Whether it’sMarvelor DC Comics, it’s common to see supervillains target the loved one of a superhero. When a baddie finds themselves either uninterested in or incapable of beating a hero in a physical fight, they choose to win the mental battle. The standard way for evildoers to attack their adversaries mentally is by infiltrating their minds through those they love.
It’s become a common trope, but one that always yields to big storyline potential. Oftentimes, stories where a villain targets a hero’s friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc., wind up changing the course of the Marvel and/or DC Universe. Sometimes, that meansthe trajectory of a superhero and their definitive stories changes forever, while in other cases, it means a character who was once a staple of the lore suddenly finds themselves dead. The domino effect thatone death in a superhero comiccan have on a franchise is astronomical in some cases.
10The Joker Tricks Superman into Killing Lois Lane
Injustice: Gods Among Us#3 by Tom Taylor and Mike Miller
The Joker is more deeply associated with being an enemy of Batman, but things take a swift turn in theInjusticeuniverse. There, the Joker grows bored with constantly losing and failing to defeat Batman, so he shifts his target to Superman. All it takes isJoker mixing Kryptonite with Scarecrow’s fear toxin to cloud Superman’s mind and trick him into accidentally killing his wife, Lois Lane, while she’s pregnant with their first child. He also planted a bomb trigger in her heart that activates when it stops beating, so when Superman kills her, it nukes Metropolis.
This sends Superman into an uncharacteristic rage, compelling him to kill The Joker purposely. Then,to ensure no one suffers the same loss he suffered, he becomes Earth’s dictator.Superman’s decision to kill the Jokerdidn’t solve anything. Instead, it created a far greater threat: himself.
9Spymaster Targets Happy Hogan, Forcing Iron Man to Finish the Job
Iron Man#14 by Daniel Knauf, Charles Knauf, and Patrick Zircher
DuringIron Man#1, Tony Stark was in the midst of hisCivil War, a universe-wide superhero battle against Captain America that, by now, has been well-documented. However, one aspect of that event that goes overlooked is that, in the midst of the chaos, he lost his best friend. Iron Man’s past with his longtime rival comes back to haunt him as Spymaster finds himself in a physical confrontation with Happy Hogan. Spymaster makes it clear that Pepper Potts is next.That’s when Hogan sends Spymaster and himself several stories from the air to the ground.
Hogan’s in a coma, and based on a dinner conversation she had with him previously,Pepper urges Tony that he’d want his friend to pull the plug. Soon after, Hogan dies with the implication that Stark followed through.It’s a dark fate that wouldn’t have happened if not for Iron Man’s worst enemy.
8Thomas Wayne and Bane Kill Alfred Pennyworth to Torture Robin
Batman#77 by Tom King, Mikel Janin, and Tony S. Daniel
During the"City of Bane"arc,Batman’s strongest villaintakes over the city of Gotham with the help of Thomas Wayne from an alternate universe. With them, they take Alfred Pennyworth as a hostage, promising that if any of the Bat-Family steps foot in Gotham trying to save him, Alfred will die. Damian Wayne calls their bluff, and when he’s caught, Alfred pays the price. This singular death changed the course of Bat lore for the foreseeable future.Its ramifications are still felt today as, miraculously, Alfred is still dead.
In the alternative reality ofFlashpoint, it is an adolescent Bruce Wayne who dies that fateful night in Crime Alley, not his parents. While his mother, Martha, is driven into a Joker-esque insanity after seeing her child die, his father turns to violence and kills criminals as Batman.
There was a time when it was unimaginable that Bruce Wayne’s trusty butler wouldn’t be by his side or that of his family. Even more shocking is that, in a world where comic characters revive all the time,Alfred’s death marks an exception to the rule.This is probably the one resurrection that fans wouldn’t complain about, as readers still anticipate the return of their favorite pseudo-father / butler.
7Bullseye Kills Elektra to Torment Daredevil
Daredevil#181 by Frank Miller
The last time that Bullseye ran into Daredevil, he became the reason for Bullseye’s prison sentence and throbbing headaches. Revenge was on Bullseye’s mind upon his escape.Before reuniting with Daredevil, he’d force a fight with Elektra,one that he’d ultimately win. He’d slowly follow and watch asDaredevil’s epic lovercrawled and collapsed to his doorstep. Watching his archnemesis hold his greatest love as she dies in his arms is like icing on a cake of vengeance for Bullseye.
Although Elektra would be resurrected soon enough,the moment had a haunting impact on Daredevil’s superhero career, setting the stage for his stories to take a darker turn. This would be the first of many devastating losses for Matt in the coming years, including the death of Karen Page.
6Major Force Kills Alexandra DeWitt to Torment Kyle Rayner
Green Lantern#48 Vol. 3, Ron Mar and Bill Willingham
This may be the most infamous moment of all; Alexandra DeWitt’s death gave rise to the now-famous“Women in Refrigerators”trope, a term first coined by Gail Simone. The trope refers to female characters, often love interests, being killed off solely to further a male hero’s emotional arc or development. That’s exactly what happens when Major Forcemurders Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend and leaves her stuffed in a refrigerator for the Green Lantern to find.The brutality of Alex’s death is what cemented the phrase in comic book discourse.
She wasn’t developed as a character beyond being Kyle’s girlfriend, but the nature of her death makes it painfully obvious that she exists only to serve that purpose. In one fell swoop,her legacy is reduced to nothing but a driving force for Kyle to become a better hero, sacrificing her life to do so.
5Miek Kills The People of Sakaar to Torment Hulk
World War Hulkby Greg Pak and John Romita Jr.
Miek’s status as a supervillain is complicated. He starts out as one of Hulk’s closest allies, joining his warbound team to overthrow the Red King, the tyrant ruling the planet Sakaar. After their victory, Hulk wants to bring peace and stability to the planet, but Miek has a different vision. He wants to wipe out the Red King’s people, and when Hulk refuses, Miek sees this as a sign of weakness. In a twisted effort to reignite Hulk’s rage, Miek plants a bomb on Hulk’s spaceship.The resulting explosion kills thousands on Sakaar, including Hulk’s wife and, presumably, his children.
This sets Hulk on a warpath on Earth. From that moment,Miek immediately becomes the antagonist in Hulk’s story. He thought he was helping Hulk by putting him through trauma in an effort to make him more of a ruthless fighter, but he’s no better than any other supervillain who tortures a hero for fun.
4Star Sapphire Kills John Stewart’s Wife Katma to Torment Hal Jordan
“Green Lantern: “…And the Pain Shall Leave My Heart"by James Owsley and Gil Kane forAction Comics#601
Star Sapphire has a complicated standing at DC Comics. More recently, she’s been depicted as a hero, evenkickstarting a Justice League journey, but some of her past actions as a rival to the Green Lanterns (especially her ex, Hal Jordan) are too heinous to forgive so easily. Case in point,there was a time when Star Sapphire was hellbent on killing a Green Lantern.So, when she finds former Lantern Katma, the wife of John Stewart, she decides that killing Katma would suffice.
John would blame Hal for his wife’s death, straining their friendship for years to come. Even when they do reconcile, John never forgets what Star Sapphire did to cause a wedge between the Lanterns. Katma Tui remains one of the few superheroes to stay dead in the comics, save for a brief resurrection inBlackest Night.
3Norman Osborn Has Bullseye Kill Lindy Lee Reynolds to Motivate Sentry
Dark Avengers#15 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato
Technically speaking, everyone in the Dark Avengers was a supervillain, but of them all, Sentry was merely manipulated into doing evil.While The Void within Sentry would compel him to heinous crimes, Robert Reynolds naturally wanted to and thought he would use his powers for good, and H.A.M.M.E.R. director Norman Osborn tricked him into thinking he was. Some of his most nefarious plots required an extra push. Ergo, when it became time to lead theSiegeof Asgard, Norman wanted Sentry at his most vicious.
To motivate him,Norman orders Bullseye (then posing as Hawkeye) to kill Bob’s wife.After choking her to death aboard a plane and dropping her into the ocean, Bullseye bemoans that she chose to jump. Sentry used The Void to carry his overwhelming rage into Asgard, where his fury couldn’t be contained by the Dark or heroic Avengers before they had to kill him.
2The Joker Kills Robin to Torment Batman
Batman#428 by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo
Unlike other instances,Batman and Robin are not love interests; however, for a man who thinks he has no time for romance, Batman’s found family is the greatest love he has ever known. That should be a wholesome thought for anyone, but unfortunately, it just makes the Bat-Family an easy target for his enemies, namelyThe Joker, who oversteps the line habitually by harming the people Batman loves whenever possible.During the"Death in the Family"arc, he targets the second and latest Robin in the most brutal way possible.
The death of Jason Todd left a stain on Batman’s legacy, particularly in his mind. For some time, he lost himself to a dark path, pushing his family away and refusing to adopt another sidekick until Tim Drake insisted upon it.For Batman, even after Red Hood’s revival, losing Jason remains his greatest failure.
1The Green Goblin Kills Gwen Stacy to Torment Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man#121 by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane
The Green Goblin wasn’t amongSpider-Man’s very first supervillains, and Spidey was nearing two years of being on the stands by the time they met. Still, the reason they have become synonymous with each other is due to the impact the Green Goblin had on Spider-Man’s life, particularly in relation to Gwen Stacy’s death.This is single-handedly the most pivotal moment in Spider-Man’s life, as stories often trace back to it, marking Peter Parker’s greatest regret, mistake, and source of guilt as a superhero that drives him to this day.
The Green Goblin’s on-panel debut arrived inThe Amazing Spider-Man#14, released in 1964 after Spider-Man’s 1962 debut inAmazing Fantasy#15.
Arriving at a time when death was still rare in comics, Gwen Stacy’s fall sent shockwaves through the comic industry. As a result, this makes for perhaps the most significant example of a villain targeting a hero’s loved ones in eitherMarvelorDC Comics.
