History Woobie / ComicBooks

* Pied Piper, of TheFlash, especially in fandom. The poor guy's been put through the wringer. A gay supervillain turned [[strike:straight]] good, he became [=BFFs=] with Wally, worked with the homeless, and was generally a Robin-Hood-esque guy. And then he [[spoiler: was hypnotised into thinking he killed his parents. Then he was shot with Joker venom. Then he was put in Iron Heights, where the Warden had a special mad-on for him.]] Come to the Countdown storyline [[spoiler: he rejoins the Rogues with the Trickster to infiltrate them. The Rogues accidentally kill the Flash, Piper is branded as a criminal, he and Trickster are handcuffed together and chased all across the country by heroes, villains, and assassins. Trickster is killed. Piper has to drag his friend's body through the desert for days before bringing himself to cut Trickster's hand off.]] As bad as it gets? Of course not! Because then he [[spoiler:goes to Apokolips! Everything's worse on Apokolips!]] And then [[spoiler:he tries to bring down the Rogues, per Trickster's will, gets skewered through the shoulder and involved in the death of another (evil) speedster, then turns himself into the Police, so he's probably back in Iron [[strike:Hell]]Heights]] Seriously, somebody give this guy a hug.

** And it gets worse: She finally gets some happiness when she reunites with Hrimhari the Asgardian Wolf Prince. She becomes pregnant with his baby, becomes dangerously ill due to said pregnancy, and looses Hrimhari due to a deal made with Hela. Then, as she returns to X-Factor, she walks in on [[spoiler:Rictor and his boyfriend about to share some alone time. She ends up fighting with Shatterstar because she thinks Rictor's been brainwashed. Then, due to all of her mental trauma and extreme religious background, she ends up telling Rictor that he's the father of her child.]] Yeah, someone has it out for her.
** Rictor also counts here. First, at the age of six he witnessed his father's death at the hands of a mysterious mutant. Once his powers manifested, the Right kidnapped him and used his already unstable ability to create earthquakes to their advantage. Luckily he was saved and taken in by the X-Men, but he still felt miserable enough to attempt suicide (for the first time). He was forced to leave his first girlfriend, Rahne, behind when she decided to stay back on Genosha, which was not by her choice at all. He did try to rescue her, but his attempt failed. He later joined X-Force for a bit, although serving under the man who looked exactly like the mutant who had killed his father caused him a lot of angst. He was forced to watch the (albeit short lived) death of his best friend and crush Shatterstar in in X-Force v1 #59-61. Next, probably the most woobie-ish moment of his life was the loss of his mutant powers, leaving him severely depressed and suicidal for a good part of X-Factor v3. He got a taste of his powers through Quicksilver's crystals only to lose them, got back together with Rahne only for her to walk out on him.

* Kid Devil of the newer ComicBook/TeenTitans. While his back story is not as overtly tragic as many other characters like Raven or Cyborg, he does have the most pitiful back story. To sum everything up, Eddie has had to deal with not being taken seriously by his hero Blue Devil, parental abandonment, the death of his only parent figure indirectly caused by his hero, fired from every job he's had, becoming broke and homeless when he tried to become a super hero. What's more, Eddie wasn't lucky enough to have been adopted and trained by a billionaire, have had a demon/Greek god/alien for a parent, or found a piece of alien tech to give him powers. He had to make a deal with Satan to get super powers. Eddie got to keep his soul as long as he kept his trust in Blue Devil, other wise he'd lose it when he turned 20, but then he found out Blue Devil's hand in causing his aunt's death and ended up losing his trust. And after he joins the team, he still isn't taken seriously by anyone, but he still managed to keep and smile on his face and never gave up on the team. It also helps that he's a cute, geeky demon boy.
** And then [[spoiler: Loses his powers and gains inferiority complex due to being the only one without powers on the team, his possible love interest Ravager quits the team due to Wondergirl's mistrust of her and sacrifices himself to stop the Fatal Five's metahuman bomb from destroying San Fransisco.]]

** That's true, but also highlights a real problem at the heart of nearly all alleged Misaimed Fandoms: at the end of the day, they come not from the fandom making a "mistake", but from the writer confusing his own opinions with everyone else's opinions. Rorschach touches a cord with many people for various reasons (This Troper respects his courage and discipline, for example) with the exception of Alan Moore...who seriously believed that just because ''he'' disliked Rorscach ''everyone else'' would too. [[DeadpanSnarker We should have a trope called Misamed Author]].

* ''{{Empowered}}'' is the titular woobie of her series. In the first book, her boyfriend as much remarks that it's his desire to [[HurtComfortFic comfort]] her (as well as "Tap that @$$") that attracts him to her. And oh boy, does she ''ever'' need to be comforted; pretty much every day of her life is a blur of pain, failure, humiliation, and body-image issues, and that's just what's going on ''now''.

** Her successor, Cassandra Cain, if anything, surpasses her. TrainingFromHell (to the point of shooting her [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower until she learned to get out of the way]]) in isolation from human language, made all the more horrifying by starting from birth and only ending when she ran away at about eight, would be more than enough. The kicker is that has yet to fully grasp on an emotional level that her upbringing was ''that'' bad aside from the killing thing (which was what prompted her to bolt).

* Barbara Gordon's teddy bear is gonna have to give up the title. Babs herself was humiliated and crippled by the Joker just to [[MindRape torture her dad]]. Later she was sort-of reborn as Oracle, the [[HotScientist best hacker in the world]], but lots of her fans [[UnpleasableFanbase still aren't pleased]].

* Squee from JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac. You just ''really'' wants to give him a mug of hot chocolate and an everlasting hug.

* Charlie Brown, of ''{{Peanuts}}'' fame. His failures are innumerable, his struggles immeasurable, and his determination unflappable. Young fans would send Valentines Cards and Halloween candy to CBS when they saw that he never received either, in an attempt to demonstrate their love for him.
** This troper could not watch ''Peanuts'' because of the sheer pain it caused him when the poor bastard got screwed ''yet again'' at the end of every episode. Hate you, StatusQuoIsGod, hate.

* Kid Devil of the newer TeenTitans. While his back story is not as overtly tragic as many other characters like Raven or Cyborg, he does have the most pitiful back story. To sum everything up, Eddie has had to deal with not being taken seriously by his hero Blue Devil, parental abandonment, the death of his only parent figure indirectly caused by his hero, fired from every job he's had, becoming broke and homeless when he tried to become a super hero. What's more, Eddie wasn't lucky enough to have been adopted and trained by a billionaire, have had a demon/Greek god/alien for a parent, or found a piece of alien tech to give him powers. He had to make a deal with Satan to get super powers. Eddie got to keep his soul as long as he kept his trust in Blue Devil, other wise he'd lose it when he turned 20, but then he found out Blue Devil's hand in causing his aunt's death and ended up losing his trust. And after he joins the team, he still isn't taken seriously by anyone, but he still managed to keep and smile on his face and never gave up on the team. It also helps that he's a cute, geeky demon boy.

* Squee from JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac. This troper ''really'' wants to give him a mug of hot chocolate and an everlasting hug.

** Whenever ThisTroper sees Linus in that pumpkin patch, he wants to join him.

{{Woobie}}/{{Tintin}}

** And it gets worse: She finally gets some happiness when she reunites with Hrimhari the Asgardian Wolf Prince. She becomes pregnant with his baby, becomes dangerously ill due to said pregnancy, and looses Hrimhari due to a deal made with Hela. Then, as she returns to X-Factor, she walks in on [[spoiler:Rictor and his boyfriend pre-naked time. She ends up fighting with Shatterstar and, due to all of her mental trauma and extreme religious background, ends up telling Rictor that he's the father of her child.]] Yeah, someone has it out for her.

** And it gets worse: She finally gets some happiness when she reunites with Hrimhari the Asgardian Wolf Prince. She becomes pregnant with his baby, becomes dangerously ill due to said pregnancy, and looses Hrimhari due to a deal made with Hela. Then, as she returns to X-Factor, she walks in on [[spoiler:Rictor and Shatterstar pre-naked time. She ends up fighting with Shatterstar and, due to all of her mental trauma and extreme religious background, ends up telling Rictor that he's the father of her child.]] Yeah, someone has it out for her.

** Rictor also counts here. First, at the age of six he witnessed his father's death at the hands of a mysterious mutant. Then, once his powers manifested, the Right kidnapped him and used his already unstable ability to create earthquakes to their advantage. Luckily he was saved and taken in by the X-Men. He was forced to leave his first girlfriend, Rahne, behind when she decided to stay back on Genosha, which was not really her choice at all. He did try to rescue her, but his attempt failed. He later joined X-Force for a bit, although serving under the man who looked exactly like the mutant who had killed his father caused him a lot of angst. He was forced to watch the (albeit short lived) death of his best friend and crush Shatterstar in Star's atrocious origin story in X-Force v1 #59-61. Next, probably the most woobie-ish moment of his life was the loss of his mutant powers, leaving him severely depressed and suicidal for a good part of X-Factor v3. He got a taste of his powers through Quicksilver's crystals only to lose them, got back together with Rahne only for her to walk out on him.
*** Things seemed to be looking up for him after Shatterstar returned and they tried having a proper relationship, but with Star's interest in AnythingThatMoves and Rahne telling him that he's the father of her baby when he's not, promise for some delayed angst in Ric's future.

** Rictor also counts here. His whole childhood, loosing his powers, Rahne leaving. Things seem to be getting better for him. To quote a fan, "Wait, Shatterstar? Wait, he's not being mind-controlled anymore? Wait they're kissing? Is this suddenly some alternate reality where not every aspect of Rictor's life sucks beyond measure?"
--> Depending on how #208 goes, he could potentially be heading back into Woobie territory. Current boyfriend vs pregnant ex-girlfriend, with Rictor caught in the middle?

** And it gets worse: She finally gets some happiness when she reunites with Hrimhari the Asgardian Wolf Prince. She becomes pregnant with his baby, becomes dangerously ill due to said pregnancy, and looses Hrimhari due to a deal made with Hela. Then, as she returns to X-Factor, she walks in on [[spoiler:Rictor and Shatterstar either pre- or post- naked time. She ends up fighting with Shatterstar and, due to all of her mental trauma, ends up telling Rictor that he's the father of her child.]] Yeah, someone has it out for her.

* Pied Piper, of TheFlash, especially in fandom. The poor guy's been put through the wringer. A gay supervillain turned [[strike:straight]] good, he became [=BFFs=] with Wally, worked with the homeless, and was generally a Robin-Hood-esque guy. And then he [[spoiler: was hypnotised into thinking he killed his parents. Then he was shot with Joker venom. Then he was put in Iron Heights, where the Warden had a special mad-on for him.]] Come to the Countdown storyline [[spoiler: he rejoins the Rogues because the two people he relied on most have disappeared into another dimension. The Rogues accidentally kill the Flash, Piper is branded as a criminal, he and Trickster are handcuffed together and chased all across the country by heroes, villains, and assassins. Trickster is killed. Piper has to drag his friend's body through the desert for days before bringing himself to cut Trickster's hand off.]] As bad as it gets? Of course not! Because then he [[spoiler:goes to Apokolips! Everything's worse on Apokolips!]] And then [[spoiler:he tries to bring down the Rogues, per Trickster's will, gets skewered through the shoulder and involved in the death of another (evil) speedster, then turns himself into the Police, so he's probably back in Iron [[strike:Hell]]Heights]] Seriously, somebody give this guy a hug.

* ''{{Empowered}}'' is the titular woobie of her series. In the first book, her boyfriend as much remarks that it's his desire to [[HurtComfortFic comfort]] her (as well as "Tap that @$$") that attracts him to her. And oh, boy, does she ''ever'' need to be comforted; pretty much every day of her life is a blur of pain, failure, humiliation, and body-image issues, and that's just what's going on ''now''.

* In her earlier appearances, Rogue was one. Abandoned by her parents, she put her first love into a coma when she was maybe 13 when her powers activated, and then she was more-or-less kidnapped by a emotionally-manipulative woman who preyed on her desire for love to con her into joining a team of supervillains. [[ItGotWorse She picked a fight with Ms. Marvel only to end up with split-personality syndrome and a raft of [[ExpansionPackPowers new powers]]. [[ItGotWorse Then, Mastermind nudges her into defecting to Xavier as a means of revenge against Mystique]]. The X-Men are [[{{Understatement}} less than enthused]] by her showing up on their doorstep and [[CurbStompBattle gently express their displeasure]] before Xavier gets them to calm down. She only finally gains the trust of the X-Men by [[BodyHorror risking her life by taking on a warped-and-frozen steel form so that Colossus can be healed]]. [[ItGotWorse Then, after the X-Men return from Japan, she becomes completely unhinged and Ms. Marvel takes over to rescue an old boyfriend (of Ms. Marvel's, that is). And she's framed for a murder she didn't commit.]] There are numerous panels in her earliest appearances which show Rogue broken down in tears -- really, you just wanna give her a big hug (as long as she's covered up, of course). ChrisClaremont seemed to have set Rogue up as the team woobie at least until after her and Wolverine's first visit to Genosha, when she starts to mature a bit in reaction to the horrific experience there.

* GreenLantern can easily become this for readers of ''AllStarBatmanAndRobin''. He's [[OnlySaneMan one of the few genuinely heroic members of the otherwise psychopathic cast]], and he gets constantly denigrated by Batman and beaten up for no real reason.

** And it gets worse: She finally gets some happiness when she reunites with Hrimhari the Asgardian Wolf Prince. She becomes pregnant with his baby, becomes dangerously ill due to said pregnancy, and looses Hrimhari due to a deal made with Hela. Then, as she returns to X-Factor, she walks in on [spoiler:Rictor and Shatterstar either pre- or post- naked time. She ends up fighting with Shatterstar and, due to all of her mental trauma, ends up telling Rictor that he's the father of her child.] Yeah, someone has it out for her.

* Rahne Sinclair, Wolfsbane of the ''NewMutants''. Terminally shy, raised by the only parent she knew to believe that her powers were sinful (and who let her believe she was an orphan who had caused her mother's death during her birth) but clearly enjoys experiencing her powers. Has not one, but two teammates save her life by substituting their own. And that doesn't even get into the arc where she was trapped in her hated werewolf form by the Genoshans, knowing that if she shifts back to human, she'll lose all intelligence. Then she must kill some anonymous terrorist (never being able to tell anyone), gets imprinted on a man who loves another, loses her adoptive mother, is shot and de-powered, mugged, re-powered while trying to re-start her life, loses her job as a teacher at Xavier's, falls out with her best friend an only person who loves her, is humiliated by Monet, sleeps with a suicidal Rictor, shanghaied into a superteam of razor-wielding psychopaths (losing the respect of Rictor, who assumes she left him), is drugged, brainwashed, orphaned by her own hand and not involved in the New Mutants reunion book. Puir gel...