10 Comic Book Catastrophes That Killed Millions

10. The Gotham Earthquake - No Man€™'s Land

Batman Cataclysm
DC Comics

Death toll: Hundreds

Starting off with a rather tame (comparatively, anyway) catastrophe is the great Gotham earthquake which pretty much ruined the city and kicked off the year-long No Man'€™s Land storyline, which saw Batman'€™s home being evacuate following a 7.6 magnitude tremor which tears the streets apart and kills a bunch of people.

The whole thing kicked off after a spate of bad luck for the city that saw the outbreak of a lethal disease in Contagion and then Ra'€™s al Ghul, Bane and The League of Assassins trying to disseminate it across the globe. Then there was this big earthquake and a bunch of people died, the bridges into Gotham were destroyed and nobody was allowed in or out. A fair few perished in the immediate natural disaster but scores more expired in the aftermath thanks to famine, illness, or supervillains doing what supervillains do best when martial law is declared.

Many died during No Man€™s Land, but the focus was on the main characters who got bumped off - namely Commissioner Gordon€™s second wife Sarah Essen, who ran afoul of The Joker.

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Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/