DC Comics is pretty different from their marvelous competition. There are obvious similarities, but the way they use those similarities is different. So, for example, both of them have multiverses, but they use them in disparate ways. Another place where they’re similar, but also very different, is power level. Marvel and DC both have powerful characters, but in DC those characters are often more powerful and more important. The DC Multiverse’s greatest heroes are superlatively powerful at times, and this has made their enemies even more dangerous, as they have to be able to overpower heroes with godlike power and skill.
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Power is helpful, but it doesn’t mean that victory is assured. These powerful heroes have found themselves on the losing side of things, and sometimes they’ve even died. These powerful DC heroes have all met the reaper, showing that power definitely isn’t everything.
10) Hal Jordan
The Green Lanterns are a formidable lot, but the best of all of them is Hal Jordan. The fighter/test pilot was a man who was almost completely without fear, and was able to use his inexhaustible willpower to do amazing things with his power ring. However, he couldn’t save Coast City, so he went on a wild rampage for more power, destroying the Green Lantern Corps and becoming Parallax. Possessed by the fear entity, he tried to remake the universe in his own image, but was defeated by Green Arrow. When the sun was extinguished by a Sun-Eater in Final Night, he used his powers to rekindle the life-giving orb, which killed him. He’d eventually return as the Spectre, which led to him regaining his old life as the greatest Green Lantern.
9) Firestorm
Firestorm was a major teen hero in the late ’70s and early to mid ’80s, but faded away as the decade of excess went on. By the ’90s, he was nowhere to be found, having faded so far into the background that there was little nostalgia for him. This led to Identity Crisis, where the hero was helping battle the Shadow Thief. The villain got his hands on Shining Knight’s sword and stabbed the young hero. This caused a breach in the nuclear-powered man, who was forced to fly away and explode. A new Firestorm soon showed up, but Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Martin Stein, the two parts of the Firestorm matrix, would stay dead for a while, with Stein returning first and Raymond popping back up at the end of Blackest Night.
8) Captain Atom
Captain Atom is one of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe, and has been killed off several times. It’s usually done in the same way as the death in the previous entry: his protective skin is pierced somehow and he explodes. The plot of DC classic Kingdom Come revolved around the death of the hero in the future, and is his most memorable demise. Captain Atom has been killed off so many times in comics, and then brought back when a creator wants to use a hero of Atom’s power level to serve as someone who often does the bidding of the powers that be even when it’s wrong, which usually means him fighting Superman or someone similarly powerful and important. Then, at some point, he’s usually killed again, starting the whole cycle over.
7) Doctor Fate
Doctor Fate has been killed off so many times. Basically, the Helmet of Fate contains the power and soul of the Lord of Order Nabu, making everyone who wears it a powerful magic user. The first Fate was Kent Nelson, who has been killed several times over the years, and is currently dead. He was replaced by Peter and Linda Strauss, both of whom would die. Inza Nelson became Fate and eventually died, as did Jared Stevens. Hector Hall would take over as Fate for a time, but he was also killed. Kent Nelson returned, was replaced by his student Khalid Nassour, who is currently wearing the helmet, and died again. The mantle of Fate is basically a meat grinder.
6) Martian Manhunter
Martian Manhunter never gets enough credit, and he has been killed in the past. The alien hero was captured by Libra, who was working with Darkseid to destroy everything in Final Crisis (it’s been theorized that he was the living manifestation of the Anti-Life Equation, although he could have just been under its control), and was killed for the Human Flame. The whole point of it was to show the Injustice Gang that Libra could give them their heart’s desire no matter what it was of they served Darkseid. He stayed dead until the end of Blackest Night, and played an important role in saving the universe in Brightest Day, before regaining his lofty place in the hero community after the New 52.
5) Superboy
Superboy was a clone of Superman, with Lex Luthor’s DNA used to stabilize him. He’d first show up after the death of Superman, trying to become the protector of Metropolis, and would later help the returned Man of Steel defeat Cyborg Superman. He stayed in the hero game, eventually helping to found Young Justice and joined the Teen Titans. This all led to the reveal of his genetic secrets and a relationship with Wonder Girl, and put him on a collision course with death in the 2005 DC Comics blockbuster Infinite Crisis. He ended up fighting Superboy-Prime, getting trounced the first time they faced off. There was a round two, and Kon-El was able to defeat Prime, dying in the process. He would be resurrected in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds.
4) Zatara
Giovanni Zatara was a stage magician in the Golden Age who just so happened to be able to use actual magic. By speaking backwards, he could make things happen, and he became one of the most powerful spellcasters of his era, studying all aspects of magic, all while working with the heroes of the Justice Society and the All-Star Squadron. He’d eventually have a daughter, Zatanna, with his wife Sindella, and would teach her how to use magic, both real and of the stage. Zatara would eventually retire, but was recruited by John Constantine to help Swamp Thing and the demons of Hell to battle the Great Darkness. Zatara burst into flames sitting at the same table as his daughter, who had to watch him burn to death while powering a spell that stood between the world and destruction.
3) Barry Allen
Barry Allen was the second Flash, helping found the Justice League, and became one of the greatest heroes on Earth. He protected Central City, worked with elder speedsters like Jay Garrick and Johnny Quick, and trained Wally West. After killing Reverse Flash, Allen retired to the 30th century, where his wife Iris had escaped after faking her death, but Crisis on Infinite Earths would see his end. He was captured by the Anti-Monitor, because of his ability to travel the multiverse, and would end up escaping, destroying a massive universe-destroying anti-matter cannon in the process. This cost him his life, and he stayed dead until 2008’s Final Crisis #2, dead for 23 years.
2) Supergirl
Supergirl was another casualty of Crisis, killed while trying to stop the Anti-Monitor from killing her cousin Superman. Before that, she became the most popular teen girl superhero, fighting alongside the greatest heroes on the planet, like Batman, Robin, and Batgirl, and the greatest heroes of the future with the Legion of Superheroes. Her death, along with Allen’s, was part of the symbolic death of the old DC Comics that Crisis was meant to be. Supergirl would return, but it wasn’t the Kara Zor-El version, at least not until 2004’s “The Supergirl from Krypton”.
1) Superman
“Death of Superman” is a huge moment in DC history. While the Man of Steel had died before, it was never the “canon” version, and it was unthinkable to everyone that Superman would die. The fight against Doomsday took everything the Man of Tomorrow had, and he stayed dead for a pretty decent stretch, with four replacements popping up. He was resurrected by robots of the Fortress of Solitude, and was able to defeat the evil Cyborg Superman, saving the Earth. Since then, he’s died several more times in canon, but he always comes back, because of course he does.
What powerful DC hero deaths are your favorite? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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