Emperor Joker Was Full of Joy, and Mister Mxyzptlk Arrived

Emperor Joker was suffering an unprecedented beating.

In The Batman Who Laughs's original plan, Emperor Joker would use all his strength to pull Batman Dragon into the "Superman: Emperor Joker" era on the Over-Time Stream. In other words, Emperor Joker still couldn't escape the control of the Over-Time Stream under The Batman Who Laughs's plan. He was still an "iron nail" embedded in the road.

But because Batman Dragon had interfered, Emperor Joker had ended up in a tug-of-war with Parallax Hal. The two iron nails had competed to see which was embedded more deeply in the road. Emperor Joker had lost completely, so his opponent had hooked him straight into the upstream "Zero Hour" era like a fish. This would naturally subject him to a beating that might kill him, but it had also pulled the "nail" that was Emperor Joker out of his own road.

Therefore, at this very moment, Emperor Joker had technically escaped the restraints of the Over-Time Stream. As long as he could get away from Parallax Hal, he could appear anywhere in the Over-Time Stream—even in the current multiversal timeline—until someone picked up their nail again and shoved it back into its original road, just as Barbatos, the hero who had once saved the multiverse, had done to Parallax Hal and Supreme Superboy after being sent to the World Forge.

Boom!

The powerful strike, strong enough to pierce the stars and carrying power beyond the limits of human imagination, exploded against Emperor Joker's face. The terrifying facial-destruction punch drove his face into his skull, making him look like Nobi Nobita after being beaten by Gian.

"Mm... I'm fine!"

With a pop, Emperor Joker's face restored itself like a cartoon character's. Then he stamped his feet and cursed, "You shouldn't have aimed for my nose!"