10 Batman Fates Worse Than Death
7. Becoming A Radioactive Zombie Skeleton - Batman Beyond
The DC Animated Universe was filled to the brim with darker moments, but particularly Batman Beyond. The cyberpunk inspired Neo Gotham was big on body horror, and the villains new Batman Terry McGinnis had to face each week ranged from the grotesque to the genuinely unnerving.
Of these villains, arguably the worst to suffer was the Earthmover, who made his sole appearance in the 1999 episode of the same name.
The plot of "Earth Mover" revolves around one of Terry's friends, Jackie, who suspects she's being followed. Terry eventually discovers that weird mudmen have been watching their every move, and that they're particularly violent towards Jackie's father.
Later, it is revealed that Jackie's father Bill isn't her real father at all, and that he'd adopted her after her biological dad, Tony, was killed disposing of chemical waste illegally when she was just a baby, an act Bill had pressured him into doing under the promise of a lucrative business partnership.
The chemicals Tony was subjected to bonded his body to the earth, deep underground. This turned him into what was essentially a radioactive mud zombie, a glowing husk of a man destined to spend the remainder of his days alone, while the associate who led him to his predicament got to raise his daughter, who was oblivious to the truth.