Losing is never fun.
But sometimes it’s necessary.
In the case of superheroes, losing has grander consequences than the regular mere mortal
screwing up.
Today, we’re taking a closer look at the defeats that shook the comic book world counting
down the top 10 superheroes who lost.
Some of these loses are flat out embarrassing, while others are iconic and character defining.
So with that in mind, let’s get to our list!
But don’t forget to stick around till the end of the video to let us know what other
superhero defeats and losses you think should’ve made our video.
10 Aquaman and his hand Let’s start this loss list off with a very
literal, physical loss.
That time that Aquaman lost his hand.
Oh poor Arthur Curry.
The hook didn’t help his image much, did it?
Once upon a time, Aquaman fought Charybdis (ka-rib-deis), who not only forced the aquatic
hero to lose his hand thanks to sticking his arm in a river full of piranhas, but, he stole
Arthur’s ability to communicate with sea life, all as a means to poison the Earth.
There’s nothing like seeing a superhero’s bones practically sucked clean of flesh to
signify a pretty big loss.
Aquaman may have won the battle (he throws his foe into the same river, letting the piranhas
annihilate him whole) but its still a devastating loss when you come back from a battle with
only one hand intact, that’s for sure.
9 Elektra’s Death Here we have an instance of a time in comic
history where a villain succeeding in murdering a superhero.
In this case, it’s bullseye skewering Elektra with her own weapon in Daredevil issue 181.
At the time of its release, it was considered to be one of the most graphic depictions of
violence post comics code authority.
The panels depicting the aftermath are even harder to read, with Elektra’s blood spilling
out of her, and her crawling her way to Matt Murdock’s doorstep, where she dies in his
arms.
She eventually would be resurrected – because who isn’t these days – but the death of
this anti-hero is definitely one that has managed to stick in readers’ minds for decades.
8 Superman vs Venom When you hear that match up, you might assume
that Superman would have the advantage, and even guess that he’d be able to defeat Marvel’s
parasitic symbiote Klyntar creature.
Well, once upon a time, in the 1996 DC vs Marvel crossover DC/Marvel All Access issue
1, the man of steel had his butt handed to him when Venom uses his symbiote slime to
practically suffocate supes, getting into his eyes and mouth after Venom slaps him around
a bit and bites him a bunch.
This all goes down when Superman tries to interfere in a duel between Venom and Spider-Man,
so Venom shows him who runs this town.
It’s also during that time period when Superman had a mullet, so really, it’s his own fault.
7 Pantha and Superboy This loss is one of the most shocking deaths
to occur on our list.
Back during Infinite Crisis, DC killed off Pantha in one of the most volatile ways possible.
She literally jumped in behind Superboy Prime, and, being distracted and absolutely mental
at the time, he turned around and punched her head off.
HE PUNCHED HER HEAD OFF.
And yeah, her head exploded, it wasn’t pretty.
Sure, it’s one hell of a way to go, and probably didn’t hurt much past the initial
split second impact, thankfully, but that’s definitely one way to suffer a defeat, that’s
for sure.
6 Doctor Strange and his cape Here’s another one of those more embarrassing
defeats, and it comes from one of Marvel’s alternate universes, the 1610 Ultimates universe.
The Ultimate universe reimagines all of Marvel’s characters in a more modern, more grim way.
It was beloved, until it’s penultimate event (no pun intended).
Titled Ultimatum, many readers feel that this story arc brought about the end of the 1610
universe, and ruined much of what they loved about it.
There’s some pretty whack stuff that occurs in this story arc, and many characters die
in gruesome events, including Doctor Strange.
When facing off against his foe Dormammu, the demon causes Strange’s cape to wrap
itself around him, constricting him, to the point where it’s so darn tight that his
head turns purple and explodes, killing the master of mystical arts.
Yep.
Moving on.
5 Jason Todd Oh Jason Todd.
After Crisis on Infinite Earths, when Todd, the second Robin, got a character makeover
that made him more ‘street’, he was thrust into a controversial storyline in which DC
readers could call in to determine his fate.
So for context, Todd was investigating his biological mother, who he tracks down in Ethiopia.
The Joker finds out about this, and starts to blackmail the kid with providing his mother
medical supplies that she’s in dire need of.
His mom, who was actually embezzling money from an aid agency as part of a cover up,
turns her own son over to the Joker.
And what the Joker did next was a result of the calling in gimmick going haywire – the
Joker brutally beats Jason to death with a crowbar.
Turns out, one dude had programmed his computer to call in with ‘no’ on repeat, which
drastically changed the poll’s results, which is another loss for Jason in itself.
And really, if you think about it, it’s a triple loss here, because Jason lost AGAIN
when he got replaced by Tim Drake, so overall, you know, tough time for little Jason.
4 Captain America & Civil War At the end of the first Civil War story arc,
Captain America loses not only the war, but his life, too.
This goes down in the Civil War epilogue titled The Death of Captain America.
After the hero surrendered to Tony Stark’s Iron Man and was arrested, things went pretty
downhill fast for the beloved character.
While in prison, Red Skull hires villain Crossbones to assassinate Rogers, who goes after him
on his way to the courthouse for his trial.
Crossbones proceeds to shoot Cap in the back of his neck and stomach, killing him.
Or, at least, killing him for the time being, that is.
He came back.
And actually, we sort of have our next number to thank for that trend-
3 The Death of Superman OH SURPRISE SURPRISE, KELLY PUTS THE DEATH
OF SUPERMAN ON A TOP 10 NERD LIST AGAIN.
WOW.
To all of you nerd squad peeps out there, I’m not sorry.
I also don’t hate Superman, for the record; it’s just that this story arc is so baffling
and so very much a cash grab on DC’s part that it’s hard to ignore.
Plus it had major consequences on the comic book industry, which, personally, I do love
me some historical context.
For those of you who are like, sorry, what’s the big deal here?
What’s the death of superman?
Well, allow me to introduce you to it, friend.
The Death of Superman, in short, was a story arc in 1993 in which Superman faced off against
Doomsday in a literal punching match, and it resulted in both of their deaths.
Not only was the comic book world shook, but it became big news in pop culture that Superman
was killed off.
Until DC was like PSYCHE, HE’S STILL ALIVE, HE JUST FELL INTO A KRYPTONIAN COMA WHICH
LOOKS LIKE HE’S DEAD BUT HE’S NOT AND THANKS FOR THE 3 MILLION DOLLARS THIS ISSUE
MADE US ON ITS FIRST DAY.
This comic sold 6 million copies, and when it was revealed Superman was actually alive,
many felt betrayed by DC, voicing that the arc felt like a publicity stunt.
It also drastically changed the way comic book writers treat death in the medium; the
number of characters who died and were brought back after that 1993 comic exponentially increased.
2 The Bat’s Broken Back So perhaps Superman’s death may have had
wider consequences not only on the DC universe but also on the industry itself, it’s still
hard to not immediately think of this number before the man of steel’s when considering
superhero defeats.
Because really, Superman just got punched into a coma, he still retained a lot coming
out of that sh*tshow.
But Batman, on the other hand, after he had his back broken by Bane, his story took a
very interesting turn, and resulted in him having to return to a Gotham that was worse
than when he left it.
And his reputation was trashed.
So, let’s back track for some context.
Occurring in the 1993-1994 story arc Knightfall, Bane, who had only recently been introduced
into the comics, breaks Batman’s back during a battle.
Batman, who had been suffering from some major burnout, is outsmarted by Bane, who cripples
him, leaving Batman to find a replacement for himself.
That Batman replacement is Azrael, whose much more violent methods turns Gotham against
Batman, assuming that he’s still the same Batman, just gone rogue.
While the story arc results in Batman learning to lean on the trusted members of the Bat
Family more, the conflict between him and Bane almost broke his spirit as well, and
has made for one of the most iconic images featuring the two.
The whole arc took over a year to complete, and eventually, Batman was rehabilitated.
1 Watchmen Perhaps the one thing that’s worse than
being defeated by one of your equally intellectual arch enemies is being defeated by a teammate,
and having that teammate actually help sort out the world better than you ever could have.
We’re talking the Watchmen’s defeat by one of their own, Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias.
At the start of Watchmen, the group has been disbanded thanks to the Keene Act, which outlaws
vigilantes.
It takes place in an alternate universe where Richard Nixon is still president, and asks
Doctor Manhattan, an omnipotent superhero, the only one with real powers in the story,
to intervene in Vietnam.
It’s a dystopian society, on the verge of a nuclear war, and Ozymandias manages to find
a way to make world peace happen – by obliterating parts of the earth, which appears to be from
alien invaders, bringing nations together with a common enemy.
In the film adaptation, instead of a giant alien creature, Veidt uses Doctor Manhattan’s
energy against him and frames him for it.
Either way, while this is all going on, the rest of the Watchmen heroes end up going on
a hunt for answers as to why one of their members, the Comedian was murdered, which
eventually brings them to Ozymandias, but it’s too late.
The heroes, minus Rorschach, agree to be quiet about it, because despite how horrible Veidt’s
actions were, he was right.
He saved the planet.
And Manhattan is forced to kill Rorschach in order to keep everything a secret.
There we have it friends!
There’s a few major events we didn’t get the chance to cover on this list – cough
cough infinity war – so be sure to give us a shout in those comments below if you’d
like to see a part two of this list!
And hey, while you’re down there, why not show us some love and hit that thumbs up button?
We also have a ton of videos on our channel that might tickle your fancy, so be sure to
hit that playlist currently flashing on your screen for more fun.
In the meantime, thanks for watching!
I’ll catch you all in the next video.