10 Most Heartbreaking Moments In The DC Animated Universe

3. Baby Doll Sees Her Real Self - Batman: The Animated Series

Baby Doll appeared twice over the course of Batman: The Animated Series, first in her debut episode of the same name, and second in a team-up with Killer Croc during The New Batman Adventures. Both have their tragic moments, but if any one takes the cake, it has to be the finale to her first episode.

The character's story itself is uniquely tragic. Baby Doll, real name Marion Dahl (because of course it had to have a pun), was a former star who was born with a condition known as systemic hypoplasia, which kept her looking permanently like a young child even as she grew older.

Marion eventually became the hit star of the Love That Baby sitcom at the age of 20, but things started to take a turn for the worse once it was cancelled. Unable to find work due to discrimination regarding her condition and growing increasingly desperate, Marion snaps and kidnaps her old fictional family, hoping to kill them all and herself in one last TV reunion, all the while adopting her shrill, child-like voice from the old show.

Of course, this being Batman's series, the Caped Crusader shows up and saves the hostages, eventually chasing Baby Doll into a hall of mirrors. Marion continues to deteriorate the further she gets into the maze, until eventually she comes across a mirror that imagines what she would've looked like if not for her condition, snapping back to her old, adult voice in one brief moment of pain and clarity.

Then, she blasts it into pieces, breaking down completely before turning her firearm towards the Dark Knight.

For the next few seconds, all anyone can hear is the click of Marion's now empty gun. Batman approaches her, removes the doll, and she starts to hug him tightly, repeating her now tragic catchphrase one last time: "I didn't mean to."