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Superman, DC’s Man of Steel, was tricked by the Joker into killing his pregnant wife, Lois Lane, in the alternate-universe story Injustice: Gods Among Us. It turned the world’s most trusted hero into a tyrant.
The tale takes place outside DC’s main continuity in a parallel universe and began as a prequel comic to the NetherRealm Studios fighting game. Tom Taylor wrote the comic.
How The Joker Used Fear Toxin & Kryptonite to Make Superman See Lois Lane As Doomsday
The Joker’s plan came down to deception. He kidnapped a pregnant Lois in Metropolis and used Scarecrow’s fear toxin, mixed with stolen kryptonite, on Superman. The mix made Superman hallucinate. According to DC Fandom, the kryptonite was taken from S.T.A.R. Labs, and the Doomsday that Superman thought he was fighting was never real.
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Superman tracked Lois to her hiding place, but he saw his old enemy Doomsday instead of his wife. Hoping to protect Lois and their unborn child, he charged at the “monster” and carried it into space. The creature was really Lois, and she died along with their unborn son.
The Joker had also set a second trap. He had wired Lois’s heart to a nuclear missile in Metropolis, so when she died, the warhead went off and wiped out the city. As a result, millions died, and the blame landed on Superman.
According to the story, the motive was cruelty and a challenge. The Joker saw Superman’s earlier defeat of him as a dare to corrupt the hero, and that led to Lois’s death. The prequel Year Zero shows how he came up with the idea of driving Superman mad.
Batman vs. Superman & Wonder Woman’s Side
Batman, Superman’s longtime ally, was there but couldn’t stop it. He searched the Joker’s submarine (per Den of Geek), but found only the fear toxin, and learned through interrogation that Superman was not fighting Doomsday at all.
However, it was too late. The Joker was caught right away, and Batman visited him in prison to ask why he did it. Superman, full of grief and rage, killed the Joker and decided the old rules no longer applied.
And that choice split the superhero world. Superman and his allies built a global dictatorship called the One Earth Regime, while Batman led an underground Insurgency against it. Wonder Woman sided with Superman. She went to the Batcave with Superman, Green Lantern, and the Flash and told Batman to stand down or face force from the League.
In the animated version, Wonder Woman argued that the events in Metropolis had changed the world and the Justice League had to change with it.
The story is still one of DC’s darkest “what if” tales, and Taylor was mostly working within limits set by the game’s plot. A Den of Geek retrospective says Taylor had no choice but to write the scene because the game made it so specific. In a 2021 animated film, Injustice, the story was retold with Justin Hartley voicing Superman and Anson Mount as Batman.
The Joker’s scheme is still one of the most shocking moments in DC publishing. He never had to beat Superman in a fight. He only had to make him see the wrong enemy.
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