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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.
00:04In 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.
00:22So I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the 10 most heartbreaking moments in Justice League history.
00:2910. Red Tornado Loses His True Self
00:32During Infinity Crisis, Red Tornado, or his body at least, was destroyed during a mission in space.
00:37After 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.
01:00In 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,
01:20and 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
01:27choice
01:27and 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. As the storyline proceeds,
01:47it's revealed that the bad guys held Nightwing as their prisoner, and the climax sees Batman,
01:52together with Lex Luthor and others, arrive at the watchtower where the syndicate has been camped.
01:56They find Dick placed in a murder machine, which in turn served as the trigger switch for a bomb.
02:01The only way to prevent it from detonating was if Grayson's heart were to stop. Despite Batman's
02:06best efforts, Luthor is able to prevent the Dark Knight from saving his original protégé,
02:10leaving 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
02:19impossibly high-stakes nature of this moment still makes it intensely emotional.
02:248. Martian Manhunter
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 staff in order
02:42to establish 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 of
03:14Elongated Man, aka Ralph Dibny, Sue enjoyed a lovely marriage with her husband, and even served on
03:19the Justice League herself. During the Identity Crisis arc, while Ralph is 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
03:33mystery, with the entire League determined to find the killer. In reality, though, this was all
03:38about the cruel nature of her passing, and the taste that it left in our mouths. Subsequently,
03:43the storyline has also been bashed by sections of the fanbase, with many calling out DC for simply using
03:48one character's death as a means of furthering the persona of another, i.e. Ralph. But even beyond
03:53that, it 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
04:10to this level of brutality. It's worth prefacing this by explaining that the premise of Injustice is
04:15that the Joker has managed to trick Superman into killing his wife and their unborn child.
04:20Normally, this 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-brother-in-arms,
04:40and Superman's response is, well, to burn his eyes out with his heat vision. It was a direction-setting
04:46moment for how the rest of the story would go, and boy oh boy did it deliver on that, and
04:50then some.
04:525. 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 Gene Loring,
05:15is the one behind Sue's death. The truth turns out to be more disturbing than anyone had predicted,
05:19as Sue wasn't killed as part of some grand supervillain plan designed at targeting the League,
05:24it was orchestrated by Loring to get Ray to come back to her. It was incredibly convoluted,
05:29and meant that Sue's death was even sadder than initially felt, because she didn't die for some great
05:33plot. She died for absolutely no reason at all thanks to Loring's misguided quest for love.
05:38Atom then proceeds to bring his former spouse crashing down to reality, describing her as insane
05:44and 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 heroes
06:02were of course fighting to save the multiverse from annihilation, and during the culmination of this
06:06iconic arc, Kara was forced to do battle with the evil cosmic entity in order to try and save her
06:11friends, ultimately resulting in them watching her die. In terms of storyline, this was the perfect
06:16sacrifice that helped with the continuity clean-up that was the main point behind Crisis. In terms of
06:21tugging on our heartstrings, though, this exerted way more strain than many of us could bear.
06:263. Batman Receives a Letter from His Father
06:28The 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
06:38insurmountable odds. But the best and saddest part was saved for last. Right at the end,
06:44after the alternate universe Thomas Wayne is able to get Barry to run back in time to change
06:48everything, he also gives the Scarlet Speedster a letter. The letter is addressed to his son Bruce,
06:54who in this timeline was killed in the alleyway instead of his parents. After straining every
06:58fibre of his speed force, Bing, Flash is able to put the world back to the way it was. Kind
07:03of.
07:03And then, he went to visit Batman. Barry gives Bruce the letter where Thomas tells his son how
07:08much he loved him, how much he wished he could be there to see him, and how happy he was
07:13with the
07:13kind of man and the kind of hero that Bruce became. It's not uncommon to shed a tear at this
07:18moment.
07:182. The Fight Against the Black Lantern Zombies
07:21Blackest Night was a refreshing yet brutal update to the Green Lantern mythos, and gave us one of
07:27the biggest 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
07:36Power Battery. 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 attacked
07:46by the evil Scar. The rings arrive and flood a crypt of deceased lanterns, reanimating them,
07:51as bloodthirsty zombies. Powered, of course, by the Black Rings. Inevitably, the fight reaches
07:57Earth, where the rings start reviving dead superheroes, as the army of zombie lanterns
08:01continues to expand. Eventually, the League and pretty much every other superhero must unite
08:05to stand even the remotest of chance. While the universal level stakes were nothing uncommon,
08:11the sight of these heroes having to battle the demonized version of their friends,
08:14whose losses they once mourned, was equal parts jarring and heartbreaking.
08:181. The Death of Barry Allen Crisis on Infinite Earths is seen by many as the
08:24single greatest DC crossover event in history. Sure, these days DC seems to do a continuity
08:29reboot every other Sunday, but back then this was a never-before-seen kind of grand storyline.
08:34And to this day, it holds a place of its own in the pantheon of iconic comic book arcs.
08:39The central figure in this crossover was, of course, the Anti-Monitor, determined to destroy
08:43all matter universes and become the sole ruler of a new anti-matter universe slash universe kind
08:49of thing. Standing in his way is his counterpart, the Monitor, joined by a collection of the greatest
08:54heroes from across the multiverse. After leading a successful attack on the Anti-Monitor's base,
08:58the heroes manage to bring about a temporary end to the battle. However, the big bad Anti-Monitor
09:03uses this time to create a new body and find himself a new weapon, the Anti-Matter Cannon. Just as
09:08he is
09:09about to use it to destroy the remaining Earths, in swoops Barry Allen, aka The Flash, aka The
09:14Scarlet Speedster. Faced with impossible odds, Barry has no choice but to sacrifice himself in
09:19the process of stopping the Anti-Monitor's plan. But what makes his death so significant is that
09:23unlike most comic book demises, which typically last less time than the expiry date of sliced bread,
09:29this one actually stuck. Barry was gone from the DC continuity for 23 whole years. For the sheer
09:36weight of the moment and the subsequent consequences, this was perhaps the most
09:39heartbreaking moment in Justice League history. And there we go, my friends. Those were the 10
09:43most heartbreaking moments in Justice League history. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me
09:48know what you thought about it down in the comment section below. As always, I've been Jules. You can
09:52go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJWithAZero, or you can swing by LiveAndLetsDice, where I do all of
09:56my streaming outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there, my friends. As always, I've been
10:00Jules. You have been awesome. Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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