History WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds / Comicbooks

* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Scarecrow]], anyone? Victim of a PrankDate, bullying throughout his school years, absentee parents, and an abusive grandmother with trained crows to attack him for the slightest mistake, no wonder the poor kid became obsessed with fear. FromBadToWorse in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''. Due to being exposed to too much of his own fear gas, he can't even feel fear. Or nearly any other emotion anymore, [[spoiler:except when facing Batman]]. Yeah, it means the Black Lanterns don't consider him a priority target and he brought it upon himself, but it's still a raw deal.

* A downplayed example is the DC super-villain Doomsday; created by a twisted alien scientist who wanted to create the UltimateLifeform, his methods for doing so were utterly barbaric. Doomsday was engineered in a lab to be equipped with genetic memory... and then dumped on prehistoric Krypton, a lethal DeathWorld. Afterwards, the scientist retrieved the remnants and cloned a fresh incarnation of Doomsday from the corpse before dropping him back into the wilderness. Countless horrific, painful deaths later, by a process of [[LamarckWasRight Lamarckian evolution]], Doomsday has developed into the ultimate survivor... but has also been driven completely ''insane'', so consumed with traumatic memories of ''thousands'' of deaths that what's left is a creature locked in a fear-fueled UnstoppableRage, blindly lashing out at everything that lives because it's convinced that it can only be safe when all other life is '''dead'''.

* At times, it's implied that [[NoodleIncident something]] happened that made the Joker [[MonsterClown how]] [[AxCrazy he is.]] As he puts it, all it took was "one bad day." [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke A really bad day.]]

* This is basically the Hulk from the beginning; "Hulk didn't hate! Wanted to live in peace -- but world wouldn't let me--! So now -- Hulk fights back!!" is from [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 the 60s']] (issue 108). Also remember that Hulk is essentially the living, breathing embodiment of Dr. Banner's enduring trauma, and that every other comic is Hulk and/or Banner being pushed around and toyed with until he finally [[CurbStompBattle fights back]].
** Issue 121 of ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 introduces the Glob, a TragicMonster formed from the corpse of a man who'd only wanted to see the woman he loved one last time before she died. The poor thing fails, dies, then dies again, and is resurrected, only to be controlled by the villains. The monster also never even meant any harm (though it does attack sometimes), it simply mistakes other people for its lost loved one and wants to reunite with them. Or destroy everyone for getting between them. Or mistakes people for its tormentors and seeks revenge, even though everyone it had known in life is actually long dead. Basically, a very sad life and an even sadder after-life.

* There is a ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' story where the villain is a young woman who was {{rape|IsASpecialKindOfEvil}}d by a taxi driver and became a misandristic female SerialKiller who hunted down taxi drivers and brutally killed them. Frank goes undercover as a taxi driver and tracks her down, and opts to show the girl some sympathy and try to talk her out of what she's doing. But she is driven insane in her desire to avenge the crime committed against her and Frank has to kill her in self-defence. Later, he monologues that if she were a brutal female serial killer who went after ''rapists'', [[AntiHero he would have gladly helped her out.]]
* Frank Castle in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse''. In a similar case to [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/TheBoys Butcher]]]] above.

** He picks up more experience than he'd like later on: during the {{Creator/Wildstorm}} crossover ''Armageddon'', he gets trapped in the Wildstorm Universe in such a way that he cannot leave and will eventually blow up, killing everyone in the Wildstorm universe. He does everything he can to prevent this from happening, but [[spoiler:while he does eventually get cured and sent home, Nicola blows up the universe instead, but also recreates it in its post ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' incarnation]].

* Evil Ernie from ''Creator/ChaosComics'' was emotionally and physically abused by both his parents. As if that wasn't enough, he had telepathic powers that allowed him to find out that his neighbors knew about his abuse for years, but didn't do anything out of fear of retaliation because his wealthy parents controlled the business that was the number one employer in town. It was this that finally pushed Ernie over the edge, turning him into a serial killer and later, thanks to the original not-so-heroic [[ComicBook/LadyDeath Lady Death]], into the mass-murdering spearhead of a [[ZombieApocalypse zombie apocalypse that would ultimately wipe out the United States and an apocalyptic global nuclear war.]]

* The Joker from ''{{ComicBook/Flashpoint}}'' is even more of an example, [[spoiler: as [[GenderFlip she]] is none other than ''Martha Wayne'' aka our usual Batman's mother, who [[DespairEventHorizon completely]] [[GomadFromTheRevelation lost it]] when a young Bruce was murdered. ([[DeathByOriginStory Instead of her and Dr. Thomas Wayne]], like we all know.)]] [[spoiler: Thomas himself may count, as ''he'' is the one who goes Batman in this universe and for exactly the same reason.]]

* The ComicBook/ScarletWitch undergoes a fluctuating life where the good (a family with Comicbook/TheAvengers, marriage to her One True Wuv, having her longed-for kids) is outweighed by the bad (her father is a supervillain, her husband gets mindwiped and divorces her, her kids aren't real), along with a number of possessions, kidnappings, and multiple forced amnesia inflicted by her most trusted friends. Then she rewrites the universe. Then she ''does it AGAIN.''

* A Marvel What If? shows us an alternate universe where [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] fires satellite lasers at the [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] during ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', [[NiceJobBreakingItHero killing every superhero present except for the Hulk]]. The Skrulls see the Hulk as their prophet and launch [[ComicBook/SecretInvasion their attack]] early, killing most of the other heroes and conquer most of the planet within two months. The Hulk is recruited into the resistance, makes great progress, and becomes a symbol of hope and inspiration. Then the Skrulls hit the heroes with a bioweapon, killing them all -- once again, except the Hulk. The Hulk, now utterly bitter and filled with nothing but rage, summons the ComicBook/SilverSurfer to have him call ComicBook/{{Galactus}} to destroy the earth and the whole Skrull population with it. Once this is done, the Hulk becomes the new Herald of Galactus, the World Breaker, and goes on to destroy countless other worlds by feeding them to his new master.

* Long time on again/off again X-Men antagonist/ally ComicBook/{{Magneto}} fits this trope, having suffered through the discrimination of World War II as a boy only to face it again as an adult for being a mutant, though he's better known for being a WellIntentionedExtremist.
* There is a ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' story where the villain is a young woman who was [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] by a taxi driver and became a misandristic female SerialKiller who hunted down taxi drivers and brutally killed them. Frank goes undercover as a taxi driver and tracks her down, and opts to show the girl some sympathy and try to talk her out of what she's doing. But she is driven insane in her desire to avenge the crime committed against her and Frank has to kill her in self-defence. Later, he monologues that if she were a brutal female serial killer who went after ''rapists'', [[AntiHero he would have gladly helped her out.]]

* This is basically the Hulk from the beggining; "Hulk didn't hate! Wanted to live in peace -- but world wouldn't let me--! So now -- Hulk fights back!!" is from [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 the 60s']] (issue 108). Also remember that Hulk is essentially the living, breathing embodiment of Dr. Banner's enduring trauma, and that every other comic is Hulk and/or Banner being pushed around and toyed with until he finally [[CurbStompBattle fights back]].

** Issue 121 of ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 introduces the Glob, a TragicMonster formed from the corpse of a man who’d only wanted to see the woman he loved one last time before she died. The poor thing fails, dies, then dies again, and is resurrected, only to be controlled by the villains. The monster also never even meant any harm (though it does attack sometimes), it simply mistakes other people for its lost loved one and wants to reunite with them. Or destroy everyone for getting between them. Or mistakes people for its tormentors and seeks revenge, even though everyone it had known in life is actually long dead. Basically, a very sad life and an even sadder after--life.

** Issue 121 of ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 introduces the Glob, a TragicMonster formed from the corpse of a man who’d only wanted to see the woman he loved one last time before she died. The poor thing fails, dies, then dies again, and is resurrected, only to be controlled by the villains. The monster also never even meant any harm (though it does attack sometimes), it simply mistakes other people for its lost loved one and wants to reunite with them. Or destroy everyone for getting between them. Or mistakes people for its tormentors and seeks revenge, even though everyone it had known in life is actually long dead. Basically, a very sad life and an even sadder after-life.

** Issue 121 of ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 introduces the Glob, a TragicMonster formed from the corpse of a man who’d only wanted to see the woman he loved one last time before she died. The poor thing fails, dies, then dies again, and is resurrected, only to be controlled by the villains. The monster also never even meant any harm (though it does attack sometimes), it simply mistakes other people for its lost loved one and wants to reunite with them. Or destroy everyone for getting between them. Or mistakes people for its tormentors and seeks revenge, even though everyone it had known in life is actually long dead.

** Issue 121 of ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 introduces the Glob, a TragicMonster formed from the corpse of a man who’d only wanted to see the woman he loved one last time before she died. The poor thing fails, dies, then dies again, and is resurrected, only to be controlled by the villains. The monster also never even meant any harm (though it does attack sometimes), it simply mistakes other people for its lost loved one and wants to destroy everyone for getting between them. Or it mistakes people for its former tormentors and wants revenge, even though everyone it had known in life is actually long dead.

* Frank Castle in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse''. In a similar case to [[ComicBook/TheBoys Butcher]] above.

* Frank Castle in ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse. In a similar case to [[ComicBook/TheBoys Butcher]] above.

* Frank Castle in ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse. In a similar case to [[ComicBook/TheBoys Butcher]] above.

* This is basically the Hulk from the beggining; "Hulk didn't hate! Wanted to live in peace -- but world wouldn't let me--! So now -- Hulk fights back!!" is from [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 the 60s' comic]], issue 108. Also remember that Hulk is essentially the living, breathing embodiment of Dr. Banner's enduring trauma, and that every other comic is Hulk and/or Banner being pushed around and toyed with until he finally [[CurbStompBattle fights back]].
** Issue 121 of ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 introduces the Glob, a TragicMonster formed from the corpse of a man who’d only wanted to see the woman he loved one last time before she died. The poor thing fails, dies, then dies again, and is resurrected, only to be controlled by the villains. The monster also never even meant any harm (though it does attack sometimes), it simply mistakes other people for its lost loved one and wants to reunite with them.

* This is basically the Hulk from the beggining; "Hulk didn't hate! Wanted to live in peace -- but world wouldn't let me--! So now -- Hulk fights back!!" is from [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968 the 60s' comic]], issue 108. Also remember that this is essentially the living embodiment of Dr. Banner's traumatic childhood, and that every other comic book issue is Hulk and/or Banner being pushed around and toyed with until he finally [[CurbStompBattle fights back]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Hypnota was assigned female at birth, does not identify as female and has cut everyone but their twin sister out of their life as, given they're living in the 1940s, their sister is the only person they're willing to trust. Then their sister shoots them in the head and they wake up with mild telepathic powers in a hospital where their living as a man as an adult has been ruined and their brain damage has altered their personality. Their subsequent paranoia is fairly understandable, and their decision to help the Saturnians invade earth makes since since they've decided humanity is not worth keeping around.

* A Marvel What If? shows us an alternate universe where [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] fires satellite lasers at the [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] during ComicBook/WorldWarHulk, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero killing every superhero present except for the Hulk]]. The Skrulls see the Hulk as their prophet and launch [[ComicBook/SecretInvasion their attack]] early, killing most of the other heroes and conquer most of the planet within two months. The Hulk is recruited into the resistance, makes great progress, and becomes a symbol of hope and inspiration. Then the Skrulls hit the heroes with a bioweapon, killing them all -- once again, except the Hulk. The Hulk, now utterly bitter and filled with nothing but rage, summons the ComicBook/SilverSurfer to have him call ComicBook/{{Galactus}} to destroy the earth and the whole Skrull population with it. Once this is done, the Hulk becomes the new Herald of Galactus, the World Breaker, and goes on to destroy countless other worlds by feeding them to his new master.

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' has recently gone into this territory. Butcher's response after finally having revenge on the man/superhero who raped and indirectly killed his wife [[spoiler: who did not tell him about the rape, leading him only to find out several months later when the fetus grew exponentially and lethally clawed its way out of her womb]]: kill every superhero in the world.

* Long time on again/off again X-Men antagonist/ally ComicBook/{{Magneto}} fits this trope, having suffered through the discrimination of World War II as a boy only to face it again as an adult for being a mutant, though he's better known for being a WellIntentionedExtremist.
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsMadelynePryor Madelyne Pryor]] discovered that she was a clone of Jean Grey and was abandoned by her husband, Scott Summers (who fell in love with her ''because'' of her obvious similarity to Jean, though neither knew she was a clone at the time, assuming it to just be mere {{co|ntrivedCoincidence}}incidence that they looked exactly alike), when he reunited with Jean, after Jean [[UnexplainedRecovery returned]] from the dead. Then Maddie's infant son was kidnapped and she was left for dead. She has a daydream where she's ripped apart to build the woman her husband actually wants and then is offered revenge. Thinking that it's just a dream, she accepts, which, naturally, leaves her possessed by a demon and willing to sacrifice her baby (who she finally has the power to find) to allow the demons of Limbo to take over the Earth. Then she died (and came back). Her life hasn't really improved since then.
* The ComicBook/ScarletWitch undergoes a fluctuating life where the good (a family with Comicbook/TheAvengers, marriage to her One True Wuv, having her longed-for kids) is outweighed by the bad (her father is a supervillain, her husband gets mindwiped and divorces her, her kids aren't real), along with a number of possessions, kidnappings, and multiple forced amnesia inflicted by her most trusted friends. Then she rewrites the universe. Then she ''does it AGAIN.''

* "What if the Avengers had become the pawns of Korvac?" (''ComicBook/WhatIf'' v1 #32) ends with a giant Korvac sitting on Earth in a state of bottomless despair, holding the Ultimate Nullifier. He thinks of everything that ever was, is, and will be, and presses the button.
* ComicBook/TheJoker in the ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'' storyline. He decided that any universe where not only his tragic past ([[MultipleChoicePast whatever that was]]) could happen, but a guy like the one he became could be left alive and allowed to run rampant...well, a universe like that didn't deserve to exist.

* The Joker from ''{{ComicBook/Flashpoint}}'' is even more of an example, [[spoiler: as [[GenderFlip she]] is none other than ''Martha Wayne'' aka our usual Batman's mother, who [[DespairEventHorizon completely]] [[GomadFromTheRevelation lost it]] when a young Bruce was murdered. ([[DeathByOriginStory Instead of her and Dr. Thomas Wayne]], like we all know.)]] [[spoiler: Thomas himself may count, as ''he'' is the one who goes Batman in this universe and for exactly the same reason.]]
* In the last story arc in ''ComicBook/CaptainAtom'', Nathaniel Adam creates his own universe where he gets to control everything and create an ideal life for himself, one in which he never became Captain Atom. Being human, he then governs that universe so badly that he loses control of it to his own dark side, who forces him to relive his childhood in which his father left his fall-down drunk of a mother who proceeded to kill herself and his older sister, [[PromotionToParent who had raised him]]. Finally, Cap is forced to destroy his own universe to stop his evil side. An unusual example in several respects: first, Cap is a hero; second, he succeeds in destroying his universe; and third, it had, by that point, become so monstrously horrible that [[ShootTheDog destroying it was the right thing to do]].
** He picks up more experience than he'd like later on: during the {{Creator/Wildstorm}} crossover ''Armageddon'', he gets trapped in the Wildstorm Universe in such a way that he cannot leave and will eventually blow up, killing everyone in the Wildstorm universe. He does everything he can to prevent this from happening, but [[spoiler:while he does eventually get cured and sent home, Nicola blows up the universe instead, but also recreates it in its post ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' incarnation]].
** Furthermore, after being badly injured and put in a coma following the Infinite Crisis events, Captain Atom, making the best out of the hard learned lessons of the past months, personally captures, enslaves, and trains (by fighting to death in his personal arena) several alternate versions of people he knew, for the expressed purpose of conquering and laying waste to the entire Multiverse, in revenge for his past Woobie life. [[FanonDiscontinuity Or not.]]
** In an alternate future timeline explored by Waverider in ''ComicBook/Armageddon2001'', Captain Atom loses his entire family to a drive-by shooting, he can't get the police to investigate the murders due to honoring the rights of the criminals responsible, and even worse, the bodies of the victims are unceremoniously dumped in a landfill. Understandably pissed, Captain Atom not only takes out his anger by killing the criminals responsible for the deaths, he also destroys the city responsible for letting the crime happen and doing nothing about it. Waverider thinks that this might bewhat turns Captain Atom into Monarch, only to later find out [[spoiler:that it was Hank Hall of Hawk and Dove that turns into Monarch]].

* Caliginous in ''ComicBook/HeroSquared'' has decided that [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery life is nothing but pain, misery,]] cruelty, and death, and should be ended in preferably the most all-encompassing fashion possible. Her arch-nemesis, [[TheCape Captain Valor]], just sees her as an evil megalomaniac, but his alternative self, Milo, manages to recognize that, beneath it all, she's a broken, lonely, psychologically tormented, and suffering woman.
* A Marvel What If? shows us an alternate universe where [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] fires satellite lasers at the [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] during ComicBook/WorldWarHulk, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero killing every superhero present except for the Hulk]]. The Skrulls see the Hulk as their prophet and launch [[ComicBook/SecretInvasion their attack]] early, killing most of the other heroes and conquer most of the planet within two months. The Hulk is recruited into the resistance, makes great progress, and becomes a symbol of hope and inspiration. Then the Skrulls hit the heroes with a bioweapon, killing them all-- once again, except the Hulk. The Hulk, now utterly bitter and filled with nothing but rage, summons the ComicBook/SilverSurfer to have him call ComicBook/{{Galactus}} to destroy the earth and the whole Skrull population with it. Once this is done, the Hulk becomes the new Herald of Galactus, the World Breaker, and goes on to destroy countless other worlds by feeding them to his new master.
* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Scarecrow]], anyone? Victim of a PrankDate, bullying throughout his school years, absentee parents, and an abusive grandmother with trained crows to attack him for the slightest mistake, no wonder the poor kid became obsessed with fear. FromBadToWorse in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''. Due to being exposed to too much of his own fear gas, he can't even feel fear. Or nearly any other emotion anymore, [[spoiler:except when facing Batman]]. Yeah, it means the Black Lanterns don't consider him a priority target and he brought it upon himself, but it's still a raw deal.
%%* [[spoiler:Mario]] in ''ComicBook/UniversalWarOne''.
* Joey Finkleberry, in ''Freak Force'', is a boy who wakes up with super-strength and invulnerability. Once picked upon, [[spoiler:he proceeds to murder his schoolmates and his abusive father.]] He is all but unstoppable, [[spoiler:but gets talked down by Savage Dragon on the brink of total nihilism]].
* Shrinking Violet, the insecure wallflower of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes during the period that she was under the influence of the Emerald Eye in the Postboot continuity.
* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' has recently gone into this territory. Butcher's response after finally having revenge on the man/superhero who raped and indirectly killed his wife [[spoiler: who did not tell him about the rape, leading him only to find out several months later when the fetus grew exponentially and lethally clawed its way out of her womb]]: kill every superhero in the world.
** [[spoiler:Homelander]] turns out to be one. He only became a monster because of a horrific gaslighting campaign [[spoiler:courtesy of his own clone Black Noir]] that convinced him he was already a hopelessly insane baby-eating rapist-murderer. Seeing photos of himself committing heinous crimes that he couldn't remember made him snap. Butcher remarks that [[spoiler:Homelander]] became a psychopath by accident.
* ComicBook/XForce once faced a villain team called the Inner Circle, two-thirds of which were this trope. For starters, they all have [[PowerIncontinence uncontrollable powers]] related to death, which is bound to cause some angst. Individually, Eli Bard was a loser through his whole life, then was vampirized by Selene and forced to be her slave for the next two thousand years; Wither lost many of his friends (including the girl he liked) to [[TheFundamentalist crazy religious fundamentalists]] and later his surviving friends abandoned him for being "dangerous" (oh, and later he's vampirized, too); Blink was abandoned and left for dead by the X-Men after saving all their lives (to be fair, they NeverFoundTheBody); and Mortis had an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] while her half-sister, ComicBook/{{Dazzler}}, had a loving one and grew up to become a famous singer. [[BigBad Selene]] gave them refuge and taught them to do whatever they wanted with their powers... which resulted in lots of people dying. While by the time of the final battle they're all ranting-and-raving {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s, that, if anything, makes their situation even more tragic. The two exceptions in the group of six are Senyaka, who signed up [[BloodKnight to have better opportunities to kill people]] (fittingly, he's also the one with the best control over his powers and the only one who was a villain ''before'' being recruited by Selene), and Selene herself, who just wants to [[GodhoodSeeker become a goddess]].

* A downplayed example is the DC super-villain Doomsday; created by a twisted alien scientist who wanted to create the UltimateLifeform, his methods for doing so were utterly barbaric. Doomsday was engineered in a lab to be equipped with genetic memory... and then dumped on prehistoric Krypton, a lethal DeathWorld. Afterwards, the scientist retrieved the remnants and cloned a fresh incarnation of Doomsday from the corpse before dropping him back into the wilderness. Countless horrific, painful deaths later, by a process of [[LamarckWasRight Lamarckian evolution]], Doomsday has developed into the ultimate survivor... but has also been driven completely ''insane'', so consumed with traumatic memories of ''thousands'' of deaths that what's left is a creature locked in a fear-fueled UnstoppableRage, blindly lashing out at everything that lives because it's convinced that it can only be safe when all other life is '''dead'''.
* [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen The Death Queen]] in ''ComicBook/LadyDeath'' is a would-be conqueror determined to take over {{Hell}}. She is revealed to be [[spoiler: the main protagonist' mother]] who was kidnapped by demons and subjected to [[RapeAsDrama rape]] and [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]]. Feeling resentful that she wasn't rescued, she emerged as a extremely powerful sorceress and determined to take revenge on those she felt had abandoned her.
* Evil Ernie from ''Creator/ChaosComics'' was emotionally and physically abused by both his parents. As if that wasn't enough, he had telepathic powers that allowed him to find out that his neighbors knew about his abuse for years, but didn't do anything out of fear of retaliation because his wealthy parents controlled the business that was the number one employer in town. It was this that finally pushed Ernie over the edge, turning him into a serial killer and later, thanks to the original not-so-heroic [[ComicBook/LadyDeath Lady Death]], into the mass-murdering spearhead of a [[ZombieApocalypse zombie apocalypse that would ultimately wipe out the United States and an apocalyptic global nuclear war.]]
* During the Vietnam War, an American soldier had an affair with a Vietnamese woman, and abandoned her shortly after. Their daughter was raised alone by her mother, until at ten years old she was separated from her, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. That girl would grow up to become [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Cheshire]], and would end up repaying the world's cruelty to her a hundred times over, becoming a lethal assassin, genocidal maniac, and all around horrible person.

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsMadelynePryor Madelyne Pryor]] that she was a clone of Jean Grey and was abandoned by her husband, Scott Summers (who fell in love with her ''because'' of her obvious similarity to Jean, though neither knew she was a clone at the time, assuming it to just be mere {{co|ntrivedCoincidence}}incidence that they looked exactly alike), when he reunited with Jean, after Jean [[UnexplainedRecovery returned]] from the dead. Then Maddie's infant son was kidnapped and she was left for dead. She has a daydream where she's ripped apart to build the woman her husband actually wants and then is offered revenge. Thinking that it's just a dream, she accepts, which, naturally, leaves her possessed by a demon and willing to sacrifice her baby (who she finally has the power to find) to allow the demons of Limbo to take over the Earth. Then she died (and came back). Her life hasn't really improved since then.

* ''Comicbook/XMen'': Madelyne Pryor learned that she was a clone of Jean Grey and was abandoned by her husband, Scott Summers (who fell in love with her ''because'' of her obvious similarity to Jean, though neither knew she was a clone at the time, assuming it to just be mere {{co|ntrivedCoincidence}}incidence that they looked exactly alike), when he reunited with Jean, after Jean [[UnexplainedRecovery returned]] from the dead. Then Maddie's infant son was kidnapped and she was left for dead. She has a daydream where she's ripped apart to build the woman her husband actually wants and then is offered revenge. Thinking that it's just a dream, she accepts, which, naturally, leaves her possessed by a demon and willing to sacrifice her baby (who she finally has the power to find) to allow the demons of Limbo to take over the Earth. Then she died (and came back). Her life hasn't really improved since then.

* ComicBook/XForce once faced a villain team called the Inner Circle, two-thirds of which were this trope. For starters, they all have [[PowerIncontinence uncontrollable powers]] related to death, which is bound to cause some angst. Individually, Eli Bard was a loser through his whole life, then was vampirized by Selene and forced to be her slave for the next two thousand years; Wither lost many of his friends (including the girl he liked) to [[TheFundamentalist crazy religious fundamentalists]] and later his surviving friends abandoned him for being "dangerous" (oh, and later he's vampirized, too); Blink was abandoned and left for dead by the X-Men after saving all their lives (to be fair, they NeverFoundTheBody); and Mortis had an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] while her half-sister, ComicBook/{{Dazzler}}, had a loving one and grew up to become a famous singer. [[BigBad Selene]] gave them refuge and taught them to do whatever they wanted with their powers... which resulted in lots of people dying. While by the time of the final battle they're all ranting-and-raving {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s, that, if anything, makes their situation even more tragic. The two exceptions in the group of six are Senyaka, who signed up [[BloodKnight to have better opportunities to kill people]] (fittingly, he's also the one with the best control over his powers and the only one who was a villain ''before'' being recruited by Selene), and Selene herself, who just wants to [[AGodAmI become a goddess]].

* Shrinking Violet, the insecure wallflower of the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} during the period that she was under the influence of the Emerald Eye in the Postboot continuity.

** He even shares a brief moment of empathy with Saint Walker. Saint Walker admits that [[NotSoDifferent he, too, was once filled with rage]] after losing his entire family to random accidents during a pilgrimage. Only a brief moment, since Atrocitus points out one crucial difference: Saint Walker had no one to blame for their deaths, while Atrocitus can and does blame the Manhunters' creators, the Guardians.

* During the Vietnam War, an American soldier had an affair with a Vietnamese woman, and abandoned her shortly after. Their daughter was raised alone by her mother, until at ten years old she was separated from her, kiddnapped, and sold into slavery. That girl would grow up to become [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Cheshire]], and would end up repaying the world's cruelty to her a hundred times over, becoming a lethal assassin, genocidal maniac, and all around horrible person.

* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Scarecrow]], anyone? Victim of a PrankDate, bullying throughout his school years, absentee parents, and an abusive grandmother with trained crows to attack him for the slightest mistake, no wonder the poor kid became obsessed with fear.
** FromBadToWorse in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''. Due to being exposed to too much of his own fear gas, he can't even feel fear. Or nearly any other emotion anymore, [[spoiler:except when facing Batman]]. Yeah, it means the Black Lanterns don't consider him a priority target and he brought it upon himself, but it's still a raw deal.

* Gorr the God Butcher in ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor''. His entire life entails being abandoned by the gods and suffering a massive TraumaCongaLine. When he was a child, his widowed pregnant mother was attacked and Eaten Alive by predators whilst she worshiped at a god's shrine. As an adult, his world began to suffer a drought, all but one of his children were killed off by thirst/starvation/predators, his heavily pregnant wife died when an earthquake collapsed the cave they took shelter in, his last son died in his arms as they marched towards a salvation that never comes, and when he finally went off at his tribe about how there were no gods, they stoned him as a blasphemer and drove him away to die. These tragedies led him to take up the Necrosword?