- Djuba, the gorilla pal of B'wanna Beast. She was captured from Africa and experimented upon by S.T.A.R. labs scientists. Not even his pal B'wanna Beast could save her.
- Crafty the coyote's incredibly depressing backstory: He was a cartoon character who tried to stop the slapstick violence of his world. God agreed to do this with the condition that Crafty would spend all of eternity on the reality above them (Animal Man's reality), being constantly killed and brought back to life.
- The Red Mask was an obscure supervillain from the 1940s, who acquired a Death Touch after exposing himself to a meteorite, thinking it'd make him able to fly. With his life in shambles due to such power, he had no choice but to become a supercriminal, and had a brief stint as a D-lister alongside another guy known as the Veil, who ended up in Arkham Asylum. The Red Mask reappeared years later during the DC event Invasion dying of lung cancer, and decided to unleash a final attack with his army of crappy robots. Animal Man can't help but feel pity for the poor bastard, and promises to get him an interview on TV to tell the story of his life if he stops the madness. We are lead to believe the Red Mask accepted, but when Buddy leaves he decides to just jump to his death. He can finally fly.The Red Mask: All I ever wanted to do was fly. That would have been enough. I could have joined the Justice Society and made something of my life.
- The Time Commander, an obscure JLA villain with chronokinesis decides to use his powers for good purposes by doing things like restoring the youth of an old woman or bringing back the dead. Unfortunately the JLE doesn't like the chaos he is causing and beat him, even though he was just doing good, and Metamorpho accidentally destroys the hourglass from which his powers came.
- Buddy's family's death and the build up to it. The following issues show one of the most realistic, bleak depictions of trauma in comics.
- Limbo, and all the misery floating in it: Characters like the Green Team or the Inferior Five, who just desperately want to return to continuity. Fortunately, Heartwarming in Hindsight applies here, since most of them managed to return.
- The very last couple of pages during Morrison's run. It's already a tearjerker in of it's self, but what makes it moreso sad is what happens at the end. After Grant shines their light to try to signal Foxy, they get no response and leaves. A light then shines back from the hill. Grant doesn't see it.
- The characters still in limbo, though some might eventually return to continuity, several won't. As Merryman of the Inferior Five pointed out, times have changed where certain characters won't likely return, like the Space Canine Patrol Agents.
- "Let's face it, who cares about the Space Canine Patrol Agents in this day and age?"
- Peter Milligan's Animal Man has three particularly sad moments: Buddy being trapped in a universe where Ellen cheats on him, the death of the Angel Mob and, on a more bittersweet case, his goodbye to Nowhere Man.
- Buddy's powers begin malfunctioning (again) at the beginning of Veitch's run. Not only is he killing birds every time he flies, but at one point accidentally kills the entire San Diego zoo.
- Ellen decides she and Maxine need some time away from LA. Cliff is increasingly becoming alienated from his dad. Animal Man's powers aren't working properly and he feels very ill. Veitch's overall run is much bleaker and depressing than even Milligan's.
Ellen... I need you... Don't go... Please don't go... - The Injustice version of the character sees animals being hunted to extinction by poachers.
