10 Most Embarrassing Comic Book Deaths

10. Jason Todd (A Death In The Family, 1988)

Poor Jason. He’s always been the red-headed step child of the Bat family, but the guy could never catch a break. After Dick Grayson, the original Robin, had moved on to become the de facto leader of the Teen Titans, Batman was left wandering the streets of Gotham without an underage sidekick to talk sense into him.

Realizing that Batman desperately needed a voice of reason (seeing as he clearly suffers from multiple mental health disorders) the powers that be at DC created a new character to take over the role of Robin. That character wound up being Jason Todd, and although he was initially well received, a revamp following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths made fans turn on him almost instantly.

Unsure of what to do with a character fans hated, DC decided to leave Todd’s fate up to the readers. At the end of Batman #427, Jason is nearly beaten to death and left to die by the Joker. The comic encouraged readers to call a 1-900 number to determine his fate, and unfortunately for Todd, he was killed. Jason Todd’s death was brutal, and had lasting ramifications on Batman, but the fact that Todd was killed via a phone poll is rough.