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Even the Justice League have faced their fair share of trauma and heartbreak.
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00:00So the Justice League, to many, are the gold standard when it comes to superhero teams.
00:05In fact, when it comes to pop culture significance, they are probably the benchmark for any kind of team-up.
00:10They are the ultimate collection of elites, an unstoppable force for good that no evil could ever bend.
00:17Except, of course, all the times that evil totally has corrupted and broken them, but that is not the point.
00:21So let's take a look at them today.
00:23As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the 10 most heartbreaking moments in Justice League history.
00:2810. Red Tornado Loses His True Self
00:32During Infinity Crisis, Red Tornado, or his body at least, was destroyed during a mission in space.
00:38After the pieces of his former mechanical self do return to Earth, they're repaired and looked after by Kathy Sutton.
00:43Unfortunately, unlike previous times, Tornado's soul does not return to the body once it's repaired.
00:48Then it's revealed that Solomon Grundy, of all people, was behind this.
00:52He, along with Professor Ivo, wanted to steal Tornado's body and fuse it with a number of special components
00:57so as to create the ultimate vessel for housing Grundy's soul.
01:01In the end, the Justice League is able to overcome the bad guys, of course,
01:04and Zatanna undoes the spell that's keeping Tornado away from his mechanical body.
01:08However, that's when the real tragedy strikes.
01:11Because, after re-inhabiting his old form, Red Tornado is no longer who he used to be.
01:16His consciousness appeared to have been altered, and he no longer cares about his friends and family,
01:21and even his powers become erratic.
01:22To see a character that had been one of the shining examples of how kindness and heroism are always a choice
01:28and can come from anyone, become a cold, heartless being, was absolutely heart-shattering.
01:339. Nightwing's Death
01:35Kinda
01:35The highly anticipated follow-up to Trinity War, Forever Evil, saw the Justice League battle it out
01:41with the crime syndicate from Earth-3, led by their Alfred Pennyworth.
01:46As the storyline proceeds, it's revealed that the bad guys held Nightwing as their prisoner,
01:50and the climax sees Batman, together with Lex Luthor and others, arrive at the watchtower where the
01:55syndicate has been camped. They find Dick placed in a murder machine, which in turn served as the
02:00trigger switch for a bomb. The only way to prevent it from detonating was if Grayson's heart were to
02:04stop. Despite Batman's best efforts, Luthor is able to prevent the Dark Knight from saving his
02:09original protégé, leaving the once-boy wonder to die in order to save everyone else. Now, yes,
02:15this eventually gets overturned as Lex himself revives Dick, but the emotional trauma and
02:20impossibly high-stakes nature of this moment still makes it intensely emotional.
02:248. Martian Manhunter is Killed
02:27During Final Crisis, John Jones, aka Martian Manhunter, who had been captured before while
02:32undercover, is brought before the secret society of supervillains. There, the newcomer Libra,
02:37in reality under instructions from the Human Flame, stabs him with a special stuff in order to
02:42establish his villainous worth, the strike proving enough to slay the mighty Martian.
02:47Before leaving the material world, he takes up his true form one last time, and even manages to
02:52communicate with the Justice League, passing on the knowledge of his people so that it doesn't
02:56die with him. Afterwards, the League arranges a funeral on Mars, one truly befitting their friend,
03:01with Superman himself sharing a final tribute to their fallen comrade.
03:067. Sue Dibny's Murder
03:08Sue Dibny's death remains one of the most tragic and critically panned in all of comics. The wife
03:14of Elongated Man, aka Ralph Dibny, Sue enjoyed a lovely marriage with her husband, and even served
03:19on the Justice League herself. During the Identity Crisis arc, while Ralph was away on a mission,
03:24Sue is mysteriously murdered in her own room. Ralph comes home to make the heartbreaking discovery,
03:29with burn marks the only clues relating to the cause of death. This kicks off a full-blown murder
03:34mystery, with the entire League determined to find the killer. In reality, though, this was all about
03:38the cruel nature of her passing, and the taste that it left in our mouths. Subsequently, the storyline
03:43has also been bashed by sections of the fanbase, with many calling out DC for simply using one
03:48character's death as a means of furthering the persona of another, i.e. Ralph. But even beyond that,
03:54it is still a heart-wrenching moment then, and most definitely now.
03:576. Superman Burns Out Shazam's Eyes
04:00The Injustice games and their tie-in comics were DC at its most violent. While superheroes losing
04:06sight of the line between right and wrong is surprisingly common, very rarely does it lead to
04:10this level of brutality. It's worth prefacing this by explaining that the premise of Injustice is that
04:16the Joker has managed to trick Superman into killing his wife and their unborn child. Normally,
04:20this would drive any man to true despair. However, when said man is also the Man of Steel,
04:25the potential after-effects can be catastrophic. Following the killings, the Man of Steel completely
04:30flies off the handle and decides it's time to change the world by force. Sensing that Clark was
04:35heading towards establishing a totalitarian regime over the Earth, Shazam squares up to his once
04:40brother-in-arms, and Superman's response is to burn his eyes out with his heat vision. It was a
04:45direction-setting moment for how the rest of the story would go, and boy oh boy did it deliver on
04:50that and then some. 5. The Atom Walks Away From Gene Loring
04:55Identity Crisis was without a doubt one of the most emotionally stunning comics ever. Even aside
05:00from the central tragedy surrounding Sue Dibney's murder, there were a number of other revelations
05:05and moments that made readers wince, and none perhaps more so than this one right here.
05:09Right at the end, the heroes are able to deduce that Atom, i.e. Ray Palmer's ex-wife,
05:14Gene Loring, is the one behind Sue's death. The truth turns out to be more disturbing than anyone
05:19had predicted. As Sue wasn't killed as part of some grand supervillain plan designed at targeting
05:23the League, it was orchestrated by Loring to get Ray to come back to her. It was incredibly
05:28convoluted, and meant that Sue's death was even sadder than initially felt, because she didn't
05:32die for some great plot. She died for absolutely no reason at all, thanks to Loring's misguided quest
05:38for love. Atom then proceeds to bring his former spouse crashing down to reality, describing her as
05:43insane and leaving her to be carted off to Arkham. A depressing affair all around.
05:484. Supergirl's Sacrifice
05:50Crisis on Infinite Earths did not lack for brutality and sacrifices. One of the most prominent of which
05:57was the death of Supergirl, aka Superman's dear cousin, at the hands of the Anti-Monitor. The
06:02heroes were of course fighting to save the multiverse from annihilation, and during the
06:05culmination of this iconic arc, Kara was forced to do battle with the evil cosmic entity in order
06:10to try and save her friends, ultimately resulting in them watching her die. In terms of storyline,
06:15this was the perfect sacrifice that helped with the continuity cleanup that was the main point
06:20behind Crisis. In terms of tugging on our heartstrings though, this exerted way more strain than many of us
06:25could bear.
06:263. Batman Receives a Letter from His Father
06:29The Flashpoint comics had absolutely everything you would want from a good superhero story. Heroes
06:34battling their past demons, people having to redeem themselves, and the good guys overcoming
06:39insurmountable odds. But the best and saddest part was saved for last. Right at the end, after the alternate
06:45universe Thomas Wayne is able to get Barry to run back in time to change everything, he also gives
06:50the Scarlet Speedster a letter. The letter is addressed to his son Bruce, who in this timeline
06:55was killed in the alleyway instead of his parents. After straining every fibre of his speed force being,
07:00Flash is able to put the world back to the way it was. Kind of. And then, he went to visit Batman.
07:06Barry gives Bruce the letter where Thomas tells his son how much he loved him, how much he wished he could
07:11be there to see him, and how happy he was with the kind of man and the kind of hero that Bruce became.
07:16It's not uncommon to shed a tear at this moment.
07:192. The Fight Against the Black Lantern Zombies
07:22Blackest Night was a refreshing yet brutal update to the Green Lantern mythos, and gave us one of the
07:27biggest friends turning into faux storylines in comic book history. The premise focused on a
07:32mysterious presence that is awakened after two Green Lanterns interact with the Black Central Power
07:37Battery. Then, an ominous group of asteroids appear, which release a massive number of Black
07:41Lantern rings into the universe. The Guardians see this, but they can't act, because they're
07:46attacked by the evil Scar. The rings arrive and flood a crypt of deceased lanterns, reanimating them
07:52as bloodthirsty zombies, powered, of course, by the Black Rings. Inevitably, the fight reaches Earth,
07:57where the rings start reviving dead superheroes, as the army of zombie lanterns continues to expand.
08:02Eventually, the League and pretty much every other superhero must unite to stand even the
08:07remotest of chance. While the universal level stakes were nothing uncommon, the sight of these
08:11heroes having to battle the demonized version of their friends, whose losses they once mourned,
08:16was equal parts jarring and heartbreaking.
08:191. The Death of Barry Allen
08:21Crisis on Infinite Earths is seen by many as the single greatest DC crossover event in history.
08:27Sure, these days DC seems to do a continuity reboot every other Sunday, but back then this was a
08:32never-before-seen kind of grand storyline. And to this day, it holds a place of its own in the
08:36pantheon of iconic comic book arcs. The central figure in this crossover was, of course, the
08:41Anti-Monitor, determined to destroy all matter universes and become the sole ruler of a new
08:46anti-matter universe-slash-universe kind of thing. Standing in its way is his counterpart,
08:51the Monitor, joined by a collection of the greatest heroes from across the multiverse. After leading a
08:56successful attack on the Anti-Monitor's base, the heroes managed to bring about a temporary end to the
09:01battle. However, the big bad Anti-Monitor uses this time to create a new body and find himself a new
09:06weapon, the Anti-Matter Cannon. Just as he is about to use it to destroy the remaining Earths,
09:11in swoops Barry Allen, aka the Flash, aka the Scarlet Speedster. Faced with impossible odds,
09:17Barry has no choice but to sacrifice himself in the process of stopping the Anti-Monitor's plan.
09:22But what makes his death so significant is that unlike most comic book demises, which typically last
09:26less time than the expiry date of sliced bread, this one actually stuck. Barry was gone from the
09:32DC continuity for 23 whole years. For the sheer weight of the moment and the subsequent consequences,
09:38this was perhaps the most heartbreaking moment in Justice League history.
09:42And there we go, my friends. Those were the 10 most heartbreaking moments in Justice League
09:46history. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down
09:49in the comment section below. As always, I've been Jules. You can go follow me over on Twitter,
09:53at RetroJ with a zero, or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming
09:57outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there, my friends. As always, I've been Jules.
10:01You have been awesome. Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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