him to spy on Superman as he changes back to his Secret Identity. Jimmy is visibly tempted, but ultimately shuts his eyes, reasoning that if he knew, he could be forced to tell Superman's enemies his secret with things like Truth Serum. At the end, Superman proudly explains to his imprisoned adversaries that Jimmy didn't give in to the temptation because of the boy's "loyalty and honor." He then finishes up his speech by telling them that they'll never be able to understand this kind of thing.
Manchester Black kicks off a massive plan to destroy Superman, including apparently killing Lois Lane, all to prove that Superman can be a killer just like Black. Holding Lois' body, Superman vows he will find Black... and then put him in prison for the rest of his life. Black is absolutely shocked that even the murder of his wife can't push Superman to go over this edge. He reveals her death to be an illusion and then takes his own life as he finally realizes that no, not everyone is a monster; it's just Black.
Black: You... you're not afraid of me. You... really do believe all this. Bloody hell, I didn't think someone like you could exist.
At one point, the D-list Batman villain the Ratcatcher attempts to murder someone. When Superman shows up, Ratcatcher screams, "This has nothing to do with you! Just let me kill this man and be done with it! What do you care!?" Superman simply replies, "I care" before taking him out.
In Two for the Death of One, Satanis cannot understand why Superman would use his power to protect the weak and helpless instead of lording over them.
Last Daughter of Krypton: When Kara first confronts Reign in New York, the latter assumes that the former came back to Earth to conquer it instead of saving it from Reign and the Worldkillers.
Reign: It's good to see you again, Kryptonian. I knew you could do it. I knew you could save yourself. I'm pleased to see you seize your destiny. Come to claim this world as your own. Supergirl: I didn't come back to rule this world, Reign. I'm here to kick you off it!
Supergirl hated Cat Grant because Cat published news articles slandering her. Still she rescued Cat when the villain Dollmaker kidnapped her in the 2011 story arc Day of the Dollmaker. Dollmaker couldn't understand why Supergirl would want to save someone she hated.
Belinda: You think you're so important! You think you're the center of the universe! Supergirl: Uh... Not really. Belinda: You totally do! I'm you and I know what you think! You act all sweet and nice, but inside your head, you're an arrogant little angel prancing through the sky on a stupid magical fantasy horse, acting like you're better than everyone!
"Supergirl's Big Brother": When Supergirl berates her alleged adoptive brother over misusing his powers, Jan asks why anybody wouldn't use super-powers for their own gain, saying powers would be useless if you didn't. The fact that money is of no use when you have a Kryptonian powerset never registers with him.
In The Unknown Supergirl, Mr. Mxyzptlk gives Kara her Kryptonian powers back (minus her vulnerability to Kryptonite) because he thinks Superman's ego will be unable to handle a mere girl being more powerful than him. Superman's actual reaction is "It would be unfair for her to remain my apprentice when she is more powerful. Maybe I should become her assistant."
In The Coming of Atlas, Superman comes up with a plan to beat Atlas; unfortunately, his plan forces him to abandon the battlefield momentarily. He asks Krypto to hold the line until he is back, and Krypto nods in agreement. Nonetheless, Atlas sees Superman flying off and assumes he has abandoned his pet.
At the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the original Superman, Kal-L, chooses to stay and seal himself in the antimatter dimension rather than escaping to Earth with the surviving heroes, all to ensure that the evil Anti-Monitor never becomes a threat again. The Anti-Monitor calls him "the greatest fool I have ever known" for not escaping when he had the chance.
In The Supergirl from Krypton (2004), Darkseid is attacked by an enraged Superman after apparently killing Supergirl. As they're fighting, Superman shouts Kara was an innocent fifteen-year-old who will never enjoy the small pleasures of life because of him. When Darkseid replies he doesn't care about meaningless nonsense, Superman sneers that of course the concept of simply leading a happy life means nothing to someone whose only life goals are to conquer everything and ruin everybody's lives.
In The Death of Lightning Lad, Zaryan the Conqueror thought he could get rid of the Legion's interference by bribing them, and he did not expect to be turned down and fought back.
"Superman vs. Muhammad Ali": After getting beaten to a pulp, Superman is taken from the ring in a stretcher. When Rat'Lar demands to know where Superman has gone to, and he is told Ali has taken Superman to his room to take care of him, he becomes utterly confused. Why would Ali want to help a defeated enemy when he gets nothing from it?
Rat'Lar: You...Olsen! What's going on here? Where is that low-life loser? What hole has he crawled into? Jimmy Olsen: Er...If you're speaking of Superman... Muhammad Ali is taking care of him in his... Rat'Lar: What?! Why is Ali helping Superman? He's beaten him! What can Superman do for Ali now? Jimmy Olsen: I— Uh— don't think you'd understand.
Brainiac Rebirth: When Brainiac declares that he knows that Superman will destroy him unless he destroys him first, Superman protests that he never intended to destroy him, but to reform him. Unfortunately, Brainiac refuses to believe him.
In Superman Smashes the Klan, Matt Riggs spends the entire comic assuming his nephew Chuck is loyally following him, utterly clueless to the fact that his villainy disgusts his nephew. He doesn't take a hint until Chuck openly turns on him.
Some demons trap Traci 13 in a Lotus-Eater Machine where she is the uncontested ruler of the world and her father is dead. They are baffled when she rejects the illusion and wants her father back. She thought her father was annoying with his uptight refusal to believe in magic, so the demons assumed she would be happy with him gone.
In Underworld Unleashed, this ends up costing Neron badly when he reveals that his stream of deals with various DC villains and heroes was done solely to get Captain Marvel to cut a deal with him. Unfortunately, Neron thought that the Big Red Cheese would ask for something selfish. Instead, Cap asked for something completely selfless ("Let everyone else go and I'm yours."), which meant that when Neron tried to take Cap's soul, it burned him so badly that he fled. Neron gets similarly burned when he buys the love between The Flash and Linda Park. It causes him to start developing feelings for the souls in his possession, and he doesn't understand why. He ends up giving it up in disgust.
Watchmen: Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias a Well-Intentioned Extremist with sociopathic traits, legitimately doesn’t understand why Silk Spectre, Nite Owl and Rorschach are so horrified at his (successful) plan to stop nuclear war and create world peace by killing three billion people and is more baffled as why they’d want to expose him since statistically he had done “the right thing” * As well as laid the foundations for his own False Utopia. Veidt writes off Rorschach (who is no saint himself) adamantly disagreeing with his argument as “blotting out reality”. This statement becomes ironic as in Veidt‘s last scene, he actually loses his assuredness and genuinely asks Dr Manhattan if he had made the right choice and saying that it “all worked out in the end” at which Manhattan gives him a cryptic answer and disappears leaving Veidt worried. If anyone was trying blot out reality, it was him.
In the Wild Dog story in the Anthology ComicBatman The Brave And The Bold, Wild Dog is beaten up by Gizmo, who says he's leaving him alive as a Cruel Mercy, so anyone else who thinks of fighting him can look at this beaten vigilante and know what happens. He firmly believes that this is why none of the superheroes have ever killed him.
The Queen of Fables thinksWonder Woman is Snow White and Superman is Prince Charming. She eventually discovers Superman's secret identity, and is unable to comprehend why "Prince Charming" would marry a "peasant" like Lois Lane instead of royalty like “Snow White” or herself. She also doesn't understand killing people and causing destruction just to get his attention won't get him to fall in love with her.
The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016): Zeus cannot comprehend why Diana would dare defy him after he offered to reunite her with her mother, in exchange for Diana becoming his champion and helping him kill off almost everyone on Earth and then brutally subjugate the remainder, forcing them to ritually sacrifice each other for Zeus and the other Olympians to ensure they'll keep their power and not fade away. He doesn't seem to even realize that she finds his plans horrific or distasteful.
