Break The Cutie / The DCU

The DCU

Comic Books

Comic Books

• Anarky: Anarky gets this at the end of his "Metamorphosis" storyline, where he is confronted with a hallucinatory vision of his successful plan leading to the formal institution of "parasite tests", with failures being ghettoized and left to rot, a state of affairs that promotes Might Makes Right brutality and ruthlessness amongst the imprisoned until the strongest, meanest, most savage individuals are left and these promptly roll out of the ghetto, unleashing such barbarism against the "enlightened" that they end up reverting back to the "old ways" of authority in return for guaranteed safety against them.
• Buddy from Animal Man starts off as an idealistic funny person, but after his wife and children die, he goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge and kills people.
  • Of course, this, like many other events in the comic, is meant as a meta-commentary on The Dark Age of Comic Books that had started a year or so after.
• This is essentially what happens in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns when Carrie sees the bodies of the Cub Scouts who took the poisoned cotton candy from the Joker. Batman's internal dialogue lampshades it.
• It's quite a shock to see Nelson Gardner, previously a neurotic wreck in Watchmen proper, as a fit and self-assured younger man in Before Watchmen. His relationship with HJ probably had a lot to do with it. Byron is following a similar downward trajectory.
• Ice's meeting with Guy Gardner in Brightest Day post-mindwipe by Max Lord; to keep the JLI from recruiting their Green Lantern friend, Max alters Guy's memories so that a fake post-Blackest Night meeting between the two happened, where Ice tried to kill Guy Gardner for no good reason. Given that this came after the two began dating again after Ice's resurrection, as well as Judd Winnick proclaiming that the point of the scene was to sink the Guy/Ice ship, it makes it a major moment of sadness.
  • And then Ice suddenly manifests "repressed memories" of belonging to a Romani tribe (of the stereotyped "mostly thieves and conmen" type) and killing her father and grandfather trying to escape. Her previously revealed family of magical ice people were supposedly her imagination, despite the fact that other people in the Justice League have met them existed, but were not her birth family. After about two issues of angst, Ice puts these developments on the back-burner, however, as she has other things to worry about.
• Mario Falcone in Dark Victory honestly believes that he can make the Falcone family a legitimate and respected part of Gotham City's upper crust, much like the Wayne's, and even helps the DA's office take down the remainder of his family's criminal organization. It does not end well.
• Shazam!: Adrianna Tomaz, aka Isis from 52. She starts as All-Loving Hero, determined to see the good in the world despite all of the horrible things she had endured up to that point (being kidnapped to be used as a bargaining chip by Intergang for starters). As Isis, she brings light to Kahndaq and convinces her new husband Black Adam that he doesn't have to be a violent Anti-Villain anymore. Then it all goes to hell in One Bad Day. Her brother is eaten alive by their Team Pet Sobek, who was really a member of a group of Eldritch Abominations sent by Intergang to destroy the Marvels. Then she gets a mouthful of plague and dies a painful death in Black Adam's arms. Adrianna is so broken that she renounces her idealism, tells Black Adam that he had been right all along about the world, and with her last breath asks him to "avenge us". Believe it or not, it went From Bad to Worse. Being resurrected and brainwashed by an Evil Sorcerer who used her to free himself from a prison and subsequently being constantly raped by said sorcerer sent her soaring over the Despair Event Horizon. When Black Adam eventually frees her, Adrianna's first act is to castrate the sorcerer with her bare hands. Finally, she crosses the Moral Event Horizon into full-blown villainy when she declares the people of Kahndaq, the people who worship her as a goddess, to be just another bunch of bastards, and starts turning them into dirt statues. Even Black Adam is horrified by this!
• Issue #5 of Lazarus featured a flashback to Forever as a young girl, being forced to fight and defeat a woman at least ten years her senior to be given the family sword. Not surprsingly, she fails, and Malcom coldly reprimands her. The look on her face is heartwrenching.
• Legion of Super-Heroes:
  • v4 did this with a number of characters, but particularly harshly with the White Witch. Previously depicted as a slightly shy, bookish type in a (platonic?) relationship with teammate Blok. At the start of v4, she was shown to be in an abusive marriage with former archnemesis Mordru. She was rescued by the reconstituted Legion just in time to discover that Blok had been brutally mutilated by genocidal pirate Roxxas the Butcher.
  • Cera Kesh from the Glorithverse Legionnaires, a rejected Legion applicant who showed everyone Who's Laughing Now? when the Eye chose her. Also, Shrinking Violet.
    • Ingria Olav, Leland McCauley's girlfriend, had no idea what she was getting herself into when Leland let her become the Empress in his new Fatal Five.
• Almost everyone in Punk Rock Jesus who isn't Slate gets this at some point. Most notably Gwen (who at one point nearly gets Driven to Suicide) and Dr. Epstein.
• Tim Drake, Robin III now Red Robin, started out quite differently from his predecessors. Initially he had two living parents and a large supporting cast at his school, though his mother was tragically murdered soon after he took on the role. Overall, he was portrayed more as a realistic teenager than the usual vigilante. That was until his school was shot up and his girlfriend was brutally tortured to death by Black Mask. Within a month, his father was killed by Captain Boomerang. Less than a year later his two best friends, Conner Kent (Superboy) and Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash), died saving the world making Tim the last surviving Young Justice founder. Then his adoptive father went missing in time, and Tim's attempts to convince his siblings of the fact convinced them he'd lost his mind to grief. He has since taken up far more ruthless crime fighting techniques and become more serious and less likely to joke or laugh in or out of costume.
  • Oddly enough, Cassandra Cain is a mirror image of Bruce. Despite the Training from Hell, she was a true innocent who thought the mastery of combat arts was as much a game as anything and the painful parts (two for flinching, with light caliber handguns) were "normal" to her. Then she reduced a living, thinking, man to a large mass of inert meat with her own 8 year old hand... seeing the horror in his eyes as life faded from them... and it was suddenly not fun anymore.
  • Jason Todd was broken by dying, even after he was Killed Off for Real, when he became Red Hood.
  • Batman himself. Watching his parents get shot dead right in front of him at the age of eight (or ten, depending on the continuity)... you didn't think a guy in an armored bat costume swinging from the rooftops on a nightly basis to beat up crooks was sane, did you?
    "What do you suppose something like that does to a kid?"

    — Alexander Knox, Batman (1989)
• The Sandman (1989):
  • Delirium was originally Delight, until something caused her to change. Most likely when she realized that she's older than the universe, but she's forever the youngest of the Endless.
  • Nuala was sent by Oberon and Titania as a gift to Dream as part of a diplomatic mission to keep Hell closed (It's a Long Story). No one expected this mission to be successful, and Nuala was allowed to believe she'd be returning to Faerie when it was done. Cluracan reluctantly informs her when he leaves that Titania will not allow the gift to be rejected win or lose, and so she would not be welcomed back to her home. When Dream accepts her into his employ, he strips her of her beautiful and dignified Glamour, returning her to her gawky, awkward and mousey natural appearance. She spends a lot of time afterwards miserable. Dream doesn't even give her a position in his court — she begins acting as a housekeeper out of a need for something to do.
• Happens to quite a few of Dian's friends in Sandman Mystery Theatre. Also, poor, poor Emily...
• Shazam!: Freddy Freeman, who has the distinction of: A) being the only superhero to gain his powers thanks to a hate crime; B) being orphaned as a result of said hate crime; C) being left with a permanent disability as another result of that hate crime, which — despite the fact that he knows an all-powerful wizard — can't be magically healed for reasons that are never fully explained; and D) losing his athletic prowess (and subsequently all of his friends) thanks to that disability. While all of the Shazam! kids have a rough lot in life, Freddy has traditionally portrayed as being more "broken" by his experiences than everyone else. He's the most cynical member of the Marvel family, and has a temper that oftentimes gets him into trouble and exacerbates his problems.
  • In Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, Freddy is a complete paraplegic, was injured as a result of Captain Marvel's negligence, and is so embittered that he becomes Black Adam's sidekick. He gets better.
• Supergirl:
  • Kara Zor-El always goes through this, not matter the universe. She is a genuinely nice, sweet teen girl who loses her family and her whole world when her parents launch her off Argo City to save her life. She crash-lands into a strange, alien, primitive world where she doesn't blend in and strangers want to kill her or capture her and examine her.
  • In the Pre-Crisis universe, Superman -her only living relative- sent Kara to an orphanage because he feared that his enemies would do if they found out about her, telling her to keep her existence a secret while he trained her. Kara hated the Midvale Orphanage but she had to live there during her training, performing heroic deeds anonymously and avoiding to be adopted. Finally her cousin is about to make her -Supergirl's- existence public when she loses her powers.
  • Post-Crisis Kara was getting used to live on Earth when Superman retrieves the Bottle City of Kandor -in which were imprisoned her parents and several thousands of Kryptonians- from Brainiac. However, one of her villains -Reactron- kills her parents and blows New Krypton up, exterminating the last survivors of Krypton. So she lost her family and world twice.
  • Post-Flashpoint Kara didn't trust her cousin, felt lonely and stranded in a strange world and was manipulated by most of people until she flew off the handle.
  • Many Happy Returns: Kara loses her parents and her entire world when they launch her off Argo City to save her life. Her rocket changes course and she crashes into the post-Crisis universe instead of Earth-One. Everyone yells at her, hurts her, thinks she is an idiot or crazy. Her only living relative turns her down before she can explain she is his cousin because he believes her to be an obsessed fan. She tries to go school and make friends but she is treated as a freak. And then a cosmic being turns up and tells her that she has to return to her universe... where she will eventually get killed.
  Kara: It's nice. It's... peaceful. Not like here. Here people yell at you... or hurt you... or think you're an idiot or crazy... Or let you down. I've never hated anyone or anything in my life. But I hate this world. I hate it.
  • Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl. Two examples: Kara Zor-El -Supergirl- was an nice, innocent, naive woman. Then she found out that her father figure — someone who she thought was a very good person — murdered her baby cousin several years before, and was manipulating her all along. Barbara Gordon — Batgirl — was a sweet, smiling child until she saw her parents being murdered by a punk with a gun. She became a harsh, cynical, paranoid person.
• Wonder Woman in Superman: Red Son, who loses a piece of herself when she has to break her own lasso to save Superman.
• Wonder Woman (1987): "Julia" was a Daxamite who abandoned her violently prejudiced people during Invasion!, only to end up captured by the Sangtee Empire when she tried to free the slaves on one of their horrific prison planets. She was subsequently tortured to the point that her name was lost and she stopped speaking, then hung up in a system designed specifically to depower Daxamites (and Kryptonians) so that her now eyeless defeated form could serve as an example to the slaves of what happens to those who try to rebel.
• Both played straight and for comedy with DCU's Miss Martian, M'gann M'orzz. After One Year Later, it's said she left the Teen Titans due to something Ravager did to her; while fans wonder as to the implications, it's later revealed that Ravager just yelled at her, making her cry, when M'gann threw a pie in her face. Eventually, she is nearly broken when her Future Evil Self's body is destroyed and their minds merge. M'gann eventually wins the mental war by using bunnies and cute images in her mindscape to keep her evil future self at bay.

Films

Films

• Batman (1989): Alicia was physically and psychologically tortured by Joker, then killed when he lost interest in her.
• The Joker did this in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker where during Bruce's time he kidnaps Tim Drake and tortures/MindRapes him into giving up Batman's secrets (including Secret Identity) as well as making him into a miniature version of The Joker known as J.J (Joker Jr.) to fit into a sick excuse of a family unit with Harley Quinn and him. This is shown as enough to convince Batman to try and kill Joker, (meaning the Joker finally broke Batman, too) which he fails to do... but is saved by the still-broken Tim killing the Joker after Joker tries to get him to kill the subdued Batman. This only further adds to his trauma. Although he does get better, Tim is forever traumatized and never again becomes Robin in the DCAU.

Live-Action TV

Live-Action TV

• Arrow: In flashbacks Laurel Lance is shown to be sweet and a little naive. By the time the series starts she's understandably bitter about how her sister, Sarah, died while sleeping with her boyfriend, Oliver. She does forgive Oliver but she is still very changed by what happened.
• Gotham: Throughout the first season, Edward Nigma evolved from an innocent geek to a murderer.
• Smallville:
  • Chloe Sullivan for most of Seasons 2 and 3 as Clark gets closer to Lana and the temptation of Lionel's offer growing stronger and stronger.
    • Chloe again, only a lot worse, from the end of Season 7 to all of Season 8, and extending to Season 9. She actually had a Lampshade Hanging moment at her birthday party when she recounted some of the things she went through, but it was dropped somewhat by the end of the episode, only to have more of it piled on her. Fired for protecting Clark, wedding ruined by Doomsday's attack, Jimmy being grievously injured, Doomsday kidnapping her to allow Brainiac to possess her, Jimmy making a scene and divorcing her influenced by Doomsday's manipulation and saying marrying her is the biggest mistake of his life, new friend and one ray of sunshine in this mire is a serial killer. At the end of the season, she is a frightened, trembling wreck. In a deleted scene in Injustice, she is seen sitting, hugging herself, shivering, in the bathroom when Clark comes in, wraps a towel around her and hugs her. Actually an imposer, but it is a very reasonable guise. In Doomsday, Davis and Jimmy kill each other in front of her and Jimmy dies in her arms. Clark tells her that Clark Kent is dead and decides to sever ties with humanity and walks out of her life, and Lois goes missing. In Savior, a grief-stricken Chloe begs Clark to use the Legion ring to go back and save Jimmy, which he refuses. Chloe tells Emil she has been haunted by her ghosts so much lately she had to carry a gun to fall asleep. She is pretty much broken by now. Here is a rough summary of her many heartbreaks in Season 8, obviously with spoilers.
  • The series began by breaking 3-year-old Lana while in her fairy princess costume. Every so often we hear about the hole in her heart where her parents used to be. However, it is only a one scene appearance and Lana's endless Wangsting ruined the effect.

Western Animation

Western Animation

• From Batman: The Brave and the Bold there's the episode "Emperor Joker!" where the Reality Warping Batmite tries to help Batman without breaking an earlier promise he made about not using his powers. He resolves to lend Batman his powers but misses, hitting Joker instead and giving the villain the power to bend reality to his will. As a result of this the Joker destroys the universe. Now powerless Batmite is tormented by an Imp version of the Joker, Jokermite; Forced to Watch his hero be killed mercilessly over and over again in different painful methods and be humiliated and demoted to Court Jester all the while plagued by the knowledge that this is all his fault.
• Aya from Green Lantern: The Animated Series, in the episode: "Cold Fury", Razer rejects her and it causes her pain, she then shuts down her emotions and decides she wants nothing to do with organics. After coming to her senses and while healing Razer, she begins showing remorse for her actions.
• Terra from the animated Teen Titans (2003) started out cracked, then met Slade, who did his best to finish breaking her.
  • Some villains attempt to do this a few other Titans, but they usually recover and/or defeat the villain tormenting them.
• The Young Justice (2010) episode "Failsafe" breaks Miss Martian, after she loses control of her powers and accidentally pulls a Holodeck Malfunction on the team during a training exercise, rewriting their memories to make them believe the simulation was real and leaving them all in comas when they "died." She collapses in tears at the end of the episode when she learns what happened.
  • The Holodeck Malfunction a pretty good job of breaking Robin, too. It's not really touched upon until the following episode, but the burden of sending his friends to their deaths took its toll on him, and made him realize that he didn't want to become the Batman.
  • In "Misplaced" it's Zatanna's turn to be broken when her father takes her place as Nabu's host (effectively killing him). One of the last scenes of the episode is Zatanna sitting alone in her new room at Young Justice headquarters crying her heart out.
  • Miss Martian, again, starting about 1/3 of the way through "Depths" and several episodes afterwards where she commits Mind Rape against Aqualad, discovering that he was The Mole all along, but destroying his mind in the process.

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