Few things can be as funny and surprising as a fourth-wall break. Some characters’ve made their entire identity by being the masters of breaking the fourth wall, such as Deadpool, and more recently, Harley Quinn. DC has plenty of moments in their stories where the comics crossover with the real world in hilarious ways.
Breaking the fourth wall can be done in tons of different fun ways. Usually, it’s for comedic effect, but other comics have taken a more serious approach to it. From characters learning plot points from reading their own comic to Lobo beating up his own writers. There’s no shortage of amazing moments where DC Comics crossover with the real world in surprising ways. These are the top 10 most surprising and hilarious moments where a DC character broke the rules of comics.
10
DC Made Readers Superheros In Ultra Comics
The Multiversity: Ultra Comics #1 by Grant Morrison, Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin, Keith Champagne, Jaime Mendoza, Gabe Eltaeb, David Baron and Steve Wands
The lord of breaking the fourth wall is undoubtedly Grant Morrison. Morrison loves playing with the idea of what comic books can be, and he often has plot points that surpass the bounds of the comics they take place in. The greatest example of this was in The Multiversity: Ultra Comics, where Grant Morrison made the reader an active member of the comic. Ultra Comics took place on Earth-Prime, also known as the real-life Earth. On this Earth, the only place superheroes can exist is on paper. And so, the story directly interacts with the reader, even begging them not to turn the page at one point.
9
Animal Man Meets His Writer, Grant Morrison
Animal Man #26 by Grant Morrison, Chas Truog, Mark Farmer, John Costanza, and Tatjana Wood.
Grant Morrison’s habit of breaking the fourth wall was seen again in Animal Man #26 by Grant Morrison and Chas Truog. In this comic, Animal Man ends up escaping the confines of his comic and finds his writer, Grant Morrison. Self-inserting into the story would later come back to bite Morrison though.
Now that they were in the comic, they could be used by other writers, and Morrison would later be drafted into the Suicide Squad, where they unfortunately died on one of their many missions. Thankfully, the real Grant Morrison is still alive.
8
Harley Quinn Straight Up Destroyed Her Comic
Harley Quinn #34 by Grace Ellis, Steve Lieber, Tamra Bonvillain, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Grant Morrison and Animal Man’s meeting wasn’t the most peaceful, but the two eventually managed to come to an understanding. The same can’t be said of Harley Quinn and her writers. During the backup story in Harley Quinn #34 by Grace Ellis and Steve Lieber, Harley Quinn becomes irritated with her writer dictating what she must do.
With no other option, she simply smashes the comic panel, ending the comic right there and then. Considering Harley Quinn has gotten power over the Multiverse recently, it’s not surprising she could break the fourth wall like this, but it is terrifying.
7
Some Characters Attack Their Writers, But Ambush Bug Was Attacked By His Writers
Ambush Bug #4 by Keith Giffen, Robert Loren Fleming, Bob Oksner, Anthony Tollin, and John Costanza
Ambush Bug is a very underrated character for the things he was doing. Ambush Bug was breaking the fourth wall and acting like Deadpool before Deadpool even appeared in comics, and way before Deadpool became the Merc with the Mouth he is now.
During one of Ambush Bug’s many misadventures, while trying to solve a mystery, a continuity error was discovered in the comic, and the DC writing team immediately tried to solve this by kidnapping Ambush Bug and dragging him into the real world. Thankfully, Ambush Bug escaped, but it’s one of the few examples of writers attacking their characters.
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6
Lobo Pulled His Fans Into His Comic Book
Lobo: Bounty Hunting For Fun and Profit by Alan Grant, Frank Gomez, Kevin O’Neill, Martin Edmond, Robert McCallum, Kieron Dwyer, and Bob Lappan.
While plenty of characters have attacked their writers or met their writers in the book, Lobo took things a step further by pulling an unwitting comic book fan into his book. While trying to teach people how to be a bounty hunter like Lobo, the Main Man needed a volunteer.
With no one willing to sign up for his training, Lobo simply grabs the nearest person reading his comic. This happens to be a man named Leslie, and Lobo puts him through hilarious and dangerous situations as he tries to toughen Leslie up into being a bounty hunter.
5
Young Justice Playfully Reacted To A Major Business Shift In DC
Young Justice #38 by Peter David, Todd Nauck, Lary Stucker, Ken Lopez, and Jason Wright.
Companies are bought by larger companies all the time, and one of these major moments was when America Online merged with Time Warner. While unimportant to most readers, this moment was given a playful nudge in Young Justice #38 by Peter David and Todd Nauck.
In this story, Cassie Sandmark suddenly loses her internet connection while she is on her computer. This causes Cassie to go off on a rant about how she hates American internet companies, but before she can name the one she hates the most, a team-mate quickly pulls her aside and advises her to stop her rant.
4
Suicide Squad Used Censorship In The Funniest Possible Way
Suicide Squad (2019) by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott.
Everyone knows that Amanda Waller is the brutal leader of the Suicide Squad, but during Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s run on the comic, the squad was taken over by the even crueler Lok. Lok delighted in flaunting his power over the Suicide Squad and trying to force them to do his bidding.
This eventually backfired on him, when Deadshot managed to shoot Lok point-blank in the face, which was hilariously censored by the Comic Code Authority symbol, which is the organization responsible for making sure there isn’t anything too violent or adult in comic books.
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DC Shatters the Fourth Wall by Introducing an Evil Version of Marvel’s Watcher
In Outsiders #7, DC shatters the fourth wall in a horrifying fashion, revealing that an evil version of the Watcher is lurking outside their reality.
3
Doctor Fate Calls For Backup… From The Comic’s Readers
The Flash #776 by Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Matt Ryan, Jeromy Cox, and Rob Leigh.
Doctor Fate is one of the most powerful magic users in the DC Universe, and his powers are so great that he can even reach beyond the universe, apparently. In Flash #776 by Jeremy Adams and Fernando Pasarin, in a moment of desperation, Doctor Fate breaks the Fourth Wall and directly addresses the people reading his comic for their help.
This is a power that Doctor Fate has never really demonstrated before, and judging by Flash’s disgusted look in the background, it’s not a power that is appreciated by his fellow superheroes.
2
Darkseid Becomes The Strongest Being In The DC Universe
Justice League Incarnate #3 by Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver, Ariel Olivetti, Nik Virella, Todd Nauck, Mikel Janin, Andrei Bressan, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano
Darkseid is one of the most powerful and dangerous beings in the DC Universe. He has often sought complete and utter control over life by using the Anti-Life Equation, but for a brief moment, Darkseid gained true control by becoming a DC Editor. During the events of Justice League Incarnate #3 by Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver.
While traveling through the Multiverse, Darkseid ends up inhabiting the body of a DC editor, where he tries to force the heroes to write a story where Darkseid wins. When they obviously refused, Darkseid’s ruse was discovered.
1
DC Broke The Fourth Wall By Honoring One Of Their Greatest Creators
Green Lantern #12 by Geoffrey Thorne, Tom Raney, Marco Santucci, Mike Atiyeh, and Rob Leigh.
Few people have contributed more to comic books than Jack Kirby. Not only did Jack help create almost the entire roster of characters that Marvel Comics use to this day, but he was also instrumental in the creation of the wider cosmology of DC’s universe.
Jack Kirby created the New Gods and tons of other things, which was given a beautiful homage in Green Lantern #12 by Geoffrey Thorne and Tom Raney. In this story, Green Lantern John Stewart ends up at the Source Wall, where he meets the Source itself. The Source takes the form of Jack Kirby, which is only fitting, considering he created it.
