It’s safe to say most characters don’t become superheroes because they possess a great life. If anything, most superhero origins take root in the character's dissatisfaction towards their life, if not all-out tragedy. But the saddest origin stories of superheroes take the tragedy of everyday life and twist the knife until nothing's left to bleed. The characters on this list haven’t simply led a hard life, they’ve had the hardest life. Either their parents were murdered in front of them, or the one thing cherished most was ripped away from them, leaving them a broken mess of a person. Keep reading to learn about even more sad superhero origin stories.

For much of the golden era of comics, superhero origins were based around dead either dead parents or science gone wrong – or in the case of one character on this list, both – but as the decades moved on the origin stories got more complicated, and some of them became even more depressing. As you read this collection of the most depressing superhero origin stories prepare to sigh heavily, think about your parents, and maybe even have a stiff drink. But remember, the characters on this list took the world’s biggest lemons and turned them into lemonade, and that means that you can too. But before you turn your life around, don’t forget to vote on the most traumatizing superhero origin stories.