10 DC Heroes With the Worst Personal Lives

Being a hero seems like it would be a pretty great thing. Having superpowers, saving the day, usually having a really cool costume, all of those feel like things that would contribute to having a pretty great life. But for some of DC’s greatest heroes, while their time wearing the cape might seem glamorous, it’s when the suit comes off and they’re back to just being their regular selves that things get a bit messier. Between complicated relationships, family drama, and deep emotional wounds from tragedies, some heroes might be all smile saving the day, but their personal live are nothing to be happy about.

These 10 DC heroes may be fighting the good fight, but their biggest battles are actually at home. They prove that under the mask and beyond the superpowers, even our most beloved heroes have problems, too. Their off duty lives can be complicated and downright heartbreaking, and that’s part of what makes us love them so much.

10) John Constantine

John Constantine might be a magical powerhouse, but his life is one of tragedy. The Hellblazer has spent most of his life dealing with loss. His first forays into magic cost him his parents and things never really improved. Constantine is a man who has endured constant and pain and loss, to the point that he doesn’t really let himself get close to anyone anymore because it just opens them — and him — up for more potential pain and loss. Often targeted by some of the darkest forces in the universe, Constantine will do anything to help save the world, but the cost is any real happiness for himself. It’s heartbreaking.

9) Damian Wayne

One could argue that Damian Wayne’s personal life isn’t that bad. When it comes to having all his needs met and creature comforts, being the son of Bruce Wayne does sort of give one an advantage. But money can’t buy happiness nor can it really do much to heal hurt and trauma (unless you count paying for therapy). Damian’s life has never been an easy one. Trained from an early age by the League of Assassins and taught to kill, then left with his father — who didn’t even know he existed — who refuses to kill, Damian’s been dealing with things no child should ever have to since the start. His ideological differences with his father also create tension. Damian frequently struggles to find his place not only in the Bat Family, but also in the larger world and while his life might improve as he grows, he still has a lot of challenges and hardships to face.

8) Oliver Queen/Green Arrow

You might not think of the Emerald Archer as having a bad personal life, but it’s honestly not great. While he was born into a life of great wealth and privilege, money doesn’t protect one from tragedy and that’s the case for Oliver Queen. A tragedy at sea left him alone on a deserted island where he had to develop the skills and strength to survive and though he eventually made it home to become a vigilante, his life didn’t necessarily improve. He’s a man who has made a lot of personal mistakes that have set him back and his family life is pretty complicated too — he has a son, Connor, whose life he wasn’t really a part of — and he’s also not particularly great with romantic relationships, either. Oliver has cheated on Black Canary numerous times. Sure, some of the issues in Oliver’s personal life are issues of his own creation, but it doesn’t make things any better.

7) Donna Troy

Donna Troy’s life is extremely complicated. Not only does she have an extremely complicated origin that has been retconned numerous times — including an origin where she was born to a dying unwed teen who put her up for adoption only for her to be put up for adoption again when her adoptive father died only for her to end up a victim of a child-selling racket — but her adult life has been difficult, too. She has had a disastrous marriage, she’s watched her friends die, if there’s trauma, she’s experienced it. At this point, Donna’s entire history is all part of her current story and one can’t help but wonder if she doesn’t have serious identity issues with how complicated everything is. It certainly can’t make for a great personal life.

6) Victor Stone/Cyborg

For Victor Stone, his entire life is largely defined by everything he’s lost. He is a great intellect who never wanted to be a scientist like his parents. He just wanted to be a football player, but after a devastating accident, his father ended up turning him into something more machine than man. It’s not something he chose for himself and while his transformation into Cyborg saved his life, it’s also resulted in a difficult relationship with his father, being shunned by his friends, and left him constantly questioning his identity. After all, if you lose your body and everything else that makes you, well, you, it’s a constant battle to figure out who you are.

5) Jason Todd/Red Hood

The second Robin, Jason Todd’s life wasn’t great even before Batman became a part of it but things genuinely only got worse from there. He was murdered by the Joker and then resurrected, which didn’t really go very well as he came back haunted by the experience. He’s felt betrayed by Batman after Batman didn’t avenge him as well. For Jason, life is defined by trauma and a feeling of being abandoned and while there are certainly times in comics where we see him moving on from some of his pain, more often than not Jason is in deep conflict with himself and with everything he’s experienced.

4) J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter

J’onn J’onzz’s life is truly heartbreaking. He’s the last Green Martian. He witnessed his entire race’s destruction due to a telepathic plague. He has no home to return to as the last of his kind and is forced to live with human beings, which means he generally has to conceal his actual identity. While he’s got friends with the rest of the Justice League and he finds joy in Chocos (cookies do sort of fix everything, after all) his is a lonely, isolated life with deep losses he will never fully be able to get over.

3) Raven

When it comes to bad personal lives, Raven never stood a chance. her human mother, Arella, was assaulted by the demon Trigon resulting in Raven’s birth. It’s this trauma that has largely defined Raven’s life, with Arella raising her in a pacifist cult and exerting major emotional control over her to try to keep from triggering Trigon’s power. Having been raised to suppress her emotions, Raven is a very emotionally isolated person. She’s also got serious trust issues and lives in fear of turning evil thanks to her demonic side. One thing Raven does have going for her, however, is her team. A key member of the Titans, Raven is often shown as having good relationships with her teammates, something that gives her a much-needed support system.

2) Swamp Thing (Alec Holland)

Swamp Thing is a fantastic character, but his personal life is a sad one and that sadness is largely centered around identity. After an incident at a secret facility in the Louisiana bayou, Alec Holland runs into the swamp in flames, his consciousness imbued in the plant life of the swamp which takes a humanoid form, Swamp Thing. But while Swamp Thing thinks he’s just Alec Holland transformed and seeks to get his human body back, it turns out that he actually is not as Alec is indeed dead. If not really having a sense of identity wasn’t enough, Swamp Thing also has a complex and often painful relationship with Abby Arcane, and there are also the issues of his very nature that Swamp Thing also grapples with. Swamp Thing never really has a moment where he gets to be centered in himself and that makes his personal life just so tragic.

1) Bruce Wayne/Batman

While one could argue that there are characters here whose personal lives are actually worse than Batman’s, when it comes to the Dark Knight, his grim personal life is as much a hell of his own making as it is the result of tragedy. Yes, Bruce Wayne’s life is defined by the traumatic loss of his parents when he was a child. It is literally Batman’s origin story. But much of Batman’s suffering comes from his own choice. Batman tends to keep people ad arm’s length and seems to have this idea that he can’t both be happy and protect Gotham. In a very real sense, Batman has isolated himself, even to the point of sabotaging close personal relationships in furtherance of his mission. For Batman, the darkness doesn’t leave even when he takes off the cape and cowl.

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