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DC: 10 Heroes Who Tried To Save A Planet (& How They Failed) - CBR - Comic Book Resources

In comics, especially modern comics, the heroes sometimes fail to save the day. It's terribly tragic when it happens, but sometimes those failures cost the universe a world full of inhabitants that innocent to the conflict that brings about its destruction. And, from time to time, that world is Earth.

RELATED: Across The Universe: The 10 Most Important Planets In The DC Universe

Sometimes, the odds are just too great against the heroes. Sometimes, the only way to stop a threat is to destroy the planet. Sometimes, the heroes just fall short. Far too many times, a planet has paid the price for the failure of a hero or heroes.

10 The Heroes of Earth 2 Fail To Stop Darkseid

Detail from Earth 2 Worlds End #26

During the New 52, the threat of Darkseid was forever looming. Unfortunately, there was a world where the forces of Apokolips were victorious. While the initial war against Apokolips saw the deaths of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, a new Justice Society rose to defend their world. Unfortunately, they failed as well.

The leader of the New Gods, Highfather, made a deal with Darkseid not to oppose him if the conqueror focused on only one Earth in the Multiverse. Successful, Darkseid destroys Earth 2. Fortunately, at the end of Convergence, the refugees could make a new home on Telos, with it taking Earth 2's place as a new home for the refugees.

9 Starfire Couldn't Save Anyone on New Tamaran From a Sun-Eater

New Tamaran dies in Final Night

Following the destruction of their home planet, the people of Tamaran make a new home on of its remaining moons. Unfortunately, they are soon the victims of a Sun-Eater. The sole person to trust the refugee Dusk, Starfire manages to escape its destruction caused primarily when her sister, Blackfire, overloads the thermal tap that is preserving the planet.

RELATED: Teen Titans: 10 Things DC Fans Should Know About Starfire’s Home Planet, Tamaran

It's just one episode from a tragic history for Tamaraneans. After losing their homeworld to the Psions and a corrupted Raven, they lost this world as well. They resettled on Karna, home of the Gordanians, only to then see it destroyed by Imperiex.

8 Adam Strange Blew Up Rann

Rann destroyed at the end of the Holy War

The Rann-Thanagar War was the result of Superboy-Prime relocating Rann into Thanagar's system. This caused a series of events that led to war between the two planets, followed by a Holy War with Lady Styx and Synnar, the disgraced demiurge of the universe. Adam Strange then set forth on a risky plan to stop him.

Overloading the being known as the Weird, Adam Strange merges him with Synnar. This not only destroys the two entities but purges Rann of any capability to support life, ejecting the atmosphere into space. Fortunately, the population of Rann was spared and teleported to Throneworld, where it's ruler, Prince Gavyn, renamed it as New Rann.

7 The Legion of Super-Heroes Failed to Save Titan

Titan Destroyed and the Legion of Super-Heroes fails

When the original Legion of Super-Heroes was "retrobooted" into a new series written by Paul Levitz, there was an event that changed much of their rebuilding following the rise of xenophobia on Earth. The Time Institute relocated to Titan and researchers rebuilt their time viewer. Then they made the mistake of looking at the beginning of time.

RELATED: DC: 10 Best Time Travel Stories

In DC stories, observing the beginning of time usually results in a catastrophe. Cosmic energy ripped Titan asunder, Saturn Girl signaled the Legion, and they managed to evacuate a good percentage of the population. But when Brainiac 5 went to get a time sphere, the one thing that could have possibly prevented the destruction, Saturn Girl took it to find her children instead.

6 Superman Couldn't Help Luthor Save Lexor

Superman fails to save Lexor in Action Comics #544

At one point, Lex Luthor was so tired of being beaten by Superman that he reformed and retired to the planet of Lexor, a world that he helped with his inventions. Unfortunately, his hatred for Superman got the better of him, and he built a battlesuit to create a fake threat and maintain his identity as Lexor's savior.

Superman tracked him down, but a prolonged battle wore down the field that protected the Man of Steel from Lexor's red sun. When an energy blast from Luthor's battlesuit ricocheted onto Lexor's neutron rod into Lexor's core, it blew the world up, killing Luthor's wife and son. Superman could only be thrown clear of the explosion, not possessing enough power to save the planet.

5 Superman Couldn't Save New Krypton

Superman witnesses Death of New Krypton

One of the largest events of the 2000s was the return of the Kryptonian race. Kandor enlarged and the Phantom Zone released led to the construction of New Krypton on the opposite side of the Sun. Superman went to the new world, and tension remained between New Krypton and Earth. When Brainiac arrived, things looked very dark.

The tension on Earth led to General Sam Lane recruit Lex Luthor to stop the Kryptonians. In War of the Supermen,  Luthor sent the villain Reactron to New Krypton and caused him to go critical mass, destroying the planet. Only Superman, Supergirl, and General Zod's army— set to invade Earth already— survived. Many of them would not survive the next 100 minutes of the war.

4 The Green Lanterns Couldn't Save Oa

Relic destroys Oa in Green Lantern Corps #25

Oa was home to an army of thousands of Green Lanterns. This didn't help when Relic came to Oa and destroyed the Central Power Battery. It was tied into the planet so thoroughly, the planet instantly was doomed. John Stewart and a small force of  Green Lanterns managed to distract Relic while Hal Jordan and the others evacuated the planet.

Unfortunately, Relic didn't perish in the explosion but was eventually trapped by Kyle Rayner in the Source Wall. The Green Lantern Corps made a new headquarters on Mogo. The Guardians started rebuilding a new planet named New Oa, but the death of the original home was a devastating blow for the Corps.

3 John Stewart Failed To Save Xanshi Because The Bomb Was Yellow

John Stewart fails in Cosmic Odyssey #2

In Cosmic Odyssey, an assemblage of heroes banded together to stop the Anti-Life Equation. Sent in pairs, many accomplished their task of saving several worlds. Green Lantern John Stewart was sent to Xanshi with the Martian Manhunter, overly confident that his ring could handle anything that their adversary could throw at them. He even charged forward without his partner.

His confidence is shattered when he arrives at the Doomsday Device on Xanshi. He discovers that the aspect of the Anti-Life Equation has painted it yellow, the color his ring is powerless against. The death of the planet would haunt the hero for years.

2 Green Lantern Tomar-Re Failed To Save Krypton

Green Lantern Tomar-Re fails to stop Krypton's destruction

The death of Krypton is one of the keystone events in DC history. At its heart is the failure of one particular hero: The Green Lantern charged with protecting Krypton was Tomar-Re. The Guardians assigned Tomar-Re to give the Kryptonians enough time to recognize the danger and leave the planet.

Unfortunately, Tomar-Re couldn't stop the planet from blowing up, since Krypton's survival would have doomed numerous other planets. He used mined material to delay the destruction. Unfortunately, one mission blinded him and delayed him enough that he arrived too late and witnessed the destruction. The Guardians explained that one of the few survivors grew up to become Superman, giving him some solace in his failure.

1 The Legion of Super-Heroes Could Only Watch Earth Blow Up

Legion of Super-Heroes #38 cover detail

During the "Five Years Later" period of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Earth was conquered by the Dominators. Freeing the planet was a moment of celebration. Unfortunately, the celebration was short-lived when it was discovered that a key event of the liberation had doomed the planet to die explosively.

RELATED: 5 Reasons Why The Five Years Later Legion Story Was The Best (& 5 It Was The Worst)

A resistance fighter detonated a series of underground chambers that the Dominators had used. This set off a chain reaction with forgotten storage pockets of dumped nuclear waste within Earth's core. Despite their best efforts at evacuation, the Legion could only watch while billions of people died in an explosive demise of a planet home to so much DC history.

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2020-11-14 17:40:40Z
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