comicbooks.com Join Free
Home β€Ί Mr. Mxyzptlk
Mr. Mxyzptlk

Mr. Mxyzptlk

110 appearances Β· Silver Age Β· 1960–2025 Β· 3 key issues
Who is Mr. Mxyzptlk?

A mischievous imp from the fifth dimension (the realm of Zrfff), Mr. Mxyzptlk possesses virtually unlimited reality-warping power and visits the three-dimensional world solely to torment Superman with pranks and chaos. The only way to send him home for 90 days is tricking him into saying or spelling his name backwards.

Few characters in DC's vast Silver Age playground have proven as delightfully, stubbornly enduring as Mr. Mxyzptlk, who first bedeviled readers in the pages of Superman #135 back in 1960, courtesy of the legendary Jerry Siegel and artist Al Plastino. Over 65 remarkable years β€” spanning Silver Age mischief all the way to 2025 β€” this imp has accumulated 103 catalog appearances and three collector-significant key issues, a testament to just how deeply he's burrowed into DC's DNA. His adventures have carried him across flagship titles like Superman and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, where he shares the page with icons including Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Bruce Wayne, Batman, and Green Lantern β€” elite company that speaks to his standing as one of DC's most persistently fascinating figures. If you're building a serious DC collection, Mr. Mxyzptlk isn't a footnote β€” he's a throughline.

Identity

Real name. Mr. Mxyzptlk (true 5th-dimensional name unpronounceable in 3D; banished if he says/spells his name backwards, "Kltpzyxm")

Powers. Vast reality-warping magic native to the 5th dimension (matter manipulation, illusion, teleportation, transformation); can only be defeated/banished by tricking him into saying or spelling his name backwards (Kltpzyxm), which sends him back to his dimension for 90 days.

Teams & affiliations
Daily PlanetKryptoniansAtlanteans
β˜… First appearance
Superman #30
Sep 1944

Top series

Covers through the years β€” 1960–2021

Superman #135 β˜… 1960
Superman #135
World's Finest Comics #152 1965
World's Finest Comics #152
Superman #286 1975
Superman #286
DC Comics Presents #33 1981
DC Comics Presents #33
Superman #400 1984
Superman #400
Adventures of Superman #441 1988
Adventures of Superman #441
Bloodwulf #2 1995
Bloodwulf #2
Young Justice #3 β˜… 1998
Young Justice #3
Superman #187 2002
Superman #187
Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen #[nn] 2007
Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen #[nn]
Adventures of Superman #1 2013
Adventures of Superman #1
World's Funnest #[nn] 2016
World's Funnest #[nn]
Bizarro Comics: The Deluxe Edition #[nn] 2021
Bizarro Comics: The Deluxe Edition #[nn]

Appearances

World's Finest Comics (1941)
Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (1958)
Action Comics (1938)
Superman Annual (1960)
#6
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen (1954)
#65
Tales of the Unexpected (1956)
#80
Superboy (1949)
Superman Supacomic (1959)
#64
The Atom (1962)
#23
The Adventures of Bob Hope (1950)
#97
Strange Adventures (1950)
Wonder Woman (1942)
Leave It to Binky (1948)
#61
Blackhawk (1957)
Weird Western Tales (1972)
#39
The Great Superman Comic Book Collection (1981)
DC Comics Presents (1978)
Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe (1985)
#15
Adventures of Superman (1987)
Caped Crusader Classics! (1988)
#6
Superman & Batman Magazine (1993)
Bloodwulf (1995)
#2
Superman: Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite (1996)
Superman: The Wedding Album (1996)
#1
Marvel DC Crossover (1997)
#6
Superman: Adventures of the Man of Steel (1998)
Young Justice (1998)
Batman and Superman: World's Finest (1999)
#6
Superman Adventures (1996)
#41
Bizarro Comics (2001)
Superman: The Man of Steel (1991)
Green Lantern Sonderband (2006)
#2
Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen (2007)
Countdown to Final Crisis (2008)
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2009)
Billy Batson & the Magic of Shazam! (2008)
Tiny Titans (2008)
#17
The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2011)
#12
DC Universe by Alan Moore (2013)
Superman: Phantom Zone (2013)
Superman Adventures: The Man of Steel (2013)
World's Funnest (2016)
Superman / Batman (2014)
#5
Batman '66 Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes (2017)
#1
Superman Special: Action Comics 1000 (2019)
Bizarro Comics: The Deluxe Edition (2021)
Madman Library Edition (2021)
#2
Batman / Superman: World's Finest (2023)
#4
Superman Space Age (2025)
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen - The Deluxe Edition (2025)
Superman, Man of Steel (1989)
#4