The Fantastic Four
[ranking: 13]
While the team has gone through multiple permutations throughout their almost 60 year existence, their origin still persists as one of the most disturbing back-stories in comic book history. When Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm are testing an experimental space ship - because they care about their work that much - they're bombarded with cosmic rays before crashing back into earth. From there, their bodies transform in gruesome ways that parallel their own fears and worst traits.
For instance, Sue feels invisible as a woman in the '60s science industry who is married to one of the leaders of the field, so she actually becomes invisible. It's pure tragedy wrapped in the trappings of a comic book.
Doctor Strange
[ranking: 12]
Before he became the sorcerer supreme, he was Dr. Stephen Strange, the best doctor in his field who also happened to be an egotistical jerk. One night he found himself in a freak car accident that shattered the bones in his hand and took away the one thing that made him a worthwhile human being. After the accident he was unable to perform the most basic of tasks and essentially became a waste of space until he found himself in the Himalayas.
After studying under the Ancient One, he finally learns to let go of the pain that chased him across the Atlantic ocean.
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Doctor Manhattan
[ranking: 7]
Born Dr. Jonathan Osterman, or rather Jonathan Osterman because no one is born a doctor, Dr. Manhattan lived a fairly normal life until things became a real drag after being accidentally locked in an intrinsic field experiment test chamber in 1959 and blasted with radiation. That may seem fairly normal for a comic book, but the fact remains his colleagues essentially allowed him to vaporize rather than risk their lives to save his.
It could be noted that this was the first moment that separated Manhattan from the rest of humanity. His sadness may be slow burn, but it's not any less sad.
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Batman
[ranking: 4]
As a child, losing your parents is one of the worst things imaginable, so watching it happen in front of you could completely destroy your fragile psyche. While walking through crime alley after a movie, Bruce Wayne and his parents were robbed gunpoint by a common street thug. Rather than give into the criminal's demands, Bruce's father attempted to fight the thief off, but his attempt was futile and Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered before Bruce??s eyes.
Left in the care of his butler, Alfred, Bruce grows up doing nothing but obsessing over that night and training to destroy the crime underworld that took his family away.
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Bo
[ranking: 11]
At a young age, Bo lost both his parents - his father, a Navy officer, died in action, while his mother died of illness shortly after. With no other adults around, Bo had to take care of himself and his little sister Tina. Unfortunately, the aspiring street magician could barely make enough money to support themselves, so he eventually ends up working for the neighborhood drug dealer and diving deep into the criminal world.
Swamp Thing
[ranking: 2]
Swamp Thing's origin has everything you need to get truly bummed out while reading a comic: science, explosions, and infidelity. One might say it's Shakespearean. Scientist Alex Olsen gets blown up in a lab explosion because his co-worker is trying to get him out of the way so he can marry Olsen's wife, Linda, and then kill her.
But that plan fails when Olsen is physically altered by the chemicals and bonds with the swamp to become a gruesome monster. After saving Linda from her fate, she rebuffs him for his hideous features, and he returns to the swamp.
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