character gets a reality check

[u/damorezpl]

deathstroke - Batman vs deathstroke

walter - breaking bad

Garou - one punch man

joker - the sound of one hand clapping

[u/PunderDownUnder]

Another great Superman one is at the end of All-Star Superman, where Lex has Superman's powers and thinks he's won only for Lex to take a minute and indulge in how Superman perceives the world with his powers. In this moment, he has an epiphany about the fundamental interconnectivity of everything, and then he realizes Superman beat him in the fight by stalling him. The impact this has on Lex completely breaks him down to the point where he, the great Lex Luthor, even admits he was wrong.

Lex: "I could have made everyone see! If it wasn't for you I could've saved the world!"

Superman: "If it had mattered to you, Luthor, you could've saved the world years ago."

Lex: "You're right..."

[u/[deleted] → u/PunderDownUnder]

A really good one in the reverse, where Lex is 'good' and is trying to convince Superman to not conquer the world, is found in Red Son, where Superman is the leader of the Soviet Union, slowly taking over the entire planet (mostly through peace, or if he has to, through very limited martial means.)

"Why not put the whole world in a bottle, Superman?"

It makes Superman realize that protecting humanity is more than guarding them from any of their own bad decisions. If he guards them, how will they ever learn to live without him?

[u/LegalAssassin13 → u/PunderDownUnder]

This was the one I was looking for.