Off the top of my head..I'd say Batman. Beyond the parents being shot thing, he's seen friends turn into foes (Harvey Dent), he was there when Grayson's parents died. Wolverine could give hi some competition, I guess. Now if by "past" you mean only "before they became super-heroes", I think Batman beats Spider-man., If by past you mean "anything before today", Spider-man's comic series has been the most soap-opera of any hero I read.
Spider-man. Orphaned at a young age. Uncle dies giving him a lifelong guilt trip. Hated by media manipulated public. True love killed by Green Goblin. Happy return of parents shattered when they are revealed to be robots. Best friend goes insane and becomes a goblin. Grieves over dead Aunt May until finding out it was fake Aunt May who died and real Aunt May had been imprisoned. Lost child. Marriage destroyed by Satan. I could probably go on awhile.
Punisher, his wife and son died right in front of him not to mention the vietnam war mission where all the other soldiers died( at least one of them had yto be his friend ).
Magneto. Between the holocaust, and then watching his daughter get burned alive for being half gypsy, i'd say he's had it pretty rough. Also, that's not counting all the crazy that's happened since his becoming magneto. Though to be fair, you can always find something sadder. i don't think there is a definitive answer here.
Jessica Jones-She was the only person in her high school who was less respected than Peter Parker and she didn't have any friends. She got her powers from an accident that killed both her parents.She later became a Private Investigator, that's where she encountered Purple Man whom took control of her with his powers and raped her repeatedly.
Punisher, his wife and son died right in front of him not to mention the vietnam war mission where all the other soldiers died( at least one of them had yto be his friend ).
I think this would be the saddest, at least for me.
Cyclops has had it pretty bad. Before becoming an x-man his parents died in a plane crash as he and his brother used the only parachute which caught fire. Scott gets brain damage from the fall and wakes up to hear that his brother is dead. He's told that he was in a coma for a year (in reality Mr. Sininister experimented on him for a year). Spends the rest of his childhood in an orphanage where Sinister (posed as a child) torments him and stops anyone from adopting Scott. His power manifests and is uncontrolable leaving him essentially blind. Jack o'diamonds adopts Scott and uses him as a weapon. All of this before he becomes an x-man and it just gets worse afterwards.
His father and brother turn up alive, the former being a space pirate and is now dead anyway. His wife Jean has died about 3 times now. His first wife Madelyn went insane and died. He had to send his son into the future as a baby to save him from the TO virus only for him to come back forty years older and estranged. He merged with Apocalypse and suffered for six months with the x-men all gave up hope on him. Perhaps worst of all was when he found out he had a half brother called Gabriel who he trained with to save the original 5 x-men. The mission ended badly with Gabriel seemingly dying so Prof X erased all memories of Gabriel from Scotts mind so he could get on with the mission.
Batman is not the saddest. Yes, his parents were murdered in front of him, but other than that, I'd say he's had a pretty good life. It's not like he got shipped to an orphanage. Instead he got to stay in his mansion with his new father figure and grow up to be a billionaire playboy who heads one of the largest companies in the world. You might have a case for him if Jason Todd had stayed dead and Barbara Gordan had stayed crippled because Batman refuses to kill the Joker, but they're both fine now. He even got a note from his dad from Flashpoint telling him how proud he is of him. Batman is just a big whiny baby who can't get past a little childhood trauma like the rest of the grown-ups do.
Spidey - the guilt alone... Rogue had it tough, at least until she got some control over her powers. Ms Marvel was more or less raped & also had her conciousness stolen by Rogue. Superman - he's an orphaned on a strange planet... although he can fly, see through walls & can kick everyone's ass.
That last one is hilarious but for me its Roy Harper He is a recovering Addict hes gone from Hero to villian. He's one of the few characters weve seen grow emotionally and physically. All of these reasons is why he is in my top 5 favorite comic book characters of all time. He's a boss.
1.Jessica Jones: She has the most disturbing past I think i've ever read what with her being raped repeatedly, losing her parents etc..
2.Spawn: Nuff said
3.The Butcher: had to endure his wife getting raped by a superhero then had to watch the superpowered child tear its way out of her killing his wife in the process before then having to kill the child himself.
4.Punisher: Whole family killed infront of you? Doesn't get much worse
5.Spider-man: Being orphaned then losing your only father figure because you failed to act? kind of a bummer
6.Ms Marvel: Marcus and a drinking problem
7.Taskmaster: When you remember to much your brain overloads making you forget who you are and your family over and over again. It's not really that sad for him as he doesn't remember but its pretty sad when you see it through the eyes of an outside viewer.
1.Jessica Jones: She has the most disturbing past I think i've ever read what with her being raped repeatedly, losing her parents etc..
2.Spawn: Nuff said
3.The Butcher: had to endure his wife getting raped by a superhero then had to watch the superpowered child tear its way out of her killing his wife in the process before then having to kill the child himself.
4.Punisher: Whole family killed infront of you? Doesn't get much worse
5.Spider-man: Being orphaned then losing your only father figure because you failed to act? kind of a bummer
6.Ms Marvel: Marcus and a drinking problem
7.Taskmaster: When you remember to much your brain overloads making you forget who you are and your family over and over again. It's not really that sad for him as he doesn't remember but its pretty sad when you see it through the eyes of an outside viewer.
Going to agree with these. Especially Taskmaster. The scene at the end of Unthinkable was just painful to read.
@joeagentofhand1 said:
Punisher, his wife and son died right in front of him not to mention the vietnam war mission where all the other soldiers died( at least one of them had yto be his friend ).
The MAX version is particularly bad, what with it hinting that he indirectly caused the deaths of his family.
Going to agree with these. Especially Taskmaster. The scene at the end of Unthinkable was just painful to read.
Yeah these 3 last pages actually made me feel bad for him which is unusual because feeling sad for fictional characters is not my thing.
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Especially the part about him retaining an illusion that he's a bad guy every time he loses his memory even though he's technically done nothing wrong.
@Strider92: Especially that last page, man. It just hit me right in the gut when his wife had to do that again. And I have to agree, it's extremely rare that something happening to a comic character, let alone a fictional one, gets to me like that.
Going to agree with these. Especially Taskmaster. The scene at the end of Unthinkable was just painful to read.
Yeah these 3 last pages actually made me feel bad for him which is unusual because feeling sad for fictional characters is not my thing.
Gallery
Especially the part about him retaining an illusion that he's a bad guy every time he loses his memory even though he's technically done nothing wrong.
Agreed. This was one of the saddest moments i'd read in a while.
I think a case could be made for Bucky Barnes. He lost both his parents when he was young. He was brainwashed by the Russians and assassinated many people including blowing up part of Philadelphia. He has memories of all of these actions that he has to live with. Also, he lives in a time where he knows very few people and has to make everything think he is dead so he can try to make ammends for what he has done as Winter Soldier
wolverine- always a killer brainwashed, can't really die to everyone else he always seen as just a monster.
spawn(al simmons) he a demon who came be with wife cause he got tricked by the devil and wanda blake is married to his best friend.
spider-man - society always considers him a meance, his best friend turned evil, lost the love of his life (mary jane) thanks to mephisto. but he never gives up and keeps on trying to do good.
Red Hood has always struck me as someone with a tragic life.
Under The Red Hood was pretty sad. And even after that... Every time I read something with him going bat sh*t, it's usually because he just wants attention and recognition from Batman.
Jessica Jones-She was the only person in her high school who was less respected than Peter Parker and she didn't have any friends. She got her powers from an accident that killed both her parents.She later became a Private Investigator, that's where she encountered Purple Man whom took control of her with his powers and raped her repeatedly.
Damn man. How can anyone compare to that? That trancends sad and goes right into tragic-ville.
Also Mockingbird, she was raped and then her husband (Hawkeye) belittled her for not saving the man who raped her.
Spawn who got sent to hell for killing his son in the womb of his wife, got out of hell to be with said wife but returned to discover he was an ugly maggot eaten demon and his wife was doing his best friend.
The Punisher for obvious reasons.
Starfire who was enslaved before being raped for years and years, and finally being experienced upon in the nazi style. Of course, when she broke free, her only sister simply tried to kill her on a daily basis.
Magneto: concentration camps ain't no places for young children.
Dr Mahattan(to some extent). He knows about fate and what will happen to him and he has no control over it. If he was still human it would drive him mad, but I guess you get used to it though.
It sucks to be Scott Summers. Hell, it sucks to be related to Scott Summers.
EDIT: in that vein, its pretty unfortunate to be Cable as well.
Yeah it must be awful to be Scott Summers. All those years of banging a hot red head must have sucked. Not nearly as bad as the years he's spent nailing a hot blonde though. Horrible horrible time that guy must have. lol
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