Favorite and least-favorite death of a DC character

[Gero4568]

Favorite: Barry Allen

Least Favorite: Anyone who died during Zero Hour. That was just a nightmare.

[DrNewGod]

It's hard to get worse than the death of Aquaman's infant son. That's the awful excesses of superhero comics all rolled into one, and a real crippling blow to the character and world of Aquaman. It's almost comical, in how it just demands to be taken seriously...

I suppose that I look at Arthur, Jr.'s death in the context of the times. That stuff just didn't happen to superheroes back then. They didn't fail, and they absolutely didn't fail at the cost of their supporting casts' lives. It remained rare after Aquaman, up until the CoIE meatgrinding. It also served to give Aquaman something he'd lacked up to that point: a legit archenemy.

[Adekis]

My favorite is probably Parallax in Final Night, because that was the first story I ever read made me really love Hal Jordan, and also he died in it. I guess he actually didn't and stuck around for a while, according to the Green Arrow comic Quiver, but I never really found out more about that, and I don't care either, because I liked Final Night so much. I consider it a pretty definitive Jordan story.


Least favorite... I don't even really know. There's a lot of forgettable deaths for cheap shock value out there.

You know what, I'm gonna go ahead and say Death of the Family. That's right, Jason Todd should never have died, and the fact that he was "the dead one" should never have become a truly defining part of his character. The bloody Joker should not get to kill Robin, end of story.

[Ishmael]

Favorite: Flash and Supergirl back in COIE. Their sacrifices were the epitome of the "heroic" sacrifice. And while I'm glad they've been brought back, those deaths really hit back then and meant something.

Lease favorite: Ted Kord.

[Jackalope89]

My favorite is probably Parallax in Final Night, because that was the first story I ever read made me really love Hal Jordan, and also he died in it. I guess he actually didn't and stuck around for a while, according to the Green Arrow comic Quiver, but I never really found out more about that, and I don't care either, because I liked Final Night so much. I consider it a pretty definitive Jordan story.


Least favorite... I don't even really know. There's a lot of forgettable deaths for cheap shock value out there.

You know what, I'm gonna go ahead and say Death of the Family. That's right, Jason Todd should never have died, and the fact that he was "the dead one" should never have become a truly defining part of his character. The bloody Joker should not get to kill Robin, end of story.

Oh, I agree, it should not have happened. That said, the writer at the time hated the mere concept of Robin, to the point he wanted to have Jason die of AIDS.

[DrNewGod]

Tangent to the OP: is there a death that bothers you in its repeal, regardless of whether you like it or not?

My vote would be Jason Todd. I was not, and am not, fond of the whole "Call Him To Death" nonsense. Still, there was some utility in it in layering some additional pathos on the Bat-family, and in pointing out that tangling with the kind of maniacs that occupy Arkham is dangerous. Reversing it was simply not a good idea.

[Sergard]

Most deaths are just awful and in ill-taste. Like Jason "Hey, lets kill a kid and blame his death on him too!" Todd (even though his time after coming back, New52 on, is pretty good), everything from Heroes in Crisis, Lian Harper (and all other such things involving kids), most Crises actually, etc.

The bare few exceptions would be things like Barry Allen and OG Supergirl in CoIE, where they went out as heroes. Fighting against an indomitable foe in the Anti-Monitor.

But killing just for shock value? To make things dramatic or angsty? Hard pass. Hate that stuff. Even if it gets undone shortly after, I'd rather it not be done for such cheap drama.

The victim-blaming started shortly after his death, or?
Jason died in 1988. And the last time he was blamed for his own death was in 2019. Over three decades of victim-blaming. How time flies. Well, some things never change.
Does it count as legacy aspect when Jason gets victim-blamed by Bruce, Dick and Damian?


I don't trust DC with deaths. All deaths I've encountered so far were a complete let down.
And yes, Jason's death is especially horrible and wrong on so many levels:
- "Death in the family" is full of plot holes
- readers were allowed to vote for his death (the death of a 15-year old boy)
- Death won by a small margin
- Death voters enjoying the torturing and death of a 15-year old boy
- Jason being victim-blamed by Batman and Dick Grayson (and others)
- Jason's character being reduced/changed to the "violent/bad" Robin who deserved to die
- Batman and Dick Grayson fans making crowbar jokes (because it's so enjoyable when a 15-year old boy gets tortured.)
- Death voters being mad about Jason's resurrection and demanding their money back that they paid decades ago
- DC taking no responsibility for the vote and declaring everything a "social experiment".
- more victim-blaming and more crowbar jokes to this day

[Sutekh]

Supergirl got a 'good' death in Crisis. Too many of the others felt more like, 'Okay, now we have to kill a bunch of other people. Aquagirl? Sure, we've already got an Aquaboy nobody's using... Someone from the Legion? How about Psycho Lad, he's dying anyway... A Teen Titan? We made Kole just for this, apparently, and, sadly, no one would care if we killed Azrael, and too many people would cheer if we killed Terry Long...'

Worst death, gosh, there've been so many. Back when Superbrat Prime was ganking teens like it was going out of style, I remember Bushido's death being particularly gratuitous, because he got 'heat visioned' to death and there was a huge pool of blood, because, apparently, Superboy Prime's 'heat vision' isn't actually *HOT* and doesn't cauterize a wound, even if it's 'hot' enough to cut someone in half. (I guess it's not 'heat vision' so much as 'sword vision?')

In a book full of gratuitous excessive death, this was extra annoying, because it was just badly written. Lazy and wrong. Which, I guess, was on-theme...

[Jim Kelly]

I thought of another good death, that being the death of Ferro Lad. But again, like Terra, Ferro Lad was created to die--so the creator of the character decided what was going to happen to his creation.

Now, it's true that Bill Finger wrote the first death of Alfred--it was Julius Schwartz's idea that the creator of the character ought to write his death--but it wasn't really Finger's desire to kill him off, he was just following orders. And, of course, they had to bring Alfred back soon enough (in a bizarre twisted plot that resembles how they brought back Jason Todd decades later).

And, likewise, Terra and Ferro Lad have both been brought back in reboots. There's very few deaths that are respected. I'd've thought that Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent and Jor-El should all be dead--since that was the long-standing continuity--but even they have been zombified.

[godisawesome]

I’m another one for Barry getting a “good” death, bit primarily because it was done in a manner that made it ripe for future storytelling - he dies heroically enough that time travelers suffer a severe penalty for trying to kill him beforehand, he’d gone and gotten a “happy ending” with Iris in the future that allowed his family story to continue, and it a facilitated Wally West’s story, and he’s the best Flash.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m sorry. Kinda.

Worst... I feel like Liam Harper’s should count just because killing a child you didn’t even bother to put on-page beforehand, and for the utter dreck that was the Cry for Justice and “Rise” of Arsenal means it didn’t even really work as a shock death.

[Black Manta]

Hmm. Death in comics have become really meaningless. When they announced Superman's death way back when you already had the story plotted out somewhat in your head. Jason Todd's might be the worst for me, just because he was a great character before Crisis. They messed him up so bad post-Crisis that killing him was the only way to fix him.

Best I'm going with someone a lot of people never heard of-Quex-Ul. He was a Kryptonian that lost his powers and memories. He later got them back and died helping Superman escape from the Phantom Zone.

[mikelmcknight72]

Most modern character deaths have been cheap stunts, while I do see a number of more classic, meaningful deaths to be good stories. That being said, I generally prefer comic book "limbo" to character death.

"Good" Deaths
Crimson Avenger
Barry and Kara in COIE
Golden Age Sandman in JSA
Iris West-Allen in Classic Flash
Tara Markov in Judas Contract
Earth 2 Batman, Helena Wayne/Huntress' Father

Horrible Deaths
Sue Dibney
Lian Harper
Alexandra Dewitt
Jennie Lynn Hayden

[K7P5V]

Best I'm going with someone a lot of people never heard of-Quex-Ul. He was a Kryptonian that lost his powers and memories. He later got them back and died helping Superman escape from the Phantom Zone.

I remember Quex-Ul (formerly known as Charlie Kweeskill).

1982's The Phantom Zone is a classic, and also a great read.

Steve Gerber & Gene Colan were a great combination.

[mikelmcknight72]

This is off topic, I know, but is that worth reading? I generally like the work of Morrison, but I'm having a hard time finding motivation to read it. It could be that one-off characters never to be seen again, the obvious 90s spoof, or the overwhelming "kid in a candy store" feeling of having subscriptions to DC Universe and Marvel Unlimited leaving me with a flood of things I want to read more.

[achilles]

I’m another one for Barry getting a “good” death, bit primarily because it was done in a manner that made it ripe for future storytelling - he dies heroically enough that time travelers suffer a severe penalty for trying to kill him beforehand, he’d gone and gotten a “happy ending” with Iris in the future that allowed his family story to continue, and it a facilitated Wally West’s story, and he’s the best Flash.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m sorry. Kinda.

Worst... I feel like Liam Harper’s should count just because killing a child you didn’t even bother to put on-page beforehand, and for the utter dreck that was the Cry for Justice and “Rise” of Arsenal means it didn’t even really work as a shock death.

Worse than that was that horrid thing they did with the Spectre....when they had him brutally kill many kids for nothing offenses, then just pretended they never had him do that, literally no consequences, much like that horrid Amazons Attack thing; they had them committing war crimes all over the place, with no lasting consequences.