Warning: As a Spoilered Rotten Ending Trope, EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE on this list is a spoiler by default. You Have Been Warned.
Sudden Downer Endings in Comic Books.
- Age of the Sentry: The first five issues are faux-Silver Age wackiness, with the Sentry facing radioactive bears, planets about to give birth, overbearing shippers, himself from the Golden Age of Comic Books, superpowered hillbillies, a friend with romance problems, and Cranio (The Man With the Tri-Level Mind!). Issue 6 has him learning his entire life is a lie, that he's been warping reality to fit around him since he doesn't really belong there. Cranio dies informing him of this secret, and then the Void completely drains the Sentry of life, killing him, though turning into a new version of the Sentry in the process, with no-one the wiser.
- Heroes Reborn (2021): From what we can glean about the preceding issues of Hyperion and the Imperial Guard, this is what its story is. The previous issues were Hyperion engaging in goofy and sugary space adventures with the Imperial Guard (Expying the Legion Of Superheroes harder than they ever had before), complete with a Love Triangle. It all comes to an end in the one-shot, as Hyperion is forced to Mercy Kill the entire Guard after they're taken over by the Brood, and he's left all alone in space. The letters page has one fan stating that he's tired of the silly immaturity of the series, and the writer (editor?) replies with, basically, "we hope this is serious enough for you".
- The Kid Loki storyline in Journey into Mystery (Gillen) and Young Avengers ended this way with the Old Loki erasing Kid Loki and taking over his body after he had essentially won back everyone's trust and become a hero.
- Thanks to a combination of Running the Asylum (editor Nick Lowe's determination to see Gert Yorkes be resurrected at any cost) and Executive Meddling (Marvel's decision to cancel the series in mid-arc due to dropping sales), Runaways ended with Chase Stein abandoning the other Runaways and then getting hit by a car after somehow running into Gert Yorkes on the street.
- Secret Six, which was basically a Black Comedy about supervillains, ends with the team being taken down by the combined might of the Justice League, Teen Titans, JSA and numerous other heroes. It's deliberately unclear as to whether or not most of the Six survived, and the last scene is of Bane, battered and alone, being hauled off to Arkham Asylum.
- Transformers: More than Meets the Eye: After saving the universe and having a new Cybertron set up to replace the one that got destroyed, the Lost Light crew”s adventures end with their ship being dismantled and repurposed as an exhibit, and Megatron being put to death, in spite of his attempts to redeem himself. thousands of millions of years later, Rewind is braindead as a result of absorbing too much information, Rodimus is an alcoholic washout, Swerve opened a franchise that crashed and burned, Whirl going back to prison, Brainstorm is now dependent on his time machine to stay alive and Ractchet the original POV robot character for IDW’s first continuity dying of old age. And, as if the sister book is any indication, none of the other transformers ever settled on the replica of their home planet, instead forging new (and comparatively happier) lives on Earth.
- Transformers: Wings of Honor: Metalhawk's and Onslaught's teams (as well as the other Elite Guard teams who operate mostly offscreen) work well together, complete many missions with an unbroken victory streak, and beat back numerous Decepticons, in relatively light-hearted adventures. And then it all goes to hell. Onslaught's team defects to the Decepticons, and attacks the Autobot base. They also become a combiner, Bruticus, which ends up crushing Sentinel Major in its hand, Over-Run is crushed by one of his drones, and almost all of the other Elite Guard are also killed in various ways including Powerflash. While Bruticus is finally brought down by one of the heroes, Onslaught still kills his former friend Metalhawk on their way out. It finally ends with the last remaining Elite Guard team coming to the base and requesting permission to land, but finding no response. Even a side comic which is usually a bunch of humorous stories about goofy newscasters, ends with, not a funny punchline, but one of the reporters coming to the sight of the carnage and asking to go home in shock
. Geez. - Graduation Day, the Grand Finale of Young Justice. After 56 issues of comedy, the mini-series sees the violent deaths of Omen and Donna Troy, and the dissolution of both Young Justice and the Titans. One of the last scenes is of Wonder Girl tearfully stating that the kids will never learn enough to be real heroes, and that the entirety of the series was essentially a massive waste of time.
