Breaking the "fourth wall"

  • Thread starter Thread starter New Editor
  • Start date Start date

Dupac

New member
lol, never mind.. found a list...

A literary term often utilized in theater to describe the imaginary barrier between the actors and audience, separating real world and fantasy. Breaking the fourth wall is observed sometimes in literature, where a character directly addresses the reader.

Some characters have been known to 'break the fourth wall' by speaking to, or about, the audience. Not only do they talk to the reader, but they (usually) know that they are fictional creations in a story. On occasion, this may be a vehicle for dramatic irony. Deadpool, the most well known example of this phenomenon, has been known to refer to his own history in issue format, lean on the panel borders, and see or touch his thought boxes and word balloons.

The fourth wall can also be reinforced by a character saying that, i.e., 'this isn't a movie, you know'.

Characters

Here are some characters that have broken the Fourth Wall:

Alex Luthor

Ambush Bug

Animal Man

AO Major

Bat-Mite

Canis

Cerebus

Deadpool

Demon

Fig Keele

Forbush Man

Gabreality

Gary, the Pathetic Fallacy

Go-Go Fiasco

Grifter

The Intern

Jack Horner

Jamie Braddock

John Constantine

John Lynch

The Joker

Lobo

Loki

Mr. Mxyzptlk

Mr. Revise

Phantom Stranger

Purple Man

She-Hulk

Squirrel Girl

Starman

Superboy Prime

T-Ray

The Killer

Uatu the Watcher

Zatanna

(Note: Characters may have broken the 4th wall at one point in time, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they currently retain the knowledge of the world beyond the comic they are in.)

Creators

Some writers break the fourth wall by inserting themselves into the story, wherein their character admits to writing the story they are appearing in:

Ben Templesmith as Ben Templesmith

Grant Morrison as The Writer

Peter Milligan as Miles Laimling

Fifth Wall

When characters break the "Fifth Wall," it shows they have knowledge of other fictional characters from another, unrelated actuality.

Examples:

in The Amazing Spider-Man #123, after being hit through a window by Spider-Man, Luke Cage says "I dig, Spider-Man ... but here's something you don't! Some dudes have to do this number for a livin' -- we ain't all rich playboys like Bruce Wayne." Note that Luke Cage should probably not know of Bruce Wayne, and vice versa.

In Superman vol. 2 #50, Mr. Mxyzptlk makes several statements hinting that he is also the Impossible Man from Marvel Comics and has knowledge of the Fantastic Four, such as "Having fun with my new fantastic friends," "back to my four new friends," It's blubbering time," and "Sometimes it's just impossible to remember what I look like from world to world."

Recap Pages

Some comics have recap pages before the actual story in which characters from that issue (or sometimes the previous one) show up and talk to the reader, breaking the Fourth Wall. These instances are generally isolated and after the recap page, the characters no longer have the ability
 
Last edited:
Deadpool is the main one, lol they made alot of nods to it in Marvel vs Capcom 3

She Hulk is another one
 
Last edited:
bcotton2000@yahoo.com;2129829 said:
Deadpool is the main one, lol they made alot of nods to it in Marvel vs Capcom 3

She Hulk is another one

Yeah when John Byrne wrote and drew She-Hulk's book, that was her claim to fame, now its Deadpool's.

Many characters can and will break the fourth wall as a one time joke or for a one time story, but only Deadpool does it consistently.
 
Last edited:
dusouljah;2129639 said:
In Superman vol. 2 #50, Mr. Mxyzptlk makes several statements hinting that he is also the Impossible Man from Marvel Comics and has knowledge of the Fantastic Four, such as "Having fun with my new fantastic friends," "back to my four new friends," It's blubbering time," and "Sometimes it's just impossible to remember what I look like from world to world."

didn't know this.

pretty cool ideal...........
 
Last edited:
FYI:

Deadpool does it because he is insane. And he is insane because its a side effect of the healing factor which he required artificially. I recall him losing the healing factor and actually regained his sanity and in return “forgot” he was a comic character
 
Last edited:
The user and all related content has been deleted.
 
Last edited:
...al though obviously not a comic Will Smith and Zach Morris did this alot on their shows...

its a pretty cool concept for comic characters tho...
 
Last edited:
deeroc22;2205988 said:
...al though obviously not a comic Will Smith and Zach Morris did this alot on their shows...

its a pretty cool concept for comic characters tho...

ice cube nods @ the audience dam near every movie and in killer instict 1 of the fatalities is hitting an opponent on the screen
 
Last edited:
yeah I was wondering why she hulk wasn't on the list. I remember her fighting madcap and tearing him out the panels of the comic
 
Last edited:

Members online

Trending content

Thread statistics

Created
-,
Last reply from
-,
Replies
11
Views
1
Back
Top
Menu
Your profile
Post thread…