10 Most Devastating Comic Book Endings

No matter what their disagreements, all Spider-Man readers are united in two universally acknowledged truths: that the Clone Saga was really, really stupid and that the Revelations sub-series featured the biggest gut-punch in the history of comics.

The Clone Saga revealed that Peter Parker was actually just a clone of Ben Reilly. Briefly stunned by this revelation, Peter comes to see it as an absolute win. He can safely pass off the Spider-Man identity and can now move away from New York with his pregnant wife.

But it was not to be. The Jackal hired a woman to secretly poison Mary Jane, causing her to go into premature labor. Peter arrived at the hospital too late to witness the birth, but that ended up not mattering. All Peter could do was reassure Mary Jane that their love could see them through the pain of a stillborn baby.

It was only made worse as the story progressed. It turned out Peter wasn't actually a clone (duh), Aunt May wasn't really dead, and the Jackal wasn't even the final villain of the story. Flipping Peter's life upside down, faking May's death, and killing his unborn child was all part of an overarching conspiracy undertaken by the Green Goblin just to mess with him. The signature panel of the story was of the Goblin repeating "Gotcha" as Peter collapsed in anguish.