History DespairEventHorizon / ComicBooks

* ComicBook/IronMan after ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is killed at the end of ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. 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]].

** ''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 disastrous consequences they resulted in.

* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'':

** [[Franchise/GreenLantern The Blue Lanterns]] are empowered by [[HopeBringer hope]]. This doesn't mean they are immune to despair. And the moment they give in to despair, the blue power rings abandon them to seek out more worthy wielders. This was especially bad for one rookie Blue Lantern who despaired when the Blue Lanterns' world was invaded since he was in ''mid-air'' when his ring left him.

** ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} lives to bring everyone in the universe to this point. His goal is to discover the Anti-Life Equation, a mathematical formula that "proves" to whomever reads or hears it that life is utterly pointless and without meaning and destroys all traces of happiness and hope, though in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' when he actually found it he altered it so that there was one single meaning to existence -- namely, to obey and worship Darkseid for all eternity.

** Weaponized in Issue #54. The crew, being laid siege to by the Decepticon Justice Division, learn that continuous exposure to the quantum energy of the ''Lost Light'' has altered their physiology, causing [[CastFromLifespan an empowering release of energy if one of their number suffers a trauma-induced spark spasm.]] Skids [[spoiler:has Chromedome help him recover his repressed memories of being tricked into murdering 50 fellow prisoners of war.]] in order to trigger this. It works, but [[spoiler:[[SenselessSacrifice the power-up lasts a critically short time]], and Skids dies not long after, hating himself for what he did.]]

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':

* ComicBook/{{X 23}} hits one at the end of ''Target: X''. After [[ComicBook/InnocenceLost 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/IronMan after ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is killed at the end of ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. He suffers a HeroicBSOD over Steve's death, and it also makes him [[DeathSeeker even more reckless with his life]] than he's been [[TraumaCongaLine in almost his entire history]].

* After being savagely [[DeadSidekick beaten to death]] by The Joker, Jason Todd is resurrected, only to find that not only did Franchise/{{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.

** Batman himself plunges off here in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', after he loses control of Brother Eye, the satellite he built to spy on the superhero community, and it turns a bunch of humans into brainwashed cyborgs to murder his superhero friends, then rubs it in Batman's face. There's one page of Batman doubled over on the ground, clutching his chest and saying he can't do this anymore, that is certainly the most pathetic the Batman has ever looked.
** The Joker briefly believes he has successfully pushed Commissioner Gordon off the Horizon in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', but it's ultimately subverted.

* The Doctor gets one at the end of ''ComicBook/CaptainAtom: Armageddon'', 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.

* After being savagely [[DeadSidekick beaten to death]] by The Joker, Jason Todd is resurrected, only to find that not only did Franchise/{{Batman}} not avenge him by killing The Joker, he has also been replaced by [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake as Robin]]. At this point he [[FaceHeelTurn completely snaps]], and becomes the AntiVillain Red Hood.
** This is [[StrawNihilist Victor Zsasz's]] backstory -- after his parents died and he lost the family fortune, he was about to commit suicide only to be interrupted by a homeless man ''trying to mug him.''

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', 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.

* ''ComicBook/NewGods'':
** ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} lives to bring everyone in the universe to this point. His goal is to discover the Anti-Life Equation, a mathematical formula that "proves" to whomever reads or hears it that life is utterly pointless and without meaning and destroys all traces of happiness and hope, though in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' when he actually found it he altered it so that there was one single meaning to existence- namely, to obey and worship Darkseid for all eternity.
** Darkseid suffered his own Despair Event Horizon- he was in love with a scientist named Suli (the mother of his son Kalibak), but his EvilMatriarch mother Heggra saw that Suli was making Darkseid a nicer person and had her murdered for it. Suli tried to make Darkseid a more constructive EvilOverlord by pushing him towards building [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans a more ordered and lawful universe]], but when she died he lost all hope that he would ever be more than the monster his mother made him- so, instead, he had his mother murdered and resolved to be an [[GoneHorriblyRight even bigger bastard]] than Heggra ever intended him to be. Darkseid was a horrible villain before he met Suli, but her death is what made him such a miserable one and is probably the main reason he seeks the Anti-Life Equation in the first place - if he can't be happy, then ''no one'' can be.
* ''[[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/{{Alix}}'': In ''Le Cheval de Troie'', Horatius has fallen to despair and rage. He planned to adopt Heraclion out of compassion, but had to gave up those plans in order to save him. As part of the agreement, he's forced to marry his sister-in-law's daughter and gave away the Trojan Horse to the Trojan remnant. Humiliated and dishonored, he set the Temple of Hera one fire, killing everyone including himself. Alix, Enak and Heraclion were the only to escape unscathed.

* ''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 disastrous consequences they resulted in.
--->'''Magog:''' ''Proud?'' '''Proud?!''' '''PROUD''' ''of being the Man of Tomorrow?!?''
** It happens to ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} in the ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' storyline, combined with a RageBreakingPoint. She starts out a nice, happy-go-lucky girl. In ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton'' she is shoved into a rocket, put in suspended animation and launched out of Krypton. When she wakes up, she finds herself stranded on an alien, primitive world, and is told that Krypton exploded decades ago. She manages to find the ruins of her hometown Argo City floating in space, but she confirms her family, her friends, her old life... are gone forever. Then Kara is savagely beaten up by Reign and left to die as the city plummets into a blue star. Feeling hurt, weakened and utterly alone, Kara has nearly given. Suddenly, her parent's ghosts appear, help her to get free and encourage her to find a new home. Kara goes back to Earth, but unfortunately she appears to be unable to connect with her only family left, she doesn't manage to fit in with humans, she cannot keep any friends, and everyone wants to fight her, order her around or manipulate her. She falls in love with for the first time, and then she finds out that her crush is a murderous, manipulative bastard. She has a chance to save her planet, and she fails... She cannot seem to do anything right. After several months of endless gloom, she runs into ''ComicBook/{{Lobo}}'', who presses her {{Berserk Button}}s over and again until she flips out. After pummelling him, Kara is mad like hell and feeling hurt, betrayed, confused and utterly hopeless, thinking she belongs nowhere and can trust no one.
** In ''ComicBook/ManyHappyReturns'' Linda crosses this after [[spoiler:she is forced to send the pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El back to her universe and her eventual death, as well as losing her daughter even though Ariella was spared from erasure]].
** In ''ComicBook/TheJungleLine'', Superman gets infected with a deadly illness, the Bloodmorel Fever. He cannot find any cure, so he resigns himself to die, and heads towards some lonely place where he can lie down and wait for death.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'':
** Walter Kovacs starts out a rather messed up, but functional man, with a fairly normal life outside being a masked vigilante. Then he investigates the kidnapping of a little girl, and ends up [[spoiler:finding her dismembered and mostly-eaten corpse, suffering a complete psychotic break and burning her killer alive.]] From that point on, he's insane, [[VigilanteMan murderous]] and barely capable of (or [[DeathSeeker interested in]]) taking care of himself, having [[BecomingTheMask completely abandoned all identity outside of Rorschach]].
** The Comedian is a straighter example: When he discovers that reality is actually much worse than his dark parody of it, he breaks into Moloch's apartment to tell him about it, but the Comedian's already so far beyond the [[MoralEventHorizon point of no return]] that he only manages to confess to his sins before he [[LampshadeHanging realizes how ridiculous it is]] that his nemesis is the closest thing to a friend that he has.

* Happens to Nuke in the ''ComicBook/SquadronSupreme'' limited series.
* ComicBook/IronMan after ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is killed at the end of ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. He suffers a HeroicBSOD over Steve's death, and it also makes him [[DeathSeeker even more reckless with his life]] than he's been [[TraumaCongaLine in almost his entire history]].

* ''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.]]
* [[Franchise/GreenLantern The Blue Lanterns]] are empowered by [[HopeBringer hope]]. This doesn't mean they are immune to despair. And the moment they give in to despair, the blue power rings abandon them to seek out more worthy wielders. This was especially bad for one rookie Blue Lantern who despaired when the Blue Lanterns' world was invaded since he was in ''mid-air'' when his ring left him.
* 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]].
* ComicBook/{{X 23}} hits one at the end of ''Target: X''. After [[ComicBook/InnocenceLost 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.
* After being savagely [[DeadSidekick beaten to death]] by The Joker, Jason Todd is resurrected, only to find that not only did Franchise/{{Batman}} not avenge him by killing The Joker, he has also been replaced by [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake as Robin]]. At this point he [[FaceHeelTurn completely snaps]], and becomes the AntiVillain Red Hood.
** This is [[StrawNihilist Victor Zsasz's]] backstory - after his parents died and he lost the family fortune, he was about to commit suicide only to be interrupted by a homeless man ''trying to mug him.''
** Batman himself plunges off here in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', after he loses control of Brother Eye, the satellite he built to spy on the superhero community, and it turns a bunch of humans into brainwashed cyborgs to murder his superhero friends, then rubs it in Batman's face. There's one page of Batman doubled over on the ground, clutching his chest and saying he can't do this anymore, that is certainly the most pathetic the Batman has ever looked.
** The Joker briefly believes he has successfully pushed Commissioner Gordon off the Horizon in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', but it's ultimately subverted.
** 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.
* The Doctor gets one at the end of ''ComicBook/CaptainAtom: Armageddon'', 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.
* 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.]]

* 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.]]

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', 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.
* Several characters in ''ComicBook/{{Arawn}}'' cross the Despair Event Horizon one after the other.
** When his pregnant wife Deidre is kidnapped and his precious cauldron is stolen by his hated half-brothers, Arawn turns into a EmptyShell holed up in his castle to mourn. Its not until [[spoiler:Deirdre is killed]] that he gets out of his despair to pursue revenge.
** Deidre herself crosses this when her son is killed by Arawn's half-brother Math. Her death in turn also consumes him with despair as he begins to hallucinate with her ghost tormenting him. Unlike Arawn, he doesn't recover as [[spoiler:he is {{mercy kill}}ed by Siahm when she finds him a shell of his former self]].
* ''ComicBook/RickAndMortyOni'': In Issue 22, Rick tells Morty that he's tried several times to kill Doofus Jerry, but to no success. He decides that no one should have to live in a world dominated by a Jerry, and plans to use a neutrino bomb to destroy everything.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Before being shot in the head by their twin sister, the only living person they trusted, Hypnota was rather mild mannered while not on stage. After this betrayal and the discovery that the brain damage triggered a hypnotic brainwashing power in them they chose to never trust nor care for another human again and began a swift decent into rather horrific villainy as they only valued themselves.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Donna Troy was tortured by Dark Angel, and then her ex-husband and two children died in a fiery car crash which led her to seek out her sister Diana to talk, only for Diana to be captured and left non-responsive and slowly dying when Donna arrived. From here on Donna is a mess when she's not actively helping fight villains (and occasionally when she is), and remains that way even after Diana is restored until both Diana and Hippolyta help her deal with Dark Angel and her losses.

** It happens to ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} in the ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' storyline, combined with a RageBreakingPoint. She starts out a nice, happy-go-lucky girl. In ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton'' she is shoved into a rocket, put in suspended animation and launched out of Krypton. When she wakes up, she finds herself stranded on an alien, primitive world, and is told that Krypton exploded decades ago. She manages to find the ruins of her hometown Argo City floating in space, but she confirms her family, her friends, her old life... are gone forever. Then Kara is savagely beaten up by Reign and left to die as the city plummets into a blue star. Feeling hurt, weakened and utterly alone, Kara has nearly given. Suddenly, her parent's ghosts appear, help her to get free and encourage her to find a new home. Kara goes back to Earth, but unfortunately she appears to be unable to connect with her only family left, she doesn't manage to fit in with humans, she cannot keep any friends, and everyone wants to fight her, order her around or manipulate her. She falls in love with for the first time, and then she finds out that her crush is a murderous, manipulative bastard. She has a chance to save her planet, and she fails... She cannot seem to do anything right. After several months of endless gloom, she runs into ''SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}}'', who presses her {{Berserk Button}}s over and again until she flips out. After pummelling him, Kara is mad like hell and feeling hurt, betrayed, confused and utterly hopeless, thinking she belongs nowhere and can trust no one.

* Willow in Season 9 of ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', after the magic is gone. Faith after her dad shows up and she does something she regrets, which causes her to go see "Mother Superior" in ''Daddy Issues''.
* {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} lives to bring everyone in the universe to this point. His goal is to discover the Anti-Life Equation, a mathematical formula that "proves" to whomever reads or hears it that life is utterly pointless and without meaning and destroys all traces of happiness and hope, though in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' when he actually found it he altered it so that there was one single meaning to existence- namely, to obey and worship Darkseid for all eternity.

* A Villain Protagonist equivalent (though more an Anti-Hero by this point) with Jackie Estacado of ComicBook/TheDarkness, he can handle the mob life, the killing and the people trying to kill him but after he [[spoiler:realises what a scumbag Uncle Frankie is and offers to testify against him Uncle Frankie responds by killing Jenny]], the Character Development between the two at this point takes hold and the only 'rational' way for Jackie to get revenge is by [[spoiler:blowing himself, Frankie and Frankie's mob straight to hell in a flaming Inferno]].
* A curious AntiHero version occurs in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''; throughout the story, Franchise/{{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 disastrous consequences they resulted in.
-->''Proud?'' '''Proud?!''' '''''Proud''''' ''of being the Man of Tomorrow?!?''
* Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}:
** It happens to Supergirl in the ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' storyline, combined with a RageBreakingPoint. She starts out a nice, happy-go-lucky girl. Then her father placed her in suspended animation inside a rocket and launched her out of Krypton. When she wakes up, she finds herself stranded on an alien, primitive world. Her family, her friends, her old life... are gone forever because her home world exploded nearly thirty years ago. Then she goes through several months of endless battles. Meanwhile, she appears to be unable to connect with [[Franchise/{{Superman}} her only living relative]], she doesn't manage to fit in with Earth's people or keep any friends, and everyone she meets wants to decide what is better for her or tries to use her. She falls in love with someone, and then she finds out that her crush was a murderous bastard who was manipulating her. She has a chance to save her planet, and she fails... Then she runs into and fights ''SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}}'', who intentionally presses her {{Berserk Button}}s until she flips out. After pummelling him, Kara is mad like hell and feeling hurt, betrayed, confused and utterly hopeless, thinking she belongs nowhere and can trust no one.
** In ''Comicbook/ManyHappyReturns'' Linda crosses this after [[spoiler:she is forced to send the pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El back to her universe and her eventual death, as well as losing her daughter even though Ariella was spared from erasure]].

* In the "Emerald Twilight" tie-in to ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' storyline, the destruction of Coast City by Mongul serves as the DEH for [[Franchise/GreenLantern then-Green-Lantern 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.

-->'''Atrocitus:''' (''narration'') As my beautiful daughter dies, so does something inside me. Hope. The hope of a future. The hope of happiness. The hope of there being a benign force in the universe. It all dies...

* [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony Stark]] after [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]] is killed at the end of ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. He suffers a HeroicBSOD over Steve's death, and it also makes him [[DeathSeeker even more reckless with his life]] than he's been [[TraumaCongaLine in almost his entire history]].

* In ''ComicBook/Transformers:MoreThanMeetsTheEye,'' 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.]]

* In ''Transformers/MoreThanMeetsTheEye,'' 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/WonderWoman1987'': Donna Troy was tortured by Dark Angel, and then her ex-husband and two children died in a fiery car crash which led her to seek out her sister Diana to talk, only for Diana to be captured and left non-responsive and slowly dying when Donna arrived. From here on Donna is a mess when she's not actively helping fight villains (and occasionally when she is), and remains that way even after Diana is restored until both Diana and Hippolyta help her deal with Dark Angel and her losses.

* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Other than Bucky and Gail, who are elders now, all the people he had ever known are dead. Including his family. He has lost everything. Nick Fury reminds him of the one thing that still remains: America.

** Dick ''thinking'' Tim was losing his mind to grief [[note]]since, including Bruce, Tim at this point has four dead parents and two dead best friends[[/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.

** Batman himself plunges off here in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' after he loses control of Brother Eye

** Dick ''thinking'' Tim was loosing his mind to grief [[note]]since, including Bruce, Tim at this point has four dead parents and two dead best friends[[/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.

** Atrocitus crossed it in his backstory after his family died in front of him and was pushed further past it when his entire planet was massacred by the Manhunters. Even when he finally had his revenge during the New 52, he didn't recover because vengeance was all he had left, and then he didn't even have that. It gets tragically discussed in a flashback shown in the ''Red Lanterns'' tie-in comic as Atrocitus describes what happened.

** Dick ''thinking'' Tim was loosing his mind to grief (given that including Bruce it adds up to four dead parents plus two dead best friends for Tim) 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.

* After being savagely [[DeadSidekick beaten to death]] by The Joker, Jason Todd is resurrected, only to find that not only did Franchise/{{Batman}} not avenge him by killing The Joker, he has also been replaced by Tim Drake as Robin. At this point he [[FaceHeelTurn completely snaps]], and becomes the AntiVillain Red Hood.

* ''{{Spider-Man}}'': 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.]]

** Atrocitus crossed it in his backstory after his family died before him. It gets tragically discussed in a flashback shown in the ''Red Lanterns'' tie-in comic as Atrocitus describes what happened.