DC sets up their heroes to end up battling in Crisis events while Marvel Comics loves to bring about new wars. Whatever the companies want to call the events, many of them result in good old-fashioned wars, with fatalities all around. It didn't matter if these are battles on Earth between heroes and villains, superheroes battling each other, or fight to protect the entire planet, wars run rampant in comic books.
One other thing that wars accomplish is allowing comic books to kill off major characters. Nothing beats a good sacrifice, as the movie Avengers: Endgame proves. While no one ever stays dead in comics, wars give heroes, and sometimes villains, a chance to have that big moment that everyone remembers. Here are the 10 deadliest wars in comics.
10 CIVIL WAR II
There are a lot of problems people had with Civil War II in Marvel Comics. First, it didn't pack the punch of the first movie, where Captain America and Iron Man went to war against each other, splitting the Marvel Universe down the middle. However, what it did have were some emotional moments.
Iron Man knew what it was like to lose people, as he lost Captain America at the end of the first Civil War. In this war, three major heroes died that showed how deadly the war was. These three were The Hulk, Iron Man, and War Machine. She-Hulk almost died as well, but she survived but lost control of her rage.
9 FINAL CRISIS
Final Crisis was yet another major Crisis for DC Comics, and this one ended with the death of one of the first superheroes in comic book history. The war in this comic book series was against Darkseid. It took almost all the superheroes to take the battle to Darkseid, and they still didn't have enough to win.
The end came when Batman broke his own code and fired a gun with a radion bullet to kill Darkseid. It also resulted in Batman's death as well. The series had a big moment when Darkseid killed his son Orion. Martian Manhunter also died.
8 CIVIL WAR
The first Civil War was a groundbreaking Marvel Comics series that set all the heroes of the Marvel Universe against each other. On one side was Iron Man, who wanted every superhero to reveal their secret identity and then register and work for the government. On the other side was Captain America, who knows working for the government is not the best idea for a superhero.
The entire war started with the deaths of 612 people, including children at a school. The war ended with the death of Captain America, one of the most significant losses in comic book history. In between saw the deaths of Bill Foster's Giant-Man, Namorita, Plunderer, and more.
7 ULTIMATUM
Out of all the wars on this list, the Ultimatum storyline is the one that fans hate the most. First, for those who never read the Marvel Ultimates comic book line, the one thing that the brand demanded was that deaths meant something, and no one came back after dying. They were final, which made them even more essential.
However, in Ultimatum, so many heroes and regular people died that it was just numbing and turned many people off. Blob ate The Wasp, so Giant-Man bit off his head. Magneto snapped Charles Xavier's neck. Magneto also sent a flood that killed thousands of people.
6 KINGDOM COME
The word war is not in the title of DC's Kingdom Come, but that does not mean this entire story was not about a giant war. This was an Elseworlds story taking place in a future where the world is ravaged, and the superheroes are turning on one another.
When a new hero known as Magog has no problem murdering villains, the public decides they prefer those heroes to ones seeking justice, and the Justice League gives up their roles as protectors of Earth. The old heroes then return to battle these new heroes when collateral damage grows to great heights, and almost the entire midwest is decimated.
5 DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
There have been a ton of events that have killed several members of the X-Men. However, enormous casualties came in the war taking place in Days of Future Past. The U.S. Government set up the Sentinel program to protect the world from mutants, but it all went wrong when the Sentinels decided to take over.
The deaths here were too numerous to count, and almost every single essential member of the X-Men died in the series. Professor X died early on. Non-mutants like the Avengers and Fantastic Four died. In the series itself, Wolverine and Colossus died. It was a complete massacre.
4 CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS
Television viewers got to experience the DC Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline and mourned the death of the beloved Oliver Queen as Arrow sacrificed himself to save the world. However, in the war between the multiverses and the Anti-Monitor from the comics, the casualty list was higher.
One of the most iconic comic book covers ever had Superman holding his cousin Supergirl, as she died in his arms. Not only that, but the series ended with Flash sacrificing himself and Barry Allen leaving DC Comics for many years. In between, alternate Earths died, wiping out millions.
3 THE INFINITY GAUNTLET
There have been several wars involving the heroes of Earth battling Thanos. He was so dominating and dangerous that the Marvel Cinematic Universe brought him in to face the heroes of the movie world, and he wiped out half of existence in the snap of his finger.
The reasoning in the comics was different than the movies. In the films, he wanted to be a savior and recreate the universe in his own vision. However, in the comics, he wanted to impress Mistress Death, only to disgust her. The comics also had Thanos wipe out half of existence.
2 SECRET WARS (2015)
This is not the Secret Wars where The Beyonder had good guys battle the bad guys, for his amusement. This is the 2015 comic book series where all the alternate Marvel Universes were destroyed as they crashed into each other. This is what wiped out the Ultimate Marvel Universe.
When the 616 and 1610 Marvel Universes finally collided as the final two, they merged as a post-apocalyptic Earth known as Battleworld. Doctor Doom rules over everyone as a god, and his word is the law. The deaths here are countless, from heroes and villains to regular people.
1 ONSLAUGHT
Easily, the one war that killed more people than any other came in the pages of Marvel Comics with the war against Onslaught. This villain was a mixture of two of the most powerful mutants in the world. Professor X chose to shut down Magneto's mind to stop him from hurting anyone else, but when he saw Magento's hate, it snapped his mind.
This created an ultimate being known as Onslaught. So, what happened? The heroes of Earth had to battle this being, and the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four all rushed into battle with Onslaught. Everyone died to stop him, including Marvel's Earth. Marvel rebooted with an all-new Marvel Universe after this, re-introducing their heroes.