Which characters had a satisfying ending?

[SiegePerilous02]

If the DCU was a long serialized narrative that still had an end point in mind, I'd say Barry and Kara's COIE deaths were perfect end points to them and I would have left them dead. They ruined the latter's death by exiling her from continuity almost immediately in one of their single dumbest decisions, so that needed to be addressed on way or another.

The lack of any of this ever ending kind of makes any of the deaths for the big name characters impossible to stick. When every character gets resurrected at some point, it's unfair to leave Barry and his fans out in the cold. What they've done with him since the resurrection and what happened to Wally is an obvious source of contention, but I imagine Barry's fans constantly hearing how he served a better purpose dead than alive and that Wally was always the better character must have pissed them off to no end.

[Buried Alien]

If the DCU was a long serialized narrative that still had an end point in mind, I'd say Barry and Kara's COIE deaths were perfect end points to them and I would have left them dead. They ruined the latter's death by exiling her from continuity almost immediately in one of their single dumbest decisions, so that needed to be addressed on way or another.

The lack of any of this ever ending kind of makes any of the deaths for the big name characters impossible to stick. When every character gets resurrected at some point, it's unfair to leave Barry and his fans out in the cold. What they've done with him since the resurrection and what happened to Wally is an obvious source of contention, but I imagine Barry's fans constantly hearing how he served a better purpose dead than alive and that Wally was always the better character must have pissed them off to no end.

The story of a Barry Allen fan's geek life: it entails lots of tongue-biting and teeth-gritting.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Jim Kelly]

Post-Crisis, Barry becomes a lot like the Silver Agent--probably what gave Kurt Busiek the idea to create such a character for Astro City. But the thing about the Silver Agent is that he was created for that purpose, to be the agent of that age and then dutifully die when the age was over. Barry Allen wasn't created to be the "Silver Agent," but that's how later readers see him. So he only makes sense to them in reference to the other DC characters that respect his sacrifice (especially Wally). He's what Wing was for me--the guy who sacrificed himself in the "Unknown Soldier of Victory," JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 100 (August 1972). I didn't know anything about Wing--his sacrifice was the most important thing I knew and I can't say that I've learned much about him since then.

[dancj]

While I disliked the actual journey of Breakdowns for various reasons, the end of JLI was pretty satisfying and I'm glad Giffen & DeMatteis were given the opportunity to give it a good conclusion.

Agreed. Breakdowns was a weak story, but the final issue was great.

Of course Gerard Jones came along with a "Breakdowns Epilogue" the next issue and undid everything. That really must have pissed Keith Giffen off.

[DrNewGod]

The Losers in Cooke's The New Frontier. It wasn't a happy ending, but it resonated with their on-going themes of their luck being so bad, and - in the end - having only each other.

[byrd156]

The Losers in Cooke's The New Frontier. It wasn't a happy ending, but it resonated with their on-going themes of their luck being so bad, and - in the end - having only each other.

New Frontier was hopeful in the face of great odds. Probably my favorite ending to any book. Either NF or All-Star Superman or Kingdom Come.

[Paradox_Nihil]

The Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter I would put in a different category since his story was always meant to end.

Actually, it wasn't. They finished it because Goodwin was going to leave DC and return to Warren. He didn't know that during the early episodes. Maybe they would have finished it anyway, but it would surely have been longer.

But, regardless, I judge only art, not intentions.

[Jim Kelly]

Although it’s regarded as an imaginary tale, “The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue” was presented in SUPERMAN No. 162 (July 1963) as a possible future for the Man of Tomorrow. To the reader of the day, there was nothing to contradict the existing continuity of the time. And it attempts to check all the boxes on a super-fan’s wishlist for the best possible outcome that the characters could enjoy.

One day, the people of Kandor call Superman on his empty promises and issue an ultimatum: If he doesn’t accomplish certain super-deeds in six months, then they will replace him with a Kandorian in his stead as the World’s Greatest Super-Hero.

It turns out Superman already has a to-do list that has vexed him for some time, which he shows to Supergirl. This list includes:

1. RESTORE KANDOR TO NORMAL SIZE
2. FIND ANTIDOTE TO GREEN KRYPTONITE
3. WIPE OUT CRIME

Solving these challenges has proved too much even for his super-brain, so he has constructed a cabinet powered by the various forms of Kryptonite--and the upshot is he’s split in two, Superman-Red and Superman-Blue.

The twin Supermen set about creating a New Krypton--drawing all the fragments of Kryptonite together to form a planet, thus changing Kryptonite back into the original harmless elements of Krypton. The Kandorians are restored to normal size to live on the planet--and super-powered under our yellow sun, they are able to reform the planet so it replicates Krypton’s environment. But they choose to return the entire planet back to the Rao star system where they will lose their powers.

Lori Lemaris asks Blue and Red to make another planet for the Atlantean mer-people and the Super-Twins, along with Krypto and Supergirl, use their heat vision to melt the polar ice caps of a planet, creating a water world. The Atlanteans then embark on a mass exodus to their new homeworld of Hydra.

Blue and Red now create a system of satellites around the Earth that emit rays to counter any evil instincts and make everyone good. The world’s super-powers give up their nuclear armaments and begin peace talks. Castro frees the political prisoners in Cuba. The Superman-Revenge Squad and Brainiac cancel their invasion of Earth when they come under the influence of the anti-evil rays. Lex Luthor turns good and invents a serum that cures all the ailments of the world and he’s reunited with his sister Lena.

Supergirl frees all the Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone who immediately turn good and she goes with them to join their people on New Krypton.

Next Blue and Red want to marry and settle down with the woman they love. It turns out they are different enough in mind that Blue loves Lana Lang, while Red loves Lois Lane. And when they decide to have a double wedding, Jimmy and Lucy make it a triple wedding. Red longs to be on New Krypton, so he and Lois leave the Earth, while Blue has a fondness for his adopted planet, so he remains with Lana here. But Blue retires from the job of Superman--which is now a lot easier than before--and he leaves it to his super-robots to do things like combatting Earth’s natural disasters. Instead Blue devotes his life to science and raising his twins (a girl and a boy) with Lana. Meanwhile, on New Krypton, Red has taken the name Kal-El and has twins with Lois (also a boy and a girl).

At the end of the tale, as Jimmy supposes that Blue and Red have each found the happiness they were looking for, Lucy can’t help but remark, “Hm! I wonder!”

[ChaosIncarnate]

Although it isn’t necessarily an end, more of an evolution to the character, I always loved having Renee Montoya become the question after Vic Sage’s passing. Obviously he had to come back eventually, but I hate that we regressed her back to her Pre-52 characterization.

[hareluyafan1]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't "Saga of the Swamp Thing" end with Swamp Thing and his beloved wife quite literally walking off into the sunset together?

You can't get more satisfying than that.

[PyroTwilight]

Linda Danvers in Peter David's Supergirl run. Simply beautiful.

That was satisfying? Her story ends abruptly without any real conclusion and she's now heart broken having lost both a friend she had to essentially betray (Kara), and her daughter who is all but said she'll never be able to see again. Finally ending her series writing a letter to Clark that she quits.

[dancj]

Although it isn’t necessarily an end, more of an evolution to the character, I always loved having Renee Montoya become the question after Vic Sage’s passing. Obviously he had to come back eventually, but I hate that we regressed her back to her Pre-52 characterization.

I thought turning her into The Question was a step in the wrong direction for a great character. Not Crispus Allen bad, but still wrong. Why can't people be around superheroes without becoming them?

[Sandy Hausler]

The Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter I would put in a different category since his story was always meant to end. He's like Ferro Lad in that way.

Ferro Lad was always meant to die? Interesting. I never heard that.

Sandy Hausler

[Hilden B. Lade]

Another one I just remembered:

Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Darwyn Cooke gave Jonah Hex a great send-off with the last issue of New 52's All-Star Western.

[Jim Kelly]

Ferro Lad was always meant to die? Interesting. I never heard that.

Sandy Hausler

Ferro Lad met his end only about half a year after his first appearance, so Jim Shooter probably introduced the character in order to kill him off.