Manly Tears / Comic Books

Manly Tears in comic books.

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• Not even the biggest and baddest of villains in comics aren't free from crying, see Darkseid or Thanos◊.
• Happens quite a lot in ElfQuest. In fact it may hold some kind of record for it.
• The whole team of the New Mutants, even the cybernetic Warlock, broke into tears upon failing to avoid Cypher's death.
• Infamously Superman and Batman both a shed tear watching some tentacle plant things live, mate and die.
• Fantastic Four: In issue #588, after Johnny Storm dies, The Thing challenges the Hulk and Thor to a fight just to vent his anger out on something. After briefly beating them around for a bit, Ben soon breaks down as Hulk (whom he had just been beating on) gives him a Cooldown Hug, but the real kicker is Thor who is overlooking all this and crying softly.
• Captain America in the final issue of Marvel's Civil War after seeing the destruction and pain he's creating by fighting◊.
  • Tony later produces a manly tear at Cap's funeral, and has a full-on sobbing fit◊ over the body in The Confession.
  • Cap in an earlier Avengers comic produces some tears over the past.
  • In the Avengers 4# a police officer cries at seeing Captain America alive again.
  • In Iron Man issue 172, Cap confronted Tony about his alcoholism and Tony said that he just couldn't stop drinking. Cap stoically left the room and after he left the building, he smashed a wall with his fist in pure frustration while tears flowed from his face.
  • An extremely dark version, but in Old Man Logan Cap lays in the rubble of the White House cries tears of despair◊ as Red Skull stands over him gloating before taking his eyes out.
• At the end of Flashpoint Barry Allen delivers a letter from Bruce's father Thomas Wayne to his son after explaining the Bad Future he had caused. Batman is shocked when he sees who the letter is from, but after Flash calms him forcing him to sit down, Bruce removes his cowl and reads the letter. By the time he finished reading, Bruce has already broken out into big bat tears◊ and thanked Barry deeply.
  Batman: "You're one hell of a messenger".
  • Batman also burst into tears when Zatanna made echoes of his parents that faded away◊ when Bruce hugged them, cruel but it was the only way to stop him as he had swapped powers with Superman and had gone crazy as result.
    • Batman also breaks down when Dick Grayson aka Nightwing dies in Injustice saying he's lost his son.
• Lex Luthor◊ in All-Star Superman when he learns why Supes has to be Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
  • Superman himself breaks down on the porch after Pa Kent's funeral.
• DC's The Ray foolishly caused his father to go into respiratory arrest and saved him with mouth-to-mouth. His father immediately berated him for his stupidity, but Ray ignored him in his relief that he was alive, which was so great that he started to cry. His father realized it, stopped the scolding, and tried to put his arm about him. Ray angrily shrugged it off. (A second attempt was more successful.)
• A recurring trope in the limited series Pride and Joy. The teenage slacker son often sheds tears of frustration during arguments with his tough guy father. Tough guy father never cries until the final scene where he's dying and his son has made him proud.
• X-Men:
  • Professor X being a good sweet man at heart is not adverse to tears see the finale of God Loves, Man Kills.
  • Beast readily cries whether it be in grief due his mutation or in happiness to see his friends alive usually with a crushing Bear Hug.
  • Gambit during the last moments of Rogue's life during X-Men: The End.
  • Wolverine the ultimate testosterone filled badass is no stranger to tears, as he lets a Single Tear fall down his face◊ when Mariko leaves him at the altar.
  • Magneto seems like he has a heart of stone, but once in a while he’ll be moved to waterworks e.g in X Men Red 2023 when he cannot bring Anya back to life and another reality he cried over the death of his daughter Polaris. Less touchingly he cried during his Villainous Breakdown in Ultimatum before getting executed.
• Rorschach, that red-headed stepchild of the Sociopathic Hero set, has this moment in his last scene. You'd cry too, if you'd failed to avert the deaths of millions and were about to die, unloved and futile, in the middle of freaking Antarctica.

  • It's all the more effective as Rorschach takes his mask off when he cries, despite him considering his mask his "true face", but when it comes to facing his own death Rorschach decides to die as Walter Kovacs instead of Rorschach.

• The Vision, when he's accepted into The Avengers. In a story called "Even An Android Can Cry".
• You think Doctor Victor Von Doom one of baddest and stone cold villains in the Marvel Universe can't cry at needless loss of innocent life? Guess again.
• Johnny in Strontium Dog cries a single tear at Wulf's funeral.
• Asterix and Obelix occasionally invoke this trope, especially when making up after a quarrel. Since they never do anything halfway, their Manly Tears are more Manly Loud Howling. Accompanied by Ocular Gushers.
• In Invincible many of the macho and grizzled characters in the series are willing to cry e.g Omni-Man bursts into tears and flies off at his son Mark saying that no matter how many people he loses due to being The Ageless he‘ll still have his dad. Mark himself cries many times, the most Tear Jerker example being when he meets his baby daughter◊ after nearly losing her mother Eve.
• In the first novel of the New Jedi Order series, Chewbacca is killed when a moon crashes into its planet. Not long after, a series of one shot comics was released in tribute to the big walking carpet. The gist is that R2-D2 and C-3PO go around to various heroes and ask them for their thoughts on Chewbacca and any stories they have to share. Luke Skywalker talks about feeling Chewie's death through the Force and adds comic panels of what happened to his words. At the very end, Han Solo is shown standing alone in the Millennium Falcon's cockpit, face in one hand and tears streaming down his cheeks.
• The Doom protagonist from the comic can't help but weep as he bears witness to the majesty...THE BFG 9000!
• Roy Harper when he finally sees his daughter's corpse in a morgue. He begins crying as he imagines what she must have gone through as Star City was being destroyed, and wonders if the last words she spoke were "Daddy. Help." as he hugs her dead body on the slab with his remaining arm.
• In Runaways, Chase begins to cry when Gert finds out that he kissed Nico once, and thought that he didn't love her anymore.
• After Anti-Hero Morbius was cured of his pseudo-vampirism and served time in prison for his crimes he finally had a chance to rebuild his life. Unfortunately, that came to an abrupt end when he was tricked, drugged and captured, and an electric shock was forcibly run through his system. He cries when he finds it has turned him into a living vampire again.
• Daredevil: In the Born Again storyline, Matt Murdock, after suffering deep professional and personal losses at the hands of Wilson Fisk a.k.a. The Kingpin for what appears to be a period of several weeks, sees his apartment blown up before his eyes and is left jobless and homeless. After discovering proof of Fisk's involvement amongst the ruins of what was once his home he finally breaks down in tears while holding what is left of his costume in his hands.
• There are several examples in Ultimate Fallout, as the Ultimate Spider-Man (the Spider-Man of the Ultimate Marvel universe) has died. In the end of the comic, even Nick Fury (who hardly ever shows any emotional reaction) bursts into tears over the loss.
  • Speaking of Spider-Man who could forget his tears shed over learning the fact with great power there must also come great responsibility in his very first appearance at learning he could’ve prevented Uncle Ben’s death. Spidey in general◊ doesn’t hesitate to let out the water works.
  • Even perennial grouch J. Jonah Jameson can cry as well◊.
• Hellblazer, John Constantine breaks down in tears after learning that his father has died. Made all the more tragic by the fact that said father was incredibly abusive to John, yet he still can't help mourning him.
• The Ultimates: Captain America met the Despair Event Horizon shortly after being unfrozen. He reunited with Bucky, now an old man married to his former girlfriend, and all his family have died long ago. Everything he ever loved is dead. He was about to start crying, until Nick Fury pointed a nearby American flag.
• The usually gruff Bibbo is seen shedding tears at Superman's funeral in The Death of Superman

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