Who do you think is DC's most tragic villain and why?

I was just reading the Rebirth run of Suicide Squad and came across Captian Boomerang’s back story and it saddened me. Born into poverty, his dad walked out on him and had he an abusive step father. He perfected his boomerang skills all to impress a father he hoped would one day return but never did. Robbed a store as a teen and his step father kicked him out of the house. It’s maybe not the most tragic but I would venture to say it is one of the realistic and relatable to people, which makes it sad.

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I suppose it is a difference in psychological opinion. I would hold that no one can “make you feel” anything. You have to buy into it. (I would think Harleen would have enough psychological background to be familiar with cognitive therapy, to acknowledge this.) Now, she may have easily bought into it. But, it is her own ambition and pride, which she is responsible for, that is the key. So the responsibility for her creation is still on her, IMO.

I suppose I also have to much respect for Harley’s intellect to cast her as a victim.

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I’d pick Deathstroke, based on his original continuity (Wolfman/Perez’s NTT run):

  • Slade’s oldest son Grant (Ravager) is killed fighting the Titans.
  • Slade is partially responsible for his youngest son Joseph (Jericho) being mute; Slade later kills Jericho after he is possessed by the Trigon-infected souls of Azarath.
  • Slade manipulates Tara Markov (Terra) into infiltrating the Titans, which ultimately leads to her death.
  • Slade’s youngest daughter Rose (Ravager) gouges out her own eye to prove her loyalty to him.

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@DeSade-acolyte I always forget that there are multiple Clayfaces. I definitely would not want to be this version.

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I say Two- Face. Abused to the point of developing another personality. Then had anger problems because said abuse. Then got scarred for doing his job of trying fil clean up the streets of Gotham. Enter into Two-Face. Literally can’t do anything without the flip of a coin. I like how in the comics the doctors at Arkham try to use other objects to get him off the coin dependency but he couldn’t even decide tho use the bathroom on his own. Crazy

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I feel for Mr. Freeze but they make him come off like a useless tech Thief who wants to turn everything cold in newer 52 line of comics. Heck the frozen lady wasn’t even his wife. Then go back to the wife thing. Like pick a back story for christ sakes.

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I would say Atrocitus. The whole reason he became a red lantern, because he was upset that Manhunters butchered his entire family, race, and sector. He carries too much pain, regret, and anger for not being able to save his family in time from guardians. Which he thought was responsible for their deaths. This pain fueled his rage, helped him birth the red lantern corps, and also made him an effective leader of the red lanterns. Its tragic, because beneath all that pain and regret of loss, there is a sliver of hope and good within him: he could have been a good hero. This alien would have been fine but his sole reason for being was ripped from him by those sworn to protect him and his family.
5Inversions3

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I would also say doomsday. His entire life story is a tragedy basically. He started out as a test tube baby that was tortured, thrown to a bunch of wild animals and killed over and over again in some scientists plot to create the perfect being. Each time he was killed, he retained those memories of the pain and torture he felt in his previous death so each time he came back he harbored that pain. He was filled with so much resentment and pain that he could no longer feel empathy or remorse it was bred out of him: only thing left was the raw instinct for survival and the adaptation. So he viewed most things as an instant threat to his survival. Hence why he always destroys things and is a monster, he was never loved as a child or cared for, only cared to an extent to be cloned and treated as a lab rat.

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I just read the Killing Joke last night. I felt bad for Joker but that sure as hell doesn’t excuse everything that he has done. Not even a little. Good story though

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Peekaboo became a metahuman during the process of trying to donate a kidney to her sick father. Her power disqualified her, and she only became a criminal when she stole a donor kidney for her dad. She went through hell in Iron Heights, and only escaped long enough to sit with her father while he died. Ironically, she originally wanted to be a hero like Flash, but her tragedies embittered her towards him.

Valerie Beaudry started life as a hideously deformed girl. Her sole friend was a penpal who could never see her face, An experiment gave her model-quality looks and a devastating sonic scream. Unfortunately, she also became enmeshed in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship with an industrialist who groomed her to steal for him…and despise Wonder Woman.

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For me Bleez ,she was a princess and she is so beautiful but reject every men so she got raped , wings torn apart and left to die then Red lantern found her. Her beauty (also her parents) is the cause of her misfortune she could have a happy life.

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I’d have to say Waylon Jones aka Killer Croc. Although SS (2016) was a train wreck, this quote from Amanda Waller about Killer Croc always stood out to me: “He looked like a monster. So they treated him like a monster. Then he became a monster.”

Waylon was born with a condition (reptilian atavism) that made him look the way he did, but people treated him differently for it. In the SS comics (I think the Rebirth series) it’s revealed Killer Croc’s past, where his mom died in childbirth and his dad abandoned him. His aunt takes him in, but she’s an alcoholic. Kids made fun of him, threw fish bait at him, and physically beat him. He becomes friends with a girl, who dies in an accident due to an alligator. However, he gets blamed and shot at and called a killer. In the Angry Bird arc of the Rebirth Harley Quinn, it’s revealed that he was in a Freak Show on Coney Island and was relentlessly bullied and treated horribly there. In another comic he tries to apply to jobs in suits and everything, but he’s rejected repeatedly. He became a monster because there’s nothing else society would let him be.

And one little edit: He’s honestly not that bad of a guy? He’s known for sheltering abandoned and neglected children and in Gotham Academy he helps to raise Olive. It’s just really tragic to me that society treated him so poorly that he felt like he had no other choice than to become the monster they made him out to be. But even then he still tries to help children who were abandoned and neglected like he was so they don’t have to go through the same things.

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You will never find a more pathetic hive of scum and villainy

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True but if you read the court of owl story line vol. 2 by Scott snyder. Techinacally Mr. Freeze never really was married to her. She was just a patient frozen because if thawed out she would die. Batman reveals this when Freeze was trying to administer the new owl serum.

First: Welcome!

Second: Sorry that you made your first post and someone’s already arguing with you, BUT

Third: That was a really dumb rewrite of Freeze’s origin, and if I recall correctly, the Rebirth timeline is mostly ignoring it.

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@ghostrecon9200 I tend to ignore a lot of the New 52 retcons. I definitely didn’t like Mr. Freeze’s.

I think that’s it’s two face because he loved his girlfriend and then she died In a fire and he got half his face burned off

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Killer Croc in my opinion. He was bullied growing up because he was weird looking and abused by his aunt. This all resulted into him going to a life of crime. There’s a lot of sad croc moments that come to mind so I recommend you give them a google.

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I agree @Nok! (cool pic of DD by the way. What’s it from?)

I also want to throw Batman into the ring with all his villains. Not Batman, Batman.

The Batman Who Laughs. Hang with me. We can all agree that Batman’s story is a tragedy. Now add having your worst enemy kill a bunch of people just to recreate your origin. THEN add killing your kids. Then torture your youngest son until he becomes a monster. While you’re at it have your best friend kill his wife and kid and then kill him. Now go kill an alternate version of yourself. Sure he’s doing terrible stuff but he cannot help it. He’s just along for the ride.

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Thanks i got the pic from here: ArtStation - Junaidi Lim
From junaidi ilim, and I agree its a cool pic.
Doomsday was always portrayed as this monster most known for superman death, he also made darkseid wince, and he beat both justice leagues. The 90s version and the 2000s team. Not too many people know his origin though. Its a tragic tale.
And I agree batman has great possibility to be a villain. The dark multiverse gave us like 8 or 9 of them. :+1:

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