10 DC Animated Universe Fates Worse Than Death

2. Turned Into Living Goop - Batman Beyond

Bane Batman Beyond
Warner Bros.

One of the most disturbing fates in all of Batman Beyond belongs to Aaron Herbst.

Aaron was a rather lonely man whose only interaction was with the frozen supervillain Inque, whom he talked to all day and creepily projected his baggage onto, quickly falling in love with the frozen woman. But if you've studied the myth of Pygmalia at all and the various retellings and interpretations thereof in the centuries after it, you know this was pretty much destined for nothing good.

Aaron, after being fired due to his creepy fixation on the frozen villainess, breaks Inque out of prison, convinced that she'd return his affections. But Inque is a mercenary, and so was just using him from the beginning.

Long story short, Inque ends up giving him a taste of the affliction that affects her, but with none of the ability to control it like she has, leaving him just a living puddle of goop, barely able to talk or even move.

And so Aaron's story ends with him in the same facility he worked at: a patient this time around, being cared for by another lonely person who projects all of their insecurities onto him like he did to Inque.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?