History DespairEventHorizon / ComicBooks

* Several characters in ''ComicBook/{{Arawn}}'' cross the Despair Event Horizon one after the other.

* In the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "The Tarnished Angel," the heroic El Hombre crosses this when the girl he loves marries someone else and he discovers that he is actually a vain GloryHound who needs the adulation of the public. He sets up a MonsterProtectionRacket to rejuvenate his public stature, but it backfires on him and turns him into a shameful fugitive. [[spoiler:It gets worse when he becomes the villainous Conquistador, recruiting villains in an EngineeredHeroics plot that would end with him killing them all and becoming the city's newest hero.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** After being savagely [[DeadSidekick beaten to death]] by The Joker, Jason Todd is resurrected, only to find that not only did Batman not avenge him by killing The Joker, he has also been replaced by Tim Drake as ComicBook/{{Robin}}. At this point he [[FaceHeelTurn completely snaps]], and becomes the AntiVillain Red Hood.

** Dick ''thinking'' Tim was losing his mind to grief [[note]]since, including Bruce, Tim at this point has four dead parents, two dead best friends and a dead girlfriend[[/note]] when Tim tried to explain his theory on Bruce not having been killed is what causes him to give Robin to Damian, and Tim to become ComicBook/RedRobin and leave Gotham when Dick refuses to hear him out.

* ComicBook/IronMan after ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is killed at the end of ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006''. He suffers a HeroicBSOD over Steve's death, and it makes him [[DeathSeeker even more reckless with his life]] than he's been [[TraumaCongaLine in almost his entire history]].
* The Doctor gets one at the end of ''ComicBook/CaptainAtomArmageddon'', declaring that he has given up and that they should all just stop trying to prevent the end of the universe, as several of the most powerful superheroes have already died trying, and should instead focus on trying to meet the end with dignity.

* This is Comicbook/DoctorStrange foe [[MeaningfulName D'Spayre]]'s mode of attack -- flooding his victims with a sense of hopelessness in an attempt to [[DrivenToSuicide make them take their own lives]].

** In the "Emerald Twilight" tie-in to ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' storyline, the destruction of Coast City by Mongul serves as the DEH for Hal Jordan. He then goes on to be possessed by PrimalFear entity Parallax and become a supervillain. Even after the city is eventually rebuilt, it's more or less a GhostCity as nobody wants to move there because of what happened.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', Despair personified is a character, one of the Endless. She basically lives beyond the Despair Event Horizon, watching people approaching the border to her realm through mirrors hanging everywhere. She absentmindedly cuts her own flesh with a sharp hook while admiring the "beauty" of people losing all hope and will to live.
* In ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors #24'', badass super-agent ComicBook/NickFury finally breaks [[spoiler:after he has let ''two'' teams of young agents die on his watch. Even worse, the second team was led by his ''own son'' Mikel Fury.]] While standing at the graves of the [[spoiler:second]] team, the agents of the Russian spy organization Leviathan come for him. He doesn't even try to resist.
* In the 2015 ''ComicBook/{{Secret Wars|2015}}'', during the exodus from the incursion between the Franchise/MarvelUniverse and the [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Universe]], [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]]'s lifeboat suffers a hull breach, resulting in his wife and children perishing in the epiccenter of the incursion. Mr. Fantastic gives a tragic speech about losing not only the family he loved, but his optimism as well.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': Curt Connors was dragged kicking and screaming over the edge when his Lizard persona ''ate'' his son, Billy Connors. Curt's reaction went way beyond HeroicBSOD -- effectively he's ''dead'', his personality shredded entirely leaving the Lizard in charge all the time. And the Lizard itself is still plagued with guilt over its actions. [[spoiler:Curt's personality was restored, but he's still stuck in his HeroicBSOD. He pretends he's still the Lizard because he believes he deserves to be locked up like an animal for the rest of his life.]]
* Happens to Nuke in the ''ComicBook/SquadronSupreme'' limited series.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'': Throughout the story, Superman is wary of encountering Magog, the NinetiesAntiHero who in many ways replaced him in the public's regard, until he and the rest of the Justice League encounter him in the ruins of Kansas... only to discover a broken man torn apart by guilt and anguish over [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone his actions]] and the [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom disastrous consequences]] they resulted in.
--->'''Magog:''' ''Proud?'' '''Proud?!''' '''PROUD''' ''of being the Man of Tomorrow?!?''

* In ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye,'' Whirl's personality is established as him having crossed this -- first he's thrown out of the Wreckers, and then the war ends. All he feels good for is fighting, and he feels so completely useless and alone in this new, war-less world that he starts talking to Sweeps corpses, beating on them to vent his frustrations, and finally prepares to [[InterruptedSuicide commit suicide among them.]]

* ComicBook/{{X 23}} hits one at the end of ''Target: X''. After [[ComicBook/X23InnocenceLost all the torture and dehumanization the Facility put her through, being forced to kill her mother by the Trigger Scent just as they were about to escape]], having to give up all that remained of her family and the normal life she was starting to build to protect them when her AxeCrazy former handler came looking for her, and possibly [[ComicBook/{{NYX}} spending an unspecified time on the streets as a prostitute under a sadistic and abusive pimp]] (it's unclear where exactly this series falls in her history), Laura finally reaches her breaking point, and seeks out ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} believing that all she has left is to [[DrivenToSuicide kill him and herself]]. Logan manages to talk her down, but it's implied she has an ongoing battle with severe, if not suicidal, depression, and much of her character arc focuses on putting the pieces back together after all that was done to her.
* ''[[ComicBook/UncannyXMen2018 X-Men: Disassembled]]'' is all about the results of Nate Grey a.k.a. ComicBook/XMan finally crossing this, plunging into despair -- typified by a conversation he has with Jean in the form of an old woman, where both agree that the world's messed up, but Jean retains optimism. Thus, he decides that he has to remake the world by force. Arguably, though, he doesn't tip over the edge until a minutes-that-feel-like-months stint in [[spoiler: Legion's mental construct of]] the Age of Apocalypse without his powers, where he sadly reflects that while he originally thought that 616 was heaven to the AOA's hell, he's come to believe that it's just a more subtle form of hell. This ultimately leads him to TakeAThirdOption and create the ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan''.

* ''ComicBook/Daredevil'': In ''ComicBook/GuardianDevil'', ComicBook/{{Mysterio}} is dying and just wants to show everyone he's not a joke, yet Matt keeps brushing off his attempts and lists off why his plans are just rehashes. Break him by driving him mad? Kingpin already did that. Mess with him spiritually? Armageddon already did that with the X-Men. And at the end of it Mysterio just says 'I guess I'll rip off Kraven now' and shoots himself in the head. One of the saddest lines from him were directed at Matt which were "If people think I'm a C-List villain. Might as well take down a C-List Spider-Man."