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Bittersweet Ending / The DCU

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The DCU

Bittersweet Ending in this franchise.
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    Comic Books 

Comic Books

  • Animal Man:
    • The miniseries The Last Days of Animal Man, depicting an alternate future where Buddy Baker is middle-aged and his powers are failing, ends with Buddy defeating the villains Bloodrage and Prismatik at the cost of losing his powers permanently, but at least is able to retire from superheroics for good so he can spend more time with his wife and children.
    • At the end of Animal Man (2011), Cliff is still dead and so are most of the Totems of the Red. However, Brother Blood and the Splinterfolk are defeated. Shepherd and Socks become the new Totems of the Red. The Bakers repair their marriage. Buddy decides to become the Avatar of the Red in order to prevent his daughter Maxine from being put in danger, but will still be doomed to replace the Bridgewalker as mediator of the Green, Red and Rot of the Seed Planet when the current one dies, with no exception.
  • The final issue of Batgirl (2009) series ends with a montage of stories that the writer had planned to tell, including a team-up between Batgirl and her friend Cassandra Cain (whose absence had been a frequent criticism of the book) and a sword-and-sorcery adventure with Supergirl and Miss Martian. Despite the deliberately sad What Could Have Been montage, the book ends with Batgirl noting that the story would never end as long as the fans continued to remember it.
  • Batman '89: Jim Gordon is killed by Two-Face while Catwoman causes Two-Face's death, leading to Bruce rejecting her. In retaliation, Selina delivers evidence to Barbara Gordon revealing Bruce's identity. On the other hand, Bruce and Drake strike up a partnership with the latter convincing the former to try and help send the young girl from the beginning of the series to be adopted by his older sister.
  • Batman: Holy Terror: Bruce's quest to find the people who ordered his parents' death is ultimately unsuccessful, but he instead resolves to wage war against the Commonwealth, and it's implied that he might set up this universe's equivalent of the Justice League.
  • Batman: The Imposter: While Batman does stop the murderous imposter, his legacy remains tarnished, perhaps irrevocably, since it's impossible for the authorities and the public to really know which Batman did what. The wealthy and the powerful of Gotham remain opposed to Batman, so he's unlikely to ever enjoy again the limited leeway he once did with the GCPD. Detective Blair Wong knows his true identity, and is ambivalent about him at best, further complicating his situation. The one positive for Bruce by the end of the story is that he's come to some kind of an understanding with Leslie Thompkins, and even sends Arnold Wesker to her for therapy.
  • Batman: No Man's Land ends with Gotham City once again part of the United States, the Joker recaptured, and Lex Luthor's real estate scheme thwarted. However, Sarah Essen was killed by the Joker before his capture and, while they don't know it yet, Luthor's efforts in public to help rebuild the city will be among the things that put him in the White House.
  • Batman: Two Faces: Bruce Wayne is so distressed by the harm caused by his alter ego the Joker that he forces Harvey Dent to let him fall to his death due to seeing no other way to save Gotham from the Joker's reign of terror. On the bright side, Harvey heeds his friend's last wishes by taking the Twilight Orchid serum to cure his psychosis and subsequently honors Bruce Wayne's memory by becoming the new Batman.
  • The Batman maxiseries, The Long Halloween sees Carmine Falcone's empire start its fall — at the cost of Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face, who kills Falcone, starting the rise of Batman's Rogues Gallery running the underworld, and Batman and Jim Gordon, whose efforts has little impact, question if it was a Pyrrhic Victory.
  • Batman Vampire: Batman manages to put an end to Dracula, the remaining vampires, and his own Rogues Gallery (in that order), but at the heavy cost of his own life and the lives of his allies, including Tanya, Selina, Gordon and Alfred.
  • Before Watchmen: Minutemen ends with Silhouette, Gretchen, and Dollar Bill dead, Byron Lewis confined to a mental hospital, and Hollis Mason spending the rest of his life being blackmailed by the Comedian after the latter tricks him into killing Hooded Justice by framing HJ for the "Friend of the Children" murders. On the other hand, Mason has a goddaughter to dote upon and a successor to train, and a job that he loves. Meanwhile, Nelson Gardner is in a presumably healthier relationship.
  • In Crisis on Infinite Earths, the heroes manage to stop the Anti-Monitor's plan to end the multiverse. Unfortunately much of reality is destroyed, leaving only one new universe. Many heroes have lost their lives, including Barry Allen and Supergirl. And the remaining universe is Darker and Edgier, with the heroes changed by the events, unofficially beginning The Dark Age of Comic Books.
    • Its "sequels" are equally bittersweet:
      • In Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, time is restored to normal, but the DC heroes now know that Hal Jordan has become Parallax, angering Green Arrow. The Justice Society is temporarily disbanded with most of its members deaged or dead at the hands of Extant, the original Legion of Super-Heroes erased from history and numerous timelines erased resetting time.
      • In Infinite Crisis, Alexander Luthor's plan to find the perfect Earth is thwarted and the Multiverse is unknowingly rebuilt, but way too much damage was done getting to this point as the Earth-2 Superman and Lois Lane are dead as is the Conner Kent Superboy, numerous heroes are missing in action or dead including a plethora of speedsters, and Superboy-Prime is biding his time to escape.
      • In Final Crisis, the multiverse is saved from Darkseid's attempt to destroy it all using the Miracle Machine and Superboy, Kid Flash and Barry Allen are revived in full, but the New Gods of the Fourth World are seemingly no more and Batman is supposedly dead.
  • DCeased: The Grand Finale miniseries DCeased: War of the Undead Gods concludes with Erebos defeated and the surviving infectees of the Anti-Life Equation cured, but everyone who has been killed remains dead and Damian Wayne had to give his life for the victory to be possible.
  • Death of the Family: The Joker doesn't kill any allies of Batman's, but he drives Alfred into an insane state and then does the same to Damian, Tim, Barbara, Dick and Jason; who all viciously beat each other while laughing madly and looking like Joker versions of themselves. Batman confronts Joker about what he's done, and Joker falls into a chasm with no body found. Although Bruce saves his allies, Joker has shattered the trust Batman's allies have in each other and in Batman due to the numerous breaking speeches and trauma he's given them. In addition, Bruce could not remove a small trace of modified dubnium from each of his allies... and the chemical dubnium used to be called "hahnium" and had the Periodic Element Table symbol "Ha".
  • In Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, Lex Luthor's crimes have been exposed, his relationship with the Justice Society has been ruined and his worst enemies -Supergirl and Batgirl- are now friends and allies. However, Superman is dead, the parents of Barbara are dead and unavenged yet, and Luthor will buy his way out of jail.
  • The ending of Final Crisis sees Darkseid and Mandrakk defeated, and Superman using the Miracle Machine to restore space/time to its normal state. However despite Nix Uotan's claim that Superman wished for a happy ending with the Machine, that is not the case. Because the Machine could only be used once, the deaths of the Anti-Life-enslaved people and both Batman and Martian Manhunter still happen. Superman could have helped out earlier, if only he had returned from the 30th century earlier.
  • The Golden Age: Hitler and the Ultra-Humanite are dead but a lot of heroes were killed in the process, the Communist witch hunt is still going on and the JSA has disbanded. However, Johnny and Libby are back together and the heroes of the Silver Age are beginning to make themselves known.
  • Green Lantern: At the end of War Of The Green Lanterns, the GL Corps is saved, the emotion entities are freed from Krona's control, the New Guardians are freed from the Book of the Black, and Sinestro is a Green Lantern again. However, thanks to Hal Jordan's actions, the Guardians of the Universe find him too dangerous and has him dishonorably discharged from the Corps. The story ends with Hal back on Earth in the middle of nowhere, muttering, "This isn't how it's supposed to end."
  • JLA: Earth-2: Brainiac is defeated, the Earths won't collide with each other, but the Justice League is forced to abandon the other universe so as to ensure its survival. The Crime Syndicate return to ruling the world, much to the relief of the Crapsack World citizens of the Antimatter Earth.
  • JLA: Tower of Babel: The bad guy loses but Batman is thrown out of the League, and the final shot of the comic shows that Superman would have cast the vote to remove him from the League, upsetting their friendship in the process.
    Flash: How well do you really know him? Or, I guess, more to the point...how well does he know you? Well enough to know better than any of us how you'll vote?
    Superman: Yes.
  • At the end of Kingdom Come, the heroes have all made peace with each other, done away with secret identities, regained the world's love and trust, and last but not least, Superman and Wonder Woman are married and having a child. However, many of the heroes were killed during the climax by a nuclear explosion.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes:
  • The Long Halloween: Organized crime in Gotham is in ruins, but through little effectual effort on the part of the heroes. In the process, Dent's life and reputation were completely destroyed. Worse still, this is essentially the beginning of the rise of Batman's more colorful Rogues Gallery to plague Gotham.
  • Relative Heroes: The kids don't get their parents back but they do get to stay together and they stop acting as heroes to have a relatively normal remainder of their childhoods.
  • The Sandman (1989): "The King of Dreams is dead. Long live the King of Dreams."
  • Scare Tactics: Slither is dead and Gross-Out has left but Arnold, Fang and Scream Queen continue on in search of new members for Scare Tactics.
  • Superman:
    • In Many Happy Returns, Kara and Linda manage to save New Earth -the Post-Crisis universe-. However, Linda has to leave her husband and daughter behind and send Kara back to her universe and eventual death. As a result of it, she hates herself for being unable to protect them, and retires.
    • The end of the DC event Our Worlds at War sees the world mourning the apparent deaths of Aquaman, Guy Gardner, Sgt. Rock, and Hippolyta, with Superman himself mourning the destruction of his family farm and apparent deaths of the Kents, along with the rest of the state of Kansas.
    • Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?: Superman successfully defeated all of his major enemies, married Lois Lane, and escaped with his life, but he lost Pete Ross, Lana Lang, Jimmy Olsen, Krypto and his powers in the process. He did have a kid with Lois Lane, though.
    • The Death of Superman (1961): Superman gets killed and nothing will bring him back. It is not a Downer Ending just because Lex does not get away with his actions, and Supergirl takes up her cousin's mantle.
    • Superman: Space Age ends as Superman dies, but his actions gave everyone on his Earth a new chance at life and gave an alternate Superman a whole Earth's worth of hope.
    • All-Star Superman: Superman does not die, but is working away inside the Sun to keep it going; nobody knows how long it will be until he can return, and in the meantime the world is left to get on without him. The final pages implies Dr. Quintum has had a contingency plan to create a second Superperson.
  • Tales from the Dark Multiverse
    • Blackest Night is, of all the Tales from the Dark Multiverse stories, the closest thing to a good ending, and even then there's significantly more emphasis on the bitter part: Sinestro, Lobo, Dove and Mister Miracle's efforts leads to the Black Lantern Corps' complete extermination and leads to the creation of new life on Earth, but the former Black Lanterns are gone forever, Sinestro is the only one who survived, and had to use Lobo as a template to recreate life because Mister Miracle killed Dove, who was supposed to be the original template. Thus, the new life created inherited Lobo's thirst for blood and violence and started an everlasting war.
    • Hush can be also included, considering how Batman The Silenced became the Dark Multiverse's Hush while Thomas Elliott became one of the most powerful men in Gotham instead of Bruce. By the end, Thomas Elliott & his associates sans Talia are locked up away in Batman's twisted batcave while it is implied that Batman the Silenced began his war on crime. However, Talia & Lincoln March are still in power in addition to the League of Assassins and the Court of Owls, and the city is still riled up in riots led by Tim Drake's Outsiders, which would probably take some time to recover. Oh, and the Wayne Manor is still trashed and dirty even after Alfred inherited the Wayne fortune instead of Thomas Elliott.
    • The Death of Superman ends with Superman, Superboy, Steel and Batman dead. But the state of the world is considerably better than many others now that Lois has literally annihilated a lot of major crime. Whether or not her grief-born madness will turn into her lashing out against the powerless remains to be seen however.
    • War of the Gods ends with the first tier members of the Justice League killed, the Hecate possessed Wonder Woman trapped in chains fueled by her own magic, the people of Themyscera being persecuted for what she did, the female population itself being reduced to second-class citizens and slaves and Phobos manipulating governments to start a war against all metahumans. However, Wonder Woman is still fighting to regain control of her own body.
    • Dark Nights: Metal ends with Duke Thomas as the last person alive after the Justice League stage a final assault on Barbatos. He carves armor from the corpse of Barbatos, deeming himself the Last Knight, and promises to hunt the monsters and villains of the Dark Multiverse, which gives the setting in general the tiniest glimmer of hope.
  • Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone: The team ultimately wins the day but Captain Thug sacrifices himself to save Witchy-Poo, who is left completely disillusioned about superheroes.
  • V for Vendetta: V and Evie have triumphed against the evil fascistic government. However, V is dead, chaos runs rampant throughout Britain, and it seems like the last bastion of civilization is crumbling. However, Evie has become the new V and swears to help the people rebuild, while taking Dominic as her apprentice.
  • Watchmen: Dan and Laurie are happily together and fighting crime and the looming threat of nuclear war has been eliminated, but Ozymandias killed millions of people, Rorschach is dead, and Dr. Manhattan just sort of... left.
  • We 3: 3 doesn't survive the encounter with 4, but 1 and 2 are adopted by the homeless man who tried to help them earlier in the series.
  • Wonder Woman: Dead Earth: Diana regains her full power and humanity is safe, for now. After killing all the Haedras in self-defense, Diana attempts to reach out to her mother again, who still refuses to make peace with the humans and Diana and she disappears to places unknown. Some of Diana's human companions are dead, but Dee, Reya, and Eddog survive and they begin to rebuild on Themyscira.
  • Wonder Girl (Infinite Frontier): Yara discovers that Eros is the Greek God who murdered her mother and has manipulated her since the day he met her. But with Cassie and Donna's help, she succeeds in defeating him and his forces, regaining her free will in the process, and reunites with the Amazons of the Amazon. Hera on the other hand, still remains unscathed by the turn of events and continues to plot her revenge against Yara.

    Films 

Films

  • All-Star Superman: Superman ends up dying. But in the process, he pulled off a lot of heroic deeds, used his solar energy to reinvigorate the Sun and even convinced Lex Luthor to spend his last few days redeeming himself.
  • Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero: Barbara not only is rescued, but she is able to save Nora's life without losing her organs. Freeze is believed dead - he isn't, but he cannot return to society due to his crimes or his condition. He's last seen crying Tears of Joy as he learns that Nora will live on, and quietly leaving with his polar bears.
  • Batman: The Long Halloween: Batman fails to stop both Holiday's killing spree and Harvey's descent into villainy. The upsides are the rogues are back in lock-up, and Gothamites have started to see Batman as a hero.
  • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm ends with Batman learning that the murderous vigilante The Phantasm who has been killing mafia bosses, is actually his ex-girlfriend Andrea Beaumont who had earlier called off their engagement to flee Gotham with her father to escape from the mafia, only for them to later to find them and kill her father, after The Joker rigs the amusement park where they’re battling to explode Andrea is seemingly killed, but we later find out she survived but she moves on with her life and the two never see each other again.
  • Batman Returns: Batman is able to defeat Max Schreck and the Penguin, but he fails to save Catwoman from herself and her desire for revenge.
    Catwoman: Bruce... I would love to live with you in your castle... Forever, just like in a fairy tale... (scratches Batman's face) But I just couldn't live with myself, so don't pretend this is a happy ending!
  • DC Extended Universe:
    • In Man of Steel, after undergoing emotional/psychological hardship for most of his life and extreme physical struggles in the last few days, Clark has found a measure of peace at the end of the movie since he's become Superman and has secured a stable job as a reporter. Yet thousands upon thousands have died, parts of the city of Metropolis has been destroyed, and Clark has been forced to take the life of General Zod, the last of his species, to save others from a problem that wouldn't have happened if not for his existence.
    • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Superman is dead and Steppenwolf is coming, but so is the Justice League, with both Batman and Wonder Woman having their faith rekindled by Superman's sacrifice and once again willing to fight for humanity.
    • Wonder Woman: Diana wastes Ares and brings an end to World War I, but Steve is forced to sacrifice himself to destroy the chemical weapon and Diana realizes that she will never be able to completely eradicate mankind's flaws.
    • Aquaman (2018): More sweet than bitter, as Aquaman is able to ascend to his proper place as King of Atlantis, finds love through Mira, ensures his mother and father are able to properly reunite, and indicates he could be on good terms with his brother in due time. But Black Manta is still alive, hellbent on hunting Aquaman down to the ends of the Earth to ensure his father is avenged, and there's still a long way to go before the surface world and Atlantis can make peace. At least with Arthur on the throne, the oceans are at peace.
    • SHAZAM! (2019): Billy has found a good home and a family that loves him, is able to put the demons of being abandoned by his birth mother behind him, he and his foster siblings are all superheroes, and Dr. Sivanna is now behind bars. But it doesn't change that Billy still went through a lot of trauma to get him to where he needed to be, he has to live with the fact that his birth mother selfishly chose to leave him, and unknown to him, Mr. Mind is planning on teaming up with Sivanna to Take Over the World. And the previous champion who once wielded the powers of Shazam? He's still out there, and the balance of power in the DC Universe will change forever when he returns.
    • Birds of Prey (2020): The titular team was able to stop Black Mask and put his organization down, Montoya, Huntress, and Black Canary are able to put their newfound wealth towards forming a proper superhero team, and Harley is able to find some proper independence from The Joker. But that doesn't change the fact she's still a wanted criminal, who takes Cassandra with her on the run to live their lives however they please, causing chaos along the way.
    • Wonder Woman 1984: The Earth has been spared from nuclear destruction, humanity was able to briefly unite on a single front to save it, Diana is back up to full strength (and possibly able to find someone to love again), and Maxwell Lord is able to assure himself his son truly loves him. However, countless destruction was wrought everywhere, many a lives were lost in the chaos, Barbara, though no longer The Cheetah, is a shell of the Nice Girl she once was and is left embittered about being rendered powerless, and Diana was forced to let Steve go for good in order to prevent The End of the World as We Know It.
    • Zack Snyder's Justice League: The Justice League has saved the world from certain destruction with each team member feels more personally fulfilled and ready to move on to their next adventure. Unfortunately, Darkseid has his sights set on Earth and is already planning a full-scale invasion. Lex Luthor also broke out of Arkham Asylum and is conspiring with Deathstroke to kill Batman. It's also implied that events have been set in motion which will inevitably lead to Darkseid's victory, the deaths of Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, and the corruption of Superman. With that in mind, what details that are out there about Zack Snyder's intended story arc indicate that the story has a happy ending where this timeline is averted.
    • The Suicide Squad: The Squad has been granted their freedom, Bloodsport is able to find a way to spend time with his daughter, and Starro is destroyed—albeit very tragically for a creature that just wanted to roam the stars. But everyone who isn't Bloodsport, Harley, Ratcatcher, or King Shark (aside from Peacemaker and Weasel, who are both revealed as still alive) was mercilessly killed, Rick Flagg was executed because He Knows Too Much, the Task Force X program is still alive and kicking, and those who rebelled against Waller for wanting to blow up the Squad for disobeying orders is now on her shitlist or in prison. And those unlucky few not in jail now have to keep tabs on Peacemaker, whose own show proves just as bittersweet.
  • Justice League: Doom: Savage is defeated, the world is saved, the League inducts Cyborg into their ranks...but the League's faith in Batman is shattered and he himself quits when called out on his actions. He remains unapologetic that his contingences were necessary in case any of them go rogue, and resigns from the team in protest. When Superman asks Batman why he never consider having a countermeasure on himself in case he goes bad, he responds that he does... It's called the Justice League. note 
  • Justice League Dark: Apokolips War: Darkseid is defeated, dragging into a Prison Dimension with Trigon, but the damage has been done as the galaxy has been ravaged by Darkseid's lust for conquest, the Earth's core is permanently damaged, and half of Earth's population is dead, whose numbers include many heroes and villains. The only real bright spot is John Constantine convincing the Flash to go back in time to stop Darkseid's invasion, causing another Flashpoint incident be damned.
  • Supergirl (1984): Selena is defeated and Supergirl returns the Omegahedron to Argo City but she has to leave behind the friends she made on Earth.
  • The Batman (2022): On the bitter side, Riddler has flooded Gotham, there's a massive power vacuum left from Carmine Falcone's death, Catwoman decides to hightail it out of the city for better parts, and a lot of nasty corruption and criminality has come to light from Riddler exposing the city's powerful elite. Worse yet, a certain cellmate of his has taken an interest in the riddle-spouting vigilante. But Batman, having seen the monster he's become (and those he's inspired in the wrong way), accepts that he has to be a symbol of hope for this city, both as Bruce Wayne and as his alter-ego. There's still a lot of rebuilding to do, and Gotham now has a mayor who's fully on the side of good, but the next time that light shines in the sky, it won't be just a call; it will be a sign to the city that the Dark Knight will be there to help.
  • The Dark Knight Trilogy:
    • The Dark Knight: While Joker and Two-Face may have been defeated, Harvey Dent is killed after becoming a raging lunatic, and Batman, after having had to break his Thou Shalt Not Kill rule to save an innocent life from the insane Harvey, decides to take the fall for all the people he killed as Two-Face in order to prevent the criminals he put away from being released, meaning he's now wanted by the police. Oh, and the love of his life is dead, too, without him knowing that she was planning on marrying another man because she couldn't deal with his double life.
    • The end of The Dark Knight Rises seems to head this way, with Gotham saved by Batman but those who knew his true identity mourning the Heroic Sacrifice that saved them all. This is ultimately subverted however, as they learn (or are at least given enough information to infer) that Bruce Wayne faked his death and retired, putting his demons to rest at last.

    Live-Action TV 

Live-Action TV

  • Doom Patrol (2019): The threat of the Butts and Immortus has been thwarted, and the world is once again saved, but Rita succumbs to old age and dies despite the rest of the team having their longevity restored moments before, Cliff's Parkinsons eventually claims him too, and the team is disbanded at Rita's final request from beyond the grave. However, the rest of the team does find some closure— Jane is able to heal from her trauma and becomes Kaleidoscope (or Kay) to join Space Case and start up a relationship with her, Larry and Keig retrieve Mr. 104 and travel to a dimension where they can live their lives without their powers hurting everyone, Vic returns to being Cyborg and joins in teaching a class to help young geniuses hone their talents, Rouge goes to burn down the Ant-Farm, Rita is reunited with her long-deceased lover in the afterlife, and Cliff is granted a vision of the complete life of his grandson Rory to see the kind of man he'll grow up to become before he passes on.
  • The Flash (2014) episode "Killer Frost": Wally gets the Super-Speed he desperately wanted and Barry is able to get through to Caitlin and help her suppress her Superpowered Evil Side KillerFrost... but Barry and Cisco's friendship is on the rocks due to the revelation that Cisco's brother was alive before Barry changed the timeline, meaning that Barry is partly responsible for his death, and Barry is forced to quit his job as a CSI so that Julian will keep quiet about Caitlin kidnapping him. Oh, and the episode began with Barry being badly beaten by new Big Bad Savitar, meaning that at the end of the episode, the heroes still have the threat of a new evil speedster hanging over their heads.

    Video Games 

Video Games

  • Batman: Arkham City: Though the day is saved and Batman's cured of the toxin in him, it wasn't without a cost - a portion of Arkham City is in ruins, almost 25% of the inmates are dead because of Dr. Hugo Strange's Protocol 10 along with Strange himself, Ra's al Guhl, his daughter Talia, possibly Clayface, and the Joker himself. Even more, Harley Quinn's pregnant with the Joker's child and she wants vengeance. What's more, you'd think Batman would be happy that the Joker is finally gone for good, but he isn't, if the look on his face as he carries his Arch-Enemy's body out at the end is any indication. The Joker always considered him a Worthy Opponent; maybe Batman actually feels the same way. The story DLC Harley Quinn's Revenge pushes Harley's right into a Downer Ending as Robin discovers when he infiltrates the Steel Mill and finds a crib with a Joker-fied Scarface doll surrounded by pregnancy tests, all negative and now with warning labels about false positives. What's worse, mere feet away from it is the original positive test. Harley's willingness to die along with Batman by detonating the bombs in the Steel Mill definitely shows it affected her deeply.
  • Injustice
    • Injustice: Gods Among Us: The Regime's rampage through Metropolis and Gotham is put to a stop, and many of the members of the Regime (as well as Superman) were imprisoned. However, Lex Luthor and Shazam, both considered good guys, are killed by Superman, and the Injustice-verse is in ruins, allowing Brainiac to invade earth with no fuss in the sequel.
    • Injustice 2: Absolute Justice ending. Batman defeats Aquaman, Black Adam, Wonder Woman, and defeats Superman. He also depowers Superman before Superman goes back to Phantom Zone. Brainiac is also defeated too and spared, but his fate remains unknown. But the cities that were captured to Brainiac are still lost. However, Batman offers Supergirl to form a new Justice League, which would protect people instead of governing them, thus welcoming her to the circle of trust. Even worse, Superman turned the house of El into a symbol of fear and terror, and Supergirl lost a surviving member of the El family.

    Western Animation 

Western Animation

  • Batman: The Animated Series: Unsurprisingly this Film Noir influenced show set in a grim, crime ridden urban sprawl isn't short on these.
  • The Batman had episodes often end like this as time went on, but the first Bittersweet Ending in the series definitely had impact on the show; the two-part first season finale, "The Rubberface Of Comedy" and "The Clayface of Tragedy". The Joker begins a crime spree with his Joker Putty, capable of turning anything into a putty-like material. When the police try to stop him, Joker kidnaps Ethan Bennett, Bruce Wayne's oldest childhood friend and an officer constantly harrased by Chief Rojas for thinking The Batman is good for Gotham City. At the end of the first part, Joker ends up mind raping Ethan and accidentally turns him into Clayface by exposure to gas based on Joker Putty. During the second part, Ethan attempts to exact revenge on Chief Rojas for his torment. Batman manages to save Chief Rojas, but is defeated by Clayface. Yin saves Batman, but Ethan escapes and is nowhere to be found, and since he can now shape-shift...Bruce feels he may never see his friend again. Of course, later he does in the second season...only for Joker to convince Ethan to not reform and instead embrace being a supervillain. At least in that episode, Batman caught Clayface this time.
  • "Mitefall!", the final episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Ambush Bug rescues the show from Bat-Mite's meddling and Batman saves the day, but it's too late to save the show from cancellation. With their new-found Medium Awareness, almost every character to ever appear in the show - heroes and villains, dead and alive - put aside their differences and have one last party in a Batcave which is revealed to be nothing more than a set and is being dismantled around them. Batman promises the audience that, until they meet again, wherever evil lurks, he'll be there to defend the innocent and the final shot of the series is a group shot of all the heroes - and, by extension, their entire world - fading to black.
  • Beware the Batman ends on one. Deathstroke has been defeated and he can’t remember who Batman is, Batman, Katana, Man-Bat, Metamorpho, and Oracle join forces to protect Gotham, and Anarky’s plans are ruined and he has to start over from scratch. However, Harvey Dent has become Two-Face and is going to campaign for mayor, and Batman is considered a public menace.
  • Justice League:
    • "Paradise Lost" ends this way; Faust is dead, Hades is banished back to Tartarus, and the Amazons are freed from Faust's petrification spell. But by bringing the rest of the League with her to help, Diana allowed men to set foot on Themyscira. Meaning that she broke the Amazons' most sacred law and that Hippolyta has no choice but to exile her own daughter.
    • In "Starcrossed", the final episode of Justice League (before being rebranded into Unlimited), Earth is saved from destruction... at the cost of their home base, one of their members leaving (breaking up the series' main relationship), and an untold amount of the Thanagarians threatening the planet. Sweetened a bit by its continuation, Unlimited, which shows that things can be rebuilt, but even then there's a note of bitterness lingering throughout the series. Thanagar loses its war and planet, Shayera has to spend years slowly earning back the trust of Earth, can't earn back the trust of Thanagar, and the relationship between Diana and Shayera is one of the most strained in the League. At least Diana starts to warm up, and time travel shows that John does get back with Shayera.
    • Despite the proud tone of Justice League and Unlimited as the age of superheroes, Batman Beyond shows that all good things come to end, with the Batfamily having enough of Bruce's unwillingness to open up that they eventually abandon him and move on with their lives (thanks to a traumatic ordeal) and Bruce cutting off his ties to the League to return to working alone, as well as the League greatly reducing in numbers in the next thirty years.
      • And in line with the bleak and bitter(sweet) tone of Batman Beyond as the distant finale of the DCAU, the (dubiously canon) comic continuation reveals the fate of several other Leaguers and their associates: Superman outlived Lois and his other friends; Wonder Woman spent the last three decades willingly stranded in the Justice Lords universe; Shayera and John married... but Vixen was killed by Shadow Thief right as John was going to propose to her, Hawkman was killed in a futile attempt to bring peace to the Thanagarians and Rannians, and John was revoked of his ring for killing Shadow Thief in vengeance; Flash disappeared into the Speed Force and never came back; Aquaman cut off his ties with the outside world and was forced to disown his own children.
  • My Adventures with Superman: In "Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal", on one hand, Lois and Clark cement their Relationship Upgrade and get off the League of Lois Lanes' radar. On the other, Lois learns that not all Supermen are heroic and Mr. Mxyzptlk escapes with seemingly little inconvenience.
  • Teen Titans (2003)
  • A few in Young Justice (2010)
    • The season 1 episode "Failsafe" ends with the team waking up from their comas as a result from the Unwinnable Training Simulation and the Justice League being alive but M'Gann is emotionally traumatized and weeping over what she has put the team through by accident and Martian Manhunter reveals to Batman that she has more raw power than himself.
    • The season 2 finale "Endgame" ends with the whole world being saved and everyone safe and happy... except for Kid Flash who sacrificed himself to save everyone else. Artemis fully changes from "Artemis" to her other heroic persona "Tigress", stating that "Artemis was Wally's partner".

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