Top 10 Dark Truths About Your Favorite Superheroes

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Dark Truths About Your Favorite Superheroes. For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the secret disturbing facts about beloved comic book characters that you probably haven’t heard about. Who’s your favorite Green Lantern? Let us know below!

#10: Doc Ock at The Wheel

Superior Spider-Man
In the lead up to the milestone 700th “Amazing Spider-Man” comic, fans had a feeling something big would go down. And, boy, did it. Prior to this major issue, Doctor Otto Octavius had switched bodies with Spider-Man. This process left Parker stuck in a rapidly deteriorating body. While many expected the “Freaky Friday” homage to get sorted out in 700, fans instead witnessed the harrowing sight of Peter passing away in Doc Ock’s broken body. This left Octavius in charge of Spider-Man. It was surprising to see writers commit to a storyline where a former villain fully embraced heroism in the completely wrong body. While everything returned to normal later, knowing Peter’s body was almost permanently stolen from him is still haunting.

#9: Tony’s Armor Becomes Obsessed With Him

Iron Man
Tony Stark saw how dangerous it could be if one of his own creations turned on him in 2015’s “Age of Ultron”. But the billionaire had a much weirder encounter with his armor over a decade earlier. Thanks to a lightning strike and a Y2K bug, one of his sets of armor becomes sentient. Not only does the suit confess its love for Tony, but it also has no problem killing criminals to protect its creator. The human avenger’s attempt to stop the mechanical threat leads to Stark being tormented for a week. When Tony has a heart attack, the sentient suit gives up its own heart to save the human. This creepy and violent armor makes Ultron look like a friendly robot in comparison.

#8: Fans Voted to Get Rid of Him

Jason Todd’s Robin
While some fans didn’t mind the rough-around-the-edges Jason Todd as Robin, others couldn’t stand the kid. DC Comics decided to let readers choose how long this sidekick would continue fighting in “A Death in the Family” storyline. After the Joker trapped Jason in a building about to blow, the fans were asked to call in to vote on whether Robin lived or died. Although it was extremely close, a little over 70 more calls came in to condemn the sidekick to an explosive demise. Rumors that DC comics or a random caller rigged the votes have never been proven. However, the dark fact that a lot of readers called in to ensure that the young Jason didn’t make it is pretty shocking to consider today.

#7: Slaying His Own Son

Wolverine
Logan doesn’t always have the best relationships with his kids. However, his relationship with his son Daken is notable for getting extremely grim. This child of Wolverine joined a league of villains and tried to slay his father by letting him drown. Once Logan managed to get out of a watery death trap, he faced his son in a climactic battle. Since both had strong healing factors and metal claws, the battle was extremely close and very brutal. But Wolverine pushes himself and ends up shoving Daken’s face into a puddle until the villain stops breathing. Although Logan accepts that he didn’t have a choice, slaying Daken heavily weighed on him. The battle left him shaken and convinced that he failed as a parent.

#6: Fridged Fate

Kyle Rayner’s Green Lantern
Sometimes, it just takes a single incident to bring national attention to a harmful trend. In 1994, Kyle Rayner flew away from his love interest Alexandra and into a battle. Upon returning to the apartment, he opened up his fridge and discovered that his partner had been killed by a villain. Five years after this gruesome twist, writers like Gail Simone created a list detailing the terrible things that occurred to women in comics just to make a male hero’s story more complicated. Appearing on the Women In Refrigerators website, this extensive series of examples sparked discussion amongst industry professionals and even news coverage. The eye-opening website made fans more aware of when deaths like Alexandra’s occurred solely to advance a hero’s story.

#5: Sullying The Mantle

William Burnside’s Captain America
Captain America is usually seen as a beacon of justice and stability. However, this wasn’t the case when Willian Burnside took up the mantle. While Rogers was on ice, Burnside took an imperfect super soldier serum, got plastic surgery to look like the original and wielded the shield. But the injection that gave him powers also warped his mind. Burnside started attacking innocent people and minorities because he thought they were communists. Eventually, the government captured him to stop the violence. Burnside would later fight the original hero while wearing Steve’s face. To make matters even worse, this replacement Cap was eventually brainwashed into becoming a white supremacist villain. We don’t think anyone in the Marvel universe wants the public to remember this Cap.

#4: Mistreating His Wife

Hank Pym
There are many realities where Hank Pym is a noble and reliable hero. But there’s one particular world where his reputation was tarnished in an instant. In one comic, Hank attacked an enemy in a dishonorable way while wearing the yellowjacket suit. Shortly after his fellow heroes call him out, he spends days obsessively creating a robot that was created to attack the Avengers. Hank’s wife Janet finds the metallic menace and gets immediately attacked. After she gets free and tries to convince her husband not to use the machine, he strikes her. This horrific moment is just as tough to look at today as when it premiered. It was hard for fans to look at Hank the same way after this incident.

#3: A Bizarre & Problematic Birth

Carol Danvers
Carol’s mysterious pregnancy moved so fast that she became ready to give birth in just three days. After her boy’s born, he matures into an adult within a single day. Eventually, he explains that his father Immortus met Carol in an alternate realm known as Limbo. Her mind was manipulated by machines in that time-bending realm until she fell in love with the villain. After Carol became pregnant, she gave birth to the boy who would become Immortus in the future. This extremely disturbing storyline was made worse by the fact that her fellow Avengers were okay with her leaving with the villain to live out her life. The plotline was extremely hated for putting Carol through so many horrible events without support.

#2: The Truth Behind Black Kryptonians

Superman
Shortly after 100,000 Kryptonians arrived on Earth in a 21st century storyline, some readers noticed a lack of diversity among the population. These questions eventually brought attention to a map of the planet that had been published in comics back in 1971. According to the image, Krypton had a location named Vathlo Island that was primarily occupied by Black Kryptonians. The existence of this location’s presence still didn’t quite explain why Black Kryptonians didn’t seem to be with the rest of the population. Additionally, people wondered if the residents of Vathlo Island were there by choice or because they were forced to be. Fortunately, most modern stories have stepped away from the potentially problematic location. Kryptonians now tend to be diverse across the board.

#1: Getting Mistreated By a Friend

Peter Parker
Marvel teamed up with the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse to raise awareness for a serious issue. In one comic, a young person named Tony gets into an uncomfortable situation with his babysitter. When Spider-Man discovers this situation, he tells his own story. Peter reveals he was mistreated by an older person when he was younger. The hero’s honesty helped Tony to come to terms with what happened and tell his parents. During the comic, Spider-Man showed that opening up can help others speak their own truth. The story also lets younger readers know who they should go to if they were ever made to feel unsafe.