Superhero battles are hard hitting affairs between skilled heroes and villains. One of the strange things about those battles is how tame they are. Fans would imagine the fights that Marvel and DC's greatest heroes engage in would result in greater injuries. Most of the time, these battles are pretty bloodless, with the most happening usually being someone gets knocked out.
But, not always. Many heroes have suffered some rather horrific injuries that were as close to real life as possible. Sometimes these injuries had lasting consequences - other times they didn't. Nonetheless, they were always surprising moments.
10 Joker Shooting Batgirl Resulted In Her Paralysis
One of the most well known examples of a hero suffering a real life injury came in the seminal Batman tale The Killing Joke. Joker shot Barbara Gordon in the stomach when she answered the door to her father's apartment. The bullet severed her spinal chord and paralyzed her from the waist down. This ended her career as Batgirl but set her up for bigger things.
Gordon would become Oracle, helping the heroes of the DC Universe with her knowledge and hacking skills. She was good as a sidekick but great as Oracle. Fans gained a greater appreciation of her, but when DC decided to heal her injuries and make her Batgirl again, many weren't happy.
9 Superman Was Bludgeoned To Death By Doomsday
Imagining Superman getting any real life injury is difficult, but it did happen. In fact, those injuries resulted in his death. During the battle with Doomsday in The Death of Superman, the Man of Steel was beaten in a way he never had been before. Doomsday's amazing strength was enough to injure Superman and the battle took its toll on the Metropolis marvel.
While fans weren't privy to Superman's actual injuries and how he died, it was more likely from a broken neck from Doomsday's final punch. Or, perhaps, a brain related injury that shut down his autonomic nerve functions. Both of these fates have happened to people in the real world and are the most probable causes of Superman's death.
8 Roy Harper's Arm Was Cut Off
For an archer, arms are rather important and Roy Harper discovered just that in Justice League: Cry For Justice. At the time, Roy Harper was operating as Red Arrow but got caught up in Prometheus's attack. It was a terrible time for him, not only did he lose his daughter but also had his arm cut off in the process.
Blades and arms don't go together in comics or in real life. Harper was mentally unwell after losing his arm and his daughter, which no fan would blame him for. It was a dark time for him, the horrific injury making it that much worse.
7 Elektra Died Of A Horrific Stab Wound
Elektra is one of Marvel's toughest heroes but that didn't help her in her battle against Bullseye. Paid to kill her by the Kingpin, Bullseye cemented his reputation as Daredevil's most dangerous foe in this fight, beating the well-trained Elektra rather handily. In Daredevil No. 181, the fight ended when Bullseye stabbed her in the abdomen with her own sai.
Getting stabbed in the abdomen is a terrible way to die. While it's not known if the attack ruptured her actual stomach, she more than likely bled to death. Not a good way to die.
6 Cyclops Suffered A Brain Injury In A Fall
Cyclops's optic blasts are devastatingly powerful but he can't control them, which stems from an injury when he was young. Cyclops and his brother, Havok, were thrown out of his father's plane as it was crashing. In The Uncanny X-Men #156, the parachute opened and Cyclops landed badly, hitting his head on the way down. This injured his brain, which ruined his later ability to control his powers.
Brain injuries are easier to to get than people imagine. Cyclops landed head first on a rock and this had repercussions for him. He's actually pretty lucky to have survived, since brain damage is no joke.
5 Bart Allen Took A Shotgun Blast To The Knee
Deathstroke is a tough foe and he's handed out some pretty heavy beatings to a lot of heroes. The most realistic injury he handed out was to Bart Allen. In Teen Titans Vol. 3 #2, Bart was flying high, having just joined the Teen Titans. Unfortunately, Deathstroke brought him back to down to Earth with a shotgun blast to the knee. It was the worst injury Bart had suffered in his superheroic career up to that point.
Allen's Speed Force enhanced healing healed his knee wrong, so doctors had to rebreak it in order to make it heal correctly. While it healed faster than it would have otherwise, it still put him out of action for a time.
4 Spider-Man Has Broken His Ribs A Lot Over The Years
Spider-Man has fought a lot of gnarly battles over the years and received many injuries as a result. One injury he's received frequently is broken ribs. Spider-Man's a little harder to hurt than a regular human, but not by much, and he fights a lot of very strong foes. While he's difficult to hit, he's taken some heavy shots to the midsection and had his ribs broken several times.
Those injuries always had grave repercussions for Spider-Man. Even breathing can hurt with broken ribs, so Spider-Man's mobile style of fighting hurt him even more. Luckily for him, he has a high pain tolerance.
3 Batman's Back Was Broken
Batman has fought a lot of dangerous villains, including Bane who jumped the top of the heap in his first fight with the Caped Crusader. Bane broke open Arkham Asylum, overwhelming Batman with the sheer number of villains he had to deal with. When Batman was at his weakest, Bane attacked him. He savagely beat the Dark Knight and ended the fight by breaking Batman's spine over his knee.
Batman's broken spine paralyzed him in Batman #497, but after rehabilitation he regained his ability to walk. This is pretty realistic; as long as an injury to the spine doesn't do too much damage to the spinal chord, people can regain the use of their legs.
2 Nightwing Was Shot In The Head
Nightwing took everything he learned from Batman and grew beyond his mentor. None of that helped when he was struck in the head by a bullet fired by K.G.Beast, which very nearly killed him in Batman #55. His brain was injured, resulting in memory loss and the emergence of a new personality, Ric Grayson.
Bullets to the head aren't always fatal, especially where Nightwing was hit. The brain injuries he suffered from the wound were quite realistic, as many with brain trauma have suffered from amnesia and developed new personalities.
1 Captain America Died Of Multiple Gunshot Wounds To The Abdomen
Captain America is one of Marvel's most inspiring heroes. He's survived all kinds of injuries and often seemed more than human. Unfortunately for him, he died just like everyone else in The Death Of Captain America. As he was being led up the courthouse steps to stand trial for violating the Superhero Registration Act, he was shot multiple times in the abdomen by a brainwashed Sharon Carter.
Captain America took several bullets from a large caliber handgun at extremely close range. The trauma this caused killed him. Captain America may have been a super soldier, but there was no way he could survive that, leading to his death.