Most tragic/depressing ends to superheroes.

[KOSLOX]

I just started rereading Brubaker's Cap run and finished "The Lonesome Death of Jack Monroe". I'd forgotten how this story was a portrait of a man spinning out of control at the end of his life and then being put down with no real understanding of why it was happening. Really dark, depressing stuff. This also made me think of White Tiger meeting his end around the same time also under less than heroic circumstance. What are some other examples of heroes dying tragically in fairly mundane ways (by comic standards).

[kilderkin]

In age of ultron, black panther falling and breaking his neck was a bit poor imo

I thought black widow neck break in secret empire was poor too

Pathetic rather than tragic but that's what came to mind

[KOSLOX]

In age of ultron, black panther falling and breaking his neck was a bit poor imo

Yeah, this one is more pathetic than tragic since BP is supposed to be super agile and basically died of a slip n' fall. So stupid.

I thought black widow neck break in secret empire was poor too

This one should have been more tragic, but as presented it was just one more shocking event piled on. I guess Rick Jones' end was pretty bad and sort of fits the tragic end motif of the thread.

[Oberon]

Darkstar. Slain by Fantomex when she was corrupted by some X-enemy. I know she's back though, (not seen much)

[Michael Watkins]

there wasn't much of an upside to Jack of Hearts' death.

[mugiwara]

Being a teenage super hero who is not part of the Legacy Diversity Darlings means your life is worth nothing, in the Marvel Universe.

Mettle.
He got a perfect happy end in Avengers Academy.
Then Arcade kidnapped him and his girlfriend Hazmat, at christmas eve, and killed him in the first issue of Avengers Arena.
By "killed him", I mean he made him explode, Dr Manhattan way.
And later he used his skin to create a Mettle LMD in order to fool Pym and Tigra, making them believe that their proteges were safe.
And after having slaughtered many teen super heroes, Arcade is back to being a joke villain, like nothing happened. The super heroes are not even hunting him to make him pay.

Juston Seyfert
He spent years in limbo after Christos Gage, who was a fan of the Sentinel series, brought him back in Avengers Academy.
As soon as Avengers Academy was cancelled, Dennis Hopeless decided to "use" him in Avengers Arena.
His Sentinel pal got hacked, then destroyed. Juston got paralysed.
And then one of the "players" broke his neck. He died afraid, crying, and probably shitting his pants.
Moral of the story: Marvel writers, be careful when you bring back one of your faves from limbo. You are exposing them to this kind of sadistic ****.

Icarus.
He died during the big young mutant slaughterfest, just after M-day
But he wasn't just killed by Reverend Striker, oh no.
He was fooled into betraying his friends (Striker used his faith against him) and also got his wings amputated. Only them was he killed by a bullet in the head.
So even if he was brought back to life, he would still be guilty of helping the Purifiers kill dozen of his friends.

Wallflower
After M-day, that idiot Wither, believeing he lost his death touche power, touched her arm. She didn't die, but her arm was basically turn into a mummy arm.
Was it enough? Nope! She got shot in the head in front of her boyfriend.
I don't like that "fridged" word that is used every time a female character is killed, but I must admit this was a textbook case of killing a woman to cause angst to a male character.
Oh, and even death was not enough. Her body was later desecrated and turned into a Flesh Sentinel.

[regg215]

The first one that came to mind for me was White Tiger (hector ayala). That was one of the rare comic deaths I remember that stuck with me for a while, such a tragic ending.


I know she isn't a superhero but man was Karen Page's death pretty tragic as well, guardian devil was a really tough run for her as a character.


Both of those just remind me that Daredevil was a brutal comic for the better part of the late 90's and early 2000's

[mugiwara]

This also made me think of White Tiger meeting his end around the same time also under less than heroic circumstance. What are some other examples of heroes dying tragically in fairly mundane ways (by comic standards).

The first one that came to mind for me was White Tiger (hector ayala). That was one of the rare comic deaths I remember that stuck with me for a while, such a tragic ending.

Hector's death was horrible, indeed. Not that it was badly written, but that was a hell of a fall from grace, for a former super hero.

If it happened nowadays, I wonder if there would be a controversy about Bendis killing Marvel's first latino super hero.

[Michael Watkins]

Hector's death was horrible, indeed. Not that it was badly written, but that was a hell of a fall from grace, for a former super hero.

If it happened nowadays, I wonder if there would be a controversy about Bendis killing Marvel's first latino super hero.

it'd be an easy controversy to defend. he'd just say that he gave Hector a legacy; a latina inherited the role of White Tiger.

[Huntsman Spider]

it'd be an easy controversy to defend. he'd just say that he gave Hector a legacy; a latina inherited the role of White Tiger.

Twice, even, though both of them later gave up the White Tiger mantle, or at least the amulet, after figuring the whole thing was cursed and the Tiger God was a real S.O.B. Something like that. That being said, those Avengers Arena deaths were sure f***ed up, and it was just sad how Hector went out.

[Mary Jay]

I found it tragic and heart-breaking that they brought Scott Lang back from the dead only for him to witness the death of his beloved daughter. I mean, this was just cruel to the character.

[Huntsman Spider]

I found it tragic and heart-breaking that they brought Scott Lang back from the dead only for him to witness the death of his beloved daughter. I mean, this was just cruel to the character.

Even beating down Doom for that and Doom later paying restitution by resurrecting her during AXIS didn't quite take the sting away, pun fully unintended.

[kilderkin]

Yeah, this one is more pathetic than tragic since BP is supposed to be super agile and basically died of a slip n' fall. So stupid.



This one should have been more tragic, but as presented it was just one more shocking event piled on. I guess Rick Jones' end was pretty bad and sort of fits the tragic end motif of the thread.

Yeah jones death was tragic and imo very pathetic - put me off the whole story

[kilderkin]

Being a teenage super hero who is not part of the Legacy Diversity Darlings means your life is worth nothing, in the Marvel Universe.

Mettle.
He got a perfect happy end in Avengers Academy.
Then Arcade kidnapped him and his girlfriend Hazmat, at christmas eve, and killed him in the first issue of Avengers Arena.
By "killed him", I mean he made him explode, Dr Manhattan way.
And later he used his skin to create a Mettle LMD in order to fool Pym and Tigra, making them believe that their proteges were safe.
And after having slaughtered many teen super heroes, Arcade is back to being a joke villain, like nothing happened. The super heroes are not even hunting him to make him pay.

Juston Seyfert
He spent years in limbo after Christos Gage, who was a fan of the Sentinel series, brought him back in Avengers Academy.
As soon as Avengers Academy was cancelled, Dennis Hopeless decided to "use" him in Avengers Arena.
His Sentinel pal got hacked, then destroyed. Juston got paralysed.
And then one of the "players" broke his neck. He died afraid, crying, and probably shitting his pants.
Moral of the story: Marvel writers, be careful when you bring back one of your faves from limbo. You are exposing them to this kind of sadistic ****.

Icarus.
He died during the big young mutant slaughterfest, just after M-day
But he wasn't just killed by Reverend Striker, oh no.
He was fooled into betraying his friends (Striker used his faith against him) and also got his wings amputated. Only them was he killed by a bullet in the head.
So even if he was brought back to life, he would still be guilty of helping the Purifiers kill dozen of his friends.

Wallflower
After M-day, that idiot Wither, believeing he lost his death touche power, touched her arm. She didn't die, but her arm was basically turn into a mummy arm.
Was it enough? Nope! She got shot in the head in front of her boyfriend.
I don't like that "fridged" word that is used every time a female character is killed, but I must admit this was a textbook case of killing a woman to cause angst to a male character.
Oh, and even death was not enough. Her body was later desecrated and turned into a Flesh Sentinel.

I really liked mettle

Much undervalued and dismissed imo by the publisher

thought he had a lot of potential like a lot of those characters from academy

where are they now?

[regg215]

I would also say that Jack Flag had a tragic death. He was used as nothing more than shock value in one of the most controversial stories that marvel has done in a while.

Ben Reilly has probably been the King of tragic deaths, every few years they seem to kill him off in tragic fashion.